30/05/2012 | President
Following the earthquake that hit north-eastern Italy yesterday, PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon has sent to the Presidents of the Italian Senate, Renato Giuseppe Schifani, and the Chamber of Deputies, Gianfranco Fini, the following letter of condolence...
29/05/2012 | Monitoring
Kerstin Lundgren (Sweden, ALDE) and Jana Fischerová (Czech Republic, EDG), who are currently assessing the request for the opening of a monitoring procedure in respect of Hungary, will visit Brussels on 30 May for high-level meetings with members of the European Commission and the European Parliament.
29/05/2012 | President
Adding his voice to the international condemnation of the recent massacre in Houla, PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon today called on the Syrian authorities to co-operate fully with the Special Envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League, Kofi Annan, and with United Nations observers in the field.
25/05/2012 | Standing Committee
There are numerous Jewish cemeteries in Europe and they need to be protected and preserved. They are part of the European cultural heritage and constitute an important element of the Jewish religion, PACE's Standing Committee said today at its meeting in Tirana. Considering that these cemeteries are probably more at risk than those of other confessions represented in Europe, the adopted text, based on the proposals by the rapporteur (Piet De Bruyn, Belgium, NI), calls on governments, members of Jewish communities and heritage organisations to develop appropriate forms of co-operation to ensure their protection.
25/05/2012 | Standing Committee
Europe’s governments should set up digital film libraries and other archives of audiovisual material for education and research purposes, and clarify copyright issues for making it available on the internet, according to PACE’s Standing Committee. Approving a report by Doris Fiala (Switzerland, ALDE), the committee said that old films and recordings were “vanishing due to their material fragility”.
25/05/2012 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Tineke Strik (Netherlands, SOC), whose report “Lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea: who is responsible?” was recently adopted by the PACE, will be in Brussels on 30 May to brief members of the European Parliament on her findings and seek their assistance in clarifying further how 63 people fleeing the Libya conflict by sea in March 2011 were “left to die”.
23/05/2012 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
In a draft resolution adopted yesterday on “The young generation sacrificed: social, economic and political consequences of the financial crisis”, PACE Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development notes that the young generation is disproportionally hit by the unemployment/underemployment-poverty-exclusion trap, a situation that could have tragic consequences. Young people should be viewed not as a problem to be addressed but as an asset,” said the rapporteur, Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD).
23/05/2012 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
In view of the growing inequalities and current challenges, the Assembly should demand equal access to health-care and treatment for everyone living in Europe, without discrimination on the basis of financial means, residence status or place of residence,” said Jean-Louis Lorrain (France, EPP/CD) in his draft report on equal access to healthcare.
23/05/2012 | President
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon is to meet Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and Foreign Minister Edmond Haxhinasto on the fringes of a meeting of the Assembly’s Bureau in Tirana on 24 May. Talks will cover, among other things, Albania’s plans for its six-month Chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, which begins today, and co-operation with the Parliamentary Assembly during this period.
22/05/2012 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Adopting a report on “Austerity measures – a danger for democracy and social rights”, prepared by Andrej Hunko (Germany, UEL), the PACE Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development said it was concerned that the restrictive approaches currently pursued may not reach their objective of consolidating budgets, but risk further deepening the crisis and undermining the social rights as they mainly affect lower income classes and the most vulnerable categories of the population.
21/05/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Today the situation of human rights defenders in Europe is far from satisfactory. In some Council of Europe member states they risk their own personal security, especially when they champion sensitive issues such as fighting the impunity of state officials for serious crimes including murder, torture and corruption, or promoting the rights of oppressed minority groups,” said Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE) in her report on the situation of human rights defenders in Council of Europe member states.
21/05/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
What are the limits for decisions made by politicians involving risks that are not the normal risks of normal citizens? In a hearing on this issue, organised by PACE’s Legal Affairs Committee in Paris today, the rapporteur Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD) stressed that political and criminal responsibility had to be kept separate...