17/07/2012 | Political Affairs and Democracy
“I condemn the three illegal executions carried out today by Hamas, and call on the authorities in Gaza to cease all further executions, in line with the de facto moratorium on the death penalty which has been put in place by the Palestinian Authority since 2005. The death penalty – wherever it takes place – is simply wrong, but these executions are also a violation of Palestinian law, since they were carried out without any consultation with President Abbas," today said PACE rapporteur Tiny Kox (Netherlands, UEL), who is currently in Ramallah.
13/07/2012 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Reacting to the publication of Swiss court documents yesterday, François Rochebloine (France, EPP/CD), author of a recent report for the PACE on good governance and ethics in sport, has made the following statement: “At last, under pressure from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly and others, FIFA has made public the details of a shocking scandal at the heart of world football: millions of Swiss Francs rightfully belonging to the sport went into the pockets of some of its most senior administrators."
13/07/2012 | President
A PACE delegation made up of its President, Jean-Claude Mignon, and two representatives of the Assembly’s political groups (*) will make a fact-finding visit to Bucharest on 18 and 19 July 2012. The first day of the visit the delegation will meet with the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Valeriu Ştefan Zgonea, and the President a.i. of the Senate, Petru Filip, as well as with the Prime Minister, Victor Ponta. It will also meet the members of the Romanian delegation to the Assembly.
13/07/2012 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Tiny Kox (Netherlands, UEL), PACE rapporteur on the "Evaluation of the Partnership for Democracy in respect of the Palestinian National Council", is to make a fact-finding visit to the Palestinian Territories on 16 and 17 July 2012. In Ramallah, Mr Kox is due to meet several representatives of the Palestinian Authority, including the Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Minister for Women's Affairs.
13/07/2012 | Monitoring
Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), one of the PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of the honouring of obligations and commitments by Russia, will make a fact-finding visit to this country on 16-17 July, with a view to preparing a report to be discussed at the next session of PACE. During his visit, Mr Gross will meet representatives of the State Duma, the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, and of the Prosecutor’s General office. Talks are also scheduled in Nizhniy Novgorod.
12/07/2012 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
“Yet again, a dinghy with 55 people on board drifted for 15 days on the Mediterranean. This time, only one person survived. When will this ever end?,” today asked Tineke Strik (Netherlands, SOC), PACE rapporteur on “Lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea: who is responsible?”. She expressed her great sadness and anger over the deaths of another 54 boat people fleeing Libya towards Italy.
06/07/2012 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
The Chairs of PACE Migration and Equality Committees, Giacomo Santini (Italy, EPP/CD) and Tina Acketoft (Sweden, ALDE), have expressed grave concern at an increasing number of incidents of state violence against migrants and refugees.
06/07/2012 | President
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon today expressed his concern at developments in Romania. “As a member state of the Council of Europe, Romania must respect the commitments it has undertaken and European standards. The independence of the judiciary, in particular of the Constitutional Court, is an essential condition for the existence of the rule of law in any state,” he said.
06/07/2012 | President
Speakers of parliament from 23 countries are already signed up to address a major summit in September which will bring together parliamentary presidents from the 47 Council of Europe member states, as well as many neighbouring and observer countries.
05/07/2012 | President
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon, addressing the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly today in Monaco, has hailed what he called the “growing complementarity” of the two parliamentary assemblies, and proposed a series of practical steps for them to work together better to observe elections, resolve frozen conflicts and co-ordinate their messages.
03/07/2012 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Tineke Strik (Netherlands, SOC), whose inquiry for PACE uncovered a “catalogue of failures” that led to the deaths of 63 people fleeing Libya by sea after their distress calls were ignored, will present her findings to the Human Rights Committee of the Italian Senate on 4 July in Rome.
03/07/2012 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
PACE rapporteur Andrea Rigoni (Italy, ALDE) will make a fact-finding visit to Ukraine on 4-6 July 2012, in preparation for his report on “Management of mixed migration and asylum challenges beyond the European Union’s eastern border”.