10/04/2012 | President
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon and Pietro Marcenaro (Italy, SOC), Chair of the Assembly’s Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, have declared: “There have been more than a hundred deaths yesterday again in Syria. Once more, the regime of Bashir Al-Assad has violated the commitments it undertook and the assurances it gave to end the massacre which, for more than a year, has led to bloodshed and the deaths of more than 11 000 people.”
04/04/2012 | Elections
A three-member PACE delegation led by Baroness Nicholson (United Kingdom, ALDE), will carry out a pre-electoral mission to Yerevan on 11-12 April 2012, ahead of the parliamentary elections in Armenia on 6 May 2012, to assess the electoral framework and campaign. The delegation is due to meet the President of the Republic Serzh Sargsyan, the President of the National Assembly Samvel Nikoyan and the Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian as well as leaders of the political parties running in the elections.
04/04/2012 | Elections
A six-member delegation from PACE is to make a post-electoral visit to Moscow from 11 to 13 April 2012, following Russia’s Presidential election. The delegation – made up of one member from each of the Assembly’s five political groups as well as one of the two rapporteurs for the monitoring of Russia – is due to meet the Speaker of the State Duma Serguei Naryshkin and the Chair of the Central Election Commission Vladimir Churov.
04/04/2012 | President
"It is totally unacceptable that in the 21st century so-called frozen conflicts can still cause terrible human tragedies," said Jean-Claude Mignon, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), following his meeting today with the family of Vadim Pisar, a citizen of the Republic of Moldova killed on 1 January 2012 when crossing a checkpoint on the boundary with the Transnistrian region.
03/04/2012 | President
In his meetings today in Chisinau with senior Moldovan officials, PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon welcomed the end of the political deadlock in which the country has been immersed for three years and called on all those involved in Moldovan politics to look to the future constructively. “I have conveyed to the President of the Republic, Mr Timofti, my wishes for his success. His election marks a new start in Moldovan political life”, he said.
02/04/2012 | Monitoring
Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE) and Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD), PACE monitoring co-rapporteurs for Ukraine have welcomed plans to address structural deficiencies in the Ukrainian justice system, such as the draft Code of Criminal Procedure, but stressed that these plans now need to be adopted and, most importantly, implemented.
29/03/2012 | President
PACE President today firmly condemned Japan's execution of Yasuaki Uwabe, Tomoyuki Furusawa and Yasutoshi Matsuda. "We expect Japan, as a country enjoying observer status with the Council of Europe, to share our values and fundamental principles..."
29/03/2012 | Monitoring
Tomáš Jirsa (Czech Republic, EDG) and Grigore Petrenco (Republic of Moldova, UEL), PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of obligations and commitments by Albania, will make a fact-finding visit to that country from 2 to 4 April 2012. In Tirana, they are due to meet the President of the Republic Bamir Topi, the Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the Minister of Justice Eduard Halimi.
29/03/2012 | President
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon will make an official visit to the Republic of Moldova from 2 to 5 April 2012. During his visit, he is due to meet the President of the Republic Nicolae Timofti, the Speaker of Parliament Marian Lupu, Prime Minister Vlad Filat, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Iurie Leancă, as well as the Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Eugen Carpov.
29/03/2012 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
A failure to react to distress calls and a “vacuum of responsibility” for search and rescue are among a “catalogue of failures” which led to the deaths of 63 people fleeing the conflict in Libya by sea during a tragic 15-day voyage in March 2011, according to a PACE committee. A report by Tineke Strik (Netherlands, SOC), adopted this morning in Brussels by PACE’s Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, says Italian search and rescue authorities, NATO, the flag states of naval vessels in the area, the Libyan authorities and reckless smugglers are among those who share responsibility.
29/03/2012 | Monitoring
Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE) and Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Ukraine by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), today met in prison former Ukrainian Minister of the Interior Yuriy Lutsenko. Noting the concerns about his health, the co-rapporteurs called on the authorities to provide all necessary expertise to properly diagnose and treat his illness...
28/03/2012 | Monitoring
On her return from her visit to Monaco for the purposes of the preparation of a report on post-monitoring dialogue (26-27 March 2012), Anne Brasseur (Luxembourg, ALDE) welcomed the efforts made by the Principality to combat money laundering and corruption.