30/06/2011 | President
The Organisation for Islamic Co-operation (OIC)and the Council of Europe have much in common, and must work together more closely to head off conflict and counter intolerance, PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has told foreign ministers from the 57-member Organisation for Islamic Co-operation. Addressing a meeting in Astana, as Kazakhstan takes over Chairmanship of the OIC, Mr Çavuşoğlu said working together was “an imperative of our time”.
29/06/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
“Europe cannot stand idly by and watch as history is made by this spectacular push for freedom in the countries of the southern Mediterranean,” said Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP), presenting his report on co-operation between the Council of Europe and the emerging democracies in the Arab world to the PACE’s Political Affairs Committee.He issued an urgent call for the creation of a “common democratic home”.
29/06/2011 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has proposed that Kazakhstan apply for “Partner for Democracy” status with the Assembly, one of several measures to step up relations with the Council of Europe. Mr Çavuşoğlu, who is attending the meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation for Islamic Co-operation (OIC) in Astana, made the proposal during a bilateral meeting on the margin of the conference with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
28/06/2011 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has welcomed the “encouraging democratic changes” there have been in Kyrgyzstan in the last year – and offered closer contacts to encourage further change. Speaking at the end of a two-day visit to the country (27-28 June 2011), during which he met the President, Speaker of Parliament, Prime Minister and other high officials, Mr Çavuşoğlu invited a delegation from the Kyrgyz Parliament to attend PACE’s October session.
24/06/2011 | Session
European sport could end up as “a graveyard” if it goes the way of Asia – which has lost millions in sponsorship and TV rights as a result of corrupt “match-fixing” – a hearing on the phenomenon heard today. Investigative journalist Declan Hill, who spent seven months undercover to expose match-fixing syndicates, told participants at the hearing – including sports officials, parliamentarians and experts – that there were few sports in Asia that had not been affected, and that European sport was now “on a knife-edge”.
24/06/2011 | Session
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has called on member states to investigate the possibility of lowering the voing age to 16 for all kinds of elections. The great majority of the Council of Europe’s 47 member states currently have 18 as the minimum voting age – though in 2007 Austria became the first to lower the age to 16 for all municipal, state and national elections.
24/06/2011 | Session
A Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) report approved today lists actions it expects from fourteen member states in order to meet their Council of Europe obligations and commitments, and provides a comparative analysis of how eleven others are doing according to assessments from different parts of the Organisation made over the last three years.
24/06/2011 | Session
In a recommendation adopted today on the basis of a report by Elvira Kovács (Serbia, EPP/CD), PACE asked the Committee of Ministers to instruct the relevant intergovernmental bodies "to study the possibility of drafting a framework convention on the rights of young people”, which would be based on ten principles.
24/06/2011 | Session
PACE today urged member states to adjust public policies so as to fully implement the labour-related provisions of the revised European Social Charter and give priority to reducing youth unemployment...
24/06/2011 | Session
PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will visit Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan from 27 June to 2 July. In Bishkek on 27 and 28 June, he is due to meet the President of the Republic Roza Otunbaeva, the Speaker of Parliament Akhmatbek Keldibekov, the Prime Minister Almazbek Atambaev, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Turatbek Djunushaliev, and the leaders of parliament’s political groups, as well as representatives of the Meskhetian Turks.
24/06/2011 | Monitoring
In an information note declassified by PACE Monitoring Committee on 21 June 2011, the co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Montenegro, Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD) and Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE), welcomed Montenegro’s willingness to honour its commitments and obligations and meet the requirements of the European Union in the field of human rights, the rule of law and democracy in order to begin the EU accession negotiation process.
23/06/2011 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“The status of women and gender equality are regressing significantly in Ukraine and have been doing so for several months”, said Olena Bondarenko (Ukraine, EPP/CD) today at a hearing on the situation of women in Ukraine held following a motion for a resolution presented by Viola von Cramon-Taubadel (Germany, SOC). “Political leaders are making more and more sexist comments in public about women and the media are constantly conveying stereotypes that degrade the image of women”, she added.