18/05/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE Committee on Economic Affairs and Development will hold a hearing on 20 May in Lamezia Terme (Italy) on “Input for local development: an innovative approach for crisis-stricken regions” in connection with the preparation of a report on the subject by Giuseppe Galati (Italy, EPP/CD).
17/05/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Governments must create incentives for “greener” industry, help companies to meet environmental standards and give them scientific and technological support to become more ecologically-friendly, has said Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC), Chair of PACE’s Sub-committee on Local and Regional Democracy, hosting a panel on “the role of government in strengthening green industry” at the Nevsky International Ecological Congress in Saint Petersburg today.
17/05/2011 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
PACE's Committee on Culture, Science and Education unanimously adopted during its meeting in Ljubljana the report by Andreja Rihter (Slovenia, SOC) on 'Protection of privacy and personal data on the Internet and online media'. According to the rapporteur, "the digitalisation of information has caused unprecedented possibilities for the identification of individuals through their data.
16/05/2011 | President
Following the recent sentencing of former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikau to five years of imprisonment, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, today strongly condemned the ongoing politically motivated trials by the Belarusian courts of the former presidential candidate as well as several other representatives of opposition parties, independent journalists and human rights defenders.
16/05/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Do we have the right to decide whether to start, continue or end medical treatment, and what might be the uses, benefits and limitations of living wills, with a view to better protection of health and human rights at all stages of life? These questions will be the central themes of a hearing in Paris on 19 May organised by the Social Affairs Committee of PACE, at which parliamentarians and experts from France, Switzerland, Spain and Ukraine will review the situation in Council of Europe member states.
13/05/2011 | President
“The action of the Congress and of the Assembly is very much complementary,” said PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu, addressing the Bureau of the Congress today in Antalya. “The challenges our societies have to face today are complex in their nature and require a comprehensive and joint response at national, regional and local level”, he added.
12/05/2011 | Election observation
A five-member PACE delegation led by Jean Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD) will carry out a pre-electoral mission to Skopje on 17 and 18 May 2011, ahead of the early parliamentary elections on 5 June in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, to assess the electoral framework and campaign. The delegation will meet the President of the Republic, the Speaker of Parliament, the Ministers of Justice and the Interior, and the representatives of the political parties and coalitions standing for election.
12/05/2011 | President
Following the earthquake that yesterday hit the region of Murcia, PACE President Mevlüt Cavusoglu today addressed a message of solidarity to the Presidents of the Spanish Senate and Congress of Deputies: "On behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly, I would like to express my profound sympathy to the people of Spain following the earthquake which hit your country yesterday in the region of Murcia. At this difficult moment, I would like to ask you to convey to the families of the dead and on those who have been injured our expression of great solidarity and sympathy, and to offer our encouragement to the assistance teams which are providing relief to those affected."
11/05/2011 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“Today the Council of Europe has established a crucial landmark on the way to ensuring the equal enjoyment of human rights by women and men,” said José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD), Chairperson of PACE’s Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, speaking in Istanbul, where he is taking part in the ceremony for the opening for signature of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
11/05/2011 | President
Speaking on the occasion of the 121st session of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers meeting in Istanbul today, PACE President Mevlüt Cavusoglu stressed that he personally considered that a Council of Europe Summit was needed to get the necessary level of political commitment to implement the measures proposed by the Group of Eminent Persons of the Council of Europe in a report on “Living together – combining diversity and freedom in 21st century Europe”.
11/05/2011 | Election observation
A five-member PACE delegation, led by Kerstin Lundgren (Sweden, ALDE), will carry out a pre-electoral mission to Turkey on 17-18 May, ahead of the parliamentary elections on 12 June 2011, to assess the electoral framework and campaign.
09/05/2011 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu today expressed his distress and deep concern following reports that 61 boat people have died after their appeals for rescue were ignored. Reportedly, their boat was left to drift in the Mediterranean for 16 days. “If this grave accusation is true – that, despite the alarm being raised, and despite the fact that this boat, fleeing Libya, had been located by armed forces operating in the Mediterranean, no attempt was made to rescue the 72 passengers aboard, then it is a dark day for Europe as a whole,” he declared.