27/05/2011 | Monitoring
PACE co-rapporteur on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Serbia, Davit Harutyunyan (Armenia, EDG), pays tribute to the steps taken by the Serbian parliament to align its legislation with Council of Europe standards. He particularly welcomes progress made in implementing PACE Resolution 1661 (2009) by abolishing blank resignations, amending the system of allocation of seats in parliament - which should better respect the will of the citizens - and ensuring a better access of women to elected positions in parliament.
27/05/2011 | Standing Committee
Microcredit, used to encourage the formation and development of microenterprises, often aids the transition from unemployment to self-employment, and plays an important part in promoting social inclusion, the PACE believes. In a resolution adopted today in Kyiv, on the basis of the report by Márton Braun (Hungary, EPP/CD), the PACE accordingly invited member states to adapt their institutional, legal and commercial frameworks in order to promote microcredit.
27/05/2011 | Standing Committee
In a resolution adopted today in Kyiv, PACE called on member states to eliminate as many heavy metals and other metals as possible from the human environment and to prevent their bioaccumulation in nature, the food chain and the human body. In respect of the most toxic heavy metals, such as mercury, member states should prohibit or limit the use of these substances by industry, agriculture and the medical sector – particularly the use of mercury in dental amalgams.
27/05/2011 | Standing Committee
“The priorities of Ukraine’s Chairmanship – protection of children’s rights, promotion of human rights and the rule of law in the context of democracy and stability in Europe, as well as the strengthening and development of local democracy – fully correspond to the 'core business' and values of our Assembly,” today stressed PACE President at the opening of the PACE Standing Committee in Kyiv.
27/05/2011 | Standing Committee
The Parliamentary Assembly, meeting in Kyiv at Standing Committee level, today called on European governments to “take all reasonable measures” to reduce exposure to electromagnetic fields, especially to radio frequencies from mobile phones, “and particularly the exposure to children and young people who seem to be most at risk from head tumours”.
27/05/2011 | Monitoring
Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD) and Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE), PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Montenegro, will be visiting Podgorica on 1st and 2nd June, where they are scheduled to meet the Speaker of Parliament, the Prime Minister, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, the Interior, Justice, Human Minorities and Rights, and the Montenegrin parliamentary delegation to PACE.
27/05/2011 | Monitoring
PACE Monitoring Committee co-rapporteurs for Azerbaijan, Pedro Agramunt (Spain, EPP/CD) and Joseph Debono Grech (Malta, SOC), welcomed the release of Eynulla Fatullayev, a journalist and newspaper editor of the defunct newspaper Realny Azerbaijan who was pardoned by President Ilham Alyev along with some 90 convicts ahead of the forthcoming 93rd anniversary of the founding of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.
27/05/2011 | President
Addressing the 2nd Alumni Meeting of the European Forum Cyprus, PACE President today called for a lasting and comprehensive solution for a peaceful and united Cyprus, which would guarantee the legitimate rights of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots, in full compliance with the values and principles of the Council of Europe. “In order to build confidence and trust between both Cypriot communities, I have called on political leaders on both sides of the island to multiply bi-communal activities.
26/05/2011 | Monitoring
PACE co-rapporteurs for Armenia, John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC) and Alex Fischer (Germany, EPP/CD), welcomed the general amnesty that was adopted by the parliament on proposal of the President of Armenia. The rapporteurs noted that this amnesty will result in the release of all persons that are still in prison in relation to the events of March 2008.
26/05/2011 | President
The information according to which the Serbian authorities have arrested the former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic is great news for the future of Serbia, for law and justice and the fight against impunity,” PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said today. He paid tribute to the Serbian authorities for the arrest, stressing that he had repeatedly expressed his confidence in the authorities’ efforts to do everything possible to apprehend the remaining indictees of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
26/05/2011 | Monitoring
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) co-rapporteurs for Georgia, Kastriot Islami (Albania, SOC) and Michael Aastrup Jensen (Denmark, ALDE) expressed their concern about reports of disproportionate and excessive use of force by the police during the breakup of the protest in central Tbilisi last night.
26/05/2011 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu today welcomed the imminent release of Azerbaijan opposition journalist Eynulla Fatullayev and others, following their pardon by the country’s President Ilham Aliyev. “With Mr Fatullayev’s release, the authorities of Azerbaijan put an end to the injustice done to this journalist, who has already spent far too much time in prison..."