28/09/2010 | President
Referring to the European parliament’s decision to establish a parliamentary dimension of the Eastern Partnership – Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, PACE President today underlined the importance that both structures act “in complementary, rather than overlapping way”. He said he had stressed to the President of the EP that PACE should be able to participate in the work of the Euronest Assembly from the very beginning and with a formal status. Mevlüt Çavusoglu was addressing the Committee on European Affairs of the French National Assembly, in the framework of an official visit to Paris.
28/09/2010 | Election observation
A 22-member delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), led by Tiny Kox (Netherlands, UEL), will be in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1 to 4 October to observe the holding of the general elections*, alongside observers from the OSCE and NATO Parliamentary Assemblies, and the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The delegation will meet various political parties, the Central Election Commission, civil society and media representatives before observing the ballot on 3 October.
22/09/2010 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
PACE Migration Committee has called on European governments to suspend planned returns of Roma to Kosovo* “until they can be shown to be safe and sustainable”. Approving a report on “Roma asylum seekers in Europe” today in Skopje, the committee said these Roma faced “an unsustainable social situation with little chance of reintegration upon return, as well as serious threats to their personal security”.
22/09/2010 | President
On the last day of his official visit to Ukraine (20-22 September), PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu was awarded the Honoris Causa by the President of the Odessa National Academy of Law, Serhii Kivalov, who is also Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Verkhovna Rada and a member of the Ukrainian PACE delegation. Speaking to the Academy’s students, professors and researchers, Mr Çavusoglu stressed the importance of the accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights.
22/09/2010 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
“We are just beginning to scratch the surface of the problem of smuggling people for forced labour, be it in domestic service, agriculture, sweatshops or construction,” said the Chair of PACE’s Migration Committee John Greenway (United Kingdom, EDG), speaking today at the end of a hearing on the subject in Skopje. “There is a huge need for information, statistics and research on this,” he added, pledging that his committee would seek to prepare a report on the issue.
22/09/2010 | Session
A possible urgent debate on “The recent rise in national security discourse in Europe: the case of the Roma” as well as addresses by the Prime Minister of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” Nikola Gruevski and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle are among highlights of PACE autumn session, taking place in Strasbourg from 4 to 8 October 2010.
21/09/2010 | President
“After years of political instability, the holding of a democratic presidential election and the creation of the new governing coalition gives Ukraine a unique chance to carry out the reforms which the country urgently needs,” PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu stressed today at a press conference in Kyiv.
17/09/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
In its draft resolution on preserving the environment in the Mediterranean, the PACE Environment Committee regrets the fact that, despite various initiatives at international level, the Mediterranean “still faces very serious environmental problems”, which are chiefly the result of factors such as overfishing, rampant coastal development and inadequate controls over waste and wastewater disposal.
16/09/2010 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population is holding a hearing in Skopje on 20 September on human smuggling and trafficking for labour exploitation purposes. This will be followed by a further hearing on the topic of migration and demographic challenges for “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”. The meeting will be opened by Trajko Veljanoski, Speaker of the Parliament of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, and Aleksandar Nikoloski, Chair of the country’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly.
16/09/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
At its meeting in Paris, PACE's Committee on Environment will be holding on 17 September a hearing in two parts on the potential danger of electromagnetic fields for the environment and the need for independent and credible environmental assessments, in the framework of a preparation of two reports by Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC) and Florin Preda (Romania, EPP/CD)...
15/09/2010 | Election observation
A PACE pre-electoral delegation visited Sarajevo and Banja Luka in order to evaluate the political and campaign environment in the run-up to the general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 3 October 2010. The delegation met representatives of the main political forces participating in the elections, the Central Election Commission and the Communication Regulatory Agency, as well as representatives of the international community and NGO activists.
15/09/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Citizens must be able to trust those they have elected to office, PACE Bureau has said in a declaration to mark the third UN International Day of Democracy, celebrated each year on 15 September.