04/10/2010 | Session
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) today elected Václav Kubata (Czech Republic, EPP/CD) Vice-President of the Assembly with respect to the Czech Republic.
04/10/2010 | Session
Adopting the final agenda of its Autumn 2010 plenary session (4-8 October), the Assembly decided to hold an urgent debate on “The recent rise in national security discourse in Europe: the case of the Roma”, which will take place on Thursday morning. During the week, the Assembly will also debate on the fight against extremism, human rights and business, and will discuss a report on women’s access to lawful medical care: the problem of the unregulated use of conscientious objection. The Prime Minister of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” Nikola Gruevski and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will address the Assembly.
04/10/2010 | Session
“Many of you know that it is the principle of non-discrimination which is of particular importance to me. During the last couple of months, it has been the issue of the Roma population in Europe which has raised serious questions about discrimination”, said PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu today at the opening of the Assembly’s autumn session in Strasbourg.
04/10/2010 | Session
Speaking at a press conference on the occasion of the Autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly, PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu today expressed his concern at the recent rise of populist and extremist candidates and groupings, obtaining significant results in many countries at regional and national elections. “They exploit the resentments stirred by economic decline and social crisis as they are elected on an 'anti'-ticket - anti-immigration, anti-Muslim, anti-Europe”, he stressed.
01/10/2010 | President
“Cultural heritage is a mirror that reflects the best of us all as members of our societies and as European citizens. It brings societies ever closer one to another, by uniting them in diversities, strengthening cultural ties, mutual respect and understanding”, today said PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu addressing the 3RD European Heritage Forum, organised in Istanbul in the context of the 25th anniversary of European Heritage Days.
01/10/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
National legislators and courts across Europe must better take into account judgments of the European Court of Human Rights even when they concern violations that have occurred in other countries, the Chair of PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights said today. Speaking at a conference on the principle of subsidiarity in Skopje, Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD) said this principle could be “the key to saving the Strasbourg Court from drowning in large numbers of repetitive cases”.
30/09/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Nuclear energy and its impact on climate change, the economy and society will be the focus of a conference organised by PACE Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs in Strasbourg (Palais de l’Europe, Avenue de l’Europe, Room 1) on 25 and 26 November 2010. The themes chosen for the five working sessions will cover the nuclear situation in Europe and the rest of the world, its impact on the economy and climate change, education and training in the nuclear field and safety and waste management.
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.