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.
15/09/2010 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu is to make an official visit to Ukraine from 20 to 22 September 2010. In Kyiv on Monday 20 and Tuesday 21, he is due to meet President Viktor Yanukovych, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Lytvyn, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko and the leadership of coalition and opposition factions, as well as NGO representatives...
14/09/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD), Chair of the PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, recalled today that the suspension of the stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death for adultery, was a step forward but a far-from-adequate measure, which merely postponed execution of the sentence.
14/09/2010 | Monitoring
In an information note published last Thursday on their fact-finding visits to Moscow and Murmansk in March and July 2010, the PACE co-rapporteurs on Russia, György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD) and Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), welcomed the tangible progress made in some areas since the last monitoring report in 2005. They were concerned, however, about a failure to liberalise electoral legislation sufficiently and considered that more progress was needed to strengthen pluralist democracy and speed up the reform of justice.
13/09/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“The Assembly will organise a conference on 3 December in Paris, aimed at strengthening co-operation between international parliamentary assemblies involved in action against trafficking in human beings,” today announced Doris Stump (Switzerland, SOC) at a debate in Strasbourg on partnerships among parliaments, intergovernmental organisations and NGO’s active in this field.
13/09/2010 | President
“I warmly welcome the positive result of the referendum on constitutional change in Turkey – as well as the high turnout, which showed how strongly the Turkish people are attached to their democratic rights and freedoms, and to a future in Europe. This marks an important new stage in Turkey’s democratic progress, and paves the way for further reforms soon, including a new civilian Constitution," declared today Mevlüt Çavusoglu, PACE President.