07/04/2010 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu today recalled that the Council of Europe has twice led a process of post-war reconciliation – after the Second World War and the Cold War – and pledged that it will do so again. Addressing parliamentarians at a conference in St Petersburg to mark the 65th anniversary of the Second World War, the President said: "Today we should not only celebrate the anniversary of a great victory. There is one more reason to celebrate: the fact that we have achieved a reconciliation process and have a common language of human rights and democracy...".
06/04/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
On the eve of International Roma Day, József Berényi (Slovak Republic, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on the situation of Roma in Europe, has denounced “an increasing trend towards anti-Gypsyism of the worst kind” and called for an urgent probe into why efforts to help Roma over the last 20 years have all but failed.
01/04/2010 | President
PACE is to jointly organise, with the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), an international parliamentary conference on “The future of European security” in St Petersburg on 8 April 2010. PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu will join Sergey Mironov, Chair of the Council of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, to introduce the event, which will focus on the legal bases for future European security and the concept of “soft security”.
01/04/2010 | Monitoring
Josette Durrieu (France, SOC) and Egidijus Vareikis (Lithuania, EPP/CD), PACE co-rapporteurs for monitoring the honouring of obligations and commitments by Moldova, will be making a fact-finding visit to Chisinau on 5-6 April. During this visit, the co-rapporteurs are due to meet the Acting President of the Republic and Speaker of Parliament Mihai Ghimpu, the Prime Minister Vlad Filat and the leaders of the parliamentary parties.
01/04/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
“I welcome the official condemnation of the Srebrenica massacre, declared by the Serbian Parliament, as a major step forward in the process of reconciliation taking place in the former Yugoslavia. This is a sign of present-day Serbia’s willingness to turn away from the past and to reinforce its place in a Europe which cherishes peace and shares common values,” declared Pietro Marcenaro (Italy, SOC), who is preparing a report on “reconciliation and political dialogue between the countries of the former Yugoslavia” for PACE.
31/03/2010 | President
"The Council of Europe strongly condemns the explosions in Dagestan (Russian Federation), which come only two days after the terrorist attacks in Moscow," said the Chair of the Committee of Ministers Micheline Calmy-Rey, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly Mevlüt Çavusoglu and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland in a joint statement. "We reiterate our message of support for and solidarity with the Russian Federation at this very difficult moment."
29/03/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Having only returned a few hours ago from the North Caucasus, I learned with shock what was happening in Moscow," Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), PACE's rapporteur on the situation in the North Caucasus, said today. "I want the authors of these crimes found and judged, and I hope that those who try to destroy the democratic system and the rule of law will fail. I am confident that Russia’s institutions will know how to respond in a way which is both effective and remains true to the values which the people of the Russian Federation hold dear. President Medvedev’s reference, in his statement following the attacks, to the importance of respecting human rights is a very positive signal in this regard.”
29/03/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“The next time someone cries wolf over a pandemic, the overwhelming majority will not take it seriously,” participants were told today at a hearing on the handling of the H1N1 pandemic, organised in Paris by PACE’s Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee. “A pandemic cannot be whatever the WHO declares it is. If it turns out that former PACE member Wolfgang Wodarg was right when he said the pandemic was decided to help the pharmaceutical industry make bigger profits, this might well turn out to be one of the biggest health scandals,” said Paul Flynn (United Kingdom, SOC), PACE rapporteur on this issue.
29/03/2010 | President
"I wish to express my most sincere condolences to the families of those who lost their lives as a result of these horrendous attacks, and my solidarity with those injured. In our societies there is no place for those who use bombs to kill innocent people. Such acts will achieve nothing, but will sow only terror and grief. The Russian authorities can count on the full support of the Parliamentary Assembly in combating those who were behind this atrocity," declared Mevlüt Çavusoglu, following the two bomb attacks on the Moscow Metro this morning.
29/03/2010 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu will be attending the 122nd Assembly of the Interparliamentary Union, which will be looking at the role of parliaments in political reconciliation and good governance, interparliamentary co-operation in the global fight against organised crime and trafficking in human beings, and the participation of young people in the democratic process.
29/03/2010 | President
“Political reconciliation is rooted in our Organisation and is part of its DNA,” said PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu, speaking at the 122nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, being held in Bangkok. “Reconciliation has always been the 'raison d’être’ of the Council of Europe. The fundamental values that we support and promote - democracy, human rights and the rule of law - are the aim of our Organisation, but they are also a means to an end: namely, reconciliation and long-lasting peace on our continent,” he added.
26/03/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
"Rural development, sustainable agriculture, food security, environment and the protection of cultural heritage cannot be achieved through efforts that ignore or exclude more than half of the rural population - women," participants agreed at a hearing on “the real situation of rural women in Europe", organised by PACE Equality Committee in Paris.