19/03/2010 | Monitoring
PACE Monitoring Committee has welcomed the progress made by Bulgaria since the last Assembly debate concerning that country in January 2000. The text adopted yesterday in the framework of post-monitoring dialogue states that the ruling centre-right movement GERB (Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria) "has set ambitious objectives and committed itself to continue democratic reforms", in particular to guarantee the proper functioning of justice and combat corruption and organised crime.
19/03/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Strasbourg, 18.03.2010 – The EU should accede to the European Convention on Human Rights “within a couple of years”, with negotiations beginning no later than July this year, a Vice-Chair of PACE’s Legal Affairs Committee has told a European Parliament hearing in Brussels. Serhiy Holovaty...
18/03/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
“The Council of Europe should strengthen its involvement in Kosovo ,” said Björn von Sydow (Sweden, SOC), rapporteur for PACE's Political Affairs Committee, addressing the committee today in Paris. “Our Organisation should play a pro-active role in offering its expertise in its areas of excellence: democracy, the rule of law and human rights, with absolute priority being given to the rule of law,” he said.
18/03/2010 | President
PACE’s Presidential Committee, headed by its President Mevlüt Çavusoglu, today met in Paris with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, the current Chair of the Committee of Ministers, and its next Chair the Foreign Minister of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" Antonio Milososki, as well as members of the Bureau of the Committee of Ministers, in the presence of Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjörn Jagland.
18/03/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
“I am for dialogue with all the relevant parties, including with the Belarusian authorities. However, I do not believe that the Assembly should refrain from raising criticism or imposing conditions. A state which genuinely wants to engage with the Council of Europe cannot do so without accepting the rules of the game, and conditionality is one of them”, said Sinikka Hurskainen (Finland, SOC) PACE rapporteur on Belarus, speaking today in Paris.
17/03/2010 | Monitoring
Karin Woldseth (Norway, EDG) was today appointed as co-rapporteur for the Assembly’s monitoring of Bosnia and Herzegovina, alongside Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD). She replaces Mevlüt Çavusoglu, who was recently elected as President of the Assembly.
17/03/2010 | Monitoring
While welcoming Montenegro’s substantial progress in implementing its commitments since accession to the Council of Europe in 2007, the Parliamentary Assembly's Monitoring Committee this morning called on the Montenegrin authorities to "maintain the current reform dynamic in order to catch up with the deadlines" and complete the implementation of the remaining post-accession commitments.
17/03/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
While noting that current national systems for dealing with sex offenders vary greatly between member states, the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, convinced that the management of sex offenders requires international co-operation, called on European governments to introduce a sex offenders register containing information on persons convicted of such offences in order to produce a central file "allowing an exchange of information between entitled authorities, as strictly defined by law".
17/03/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The Council of Europe and the European Union must “join forces and speak out together” to combat violence against women in Europe, Carmen Quintanilla Barba (Spain, EPP/CD), a member of PACE’s Equal Opportunities Committee, told a European Parliament conference in Brussels today. “We need your determination, your commitment and your support to make progress with legislation and to change attitudes,” she said, expressing the hope that the EU would accede to the future Council of Europe convention to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence, and help with data collection as part of the convention’s monitoring procedure.
16/03/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, meeting this morning in Paris, again called on European governments to guarantee "legal recognition of same-sex partnerships" and provide for the possibility of "joint parental responsibility" for each partner's children.
16/03/2010 | President
“I came to Kazakhstan with an offer to upgrade co-operation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and I am very glad that we found full understanding with the highest authorities of the country on this matter,” declared the Assembly’s President Mevlüt Çavusoglu at the end of an official visit to Kazakhstan on 15-16 March 2010.
15/03/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
During its meeting on 16 March in Paris, PACE's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is due to adopt the report by Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC) on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Also scheduled for adoption are the reports by Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE) on the necessity to take additional international legal steps to deal with sea piracy, and by Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD) entitled "For a Europe-wide sex offenders register".