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Climate, health and equality: women on the front line

Climate, health and equality: women on the front line

22/04/2026 | Women@PACE

The Women@PACE group and the Parliamentary Network for a Healthy Environment held a joint meeting focusing on the links between environmental challenges, public health and gender equality. Opening the event, Aurora Floridia, Chairperson of the Environment Network and member of the Women@PACE...

The 2026 Europe Prize is awarded to Reggio Emilia in Italy
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The 2026 Europe Prize is awarded to Reggio Emilia in Italy

22/04/2026 | Prizes

The 2026 Europe Prize has been awarded by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to the city of Reggio Emilia in Italy. The Prize is awarded each year to the city that has been most active in promoting the European ideal. Reggio Emilia is a city of 171,000 inhabitants located...

PACE condemns new law in Israel which expands the death penalty ‘in a discriminatory way’

22/04/2026 | Session

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has condemned the adoption by the Israeli Knesset of a law extending the death penalty in Israel in a way that “has clear discriminatory effects against Palestinians” and urged Israel to repeal or invalidate it, and refrain from...

Assembly calls for accountability in the Sergei Magnitsky case

Assembly calls for accountability in the Sergei Magnitsky case

22/04/2026 | Session

All those responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky, as well as the beneficiaries of the fraud he uncovered should be held accountable, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said today. Mr Magnitsky, a Russian tax adviser and auditor, uncovered a US$230 million fraud...

PACE achieves gender parity for the first time since 1949

PACE achieves gender parity for the first time since 1949

21/04/2026 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

The President of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary body hails ‘a historic milestone’ partly driven by rule-changes The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which brings together parliamentarians from the Council’s 46 member states, contains an equal number of women and men...

Rising violence against politicians puts democracy at risk, Assembly says

Rising violence against politicians puts democracy at risk, Assembly says

21/04/2026 | Session

“Violence has no place in democracy,” the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said today, as parliamentarians warned that rising violence and hate speech against politicians pose a direct threat to democratic life and pluralism. Debating the issue in plenary, the Assembly...

PACE launches a new network to promote implementation of Strasbourg Court rulings

PACE launches a new network to promote implementation of Strasbourg Court rulings

21/04/2026 | European Convention on Human Rights

The Assembly is creating a new network of its members to encourage states to implement judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. The network will bring together parliamentarians from all the member states to encourage governments to execute judgments and to drive forward the legislative...

The European Court of Human Rights Building
©Council of Europe

Ahead of Chișinău declaration, PACE committee calls on states to preserve the integrity of the ECHR system

21/04/2026 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights

Statement on the forthcoming Chișinău political declaration on the European Convention on Human Rights, adopted on 21 April 2026 by PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights: “Strengthened by its 75-year history, the European Convention on Human Rights is an essential part of Europe’s...

Countering discrimination based on religion and protecting freedom of religion or belief

Countering discrimination based on religion and protecting freedom of religion or belief

21/04/2026 | Session

Expressing concern at the growing manifestations of exclusion and intolerance on grounds of religion across Europe, PACE emphasised that freedom of religion or belief – which includes the right not to hold a religious belief or affiliation – “was not only a fundamental right, but also a vital...

Secretary General Alain Berset urges parliamentarians to advance democracy and to continue to work for Ukraine

Secretary General urges parliamentarians to advance democracy and to continue to work for Ukraine

21/04/2026 | Session

Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset has reiterated that “democracy is still alive”, as shown by the recent elections in Bulgaria and Hungary, and called on parliamentarians to “build on this positive momentum at this challenging time” in a Q&A with the Assembly. The Secretary General...

Mihai Popșoi: the Council of Europe must ‘not only react to crises, but act ahead of them’

Mihai Popșoi: the Council of Europe must ‘not only react to crises, but act ahead of them’

21/04/2026 | Session

During its Presidency, the Republic of Moldova has sought to strengthen the Council of Europe’s capacity to adapt to new realities in an increasingly uncertain world: “It must not only react to crises, but act ahead of them,” Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Mihai Popșoi told...

Jean-Noël Barrot to the Assembly: force is gaining ground over the rule of law

Jean-Noël Barrot to the Assembly: force is gaining ground over the rule of law

20/04/2026 | Session

Addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) today in Strasbourg, France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot issued a warning: human rights, the rule of law and democracy are now under threat “even in countries that have traditionally been at the...