21/12/2009 | Monitoring
PACE's monitoring co-rapporteurs for Ukraine have expressed their concern at current attempts in the Verkhovna Rada to suspend the enactment of three laws of the anti-corruption package adopted last June – which, among other things, prohibit the private funding of courts – and called for their rapid implementation. “The funding of the courts outside the government budget, ie. with private means, would be a continuous potential for corruption and run counter to European standards,” said Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) and Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (Germany, ALDE) in an information note made public this week.
21/12/2009 | Monitoring
PACE rapporteurs have welcomed the release of three more Georgian teenagers by the de facto authorities in Tskhinvali. “This is good news,” said Mátyás Eörsi (Hungary, ALDE), co-rapporteur on the war between Georgia and Russia, and Corien Jonker (Netherlands, EPP/CD), rapporteur on the humanitarian consequences of the war. “We hope this will help to lower tension in the region, which is sorely needed, and may herald further releases of prisoners on both sides.”
20/12/2009 | President
"The political declaration negotiated after the Copenhagen conference lacks ambition and does not provide any answer to climate change, based on solidarity and equity," said PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig. "Despite some progress, the failure to take concrete decisions in Copenhagen is a missed opportunity, given the size of the problem. I regret that the final result is so far from the proposals contained in the resolution adopted by the Assembly ahead of the conference," he added.
18/12/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Reacting to the speech given by US President Barack Obama today in Copenhagen, PACE’s rapporteur on climate change, former British Deputy Prime Minister and Kyoto negotiator John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), said it was wonderful to hear an American President calling for action on climate change, but said: “When he gets in the room with the other leaders he’s going to have to offer a little bit more”.
18/12/2009 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
On the occasion of International Migrants Day, Corien Jonker (Netherlands, EPP/CD), Chair of PACE Migration Committee made the following statement today: “Migrants are a vital source of economic growth for all our countries. However, far too many of the 200 million migrants all over the world continue to experience assaults on their rights, abominable labour conditions, discrimination, exploitation and even violence. This should not be tolerated.”
17/12/2009 | Monitoring
Only urgently-needed Constitutional reforms can unblock the “deadlock” within the state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a PACE committee said in a draft report approved in Paris today. The report – by Mevlüt Çavusoglu (Turkey, EDG) and Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD) – demanded “meaningful and constructive dialogue” between all domestic stakeholders on concrete proposals to amend the Constitution ahead of the autumn 2010 elections.
17/12/2009 | Monitoring
In a draft resolution adopted in Paris today, PACE Monitoring Committee urges the Albanian government and opposition to put an end to the current political crisis and assume their responsibilities in order to proceed with vital reforms. The government should set up, without further delay, a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the June 2009 elections and the opposition should return to parliament and fully participate in its work, the committee said.
17/12/2009 | Session
A call for legal recognition of same-sex couples across Europe and a debate on the situation in the Middle East, as well as addresses by Greek Prime Minister George A. Papandreou and Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Franco Frattini, are among highlights of PACE’s winter session on 25-29 January 2010. The Assembly is also due to elect a new President. Other subjects due to be debated include respect for media freedom, judicial corruption and the detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants. The Assembly will only decide its final agenda on the first day of the session.
16/12/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE rapporteur on climate change, former British Deputy Prime Minister and EU Kyoto negotiator John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), today issued a stern warning to the US that they must do much more to help secure a deal at Copenhagen. Addressing a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) at the Danish Parliament, Mr Prescott publicly criticised the US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern for saying emissions were “just maths”.
15/12/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), the Assembly’s rapporteur on climate change, is posting a daily video diary from the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which opened this week. Mr Prescott, who negotiated the 1997 Kyoto Accord as Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister, is part of a 13-strong PACE delegation at these key global talks.
15/12/2009 | Political Affairs and Democracy
PACE's Political Affairs Committee, meeting in Paris on 15 December, said that Council of Europe member states should consider decreasing legal electoral thresholds that are higher than 3 per cent and removing other obstacles, including high financial deposits, which bar minor parties or independent candidates from being represented on elected bodies.
11/12/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"There is evidence that when family-friendly policies are pursued consistently over a long period, they do have a positive effect on individual decisions to have children and tackle the demographic problems of Europe," Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD) stressed at a meeting of PACE Social Affairs Committee in Paris on 11 December.