10/11/2008 | President
PACE President Lluis Maria de Puig has warned of the "danger" that tolerence in society is most severely tested when times are hard economically. Addressing an event at the European Parliament in Brussels to mark the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night in 1938 when Jewish-owned buildings were smashed and burned across Nazi Germany, Mr de Puig pointed out that the Depression of the 1930s had been a contributory factor. Europe still faces challenges of intolerance, he said. "Old demons have often been replaced by new."
07/11/2008 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
To what extent can nuclear power help meet energy needs and reconcile them with the demands of sustainable development? Can it be combined with the development of renewable energy sources and CO2-free technologies? These were all questions which representatives of the nuclear industry, the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and civil society tried to find answers to at a hearing held in Strasbourg today. This debate between supporters and opponents of nuclear power gave the members of PACE Committee on the Environment statistically-based insights into the subject, on which views diverge widely, and provided Bill Etherington (United Kingdom, SOC) with material for the preparation of his report on “nuclear energy and sustainable development”.
07/11/2008 | President
“I strongly condemn this vicious attack on civilians, who were simply going about their daily business at a market,” said Lluís Maria de Puig, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), following the bombing of a minibus in Vladikavkaz yesterday.
06/11/2008 | President
Following the start of dialogue aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig has urged the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to continue down this road. “I wish to congratulate Presidents Aliyev and Sarksyan, and President Medvedev, who facilitated the meeting, on their commitment to finding a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The start of this dialogue, which will be followed by intensified diplomatic efforts and the promotion of a series of confidence-building measures, is a window of hope for the entire region,” said the President.
06/11/2008 | President
“The partnership between Europe and Israel is highly advanced in the economic, transport and energy fields, and we must obviously continue along these lines. However, from the Council of Europe’s point of view, the best way to invest in the future of Israel and the whole region is to invest in the development of democracy, human rights and the rule of law for all those who share the same territory and the same desire to live in peace and prosperity”, said the President of the PACE, Lluís Maria de Puig, at the political conference “European Friends of Israel” held in Paris today.
06/11/2008 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“Proper water governance that offers sustainable access to water and sanitation is not possible without legislation. In this connection, parliamentarians have a key role to play in making governments understand the need for legislation at national and international level so as to ensure the right to water, in other words, the right to life”, said Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC), Chair of the PACE Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs, in Strasbourg today at the opening of the Parliamentary Process Preparatory Conference for the 5th World Water Forum to be held in Istanbul from 16 to 22 March 2009.
06/11/2008 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
On 5 November Dick Marty, PACE Rapporteur on the “illegal transfer of detainees and secret detentions in Europe”, testified as a witness at the Milan court hearing the trial of CIA agents and Italian secret service agents involved in the kidnapping of Abu Omar. He was questioned closely on the result of his inquiry. In particular, he showed how the Abu Omar affair was part of a global CIA strategy involving several European states, a strategy “beyond any legal framework and in grave violation of the European Convention on Human Rights”.
04/11/2008 | President
Following the start of dialogue aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig has urged the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to continue down this road. “I wish to congratulate Presidents Aliyev and Sarksyan, and President Medvedev, who facilitated the meeting, on their commitment to finding a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The start of this dialogue, which will be followed by intensified diplomatic efforts and the promotion of a series of confidence-building measures, is a window of hope for the entire region,” said the President.
03/11/2008 | Monitoring
Within the framework of the post-monitoring dialogue with Bulgaria, Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE), Chair of PACE Monitoring Committee, will be making a fact-finding visit to Sofia on 5-7 November 2008, during which he will have discussions with the President of the National Assembly, Minister of the Interior, Minister of Justice and President of the Supreme Court. Mr Holovaty will also meet the leaders of the parliamentary groups, the Ombudsman, religious dignitaries and representatives of national minorities, NGOs and the media.
03/11/2008 | Monitoring
Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE), Chair of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), will be making a fact-finding visit to Skopje on 3-5 November 2008, within the framework of the post-monitoring dialogue with “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”.
31/10/2008 | President
“I am heartened by the clear political will of the Georgian authorities to fully implement the requirements of the Assembly as expressed in Resolution 1633,” said PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig, at the end of a one-day visit to Tbilisi (30 October). The President was visiting Georgia with PACE’s Presidential Committee in the framework of the implementation by Georgia and Russia of Resolution 1633 on the consequences of the war between the two countries, adopted by the Assembly at its October 2008 session.
30/10/2008 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
A conference to prepare for the “parliamentarian process” of the 5th World Water Forum, jointly organised by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the World Water Council, is to take place at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg from 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. on Thursday 6 November.