12/09/2008 | Session
A group of twenty-four members of the PACE today submitted a request for the reconsideration of the previously ratified credentials of the Russian delegation to PACE “on substantive grounds”, ahead of the Assembly’s forthcoming plenary session in Strasbourg (29 September-3 October).
12/09/2008 | Monitoring
Jaakko Laakso (Finland, UEL) and David Wilshire (United Kingdom, EDG), co-rapporteurs for Albania of PACE Monitoring Committee, will be undertaking a fact-finding visit to the country, from 15 to 18 September, to review its compliance with its obligations and commitments vis-à-vis the Council of Europe.
12/09/2008 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
PACE’s Equal Opportunities Committee today called for a Council of Europe Convention to combat violence against women. The committee unanimously approved a report by José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD), which also presented the results of the parliamentary dimension of the Council of Europe campaign "Stop domestic violence against women " (2006-8). "This campaign has been a powerful joint effort but our work is not over,” said Mr Mendes Bota.
11/09/2008 | Monitoring
Without greater co-operation between the various State and Entity level structures, Bosnia and Herzegovina will not be able to benefit fully from European integration, PACE Monitoring Committee has today warned.
11/09/2008 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Speaking today at the Joint Parliamentary Meeting on “Europe: Migration and Integration”, organised by the European Parliament and the French Presidency of the European Union together with the French Senate and National Assembly, Corien Jonker, Chair of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population, welcomed the proposed European Pact on Immigration and Asylum and thanked the French Presidency for putting forward this important initiative.
09/09/2008 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is deeply shocked by the violent death of Magomed Yevloyev, prominent journalist and owner of the website ingushetya.ru, which occurred on 31 August in a vehicle of the Ingush authorities (Russian Federation). It offers its sincere condolences to the family of the deceased and urges the competent authorities to shed all possible light on the circumstances of this tragedy.
09/09/2008 | Political Affairs and Democracy
PACE Political Affairs Committee is organising a hearing on “Private military and security firms and the erosion of the state monopoly on the use of force” in Paris on 10 September 2008 with the participation of parliamentarians from its 47 member states, experts and a representative of a private security firm. According to German parliamentarian Wolfgang Wodarg (SOC), who is due to prepare a report for PACE on this issue, over one million mercenaries are currently operating around the globe, for more than a thousand companies, creating an annual turnover of approximately 200 billion US dollars.
08/09/2008 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"Protecting the environment, the right to live in a healthy environment, is not just a matter of applying principles by which we all set great store. It concerns the protection of a fundamental right for the citizens of our continent," said PACE President, Lluís Maria de Puig, this morning in Madrid when he gave the opening address of the colloquy being held by the Environment Committee on the theme "The role of parliaments in the management of water resources."
08/09/2008 | President
“A first parliamentary debate on the conflict between Georgia and Russia took place during the meeting of the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Paris on 5 September. This meeting was exceptional in that it was attended by the representatives of Russia and Georgia, and in particular the heads of the two parliamentary delegations. The parliamentarians discussed the causes of the conflict, analysed the current situation and considered what role can be played by the Council of Europe, a European organisation of which both Russia and Georgia are full members.
05/09/2008 | Monitoring
Josette Durrieu (France, SOC) and Egidijus Vareikis (Lithuania, EPP/CD), PACE co-rapporteurs for Moldova Monitoring Committee, will carry out a fact-finding visit to Chisinau on 8-9 September to review the honouring of obligations and commitments by Moldova vis-à-vis the Council of Europe.
05/09/2008 | Bureau
At its meeting today in Paris, PACE Bureau proposed the holding of an urgent debate during the Assembly’s autumn session (Strasbourg, 29 September–3 October) on "the consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia". The Bureau also decided to set up an ad hoc committee to visit the two countries during the week before the session to gather information on the spot on the current situation and make proposals for possible future action.
04/09/2008 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“Our member countries must encourage, in different ways, its migrants to become active players in the democratic process, be it at the associative level, in enterprises or administrations, or at the political level,” today said Corien Jonker (Netherlands, PPE/DC), Chair of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population, at the opening of the 8th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for migration affairs. She stressed that the active participation of legally residing migrants in our democratic, social and economic institutions was of fundamental importance for our economies, for development, and for social cohesion.