22/05/2024 | Monitoring
Following the publication of the Venice Commission’s urgent opinion on the law on transparency of foreign influence, the PACE co-rapporteurs for Georgia, Claude Kern (France, ALDE) and Edite Estrela (Portugal, SOC), have urged the Georgian authorities to repeal this law. “Our Georgian...
17/05/2024 | President
PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos has hailed the “revolutionary spirit” of the Council of Europe – marking its 75th anniversary this month – and pledged that the Assembly would be true to its founding mission of giving form to the aspirations of the peoples of Europe. “We are vested with the...
17/05/2024 | President
“As long as our principles gather us around the same table of mutual understanding, there is still hope, even though the landscape ahead is rocky,” said PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos, at the opening of the 133rd Session of the Committee of Ministers, in the presence of the Foreign Affairs...
17/05/2024 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“There is an urgent need to act to guarantee equal rights, freedom and justice for all,” stressed Béatrice Fresko-Rolfo (Monaco, ALDE), PACE General Rapporteur on the rights of LGBTI people, on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (17 May). “Despite significant...
17/05/2024 | News
As the Council of Europe marks its 75th anniversary, leading members of the Assembly have been reflecting on how the organisation has shaped their country in a series of online video birthday tributes. PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos invited the heads of the Assembly’s national delegations...
17/05/2024 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) held a public hearing marking the 90th anniversary of Ukraine's Holodomor, or Great Famine, which was livestreamed in English on Tuesday 21 May 2024. The Holodomor was a mass famine in grain-growing areas of the country which began in the...
17/05/2024 | Monitoring
Following a domestic court judgment delivered yesterday in the so-called Kobane case, the PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Türkiye, Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC) and Jill Mortimer (United Kingdom, EC/DA), made the following statement: “We are dismayed at yesterday’s verdict of the...
16/05/2024 | President
“With its unique mandate, expertise, moral authority and a certain flexibility of action which others might lack, the Council of Europe has a clear role and purpose in today’s international landscape, and is capable of reacting to new challenges and of taking proactive steps in previously unknown...
14/05/2024 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on “The detention of Julian Assange and its chilling effects on human rights”, Sunna Ævarsdóttir (Iceland, SOC), has concluded a two-day fact-finding visit to the United Kingdom, during which she met Julian Assange in...
14/05/2024 | President
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President Theodoros Rousopoulos strongly condemned the attacks on civil society activists, media representatives and members of the opposition, as well as the use of disproportionate force by the police against peaceful demonstrators who oppose the...
13/05/2024 | Political Affairs and Democracy
"Securing the release of hostages and preventing any further catastrophic escalation of the conflict are the two priorities demanding the full commitment of all parties at this critical juncture,” said Piero Fassino (Italy, SOC), PACE rapporteur on recent developments in the Middle East, in a...
09/05/2024 | Election observation
A North Macedonia’s presidential run-off and parliamentary elections were competitive and an extensive and pluralistic campaign helped voters to make an informed choice, but marred by negative rhetoric with nationalistic slogans, as well as shortcomings in the legislation and insufficient...