23/11/2007 | Standing Committee
The Committee of Ministers should consider ways of enhancing cooperation with the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) on identifying and preparing projects in the target group of countries in central, eastern and south-eastern Europe, according to a Recommendation adopted by the PACE Standing Committee in Bratislava today in presence of the Chairman of the CEB Governing Board, Lars Kolte.
23/11/2007 | Bureau
The Bureau of PACE, meeting yesterday in Bratislava, confirmed that the Assembly will send a cross-party delegation of up to 55 parliamentarians, headed by Luc van den Brande (Belgium, EPP/CD), to observe the Duma elections in Russia on 2 December 2007. “Our aim is to make a fair and impartial assessment of these elections, as for all member states subject to our monitoring procedure, and we look forward to working closely with fellow parliamentarians from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly,” said PACE President René van der Linden. Referring to ODIHR, he added: “I sincerely hope that it will reconsider its decision not to observe these elections.”
23/11/2007 | Bureau
Speaking to the press in Bratislava today, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President René van der Linden announced that following a PACE Bureau decision, the Assembly was going to observe the elections in Russia on 2 December 2007, in Georgia on 5 January 2008, in Monaco on 3 February and in Armenia on 19 February.
23/11/2007 | Standing Committee
The PACE today decided to establish a PACE "Gender Equality Prize", to reward action, schemes or initiatives which have been or are in the process of being carried out by political parties and which have brought about a significant improvement in women’s participation in elected assemblies, political parties and their respective executives.
23/11/2007 | Standing Committee
Meeting today in Bratislava, PACE Standing Committee adopted the following statement: "Involvement of men – a crucial factor for change to combat violence against women" presented by Ms Gülsün Bilgehan, Chairperson of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. Violence against women, including domestic violence, is a serious violation of human rights affecting all social milieus and every European country.
22/11/2007 | Bureau
The Bureau of PACE today decided that Italy should not face the Assembly’s monitoring procedure over its media situation – as demanded by some parliamentarians – but that the Assembly should closely follow the progress of new laws outlawing conflicts of interest, promoting media pluralism and guaranteeing the independence of Italy’s public service broadcaster RAI.
22/11/2007 | Bureau
The plane crash which killed former President Boris Trajkovski and eight others in February 2004 was “most likely accidental”, but there are “worrying” inconsistencies which need further enquiry, according to PACE Legal Affairs Committee. In an information note made public today, rapporteur Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC) said there were possible indications of negligence on the side of the NATO-led stabilization force SFOR, which could have prompted a cover-up, and pointed to “quite worrying” questions such as the long time needed to find the wreckage and the dysfunctional black box flight-recorder.
22/11/2007 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Andrej Zernovski (“the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, ALDE) of PACE's Migration Committee today urged European Health Ministers meeting in Bratislava to develop health services that are socially and culturally adjusted to the specific needs of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. “The right to health associated with access to health care is one of the basic universal human rights and should be equally applied to all people including migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and displaced persons”, stated Mr Zernovski.
20/11/2007 | President
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), René van der Linden, has been awarded one of the highest and unique honours of the French Republic: Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur. The insignia were presented to him by the Ambassador of the French Republic to the Netherlands, Jean-Michel Gaussot, on behalf of President Nicolas Sarkozy.
19/11/2007 | Standing Committee
PACE Standing Committee will meet in Bratislava on Friday 23 November 2007, to discuss Slovakia’s priorities for its coming Chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s executive body, the Committee of Ministers. Following the opening of the meeting by PACE President René van der Linden, and a welcoming address by the Speaker of the Slovak National Council Pavol Paška, the committee is due to hold an exchange of views with Slovak Foreign Minister Ján Kubiš, who will chair the Committee of Ministers for the next six months.
19/11/2007 | President
Addressing a conference organised in Aachen by the Parliamentary Assembly and the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, PACE President René van der Linden today announced the inauguration in 2008 of a European Day for Integration and Intercultural Tolerance as a part of PACE’s contribution to the European Year of Inter-cultural Dialogue. “This will be a clear and visible sign of our shared commitment to making this goal a top political priority for Europe”, PACE President said. The two day conference, mainly concerned with encouraging respect between religions, will be considering how migrants and receiving societies can improve intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding.
14/11/2007 | President
“I welcome today’s announcement by the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament that the state of emergency in Georgia is to be lifted on Friday, as we had urged,” said PACE President René van der Linden. “I sincerely hope that this will place Georgia back on the normal democratic path that its people deserve. Furthermore, I call on the authorities to ensure that the forthcoming elections are carried out in full conformity with the democratic standards of the Council of Europe.” PACE’s co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Georgia, Matyas Eörsi (Hungary, ALDE) and Kastriot Islami (Albania, SOC), made a snap visit to the country last week.