17/04/2007 | News
"It is our aim that the Memorandum of Understanding with the European Union should be signed at the ministerial session of 11 May," said San Marino Foreign Minister Fiorenzo Stolfi, Chair of the Committee of Ministers, reporting to the Assembly on the work of the Committee of Ministers. Mr Stolfi also emphasised the promotion of intercultural dialogue and its religious dimension, another priority for the San Marino chairmanship. He welcomed agreement on the principle of annual Council of Europe meetings on this subject.
17/04/2007 | News
PACE today voted to continue its policy of requiring that at least one of the three candidates put forward by a Contracting Party for the post of judge of the European Court should be a member of the “under-represented sex”, currently women. By 41 votes to 17, the Assembly rejected a proposal of its Legal Affairs Committee to allow single-sex lists in exceptional cases. "The Assembly should have the choice to elect a female judge to the European Court of Human Rights if it wishes to do so," said Jose Mendes Bota, rapporteur for opinion of the Committee on Equal Opportunities.
17/04/2007 | News
San Marino Foreign Minister Fiorenzo Stolfi, Chair of the Council fo Ministers Committee of Ministers, today awarded the title of Knight of the Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of St Agatha to Assembly President René van der Linden. This is the highest distinction in the Order of Saint Agatha. It is awarded to leading figures from the worlds of politics and culture who are closely associated with San Marino.
17/04/2007 | News
During a debate on a proposition by PACE’s Political Affairs Committee for a code of good practice for political parties, the Assembly stressed the need to “prevent the decline of authority of political parties” in order to preserve democracy in Europe. The Assembly discussed the crisis of legitimacy and credibility certain parties are facing – accused of corruption in particular – in many Council of Europe member states. To remedy this situation, the parlementarians called for the preparation of a code of good practice, guidelines which would reinforce democratic progress in Europe and limit the decline in confidence in political parties.
17/04/2007 | News
Democratic forces in Belarus should overcome ideological differences to "reach for and preserve unity", according to PACE's Sub-Committee on Belarus. In a statement approved today, following a round table with opposition leaders, the sub-committee called on them to act in "a forward-looking manner" and start preparing the ground for the 2008 parliamentary elections. "Belarusians should be aware that they have a democratic option and they should be free to choose it," the parliamentarians said.
16/04/2007 | News
At the opening of its Spring Session 2007, this morning in Strasbourg, PACE decided to hold an urgent debate on the functioning of democratic institutions in Ukraine on Thursday 19 April. Two days earlier, on Tuesday 17 at noon, Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych will address the parliamentarians. PACE also decided to hold urgent debates on the situation in the Middle East and on the draft convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. The situation in Sudan and Darfur will be discussed during a current affairs debate on Thursday 19. A special debate on the state of human rights and democracy in Europe will also be a highlight of the session.
16/04/2007 | News
“The European Union has the economic influence and, increasingly, the foreign policy coordination that can bring pressure to bear abroad. Nevertheless, the Council of Europe’s statutory mission as a value community remains fundamental to Europe’s moral authority, offering indispensable added value to the work of the EU”, said PACE President René van der Linden, in his opening speech to the spring part-session of the Parliamentary Assembly. “In this, the 50th Anniversary of the European Community, our two organisations must reinforce their cooperation to meet today’s challenges and threats together and make Europe a real, equal partner to the United States on the world stage”, he added.
16/04/2007 | News
There is “an urgent need” for dialogue between the ruling majority and the opposition to improve the political climate in Azerbaijan, the Parliamentary Assembly said today at the end of a debate on the Honouring of obligations and commitments in the country. The parliamentarians listed a series of steps the authorities should now take for Azerbaijan to meet its Council of Europe commitments. These range from a possible constitutional revision to strengthen the role of parliament through to more and better defence lawyers and efforts to “maintain the momentum” of last year’s negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh. On political prisoners, they urged better functioning of the Task Force set up to look into this question. The Assembly resolved to pursue the monitoring procedure, and called for the 2008 presidential elections to be “the first in the history of the country” to comply with international standards.
16/04/2007 | News
PACE President René van der Linden today launched the first Parliamentary Assembly video-blog. René van der Linden answered live from Strasbourg some fifty questions sent via the PACE website by the citizens of the 46 Council of Europe member States and other continents. Respect for human rights, CIA secret detentions, the situation in Russia and in Ukraine, co-operation between the European organisations and gender equality were some of the questions discussed. The President said that he hopes to organise further video-blogs in the future.
16/04/2007 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
In a statement adopted today, PACE’s Sub-Committee on the Media said it was “deeply concerned” for the safety of the BBC reporter Alan Johnston, kidnapped a month ago in Gaza. Meeting on the fringe of the Assembly’s plenary session in Strasbourg, the sub-committee called on the kidnappers to release him immediately. This was echoed by the Chair of PACE's Culture Committee, Jacques Legendre, who added that "enough was enough" and that there could be no democracy without freedom of expression.
13/04/2007 | Election observation
The forthcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia on May 12 will be a crucial touchstone for the degree of maturity of democracy in Armenia, concluded the four-member (*) pre-election delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) at the end of a visit to Yerevan from 10 to 13 April 2007. The delegation was heartened by the assurances of the Armenian authorities, and all political stakeholders it met, that it is their intention to hold elections that fully meet Council of Europe standards for democratic elections. In this respect the delegation stresses that it is the responsibility of all parties and stakeholders to adhere to the rules that a genuinely democratic process demands.
05/04/2007 | Monitoring
Although “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” has made “enormous strides” to meet its Council of Europe commitments, state authorities should significantly speed up the implementation of reforms in the areas of justice, rule of law, decentralisation and fight against corruption and organised crime, PACE’s Monitoring Committee says in an information report made public following a recent fact-finding visit of the Committee’s Chair Eduard Lintner (Germany, EPP/CD).