16/02/2007 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Senator Paschal Mooney (Ireland, ALDE), who is preparing a report for PACE’s Migration Committee on “Europe’s response to humanitarian disasters”, will meet on 19 February in Geneva with the Director of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the President and the Director-General of the ICRC and the Directors of the Humanitarian Offices of Finland and Germany (who have been co-ordinating aid on behalf of the EU).
16/02/2007 | Monitoring
Former Justice Minister Herta Däubler-Gmelin (Germany, SOC) and Senator Urszula Gacek (Poland, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs of PACE’s Monitoring Committee, will be in London on 24 and 25 February to assess whether or not electoral fraud in the United Kingdom merits the opening of the Assembly’s full monitoring procedure
15/02/2007 | News
"There is a real proliferation of observer delegations and groups involved in election observation. The concept of an International Election Observation Mission has proven its validity with the test of time," PACE President René van der Linden said today at the opening of a conference on the parliamentary dimension of election observation, organised by the PACE in Strasbourg. Mr van der Linden called on the participants “to give serious thought to the proposal for a formal inter-institutional arrangement”, which would "involve all its members on the principle of equality, spell out its operational modalities and focus on the substance of the findings".
15/02/2007 | News
Adressing the Conference on "The parliamentary dimension of election observation", organized by the PACE in Strasbourg, Assembly President René van der Linden today called for greater involvement of experienced politicians in election observation. “Parliamentary observers have their duties to their constituencies and parliaments and are in no position to ensure a long-term presence in the field. However, their personal experience as democratically elected representatives allows them to feel the political temperature with a short-term observation presence. On that basis they can make sound political judgments and give valuable recommendations. Therefore, it would be important to constitute a pool of experienced politicians and involve them in election observation.”
14/02/2007 | News
“I congratulate the European Parliament on its substantial work, which provides confirmation of the main conclusions of my own interim report, adopted by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly in June 2006,” said Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly rapporteur Dick Marty, reacting to today’s vote in the European Parliament. “The ‘spider's web’ I described has been revealed to be even more dense thanks to the investigations carried out by Mr Fava, to whom I pay tribute.” Mr Marty went on: “The Fava report is part of the drive for truth that makes me persevere in my ongoing work to establish the full facts and determine the necessary action to prevent such violations occurring in future. This work is not over yet!"
13/02/2007 | President
On the occasion of the inaugural policy speech of the new President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering, PACE President René van der Linden today met the three leading figures of the EU - Mr Poettering, European Council President Angela Merkel and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso - and again reiterated his desire for close co-operation between the Council of Europe and the EU. With Mr Poettering, he discussed in particular the idea of a joint event with the European Parliament on the theme of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue.
13/02/2007 | Political Affairs and Democracy
The Political Affairs Committee, meeting in Paris on 13 February, designated Andrea Rigoni (Italy, EPP/CD)as the rapporteur on the situation in Belarus. Mr Rigoni is one of the 20 PACE Vice-Presidents and leader of the Italian PACE delegation.
13/02/2007 | News
PACE's Political Affairs Committee, meeting in Paris, has deplored the outburst of violence which accompanied demonstrations against the Ahtisaari plan in Pristina during the week-end. In a statement, the committee urged both the Serbian and the Kosovo Albanian negotiating teams to engage in a "constructive and pragmatic dialogue".
12/02/2007 | Election observation
This conference organised by PACE will take place in Strasbourg on 15 and 16 February 2007 and will bring together parliamentarians and other key actors in election observation seeks to strengthen the parliamentary pillar of election observation and facilitate the application of common standards. PACE President René van der Linden will deliver an opening speech on 15 February at 10h00, followed by statements by João Soares, Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Elmar Brok, Co-Chairperson of the European Parliament Election Coordination Group, Danièle Smadja, Director of the European Commission Multilateral Relations and Human Rights Department, and Halvdan Skard, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.
06/02/2007 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
At the end of a two-day visit to Moldova (5-6 February), Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, who is preparing a report for PACE on the disappearance of new-born babies for illegal adoption, made the following statement:"I have had a positive visit, involving fruitful exchanges of view with interlocutors from all parts of society including the authorities, for which I am grateful. All share my aim of protecting new-born children from illegal adoption, a complex and hidden crime. However, before coming to any final conclusions concerning the situation here, I need to gather additional information, including from other countries. I intend to leave any further comment until my final report is made public later this year."
02/02/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Speaking at the 3rd World Congress against the Death Penalty in Paris on 2 February, PACE rapporteur Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) stressed that “the Council of Europe’s experience has shown that a moratorium is an excellent way to smoothly move away from executions. When the general population realises that stopping executions in no way leads to an increase in murders or other serious crimes – and it is a well-documented fact that this is definitely not the case, even to the contrary – then there is much less resistance against the final abolition of the death penalty in public opinion.”
01/02/2007 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold (Switzerland, SOC), who is preparing a report for PACE on the disappearance of new-born babies for illegal adoption, will visit Moldova from 4 to 6 February 2007. She will seek to investigate allegations of newspaper advertisements targeting unmarried mothers who might be willing to sell their children for illegal adoption, and to look into the possible illegal trafficking of babies.