18/01/2007 | Monitoring
“I have positive impressions of the progress made by ‘the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’ in such a short time,” said the chair of PACE’s Monitoring Committee Eduard Lintner (EPP/CD, Germany), speaking at the end of a three-day visit to Skopje (16-18 January 2007) in the framework of post-monitoring dialogue with the country. Mr Lintner said he was happy there was general consensus on achieving EU and NATO membership, and the large-scale reforms needed to achieve those goals, but said the speed of progress had recently slowed. He called for “concentrated efforts” by the new government to engage all political forces in the process of carrying out vital reforms.
18/01/2007 | News
PACE President René van der Linden today started a two-day visit to Belarus with a view to encouraging democratic developments and promoting Council of Europe values in the country. The President met with the Speaker of the House of Representatives Vladimir Konoplev, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Martynov, and with members of the opposition, including Akexander Milinkievich. René van der Linden called for the release of all those imprisoned for allegedly political reasons, and called for dialogue based on the implementation of Council of Europe values such as the freedom of expression, the organisation of free and fair elections and the abolition of the death penalty. He offered to his counterparts the use of Council of Europe instruments, such as the Venice Commission and the Committee for the Prevention of Torture. The PACE President also called for the intensification of students exchanges between Belarus and other European countries, and supported the reform of visa procedure that would make them more straightforward.
17/01/2007 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
A report aimed at improving the situation of women in the South Caucasus has just been adopted by PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. According to the rapporteur, Vera Oskina (Russia, EDG), the situation is worrying on several counts, the first of these being the participation of women in political life: the parliamentarians deplored the current levels of representation in the parliaments concerned - 4.6% in Armenia, 10.5% in Azerbaijan and 9.4% in Georgia - and recommended an increase in the minimum rate of female representation.
16/01/2007 | Session
A debate on the current situation in Kosovo on Wednesday 24 January, with the participation of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on the future status process for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, is one of the highlights of the PACE Winter Session (Strasbourg, 22-26 January 2007). His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I is due to address the Assembly on Monday 22 January, as a contribution to intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, one of the priorities of PACE President René van der Linden. Also invited to address the Assembly are the Prime Ministers of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, and Greece, Kostas Karamanlis.
16/01/2007 | Election observation
A 19-member team of observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), headed by Tadeusz Iwinski (Poland, SOC), will observe the 21 January parliamentary elections in Serbia alongside observers from OSCE/ODIHR and the OSCE and NATO Parliamentary Assemblies. Members of the delegation will meet with representatives of political parties, as well as with NGOs and the media, before deploying around the country to observe the conduct of the vote, including in Kosovo.
12/01/2007 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
At its meeting in Paris on 15 January, PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men is due to approve a draft text on the situation of women in the South Caucasus (Vera Oskina, Russia, EDG). Committee members will also have an exchange of views with consultant expert Svetlana Polenina (Russia) on respect for the principle of equality in civil law. Draft agenda.
12/01/2007 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
A 93-page handbook published today sets out ways parliamentarians can press for the application of the new Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings by introducing legislation, allocating funding and lobbying their governments. This ground-breaking treaty – not yet in force, and so far ratified by only three countries – sets out ways to prosecute traffickers and protect victims, overseen by a monitoring mechanism. “Parliamentarians have a vital role to play in getting this convention adopted and in fighting this new form of slavery,” said PACE President René van der Linden. “This excellent handbook is full of practical advice to help them do that.”
11/01/2007 | Monitoring
In the framework of the post-monitoring dialogue with “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, the Chairman of PACE Monitoring Committee Eduard Lintner (Germany, EPP/CD) will visit Skopje from 15 to 18 January 2006. Mr Lintner will hold talks with the President of the Republic, the Speaker of the Parliament and the Ministers of Justice, Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, Education and Local Self-Government. He will also meet with the different representatives of political groups represented in the Parliament, NGOs and ethnic minorities.
11/01/2007 | President
PACE President René van der Linden will visit Belarus from 18 to 20 January 2007 to engage in a dialogue with the authorities, the opposition and civil society - including students - with a view to encouraging democratic developments and promoting Council of Europe values in the country. Mr van der Linden will address the main concerns of the Parliamentary Assembly with regard to Belarus, including the functioning of the opposition, imprisonments for allegedly political reasons, freedom of expression and the death penalty. He will also identify areas and methods of possible concrete assistance programmes to Belarus.
10/01/2007 | News
PACE President René van der Linden, is to make a working visit to London on Monday 15 January, when he will meet the United Kingdom’s Minister for Europe Geoff Hoon. He is also due to meet senior foreign affairs analysts at Chatham House (the Royal Institute of Foreign Affairs).
09/01/2007 | President
PACE President René van der Linden will make a working visit to Moscow from 10 to 12 January 2007. During his stay, he will have an audience with His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia (12 January) and will meet Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as well as the Speakers of the State Duma and the Federation Council, Boris Gryzlov and Sergey Mironov (11 January) and the Russian delegation to PACE. Meetings with NGO representatives and the Director of the “Novaya Gazeta” newspaper are also scheduled on Thursday 11 January.
05/01/2007 | News
“We express our solidarity with the Iraqi people and reiterate our unequivocal condemnation of the crimes committed by the regime of Saddam Hussein, but we also call for an immediate end of executions and the abolition of the death penalty in Iraq. The message to our friends in Iraq is based on our own experience in Europe; namely that the death penalty violates human rights, and that without human rights there can be no justice, peace and reconciliation “