02/06/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE rapporteur Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE) will present his report on alleged secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers involving Council of Europe member states to the Legal Affairs Committee in Paris on Wednesday 7 June. The report is scheduled for debate during the plenary session of the 630-member Assembly in Strasbourg on Tuesday 27 June 2006.
02/06/2006 | Monitoring
At a meeting to be held in Paris on Tuesday 6 June, the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will be holding an exchange of views with the Presidents of the parliaments of the State Union and Serbian (to be confirmed) and Montenegrin, on the consequences of the referendum in Montenegro. The co-rapporteurs, Milos Budin (Italy, SOC) and Charles Goerens (Luxembourg, ALDE) will be present.
02/06/2006 | News
“Indeed, many European Muslim communities have already expressed their determination to take steps to prevent or combat extremism. The Council of Europe member states have, for their part, taken numerous measures to try to prevent extremist tendencies from emerging or gaining ground”, PACE rapporteur on European Muslim communities confronted with extremism, Daniel Goulet (France, ALDE) said at the end of the Hearing on this issue organised in Paris today.
02/06/2006 | Monitoring
Hanne Severinsen (Denmark, ALDE), who is visiting Bulgaria in the framework of post-monitoring dialogue with the country, today told a press conference: "Bulgaria needs to keep in mind long-term goals and perspectives, not the date of EU accession, in pursuing reforms". She also said the Venice Commission should be asked for its opinion on planned constitutional changes in Bulgaria, especially as regards the independence of the judiciary.
01/06/2006 | News
Following its decision last April to close its dialogue with the Parliament of Liechtenstein on the country's constitutional and political practices, following the entry into force in 2003 of the new Constitution, the Bureau of PACE has just published the report of its Ad Hoc Committee.
31/05/2006 | President
The European Conference of Presidents of Parliament has concluded in Tallinn with a call for follow-up action to further explore the possibilities of parliamentary diplomacy. In concluding remarks, PACE President Rene van der Linden proposed that the Assembly draw up a report on this subject, based on information drawn from all the parliaments, which would form the basis for a future meeting, and could also be debated in national parliaments.
31/05/2006 | Political Affairs and Democracy
PACE Political Affairs Committee is organising in Paris on Friday 2 June a Parliamentary hearing on European Muslim communities confronted with extremism, in the framework of the preparation of a report on the subject by Daniel Goulet (France, ALDE). The hearing will look at case studies from France, the Netherlands, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
31/05/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The PACE Rapporteur on the Implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Erik Jurgens (Netherlands, SOC), qualified discussions he had during his high-level two-day-visit in Moscow as most constructive. After the United Kingdom and Turkey, this visit was the third in a series of five – with the next visits scheduled for June and July to Ukraine and Italy respectively. Mr Jürgen’s report will focus on 13 member states in which important delays or difficulties have arisen.
30/05/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Erik Jurgens (Netherlands, SOC), who is preparing a report on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights for the Legal Affairs Committee of the PACE, is due to visit Moscow from 30 to 31 May 2006. He will meet members of parliament, the Presidents of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts, the General Prosecutor and Chief Military Prosecutor as well as members of the presidential administration. A press conference will be held at the headquarters of Interfax (2 Pervaya Tverskaya-Yamskaya Ul.), at 4.30 pm on 31 May.
30/05/2006 | Political Affairs and Democracy
The ad hoc sub-committee set up by PACE to organise a Round Table on the political situation in the Chechen Republic holds an exchange of views on Thursday 1st June in Paris with Chechen President Alu Alkhanov, the Chairman of the Council of the Chechen Republic Akhmarkhadzhi Gazikhanov and the Chair of the Chechen People’s Assembly Dukuvakha Abdurakhmanov. The sub-committee will decide at the opening of the hearing if it is open the press. Date: Thursday 1st June 2006 from 3 pm. to 6 pm. Place: Council of Europe Office, 55 avenue Kléber, Paris 16ème (Metro: Boissière)
29/05/2006 | President
PACE President Rene van der Linden seized the opportunity when meeting the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow today to invite him to address the Assembly at one of its next plenary meetings in Strasbourg. He stressed his firm intention to make the current chairmanship of Russia in the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers a success and qualified its beginning as promising. "This meeting was a milestone in further fostering ties between the CoE and Russia", said President Putin.
24/05/2006 | European Conference of Presidents of Parliament
The next European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments, organised by the Estonian Parliament in cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, will be held in Tallinn, Estonia, on 30 and 31 May 2006. Themes proposed: - "Bridge-building through Parliamentary Diplomacy...