30/06/2006 | President
In a statement on the eve of the departure of the Tour de France from the city of Strasbourg, where the Council of Europe is based, PACE President René van der Linden called for the sport of cycling to scrupulously respect the ethical principles and educational values enshrined in the Organisation's 'Sport for All' Charter. "By bringing sportsmen and women and spectators of different nationalities together, the Tour de France helps create a climate of mutual understanding which reaches far beyond the roads down which the cyclists will travel," the President said.
30/06/2006 | News
The Assembly today called on European governments to prohibit changes in the use of fire-damaged mountain areas or woodland and extend bans on construction in burnt areas to a minimum of 30 years. Alarmed by the increase in forest fires (more than 12 million hectares went up in flames in the last 15 years in Europe), the parliamentarians listed some twenty prevention measures that could reverse this trend.
30/06/2006 | President
“The international community must declare racism offside,” said PACE President René van der Linden during anti-racism events held as part of the football World Cup in Berlin on Friday 30 June. The PACE President welcomed the measures adopted by the German government and FIFA, together with the United Nations, to ensure that the World Cup sent a clear anti-racism message. “I am delighted that the international community has teamed up against all forms of discrimination, by promoting the values of solidarity, respect and integration which lie at the heart of this sport and our democratic societies”, he said.
30/06/2006 | News
Academic freedom and university autonomy is “a fundamental requirement of any democratic society” and should be made a condition of Council of Europe membership, the Assembly said today. Universities should be independent of governments and free to choose how best to serve society, it said in a resolution. PACE also backed the Magna Charta Universitatum, a 1988 document setting out principles of academic freedom which has been signed by some 600 universities around the world.
29/06/2006 | News
Walter Schmied, Chairman of the Committee on Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs, today awarded the 2006 European Diplomas - part of the Europe Prize - to the mayors of the prize-winning local authorities. Mr Schmied said he welcomed the enthusiasm shown by European local authorities taking part in the ceremony: twenty-two mayors from eight European countries have travelled to Strasbourg. He stressed that "the Diploma not only acknowledges the work done at European level by the prize-winning municipalities but also serves as an incentive to develop it further through contacts with twin towns and other European partners".
29/06/2006 | News
In Strasbourg on Tuesday 27 June the Chairperson of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, Minodora Cliveti, opened the third meeting of PACE women parliamentarians, with the participation of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Yakin Ertürk, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, the Deputy Secretary General of the “46”, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, and the Mayor of Strasbourg, Fabienne Keller. The participants reaffirmed their commitment to making the parliamentary component of the Council of Europe campaign to combat violence against women a success and said they would support and promote the campaign activities. Welcoming the co-operation between the Council of Europe and the United Nations, Ms Ertürk said she was convinced that the campaign would have an impact worldwide and would support the work of all those fighting to eradicate this scourge.
29/06/2006 | News
Alexander Grushko believes constructive work on dialogue and cooperation in Europe calls for PACE involvement. Addressing the Assembly today, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Chair of the Committee of Ministers, stressed the importance of PACE’s role in ensuring the success of the Council of Europe Plan of Action adopted at the Warsaw Summit. He said the Russian Federation would pursue its cooperation with the Assembly to strengthen intercultural dialogue in Europe and promote pan-European measures against terrorism.
29/06/2006 | News
The people and politicians of Bosnia and Herzegovina must again discuss constitutional reform immediately after the October general elections, PACE said today, urging a reform which “replaces the mechanisms of ethnic representation by representation based on the civic principle”. In a resolution, the Assembly strongly regretted the Parliament’s rejection in April, by two votes, of a package of constitutional amendments. The three constituent peoples and their representatives must “leave behind their war-time thinking”, the parliamentarians said, and end the “perpetual confrontation and obstructionism” which has dominated Bosnian politics.
29/06/2006 | News
"May the Campaign itself be a catalyst for the transformation of attitudes, for generating an awareness of the benefits of diversity to our societies, for promoting a genuine participation in our societies, based on human rights of all, equal in all our myriad differences”, the President of PACE said today in his opening address of the European Youth Campaign for Diversity, Human Rights and Participation. Alexander Grushko, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, as well as Anneliese Oeschger, President of the INGO Conference and Bettina Schwarzmayr, Vice-President of the European Youth Forum, were among the speakers.
29/06/2006 | News
The Assembly today congratulated both Montenegro and Serbia on the peaceful and democratic way in which the dissolution of the State Union took place, and hoped that the outcome of the referendum “will contribute to the further regional stabilisation of the Western Balkans”. Pending a decision on the membership of the new State, PACE allowed the participation of an ad hoc delegation of the Parliament of Montenegro in its activities and announced the stepping up of its programme of parliamentary assistance to both Serbia and to Montenegro. PACE’s Monitoring Committee was instructed to contribute to the negotiation of the commitments that Montenegro will enter into upon accession.
29/06/2006 | News
The Assembly today decided to carry out country-by-country assessments of the extent to which all the Council of Europe’s member states are honouring their statutory and other conventional obligations. In a new procedure, it launched a three-year cycle of reports, based on comparative information from all the Council’s bodies, beginning with Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France and Germany. These states are invited to sign or ratify Council of Europe conventions or, in some cases, join Council monitoring bodies.
29/06/2006 | President
PACE President René van der Linden has welcomed today’s decision of the US Supreme Court that the ‘military tribunals’ set up by the Bush Administration to try Guantanamo detainees are illegal. "I am pleased that the Court has come to exactly the same conclusion as our Assembly, which pointed this out nearly three years ago," he said. "Anyone detained in Guantanamo, or anywhere else, who is alleged to have committed a crime should be tried without delay – but it must be a fair trial, with all the rights and safeguards of international law, long enshrined in the US justice system of which Americans are rightly proud. Anything less is unjust and undermines the fight against terrorism."