13/04/2006 | News
Elmar Brok, Chair of European Parliament’s (EP)Foreign Affairs Committee, called for enhanced co-operation between the EP and PACE to relaunch European values and to develop human rights. “The Council of Europe is a champion of human rights and we’re at your side in developing them,” he said today, addressing the Assembly. “We are counting on PACE’s help to develop stronger relations between the EU and the Council of Europe.”
13/04/2006 | News
PACE today called on the Belarussian authorities to “accede to the opposition’s demand for a re-run of the presidential election”, and ensure the pre-conditions exist for it to be free, fair and in line with international standards. At the end of an urgent debate, the parliamentarians encouraged Belarusian democratic forces to remain united and called on the authorities “to immediately release all those detained in connection with the March Presidential election”.
13/04/2006 | News
The Assembly today encouraged Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to continue their efforts to achieve peaceful and permanent settlements of the different conflicts in the region in order to enable voluntary returns of refugees and displaced persons. The parliamentarians also welcomed steps by Armenia and Azerbaijan and, to a lesser extent, Georgia, to begin local integration of refugees and IDPs, while stressing that there were still urgent humanitarian needs which would require international aid.
12/04/2006 | News
"I am determined to fully take advantage of Jean-Claude Juncker’s political vision in the process of conducting the future negotiations on the Memorandum of Understanding. We are all confident that the guidelines and the valuable ideas of this Report will undoubtedly give a decisive boost to the partnership between the two organisations" said Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Romania adressing the Assembly.
12/04/2006 | News
The Council of Europe must play a leading role in stepping up action to combat any resurgence in Nazi ideology, as well as racist and xenophobic trends in European society, PACE said today. In a resolution based on a report by Mikhail Margelov (Russia, EDG), the Assembly called for a major international conference to prepare such action. “Hitler’s ideas, however outrageous they look today, found sympathy in many European countries,” the parliamentarians said, pointing to worrying recent developments such as daubing of swastikas on graves, the use of Nazi symbols and attempts to deny the holocaust.
12/04/2006 | News
"The European idea has caused a radical switch in the awareness of the Balkan people, people that today prefer cooperation and joining together of the countries in the region. Today, more than ever, the common Balkan people are interested in economic development and global progress both of the region and of Europe in general", today said adressing the Assembly Vlado Buchkovski, Prime Minister of "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia".
11/04/2006 | Monitoring
The Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), meeting in Strasbourg this morning, adopted the following declaration: “Since Bosnia-Herzegovina’s accession to the Council of Europe, major progress has been achieved in building a stable, functional and efficient state. Examples are the setting up of a court at State level and the transfer or assumption of responsibilities in the fields of defence, intelligence, the judiciary, indirect taxation and the forthcoming police reform. It should be acknowledged however that these transfers of responsibilities from the Entities to the State level are unlikely to have happened without the High Representative having taken the lead.
11/04/2006 | News
PACE President René van der Linden has warmly welcomed the series of proposals made today by Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker for strengthening the partnership between the two European organisations – including a proposal that the European Union could become a member of the Council of Europe by 2010. The President said the Assembly would do “everything in its power” to put Mr Juncker’s recommendations into effect, stressing in particular that the Memorandum of Understanding currently being negotiated between the two bodies should take it fully into account.
11/04/2006 | News
PACE Monitoring Committee at its meeting today approved the public statement made by the co-rapporteurs on 7 April 2006 underlining that stability and democracy in Russia must go hand in hand, without any compromise of the fundamental values and principles that unite the 46 members of the organisation.
11/04/2006 | News
"Based on the same principles and values, we have the same goals," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said today, addressing the Assembly during a debate on the relations between the Council of Europe and the European Union. Referring to the next Russian chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, Mr Barroso said he hoped that Russia will use its considerable influence to persuade Belarus to take measures which allow that country to re-enter the European family of democracies.
11/04/2006 | News
The PACE today called on Hamas, the winner of the 25 January 2006 parliamentary elections, to renounce to violence, to disarm and to recognise Israel’s right to exist. According to the parliamentarians, the newly appointed Palestinian Government also has to take a clear stand on the peace negotiations and respect previous agreements. At the same time, the result of the parliamentary elections held in Israel on 28 March 2006 creates a new chance to resume a political dialogue and this opportunity must not be wasted. According to the PACE, Kadima, the party which won the elections, and its partners in a future government have a great responsibility to seek a solution based on a bilateral agreement.
11/04/2006 | News
A new judge of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Liechtenstein has been elected today. Mark Villiger, a Swiss national, has been elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from a list of three candidates put forward by the State of Liechtenstein. His term of office begins on 1 September of this year. He will replace Lucius Caflisch, who is retiring on reaching 70, the age-limit for the Court’s judges.