27/04/2006 | News
René van der Linden has condemned the arrest in Belarus of opposition politicians at a peaceful rally and called for their immediate release - including Alexander Milinkevic, a candidate in the recent presidential elections.
26/04/2006 | News
On 28 April, the PACE President will be co-chairing an “International Conference on European Parliamentarianism: Past and Present" in St Petersburg.
25/04/2006 | Election observation
A five-member Assembly delegation, headed by Leo Platvoet (Netherlands, UEL), will make a pre-electoral visit to Azerbaijan from 27 to 28 April to assess preparations for the 13 May partial re-run of the parliamentary elections. In January the Assembly set out a list of urgent measures needed “to restore confidence in the electoral, and more generally the democratic process” in Azerbaijan – including ensuring that the election rerun in 10 constituencies fully abides by democratic principles. It said it would decide in June, in the light of progress made, whether to reconsider its decision to ratify the credentials of Azerbaijan's parliamentary delegation.
25/04/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
On 28 April the Assembly’s Sub-committee on Crime Problems and the Fight against Terrorism holds a hearing in the Hague (in camera) on the work of the International Criminal Court, with the participation of the Court's President Philippe Kirsch and Prosecutor General Luis Moreno-Ocampo. A day earlier, on 27 April, the parliamentarians make a study visit to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, also based in the Hague, attending a hearing of the Tribunal and meeting its President Judge Fausto Pocar and Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte.
18/04/2006 | News
PACE President René van der Linden has resolutely and unconditionally condemned the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, calling on all sides to do the same. In a statement he said: "The slaughter of innocent people can never be justified by any cause. It can never be ‘self-defence’. Only last week the Assembly called on Hamas to renounce violence and condemn terrorist actions. It must now do so, clearly and unambiguously. Killing innocents will never bring peace."
13/04/2006 | Session
Any agreement with the EU should acknowledge the Council of Europe as "the benchmark for human rights in Europe", PACE said today. Proposing ideas for inclusion in the coming memorandum of understanding between the two organisations, the parliamentarians said the EU should accede to the European Convention on Human Rights, avoid duplication by taking account of Council of Europe work – notably in its Neighbourhood Policy – and consider drafting standards together. It should also “take full account” of the personal report presented by Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday.
13/04/2006 | News
At the end of a debate on the future Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU, PACE today warned that the duplication of activities already undertaken by the Council of Europe could have “disadvantageous consequences” for European integration. “The fact of having two parallel institutions engaged in similar activities within the same geographical region would create new dividing lines in Europe (…) The apparent incoherency of creating a new EU body to duplicate work already satisfactorily undertaken elsewhere would cause confusion amongst a European public already uncertain about the process of European integration,” the adopted recommendation underlines. PACE called on all EU parliaments to give “serious consideration” to the creation of such an Agency.
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.