04/06/2024 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the international community has imposed sanctions to counter this aggression and hold Russia accountable for its violations of international law. PACE’s Political Affairs and Democracy Committee condemned...
03/06/2024 | Elections
A 9-member delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), led by Oleksii Goncharenko (Ukraine, EC/DA), will travel to Bulgaria from 7 to 10 June to observe the conduct of the early parliamentary elections on 9 June. The delegation will meet the team of election...
03/06/2024 | Secretary General of the Assembly
Speaking at the 4th International Congress of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 27th May in Athens, PACE Secretary General Despina Chatzivassiliou-Tsovilis recalled that freedom of religion was a fundamental human right, and one of the foundations of our democratic society. “I believe...
31/05/2024 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
PACE's Culture Committee has condemned the systematic erasure of Ukrainian cultural identity by the Russian Federation following the 2014 occupation of Crimea and parts of Donbas and the 2022 full-scale invasion. The parliamentarians highlighted extensive policies of "Russification", historical...
31/05/2024 | President
Theodoros Rousopoulos, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), will make a working visit to Luxembourg on 5-6 June. During his visit, he will meet the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, the Foreign Affairs Minister, as well as the members of the Executive...
30/05/2024 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Since the start of Russia's war of aggression on 24 February 2022, millions of Ukrainians have left their homes to seek refuge. According to the UNHCR, two years later more than 5.9 million Ukrainian citizens have taken refuge in Europe, and more than 500,000 have moved outside Europe. There are...
30/05/2024 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
The Migration Committee, meeting in Paris today, expressed its concern about the use of explosive weapons in populated areas – particularly landmines – which often results in the displacement of people within and across borders, and later impedes their voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable...
30/05/2024 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
A PACE committee has warned against the gradual erosion of the right to seek asylum, which will eventually lead to “chaos and suffering”, and urged the Council of Europe’s 46 member states to avoid resorting to “policies of deterrence” to dissuade migrants and asylum-seekers from travelling to...
24/05/2024 | Standing Committee
“In this 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe, we may feel that European citizens have lost faith in the European values and in our democratic institutions – some are even turning to exclusion, hatred and populism,” Ingjerd Schou (Norway, EPP/CD) said today, opening of a current affairs...
24/05/2024 | Standing Committee
PACE’s Standing Committee, meeting in Vilnius, held a current affairs debate on “Recent challenges to democracy in Georgia”, focusing primarily on the controversial adoption by the Georgian Parliament of the law on transparency of foreign influence and the mass protests it has sparked. Opening...
24/05/2024 | President
In the framework of the PACE Standing Committee meeting, held today in Vilnius, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Theodoros Rousopoulos, made the following statement: “At the start of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council...
24/05/2024 | Standing Committee
PACE’s Standing Committee has urged a move away from a “discriminatory and stigmatising” legal approach which allows the involuntary detention of persons belonging to certain categories, such as those with psychiatric disorders. “These persons have been referred to as ‘socially maladjusted...