10/04/2006 | News
The Assembly is to hold two urgent debates during its Spring session – one on the “Belarus: in the aftermath of the Presidential election of 19 March 2006”, on Thursday morning, and the other entitled “stop trafficking in women before the FIFA World Cup”, to be discussed on Wednesday morning. The parliamentarians were approving the final order of business on the opening day of the session.
10/04/2006 | News
Thomas Hammarberg, the new Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights who took up his duties on 1 April, said in his speech before the PACE that “the time has come to move on from rhetoric to reform, genuine reforms”. He added, “we will act as a watchdog to ensure that human rights are indeed respected”. He also said that he was looking forward to working with parliamentarians from member states in order to secure a higher level of human rights protection in all countries.
07/04/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“It is imperative that Strasbourg Court judgments are complied with,” said Erik Jurgens (Netherlands, SOC), rapporteur on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, at the end of a visit to Turkey (5-7 April 2006). But he added that he had received assurances from the Turkish authorities that all implementation issues were being addressed “as a matter of priority”. Judgments discussed concerned abuses by members of the security forces, unjustified interference with the freedom of expression and the dissolution of political parties, among others, as well as outstanding issues in the implementation of the Cyprus v. Turkey judgment.
07/04/2006 | Monitoring
“The need for political stability and economic prosperity of Russia are no alternatives to the need to further develop democracy and human rights, both should go hand in hand,” PACE’s newly-appointed co-rapporteurs said at the end of their first visit to the country from 3 to 5 April 2006. In a press statement, Luc Van den Brande (Belgium, EPP/CD) and Theodoros Pangalos (Greece, SOC) said Russia should set a “personal example” to other member states when it takes over the six-month Chairmanship of the organisation in May.
06/04/2006 | Monitoring
The Assembly’s co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Albania completed a three-day visit to the country today during which they met senior figures in the government, parliament and judiciary to update their assessment of Albania’s progress in fulfilling its commitments to the Council of Europe. Items discussed included the functioning of democratic institutions, electoral reform, the fight against corruption and organised crime, the functioning of the judiciary, implementation of legislation and local self-government as well as human rights issues such as freedom of the media and minority rights.
04/04/2006 | Session
Relations between the Council of Europe and the European Union will be a major theme of PACE's Spring session, which takes place in Strasbourg from 10 to 13 April 2006. The Assembly will be addressed on Tuesday by Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who will present his report on this subject, Romanian Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, representing the chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, the Federal Chancellor of Austria Wolfgang Schüssel, President of the Council of the European Union, and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso.
31/03/2006 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
PACE’s Culture Committee has strongly condemned the denial of academic freedom in Belarus. In a statement adopted at the end of a Prague colloquy, the committee denounced the “totally controlled” system of education in the country and the harrassment of non-conforming teachers and students.
31/03/2006 | President
In his speech at the 17th European People’s Party Congress in Rome, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the EPP’s founding, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) René van der Linden called for EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights as a crucial guarantee against new dividing lines in the implementation of human rights in Europe. He said that the European Union must take much greater advantage of the Council of Europe’s unique instruments and mechanisms for promoting democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
31/03/2006 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Sub-Committee on Agriculture and Food and the Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs of the PACE, meeting in Paris on 27 and 28 March 2006, discussed the bird flu crisis. Their Chairs, Daniel Goulet (France, ADLE) and Walter Schmied (Switzerland, ALDE), appeal to all member states, to national, regional and local authorities and to all relevant organisations within civil society to help circulate accurate information based on scientific fact.
31/03/2006 | President
At a private audience in Rome on 3 April, Pope Benedict XVI and Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President René van der Linden discussed questions of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue as well as relations between the Holy See and the Council of Europe. The President also presented a letter inviting His Holiness to address the Parliamentary Assembly.
28/03/2006 | President
Speaking at the end of a two-day visit to Moscow, held to discuss the priorities of the forthcoming Russian chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, PACE President René van der Linden stressed the necessity of establishing a strategic partnership between the Council of Europe and Russia based on mutual trust and close permanent contacts. "The forthcoming Russian chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers offers a great opportunity to open a new era in our relationship with Russia, ensuring that old rivalries will not be revived and that there will be no more dividing lines in Europe", he said.
27/03/2006 | News
A two-year programme of parliamentary assistance for the three Assemblies of the State Union and the two republics of Serbia and Montenegro begins today with a seminar in Strasbourg for civil servants from all three bodies. The 1.58 million euro programme, carried out jointly by PACE and the European Agency for Reconstruction, will involve help for harmonising these bodies’ rules with European norms and improving their administration, as well as providing expertise on the EU acquis. The overall aim is to promote “European-minded leadership and a constructive political dialogue” as part of helping Serbia and Montenegro to meet its Council of Europe obligations and commitments and achieve the aims of the EU’s Stabilisation and Association Process.