24/10/2005 | President
Addressing the newly elected Albanian Parliament in Tirana today, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) René van der Linden called for increased efforts to fight corruption and organised crime, to implement legislative and electoral reform and to support the freedom and independence of the press.“Six years after my first visit to Albania, this country is on its way to becoming a more open and liberal society. However, illicit influence on public life by organised crime, endemic corruption and poverty amongst certain segments of Albanian society, and a weak and inefficient judiciary system and state administration, are some of the ills that continue to impede progress. That is what the Albanian people want to see change. You now face the challenge of living up to their expectations", the President said.
21/10/2005 | President
PACE President René van der Linden, at an event organised by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung on Thursday 20 October 2005 in Brussels, proposed that the European Union’s unspent resources in the field of democracy and human rights should be pooled in a combined European Union/Council of Europe fund to finance joint programmes intended for the development and consolidation of democracy, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. He will make this proposal to Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, who has been asked to prepare a report on the relations between the Council of Europe and the European Union.
20/10/2005 | News
The fight against corruption and organised crime, legislative and electoral reform and freedom of the press are among the main topics which René van der Linden, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will be discussing during his official visit to Albania from 24 to 26 October 2005. The visit is in response to an invitation from the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, Jozefina Topalli, with whom the President will hold talks on Monday 24 October. He will also meet the President of the Republic Alfred Moisiu, Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the Ministers of Justice, Foreign Affairs, Education and European Integration.
20/10/2005 | Political Affairs and Democracy
The concept of preventive war, transatlantic relations and UN reform are among topics to be discussed during a series of meetings between the Parliamentary Assembly's Political Affairs Committee and Canadian parliamentarians and foreign policy experts in Ottawa on 24 and 25 October 2005. The parliamentarians will meet Canadian former Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy, and Canada’s former ambassador to the United Nations Paul Heinbecker. They will also hold an exchange of views with Canadian Minister for International Co-operation Aileen Carroll on promoting democracy and good governance.
20/10/2005 | President
Speaking following today’s meeting of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly’s Presidential Committee and the European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents in Brussels, Assembly President René van der Linden said: “I am confident that the European Parliament will address the problems raised with a view to the mandate of the future EU Fundamental Rights Agency and will help to avoid duplication, which would waste resources and put standards and achievements at risk. There can only be one standard in the field of human rights protection, the one set by the European Convention on Human Rights and enforced by the Court of the Council of Europe for 800 million European citizens”, René van der Linden said.
19/10/2005 | President
On 20 October 2005, in Brussels (Belgium) a joint meeting of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly's (PACE) Presidential Committee and the European Parliament's (EP) Conference of Presidents, will bring together the President of the EP Josep Borrell and PACE President René van der Linden, as well as the respective Chairpersons of the political groups, to discuss the new EU Fundamental Rights Agency and its Neighbourhood policy.
18/10/2005 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
More than one hundred national, regional and local elected representatives, members of governments, experts, international organisations and associations from about 50 countries, including Europe, the Maghreb, the Middle East and North America, participate in a conference on “Water Management: A Shared Responsibility”, in Strasbourg on 20 and 21 October 2005. This conference is a joint initiave of the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe to address water management as a challenge for local, regional and national decision-makers, including members of Parliament.
14/10/2005 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Parliamentarians from the Council of Europe and OSCE as well as members of the European Parliament will take part in a seminar on the situation of refugees and displaced persons in the region of the Stability Pact for South-East Europe, taking place in Skopje on 17 and 18 October 2005. As well as receiving an overview of the situation in the region, participants will discuss the problems of re-integrating internally displaced persons and refugees, the danger of explosive devices and the fate of missing persons.
14/10/2005 | Monitoring
György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD), the Chair of the Assembly's Monitoring Committee, visits Riga from 17 to 19 October 2005 to discuss progress in education reform and the speed of naturalisations with Latvian authorities as part of the Assembly’s "post-monitoring dialogue" with the country. He will meet the President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister as well as leaders of minority groups, and will visit both a Russian-medium and a Ukrainian-medium school in Riga.
13/10/2005 | President
Following the clashes that this morning spread to a school, airport and government buildings in Nalchik city, in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of Russia, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President René van der Linden addressed the following message to the President of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov and to the Chairman of the Federation Council Serguei Mironov: "On behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe I strongly condemn these barbaric attacks. I extend my deepest condolences to the families of the victims as well as our full solidarity with the Russian people. Whoever the authors are, they are nothing but criminals. No cause can justify terrorism and only the total rejection of violence as a means of political struggle can bring peace to the region. This attack shows the need to further improve international co-ordination against terrorism worldwide", he said.
13/10/2005 | News
According to the pre-electoral mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan on 6 November 2005 are a crucial opportunity for the Azerbaijani authorities to show that they have the political will and ability to organise democratic elections in line with Council of Europe standards and commitments that Azerbaijan itself subscribed to when joining the organisation. This is a chance Azerbaijan cannot afford to miss.
12/10/2005 | President
PACE President René van der Linden yesterday wrote to the Speaker of the Pakistan Parliament expressing on behalf of the Assembly his deep shock at the news of Saturday’s earthquake, expressing his deepest sympathy and extending his condolences. “Our thoughts are with the families of the victims,” the President wrote.