20/06/2005 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
"We do not open our hearts and purses enough for refugees, and their rights are all too often forgotten," said the Chair of PACE’s Refugees Sub-committee Ruth Gaby Vermot-Mangold (Switzerland, SOC), speaking on World Refugee Day. She added: "It is absolutely essential that Council of Europe member states deal much more closely with this issue than they are doing today. Being a refugee is dramatic for any individual, for children and for families."
15/06/2005 | Session
An assessment of Russia’s honouring of its Council of Europe obligations and commitments and a report on the media and terrorism which calls on journalists to refrain from disseminating shocking terrorist images are among highlights of the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which takes place in Strasbourg from 20 to 24 June 2005. The Assembly will also look beyond the Council of Europe’s 46 member states, with a possible current affairs debate on the situation in the Republics of Central Asia (*) and a debate on the situation in the Middle East, as well as a report on the disappearance of women and girls in Mexico (a Council of Europe observer state).
13/06/2005 | President
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), René van der Linden, today strongly condemned yesterday’s execution of four convicted murderers by the Palestinian Authority. "Death is not justice and will never be," he said. "The death penalty will not help to curb violence. In a long process of sharing our experience, we have succeeded in making the territory of our 46 member states a de facto death-penalty-free zone. Our ambition is now to extend it beyond the European continent," the PACE President stressed.
13/06/2005 | President
"The release of Florence Aubenas and Hussein Hanoun is excellent news," PACE President René van der Linden said today. "Freedom of the media is the cornerstone of a democratic society and the overwhelming international solidarity shown demonstrates how strongly the international community feels about defending this principle. During a plenary debate next week in Strasbourg on ‘The media and terrorism’, Council of Europe parliamentarians will be looking at the broader issues behind this event, including how to protect journalists’ freedom to report without aiding terrorists."
10/06/2005 | President
PACE President René van der Linden will meet European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in Brussels on Monday to discuss how the Council of Europe can contribute to the EU’s neighbourhood policy, the remit of the new Fundamental Rights Agency and the so-called “Juncker report” on the relationship between the EU and the Council of Europe, among other things. He will also raise the question of the EU’s accession to Council of Europe conventions.
06/06/2005 | Bureau
At its meeting in Lisbon this morning the Assembly Bureau proposed that PACE hold two urgent debates at its next plenary session (20-24 June 2005), one on follow-up to the third Council of Europe Summit and the other on constitutional reform in Armenia, as well as a current affairs debate on the situation in the republics of Central Asia. The Bureau also decided to invite Soren Jessen-Petersen, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Kosovo, to attend the debate on the current situation in Kosovo. The Assembly itself decides its own final agenda on the first day of the session.
06/06/2005 | News
The promotion of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, support for the cultural dimension of the Council of Europe and the strengthening of social cohesion in Europe are among the priorities of the Portuguese chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. In Lisbon, Diogo Freitas do Amaral, Chair-in-Office of the Committee of Ministers, informed PACE's Standing Committee that he wished to co-operate with the Assembly in achieving these priority objectives. Referring to the rejection of the EU’s Constitutional Treaty in France and the Netherlands, Mr Freitas do Amaral asked the Assembly to continue to work towards European unity in the face of the economic and social challenges with which Europeans had to contend. PACE President René van der Linden announced that the Assembly was to address the issue at the opening of its next plenary session (20-24 June 2005).
06/06/2005 | Standing Committee
"The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" has succeeded in overcoming the crisis in 2001 and is about to finalise a legislative framework capable of ensuring internal stability, according to PACE’s Standing Committee. The country must, however, step up its efforts to remedy certain shortcomings in its democratic system, the parliamentarians said. Adopting a text this morning, the Committee called on the Council of Europe to help the authorities in Skopje strengthen democracy, pluralism and the rule of law and protect national minorities and social cohesion. According to the parliamentarians, the country should continue, in its foreign relations, to pursue the objective of closer integration with European and international organisations and address the outstanding problems with its neighbours, in particular the dispute with Greece over the question of its name and the final decision on where the border with Serbia and Montenegro (Kosovo) will lie.
06/06/2005 | News
While strikes continue to form an essential ultimate tool for employees to improve their conditions, greater attention needs to be paid to the rights of ordinary citizens to pursue their daily lives unhindered and to the right of society to protect their well-being and its own essential functioning. PACE's Standing Committee today adopted a text on the economic implications of the right to strike in essential services that calls on the governments of the member states to harmonise as far as possible national legislation governing strikes in essential services so that citizens throughout the Council of Europe area can be protected adequately and in a homogeneous manner.
03/06/2005 | Monitoring
In the last three years Russia made little progress regarding its outstanding commitments as a Council of Europe member state, concludes a report on the honouring of obligations and commitments by the Russian Federation, adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly’s Monitoring Committee (PACE) and made public today. A draft resolution, which was prepared by David Atkinson (United Kingdom, EDG) and Rudolf Bindig (Germany, SOC), and will be debated at the PACE summer session in Strasbourg (20-24 June) lists some positive achievements, such as the adoption of a new criminal procedure code, reduction of the number of prisoners in detention centres and the conclusion of border agreements with several neighbour states. On the other hand, the commitments on which the progress is stalling include the formal abolition of the death penalty, the withdrawal of Russian troops from Moldova and the obligation to bring to justice those found responsible for human rights violations in Chechnya.
02/06/2005 | President
Addressing the 12th Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, PACE President René van der Linden today underlined the need to re-connect Europe with its citizens. “For me, the biggest challenge is to bring Europe to the people. Closer to their views, hopes, ideas, and criticisms. Regrettably, today many of our citizens consider European architecture to be more an office building for bureaucrats rather than a home for themselves. We need to re-connect Europe with its citizens. This challenge must be met, in particular, by the two Council of Europe bodies that are composed of representatives having a direct democratic mandate from the citizens, namely PACE and the Congress”, he said.
02/06/2005 | President
René van der Linden meets the head of UEFA, Europe’s governing body for football, on 3 June to discuss, among other things, ethics and anti-racism in the sport as well as the possibility of establishing a Europe-wide prize with UEFA's backing.