23/05/2005 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights meeting in Limassol (Cyprus) on 23 and 24 May had an exchange of views with the Cypriot authorities. Among the participants were Demetris Christofias, President of the House of Representatives, Kypros Chrysostomides, Government Spokesman as well as representatives of the Standing Committee on Legal affairs and Human Rights of the House of Representatives. Tomorrow, the Committee will hold a parliamentary hearing on enforced disappearances. It will hear testimony from the relatives of missing persons from the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, as well as from the Chechen Republic. The hearing will also focus on enforced disappearances in Latin America and in the North Caucasus.
17/05/2005 | News
Speaking at the Council of Europe’s Summit of Heads of State and Government in Warsaw today, Parliamentary Assembly President (PACE) René van der Linden called for much stronger co-operation with international organisations, in particular with the European Union. In this context he thanked Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker for having agreed to prepare a political report on the relations between the EU and the Council of Europe which he said “will certainly provide us with the necessary roadmap”. “
16/05/2005 | News
Speaking in Warsaw at the opening of the Third Council of Europe Summit of Heads of State and Government, Parliamentary Assembly President René van der Linden today called for more intercultural and inter-religious dialogue. “Fighting terrorism must be our priority. However, I do not believe in a clash of civilizations. There is only a clash between human civilization and barbarity. Hence the need for a much increased intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, building on our work in fighting racism, anti-semitism and xenophobia. The Council of Europe and its Assembly, with more than 630 directly elected representatives of the people, is the ideal forum for this dialogue”, Mr van der Linden said.
13/05/2005 | News
Speaking on the eve of the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe, to take place in Warsaw on 16 and 17 May, Parliamentary Assembly President René van der Linden stressed that the Council’s unique position as the only pan-European Organisation should be fully exploited. “For the first time in history, leaders of all 46 European nations will meet on an equal footing to address the challenges facing our continent today,” he said. René van der Linden drew attention to some of the key issues he will put to the European Heads of State and Government in Warsaw: There must be no new dividing lines in Europe. The European Union should not duplicate our work but use the experience, institutions and instruments of the Council of Europe; We should intensify inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue, using the Council of Europe as the best-placed forum; The parliamentary dimension should be reinforced, as should co-operation with civil society, to bring the organisation closer to our citizens; The European Convention on Human Rights is in serious danger because of the enormous and ever-growing backlog of cases before the European Court of Human Rights.
11/05/2005 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Journalists faced with terrorist atrocities should be free to report them objectively, without restriction by the state, but they should also “avoid a race for sensational news and images which plays into the hands of terrorists”, PACE’s Culture Committee said in a draft recommendation unanimously adopted today. In particular they should “refrain from disseminating shocking pictures or images of terrorist acts which violate the privacy and human dignity of victims or contribute to the terrorising effect of such acts”, the parliamentarians said. The report, by Josef Jařab (Czech Republic, LDR), is due for debate at the Assembly’s Summer plenary session (20-24 June 2005).
11/05/2005 | News
The EU and the Council of Europe “should work together where their goals are identical” said European Education and Culture Commissioner Ján Figel today, speaking during an exchange of views with PACE’s Culture Committee. “We are moving in the same space, now it is important that we move in the same direction,” he said, raising the possibility of “joint reports” in complementary areas. He also pointed out that education and culture were permanent components of the EU’s near neighbourhood policy – affecting some non-EU members of the Council of Europe – and offered the Commission’s assistance for concrete joint projects which did not duplicate existing ones.
10/05/2005 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
PACE's Culture Committee will hold an exchange of views with EU Education and Culture Commissioner Ján Figel and meets a delegation from its sister committee in the European Parliament during its meeting in Strasbourg on 11 May. It is also due to approve a report by Josef Jařab (Czech Republic, LDR) on Media and Terrorism.
04/05/2005 | News
During his official visit to Rome on 3 and 4 May, PACE President René van der Linden discussed the preparations for the Council of Europe Summit of Heads of State and Government in Warsaw on 16 and 17 May, in particular relations between the Council of Europe and the EU. The President's interlocutors agreed that the EU should make use of the Council of Europe's mechanisms and experience. René van der Linden expressed concern about certain initiatives of the EU Commission, such as the Human Rights Agency which could lead to double standards and new dividing lines at the expense of the tax-payer. René van der Linden, accompanied by Claudio Azzolini, leader of the Italian parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe, met the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Pier Ferdinando Casini, the Foreign Minister, Gianfranco Fini, the Minister for the Cultural Heritage, Rocco Buttiglione, the Deputy Speaker of the Senate, Lamberto Dini, the Chair of the Senate Committee on EU Policy, Mario Greco, the Chair of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee, Fiorello Provera, and the Chancellor of the Gregorian University, Father Ghirlanda.
04/05/2005 | President
During his official visit to Rome on 3 and 4 May, PACE President René van der Linden discussed the preparations for the Council of Europe Summit of Heads of State and Government in Warsaw on 16 and 17 May, in particular relations between the Council of Europe and the EU. The President's interlocutors agreed that the EU should make use of the Council of Europe's mechanisms and experience. René van der Linden expressed concern about certain initiatives of the EU Commission, such as the Human Rights Agency which could lead to double standards and new dividing lines at the expense of the tax-payer. René van der Linden, accompanied by Claudio Azzolini, leader of the Italian parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe, met the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Pier Ferdinando Casini, the Foreign Minister, Gianfranco Fini, the Minister for Cultural Heritage, Rocco Buttiglione, the Deputy Speaker of the Senate, Lamberto Dini, the Chair of the Senate Committee on EU Policy, Mario Greco, the Chair of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee, Fiorello Provera, and the Chancellor of the Gregorian University, Father Ghirlanda.
03/05/2005 | President
"It is often said that the freedom of the media – and freedom of expression in general – are the oxygen of democracy. If that is true, democracy in some parts of Europe continues to have respiratory difficulties. These range from an occasional lack of breath in some countries to persistent near-suffocation in others," PACE President René van der Linden said today on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day. He called on all Council of Europe states to refrain from adopting unnecessary restrictions on the free flow of information under cover of the fight against terrorism and to respect Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. "Security-motivated censorship will only serve the cause of the terrorists," he said.
02/05/2005 | President
The future of Europe and new strategies for addressing the serious problems threatening the continent are the main themes of the political talks that the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Dutchman René van der Linden, is to have during his official visit to Italy's institutions and government on Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 May. Van der Linden, accompanied by Claudio Azzolini, leader of the Italian parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe, will meet the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Pier Ferdinando Casini, the Foreign Minister, Gianfranco Fini, the Minister for the Cultural Heritage, Rocco Bottiglione, the Deputy Speaker of the Senate, Lamberto Dini, the Chair of the Senate Committee on EU Policy, Mario Greco, the Chair of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee, Fiorello Provera, and the Chancellor of the Gregorian University, Father Ghirlanda.
29/04/2005 | Session
While welcoming the strengthening of Community and international legislation concerning marine pollution, the Assembly today raised the alarm about some major malfunctions in the application of some of the recommended measures at both European and international level. The parliamentarians called on member states inter alia to adopt the necessary measures to receive ships in distress in their territorial waters, to improve the training of seafarers, to come to an agreement within the International Maritime Organisation in order to extend the possibilities of engaging the civil liability of the ship-owner, the charterer, the classification society or the flag state in the event of ship-based pollution, as well as to work towards setting up an international maritime criminal court.