29/04/2005 | News
referendums can be a means to reinforce the democratic legitimacy of political decisions. In fact, the national referendums organised in the context of the ratification of the European Union Constitutional Treaty may be the greatest European popular vote of all times. The Assembly today called on European governments to codifying rules on the holding of referendums and promote models of good practice, to ensure that referendums are used as a supplement to representative democracy and avoid any manipulation.
29/04/2005 | News
“Aleksander Lukashenko is afraid of Europe. European flags are torn from people’s hands when they demonstrate in Belarus, but people are no longer afraid,” said Pavel Marinich, the son of Mikahail Marinich, Belarus opposition leader and political prisoner, in his statement to the PACE Sub-Committee on Belarus this morning. He was pleased that Europe “calls a spade a spade” and defines the Belarus regime as a dictatorship. “The people of my country need practical action and useful sanctions. Denying visas to judges and law enforcement representatives would be a good example. All measures to exert pressure on the regime are welcome,” he added. Ambassador Jean-Claude Joseph, Chair of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers’ Rapporteur Group on Democratic Stability, called for measures in support of civil society in Belarus to be kept up and reinforced. The sub-committee’s rapporteur on the situation in Belarus, Azim Mollazade (Azerbaijan, LDR), wants closer contacts with other international organisations so that they keep a common line of action towards the regime.
29/04/2005 | News
Today PACE Bureau unanimously agreed to the proposal by Claudio Azzolini (EPP-CD), Vice-President of the Assembly and Head of the Italian Delegation, to invite Pope Benedict XVI to Strasbourg for a forthcoming plenary session. Mr Azzolini told the Bureau that he had attended the Pope’s inaugural mass in St Peter’s Basilica on Sunday 24 April on behalf of the President of the Assembly, René van der Linden, and that he had later met the Pope, who had expressed the greatest respect for the importance of the Council of Europe.
28/04/2005 | News
Speaking on the occasion of the NGO study day on education and religion, PACE President René van der Linden stressed that politics and religion should be kept apart. “However, democracy and religion need not be incompatible and can be valid partners. By tackling societal problems, the authorities can remove many of the causes of religious extremism. Education is the key way to combat ignorance, stereotypes and misunderstanding of religions,” he added. René van der Linden also stressed that PACE felt that governments should also do more to guarantee freedom of conscience and religious expression, to develop education about religions, to encourage dialogue with and between religions and to promote the cultural and social expression of religions. “Given the many possible prejudices and stereotypes regarding religions, it is important to have structured, rational instruction in schools. That would help combat fanaticism, fundamentalism and xenophobia more effectively,” he concluded.
28/04/2005 | News
Denouncing the murder or kidnapping of journalists in conflict zones as “an act of aggression against freedom of expression and information”, PACE today demanded the immediate release of French journalist Florence Aubenas and her assistant Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi, as well as three Romanian journalists held in Iraq, Sorin Dumitru Miscoci, Marie-Jeanne Ion and Eduard Ovidiu Ohanesian. Adopting a resolution following an urgent debate in Strasbourg, PACE also proposed that journalists working in conflict areas declare publicly in advance that no financial payments or political concessions should be made to kidnappers if they are abducted.
28/04/2005 | News
“I hope that the laying of this foundation stone will also mark a further step towards harmonisation in the pharmaceutical field, and I can promise you our Assembly’s unqualified support”, declared PACE President René van der Linden at today’s foundation stone ceremony for the European Pharmacopoeia’s new building. “The European Pharmacopoeia was founded over forty years ago and has become, with the passing of time, one of the main standard-setting institutions responsible for guaranteeing quality and security of pharmaceutical products. Thanks to its work, we now have general, compulsory standards, and are well on the way to a genuine European policy in the public health field”, the PACE President said.
28/04/2005 | News
PACE’s Committee on Equal Opportunities today adopted unanimously a draft resolution and a draft recommendation on the disappearance and murder of a great number of women and girls in Mexico. Since 1993, between 350 and 500 women and girls have been brutally murdered in the northern Mexican border State of Chihuahua. According to the rapporteur on the subject, Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold (Switzerland, SOC), the initial reaction to the “feminicides”, particularly at the state level, was “denial”. The adopted texts call on the authorities to “face up to their responsibilities and tackle urgent tasks to produce rapid results and thus regain the confidence of victims’ families and of civil society as a whole”. The texts support the Mexican authorities, in particular the Mexican Congress and the Congress of the State of Chihuahua, in their endeavours and offer PACE assistance. A plenary debate on the issue is foreseen in June 2005.
28/04/2005 | News
PACE President René van der Linden today met Adam Daniel Rotfeld, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Poland and Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers. They discussed preparations in the run-up to the Summit of Council of Europe Heads of State and Government in Warsaw 16 and 17 May, in particular defining the Council of Europe’s place in the European institutional landscape.
28/04/2005 | Session
''The Warsaw Summit will lay down the guidelines for the future action of the Council of Europe and will reinforce cooperation between the European organisations,'' said Adam D. Rotfeld, President of the Committee of Ministers and Foreign Minister of Poland, to the Parliamentary Assembly this afternoon. ''Future co-operation will be characterised by partnership and complementarity,'' he said, while adding that a co-ordination group has been established to reinforce co-operation with the OSCE and to avoid unnecessary duplication of activities.
28/04/2005 | News
The 2005 Europe Prize has today been awarded to the Russian town of Kaliningrad. This decision was taken unanimously by the Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) during its April session in Strasbourg. Having already won the Council of Europe’s Flag of Honour and the Plaque of Honour, Kaliningrad is the first Russian town to win this high distinction. Since 1991, this town of 430,000 inhabitants, having the status of a special economic zone, has been developing international relations through numerous twinnings and co-operation agreements, especially with towns in Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands.
28/04/2005 | News
The Assembly this afternoon held a current affairs debate on the European Constitutional Treaty, with the participation of sixteen speakers. At the end of a current affairs debate, the Assembly shall not vote.
28/04/2005 | News
Separated children seeking asylum make up approximately 4 per cent of the number of asylum applicants in Europe. PACE today called on governments of the 46 member States to take immediate action to rationalise their activities in the protection and assistance for separated children seeking asylum. They proposed notably to refrain from refusing entry to their territories to separated children on any grounds and to recognise the primacy of the principle of the best interests of the child in all asylum or immigration decisions, procedures, practices or legislative measures.