25/04/2005 | News
The head of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly, Konstantin Kosachev, has been elected a PACE Vice-President. Mr Kosachev, who belongs to the European Democrat Group, is a member of the Political Affairs and Monitoring Committees.
25/04/2005 | News
Ernest Benach, President of the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE) and Speaker of the Parliament of Catalonia (Spain), today informed the PACE Committee on Local and Regional Affairs of his wish to start up a permanent dialogue with the committee and with PACE as a whole. As a first step towards cooperation, he asked the committee members to promote discussions in the Council of Europe member states on a few basic principles concerning the role of assemblies in devolution, democracy and self-government.
25/04/2005 | News
PACE’s Monitoring Committee, meeting during the plenary session, today expressed “deep concern” at the political climate in Azerbaijan ahead of parliamentary elections. “Some of the basic pre-conditions for holding free and fair elections… are not met,” the parliamentarians said in a declaration. “The opposition has almost no means of conveying its message to the electorate.” The committee also said that the situation “hardly resembled” that of Georgia and Ukraine, and that speculation on both sides with the word “revolution” could lead to unforeseen consequences.
25/04/2005 | News
There are “undeniable positive changes” in the situation of children abandoned in institutions, the Assembly said today in a resolution, but in some post-communist democracies the situation was still disturbing. Rapporteur Mike Hancock (United Kingdom, LDR), who had investigated the follow-up to his 2003 report, said that although his report focused on Romania and Bulgaria, no Council of Europe member state was beyond criticism. “The richest ingredient we can give our children is love, yet some of these children go their whole lives without experiencing it,” he said.
23/04/2005 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“In the past few months, arrests have been made in some of the cases of ‘feminicide’ in Ciudad Juarez (Mexico), including in ‘cold’ cases going back several years, thanks to a co-ordinated prosecutorial effort on state and federal level. However, too many cases remain unsolved,” the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly’s Rapporteur on the murder and disappearance of women and girls in Mexico, Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, said today. “It is urgent to move from audit to action in order to end the climate of impunity for gender-based violence still prevalent in the region.” The Socialist parliamentarian from Switzerland has just completed her second, five-day fact-finding visit to Mexico City and Chihuahua, where she met with victims’ families, fellow parliamentarians on federal and state level, prosecutors, NGOs, the Governor and Mayor of Chihuahua and the new Head of the State Women’s Institute, among others.
21/04/2005 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Mikhail Margelov (Russia, EDG), PACE rapporteur on the situation in the Middle East, is visiting Amman, Ramallah, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv from 17 to 22 April, where he is due to meet the King of Jordan and members of the Jordanian parliament, Palestinian ministers and Israeli government officials.
21/04/2005 | President
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU Commissioner responsible for External Relations and the European Neighbourhood Policy, meeting PACE President René van der Linden yesterday in Brussels, stressed that,the EU should make use of the Council of Europe’s experience and mechanisms. With a view to the Council of Europe Summit of Heads of State and Government, she said that this applied in particular to the EU’s neighbourhood policy. Moreover, preparatory work for the EU’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights could already start. Talks with European Parliament President Josep Borrell focused on closer co-operation between PACE and the EP, as well as their respective committees, on topics of common interest. Particular reference was made to inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue and violence against women, including domestic violence. They agreed that there was no need to re-invent mechanisms which have proven their efficiency, such as the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture.
19/04/2005 | President
“I would like to congratulate Pope Benedict XVI most warmly on his election. I trust he will follow the example of John Paul II in his pilgrimage for peace. I am confident that the new pontiff will be a firm ally of the Council of Europe in promoting the core values of our Organisation: human rights, democracy and the rule of law. I further hope that the new Pontiff will continue to build bridges to other religions,” Parliamentary Asssembly President René van der Linden said today.
15/04/2005 | President
In his statement in St Petersburg today at the Conference dedicated to the 60th Anniversary of the Victory of the anti-Hitler coalition in World War-II, PACE President René van der Linden called on those CIS States outside the Council of Europe to subscribe fully to the ideals and principles the 46-member organisation cherishes. "The right to life is the ultimate human right and people must live in dignity. No human can take another human’s life. The tragedy of St Petersburg, Rotterdam, London, Leipzig, Lidice, Khatyn and of countless other cities and towns, large and small, should never again be relived," he concluded.
07/04/2005 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Adressing the 26th Conference of European Ministers of Justice in Helsinki, the Chairperson of the PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, LDR), today sounded the alarm referring to the position taken by the European Commission on behalf of 22 member States of the European Community on the draft Council of Europe Convention on the trafficking in human beings. “The position of the European Commission is seen by many as potentially undermining the Council of Europe´s acquis. Here I refer, in particular, to the so-called “disconnection clauses”, which, if applied, could result in these conventions not being applicable to the European Community’s “constitutional context”. If the Council of Europe does not pay sufficient attention to the question, it may then in the near future permit the EU member states to apply – potentially – lower standards than those negotiated within the Council of Europe. Thereby introducing different standards for different groups of European countries. A line is drawn between EU member states and those not members of the EU”, he warned.
06/04/2005 | President
PACE President René van der Linden today expressed profound emotion at the death of Prince Rainier of Monaco, "a long-standing friend of the Council of Europe". René van der Linden recalled that Monaco consolidated its independence and prospered over the centuries largely thanks to the political acumen shown by the Grimaldi family. According to the PACE President, "the political vision and the resolve of Prince Rainier did much to achieve Monaco’s membership of the Council of Europe in October 2004". "I convey by deep sympathies and sincere friendship to the members of the Grimaldi family," he concluded.
06/04/2005 | President
Senior representatives of the 46-nation Council of Europe attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II, in Rome, on Friday 8 April. Chairman-in-Office of the Organisation’s Committee of Ministers and Foreign Minister of Poland Adam Daniel Rotfeld, PACE President René van der Linden, Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis, and President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe Giovanni Di Stasi, were among the mourners in St Peter’s Square.