18/05/2004 | News
Rapid development of information technology has created new opportunities for almost all areas of human activity. Modern technologies have also found their place in parliaments. Discussing the topic of 'Modern technology and democratic procedure', Ene Ergma, President of the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) distinguished three different stages: the computerization of parliamentary work, the use of modern technology in bringing the parliament closer to the citizens and the interaction between the citizens and the parliament.
18/05/2004 | News
Europe, in the year 2020. Europeans’ daily lives are closely tied up with the Internet and governments have set up a virtual electoral platform on the web. When citizens come to decide how to vote, they use a system called SmartVote. Through online questionnaires, SmartVote calculates how well the candidates’ proposals for action match voters’ own ideas. SmartVote is coupled with MP-Monitor, which profiles candidates on the basis of how they have voted in Parliament, Discussion Forum, which voters can use to exchange views with fellow citizens or candidates, and E voting, which facilitates online voting. Alexander Trechsel from the University of Geneva (Switzerland) notes that all the elements and features of this futuristic platform already exist, although not yet in an integrated system.
18/05/2004 | Monitoring
A new constitutional framework governing relations between the centre and the regions in Georgia could serve as the basis for a peaceful negotiated solution to the conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, according to the country's monitoring co-rapporteur Evgeni Kirilov (Bulgaria, SOC). Mr Kirilov, speaking today at a conference in Tbilisi on "The constitutional organisation of the state", said Georgia could count on the Council of Europe's help in this regard.
17/05/2004 | News
"Further European integration is a stimulating factor for the South Caucasus," the Speakers of the Parliaments of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia said at the end of a meeting organised by Assembly President Peter Schieder on the margins of a Parliamentary Summit bringing together more than 60 Speakers of Parliament from 17 to 19 May in Strasbourg. They stressed that “parliamentarians have an important role to play in developing regional co-operation and creating an atmosphere of confidence in the South Caucasus”.
15/05/2004 | President
Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder today condemned torture against the background of reports of abuse of prisoners by American and British troops in Iraq. “The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom are responsible under international law for the well-being of prisoners in their custody. Cases tantamount to torture as reported by the International Committee of the Red Cross and others constitute a flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention,” he said.
14/05/2004 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Paschal Mooney (Ireland, LDR), rapporteur on the Media of the Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Science and Education, will participate as a panellist in the World Congress of the International Press Institute in Warsaw from 17 to 18 May. He will join representatives from Unesco, the OSCE and the Organization of American States on Monday 17 May for a discussion on the theme: “holding member states of international governmental organisations to their press freedom commitments”.
14/05/2004 | Monitoring
Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), co-rapporteur for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, makes on 19-20 May a fact-finding visit to the country to assess the state of Azerbaijan’s honouring of the obligations and commitments it undertook on joining the Council of Europe in 2001. In a January 2004 resolution, the Assembly said progress was “far from satisfactory”. Mr Gross will meet with the Azerbaijani authorities as well as representatives of opposition parties, human rights organisations and journalists.
14/05/2004 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The Assembly’s Committee on Equal Opportunities will hold a parliamentary hearing on “a campaign to combat domestic violence in Europe” in Prague on 24 May, with the participation of the Czech authorities and NGOs. Jean-Guy Branger (France, EPP/CD) is preparing a report on the subject.
14/05/2004 | Monitoring
Josette Durrieu (France, SOC) and André Kvakkestad (Norway, EDG), co-rapporteurs on Moldova for the Assembly’s Monitoring Committee, make from 23 to 25 May a fact-finding visit to the country to assess the state of Moldova’s honouring of the commitments it made on joining the Council of Europe in 1995.
14/05/2004 | Monitoring
Evgeni Kirilov (Bulgaria, SOC), one of the two rapporteurs on Georgia of the Assembly’s Monitoring Committee, will take part in a conference on "The constitutional organisation of the state", organised in Tbilisi from 18 to 19 May by the Council of Europe's Venice Commission and the Georgian Constitutional Court.
14/05/2004 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Daniel Goulet (France, LDR), who is preparing a report for the Assembly’s Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs on “the potential adverse consequences of the Oil Pool D-6 operation”, visits Kaliningrad,Vilnius and Nida from 19 to 20 May to meet Russian and Lithuanian authorities as well as local environmental organisations. The D-6 operation is a planned oil extraction platform in the Baltic close to the Curonian Spit, a Unesco World Heritage listed site which straddles both Lithuanian and Russian territory.
14/05/2004 | President
Assembly President Peter Schieder wrote to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev welcoming the decision to pardon 363 prisoners, some of whom are considered as political prisoners by the Assembly.“As with the previous amnesty decrees, this is a step in the right direction, and brings Azerbaijan closer to fulfilling a key commitment it made on joining the Council of Europe three years ago,” wrote Mr Schieder. “The Assembly has stressed many times that there can be no political prisoners in a Council of Europe member state.”