29/04/2004 | News
The 2004 Europe Prize has been awarded today to the Belgian town of Oudenaarde. This decision was taken unanimously by the Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs. Situated in the Flanders, 50 km west of Brussels, this town of 30,000 inhabitants has developed for many years six very active twinnings, with Coburg (Germany), Castel Madama (Italy), Bergen op Zoom (Netherlands), Arras (France), Hastings (Great-Britain) and Buzau (Romania). Its administration, local associations and schools actively cooperate with the Twinned Town Association established in Oudenaarde to give substance to the process of European integration, particularly in recent years.
29/04/2004 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
A draft Assembly report approved today welcomes the “significant progress” made by Turkey in implementing decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, including payment in the Loizidou case, but cautions that some of the cases outstanding are still not settled or only partly so. In the draft report, which will be debated by the parliamentarians soon, the Assembly’s Legal Affairs Committee urged Turkey to take eight further steps, including ensuring fair new trials in the cases of Sadak, Zana, Dogan and Dicle.
29/04/2004 | News
Regardless of the nature of its future status, the full implementation of the ‘Standards for Kosovo’, endorsed by the UN Security Council on 12 December 2003, is the key to achieving stability and drawing Kosovo nearer to Europe, according to the Assembly. Following the proposals made by the rapporteur on the situation in Kosovo (Tony Lloyd, United Kingdom, SOC), the Assembly called on the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo to make the implementation of the ‘Standards for Kosovo’ a priority and to ensure the full participation of the Kosovo political leaders and the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in this process. The Mission should implement the reform of local self-government and public administration drawing extensively on the recommendations made by the Council of Europe (“the Civiletti report”).
29/04/2004 | News
Declaring that “Turkish Cypriots’ international isolation must cease” following their overwhelming support for the Annan Plan, the Parliamentary Assembly today decided to associate more closely elected representatives of the Turkish Cypriot community in the work of the Assembly and its committees, integrated to the Cypriot parliamentary delegation.
29/04/2004 | Monitoring
The Assembly today welcomed Albania's progress in the last three years towards a functioning pluralist democracy and a state governed by the rule of law and respect for human rights. According to the rapporteurs, Jerzy Smorawinski (Poland, EPP/CD) and Soeren Soendergaard (Denmark, UEL), there have been improvements in the functioning of state institutions, notably the increasing influence of parliament in Albanian political life. However, this progress was threatened by organised crime, and some elements of legitimate business which wished to profit from the lack of regulation and control, exercising an illicit influence on public life, the parliamentarians said.
28/04/2004 | News
The Assembly today called for “a maximum of political pressure” on the leadership of Belarus until high-ranking state officials, including current Prosecutor General Victor Sheyman, were fully investigated for their role in the disappearances of four men in 1999 and 2000 and any subsequent cover-up. Sanctions should include the possible suspension of Belarus’s participation in Council of Europe agreements and activities as well as contacts on a political level, while co-operation with civil society should be stepped up, the parliamentarians said. They also encouraged those countries whose courts have international jurisdiction to open murder proceedings.
28/04/2004 | News
The Assembly continues to be committed to multilateralism and to a collective response to global threats. It is convinced more than ever that a multilateral system founded on the UN and its Charter is the only way to meet the complexity of today’s challenges. As regards institutional reform, the Assembly followed the rapporteur’s (Tana de Zulueta, Italy, SOC) proposals and called on the introduction of a “double veto” (veto only relevant if used by two permanent members). Parliamentarians wished to see a parliamentary dimension in the work of the General Assembly. With this aim in mind, national delegations could include parliamentarians endowed with the possibility to participate actively in its work. They called on the Committee of Ministers of the “45” to make concrete proposals as regards a permanent presence of the Council of Europe at the UN headquarters.
28/04/2004 | News
Profound transformations are taking place in Europe as a result of EU enlargement and the new design of EU cooperation following the Intergovernmental Conference. All bring with them the promise of expanded cooperation and closer ties among the European nations" said Bernard Bot, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and Chairman-in-office of the Committee of Ministers. " A discussion of the Council of Europe’s role and tasks in the European institutional landscape would justify a Summit. • I believe that the Summit should, as a minimum, lay down the guidelines for the Council of Europe’s future action and provide direction for its interaction with other international organisations", he said.
28/04/2004 | News
The Assembly today acknowledged the necessity for changes to the European Court of Human Rights to enable it to cope with a huge increase in its workload – but said a proposal to add a new admissibility criterion for individual applications was “vague, subjective and liable to do the applicant a serious injustice” while excluding only 1.6 per cent of existing cases.
28/04/2004 | News
"Diversity forms the essence of European civilisation. Which is why the values that permit difference – freedom of religion and expression, equality before the law and the sanctity of life – apply to everyone in Europe. Without exception. If Europe does not resolutely protect this shared canon of values, it will put the essence of its civilisation at risk. Diversity without unity cannot exist," Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende stressed when addressing the Assembly today. "For this reason, a crucial task for us as governments and you as representatives of the people is to continue to propagate and protect these values in a multicultural Europe," he said. He pointed out that the Assembly was an extremely valuable arena for dialogue on values in Europe and that the Committee of Ministers translated the values into norms.
28/04/2004 | News
Five new judges have been elected and 13 sitting judges re-elected to the European Court of Human Rights. The Assembly has today elected new judges in respect of Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Norway. The sitting judges in respect of Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the United Kingdom were re-elected. Judges are elected by the Assembly from lists of three candidates nominated by each State which has ratified the European Convention on Human Rights. Under the present terms of the Convention, judges are elected for six years and can be re-elected.
28/04/2004 | News
The Armenian authorities should allow peaceful demonstrations to take place, release those detained during recent demonstrations, immediately investigate any reported human rights abuses that took place and create fair conditions for the media, the Assembly said today following an urgent debate on the situation in the country. If no progress is made on these demands by the opening of the September session, the parliamentarians resolved to reconsider the credentials of the Armenian delegation. However, they also called on the opposition to achieve its goals within the constitutional framework. Both sides should engage in a peaceful dialogue without preconditions, they stressed.