26/04/2004 | News
The credentials of the new parliamentary delegation of Serbia and Montenegro were challenged on substantial grounds on the opening day of the session. Making the challenge, Roman Jakić (Slovenia, LDR) said: “Members of the delegation belong to two parties whose leaders are being tried for war crimes and genocide at the Hague.” There were therefore “open questions” which should be examined before the credentials were ratified, he said. The Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee will report on the question tomorrow afternoon, with an opinion from the Rules Committee.
26/04/2004 | News
In his opening speech today, Assembly President Peter Schieder stressed that a ‘Yes’ vote in the Cyprus referendum would have been a clear signal for ‘One Europe’. "It would have meant the end of division on the island and the start of a time of unity and greater strength. It is clear that we fully respect the result of the referendum and the will of the people of Cyprus. But we cannot hide the fact that we are deeply disappointed that a historic chance has been missed. The Assembly will discuss the situation in an urgent procedure debate," he said.
26/04/2004 | News
When adopting the order of business of its Spring Session (26-30 April), the Assembly decided to hold three urgent debates (Situation in Kosovo, Armenia and Cyprus) but removed the one concerning the new Dutch policy on asylum seekers. The debate on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Turkey has also been removed from the order of business. Elmir Jahić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Frano Matusić (Croatia) were elected Assembly Vice-Presidents.
26/04/2004 | News
The Assembly today issued an urgent call for the setting up of a European Migration Agency, open to non-European countries, whose task would be to track national migration policies and legislation, produce comparable statistics, analyse trends and dispense advice. Debating a report by Tadeusz Iwinski (Poland, SOC), the parliamentarians said such an agency could also help warn irregular migrants against being duped by traffickers.
26/04/2004 | News
According to the Assembly, Council of Europe funding priorities for 2005 should include creating the closest possible links with the EU, expanded co-operation with the OSCE and a possible permanent presence at the UN in New York, as well as more field offices. As for the Assembly’s budgetary priorities for the next year, they should include infrastructure improvements to the debating chamber, as well as greater funding for external relations, communications and its political groups.
26/04/2004 | News
Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder today signed a wide-ranging co-operation agreement with the Speaker of the Parliament of Kazakhstan Nurtay Abikayev aimed at promoting parliamentary democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights in the country. In the agreement – the first of its kind – the Kazakhstan Parliament pledges to encourage total abolition of the death penalty and promote co-operation with the Council of Europe, reporting annually on its progress. In return, the Assembly agrees to invite Kazakh parliamentary delegations to its events, including some plenary sessions. Addressing the Assembly, Mr Abikayev declared: "Kazakhstan is firmly on the road to protecting fundamental rights and freedoms... and this is irreversible."
26/04/2004 | News
The 2004 Council of Europe Museum Prize was presented to the director of the Museum of Health Care in Edirne, Turkey, during a ceremony at the Palais des Rohan in Strasbourg last night. The prize consists of a bronze statuette by Joan Miró, La femme aux beaux seins, which will be kept by the museum for a year, as well as a diploma and cheque for 5 000 euros. It has been awarded annually since 1977 to a museum judged to have made a significant contribution to the understanding of European cultural heritage.
23/04/2004 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
A proposal to allow the European Court of Human Rights to declare inadmissible cases where “the applicant has not suffered a significant disadvantage” is unacceptable, the Assembly’s Legal Affairs Committee declared on Wednesday. Giving its opinion on a package of reforms aimed at streamlining the Court, the committee said the proposed new admissibility criterion was “vague, subjective and liable to do the applicant a serious injustice” and should be replaced with a reference to respect for human rights. The Assembly is due to debate the reforms – when it adopts its opinion on draft protocol No. 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights – on Wednesday 28 April at 3p.m.
22/04/2004 | President
Assembly President said he deplored the confirmation of the conviction of Leyla Zana and three other former parliamentarians by the Ankara state security court as this conviction was to a large extent based on an unjustified interference with the applicants’ freedom to discuss issues of public concern. Mr Schieder regretted the time it had taken to have the criminal procedure against them re-opened following the Strasbourg Court’s judgment in 2001 which found the original trial to be unfair (Sadak, Zana, Dilce and Dogan judgment). He deplored the fact that despite repeated requests by the Parliamentary Assembly, the execution of the original prison sentence imposed had not been suspended and the applicants had therefore remained in prison.
21/04/2004 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The Chair of the Assembly's Committee on Equal Opportunities for Woman and Men, Minodora Cliveti (Romania, SOC), has welcomed the gender balance reflected in the composition of the new Government of Spain. “The Prime Minister’s choice of balanced numbers of women and men for his new Cabinet shows not only his conviction that equality between the genders is a fundamental criterion for democracy but also his firm determination to change attitudes by eliminating stereotypes and prejudices. If women account for over half the European population and electorate, there is no reason why they should be underrepresented in political and public decision-making posts.
19/04/2004 | President
Peter Schieder made the following statement today: “Once again, the Government of Israel has shown its contempt for the rule of law by carrying out the extra-judicial killing of an alleged terrorist in the territories it has occupied since 1967. I condemn the assassination of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi. This is not self-defence but an invitation to further violence, which cannot be in Israel’s interest. I appeal to the Israeli Knesset, which enjoys observer status with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, to do everything in its power to ensure that the principles of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, which are the hallmarks of civilised society in general and of the Council of Europe in particular, are observed by the Israeli Government in its relations with the Palestinians.”
19/04/2004 | Political Affairs and Democracy
A Congressman has called for greater participation of the US Congress in Council of Europe activities. Speaking at the Inter-Parliamentary Forum on Transatlantic Dialogue today in London, organised by the Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee and the British parliamentary delegation, Democrat Congressman Alcee L. Hastings said: “There is an obvious need for continuous and institutionalised dialogue”. The United States has held observer status at the Council of Europe since 1996.