29/03/2004 | Monitoring
Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD) and Erik Jurgens (Netherlands, SOC), who were designated by the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe to prepare a draft opinion on whether or not to open a monitoring procedure with regard to Latvia, visited the country from 29 to 30 March. Their report will be submitted to the Committee at its next meeting in Strasbourg during the spring session (26-30 April). The decision of the committee doesn’t interfere with the post-monitoring dialogue established with Riga since January 2002.
29/03/2004 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
At the end of the Euro-Mexican Forum on Migration, organised in Mexico on 29 and 30 March, the members of the Mexican Senate and the members of the Assembly Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population adopted the Sonora declaration. They agreed to submit new initiatives to deal with the situation of migrants. They regretted the lack of respect of human rights of migrants, an issue where insufficient efforts had been made to date. They also stressed the importance of attempting to protect migrants’ physical integrity and to prevent the death of migrants who attempt to illegally cross the United States border, as well as the death of those who illegally try to enter European territory. It was considered timely to convene a Second Euro-Mexican Forum on Migration, which this time, is to be held in Europe, and to invite other countries of the Americas that face this problem, to participate.
29/03/2004 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
At its meeting on 1 April in Paris, the Assembly’s Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Regional Affairs will hold a hearing on industrial hazards, with the participation of Erik van Gils (General Directorate of Welfare at Work, Belgium) and Luc Lavrysen (Centre for Environmental Law, University of Ghent, Belgium). The hearing will contribute to the preparation of a report by Frans Timmermans (Belgium, SOC). The Committee should also adopt two preliminary draft recommendations on management of water resources in Europe (Borislav Velikov, Bulgaria, LDR) and on transboundary water basins in Europe (Latchezar Toshev, Bulgarie, EPP/CD).
29/03/2004 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
The Rapporteur of the Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Science and Education Paschal Mooney (Ireland, LDR) is currently in Rome for a study visit in order to prepare a report on the possible monopolisation of the electronic media and abuse of power in Italy. The programme of the visit(30 March - 2 April)includes, among others, meetings with the competent committees of the two chambers of the Italian parliament, with representatives of the public broadcaster RAI, journalists, as well as the Italian communication and anti-trust authorities.
26/03/2004 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
At the suggestion of the rapporteur, Dick Marty (Switzerland, LDR), the Assembly Social Affairs Committee, meeting in Paris today, decided to ask the Assembly to refer the euthanasia report back to committee. The request will be made in the debate on euthanasia which is to be held during the Assembly’s spring session (26-30 April).
25/03/2004 | President
Assembly President Peter Schieder today urged the Georgian authorities to act with the utmost responsibility and restraint in order to ensure the peaceful conduct of the 28 March parliamentary elections. As regards Adjara, he said it was important to implement the recent agreement signed by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Head of the Adjarian Autonomy Aslan Abashidze, in good faith.
23/03/2004 | President
“I condemn the missile-targeted murder by Israel this morning of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin,” said Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder today. “Whatever the alleged crimes committed by Sheikh Yassin, the state of Israel has taken upon itself to act as an executioner in occupied territory under its protection. This is not the rule of law, nor is it human rights. It also violates our ban on the death penalty, which must be observed and applied by all states whose parliaments enjoy observer status in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Making a martyr out of the spiritual leader of Hamas is not going to help the cause of peace in the Middle East,” said President Schieder. The Israeli Knesset has enjoyed observer status with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 1957.
19/03/2004 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
The Assembly’s Culture Committee, meeting in the French city of Lille today, has denounced the deliberate destruction of churches and mosques during the outbreak of violence in Kosovo and Serbia. “As with others, I deplore the violence and call for an immediate end to it,” said Spanish senator Lluis Maria de Puig, who chairs the committee. “I am particularly horrified that places of culture are being deliberately targeted. Hundreds of years of history are going up in flames – along with hopes for a multi-ethnic society. While the protection of human life must always come first, I appeal to UNMIK, KFOR and the Serbian authorities to do what they can to protect these buildings and their contents.” An information report by British MP Eddie O’Hara on the protection of Kosovo’s cultural heritage was adopted by the committee.
19/03/2004 | President
“Just a few days ago, the Assembly’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights organised a hearing on the human rights situation in Kosovo. The meeting focused on ways to protect human rights of all citizens of Kosovo. Today, Serbian villages across Kosovo are in flames, and a raging mob is set to destroy orthodox churches as symbols of the Serbian presence in Kosovo. Their acts are disgraceful, but so is the absence of clear and unequivocal condemnation of the anti-Serb violence by the Kosovo Albanian leadership. Shifting the blame to the other side, and attempts to exploit the escalation of ethnic violence to further the political cause of the majority population, are unacceptable. Kosovo cannot build its future on the blood of innocent people and the ashes of their burned homes and churches."
18/03/2004 | President
“Seven days after the tragedy of Atocha, El Pozo and Santa Eugenia, the images of horror provoked by terrorist bombs are still on everyone’s mind. 11 March – and the more than two hundred victims savagely murdered on that day – will be forever engraved in the collective memory of Europe and the world. (…) The message we should draw from the tragedy of Madrid is that in the face of such horror our anger is human, normal and justified. I say anger, not hate. Anger can make us stronger, hate only weakens us. Anger may help us to win, but if we succumb to hate, we have already lost”, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder said today, speaking in Strasbourg at a conference marking the tenth anniversary of ECRI.
18/03/2004 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee, meeting in Paris on 25 March, is due to take position on amendments submitted to its draft resolution on euthanasia, including those in an opinion of the Legal Affairs Committee. The issue is again provisionally scheduled for debate during the Assembly's spring session (26-30 April).
18/03/2004 | News
The national, regional and global causes behind high unemployment; fostering job-creation and mobility in Europe’s labour markets; and boosting social cohesion through the creation of more and better jobs were discussed in Paris on 26 March at a hearing organised by the Assembly’s Social and Economic Affairs Committees.