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.
27/04/2004 | News
The Assembly has decided not to proceed to the election of the judges in respect of Malta, Portugal and Slovakia during the April 2004 part-session. It has asked the governments of those three countries to present new lists of candidates. The reasons are, as regards Malta and Slovakia, that their lists do not include candidates of both sexes and that the procedure followed at national level did not respect the Assembly’s recommendations regarding publicity and the principle of transparency. As regards Portugal, the procedure followed at national level did not respect the Assembly’s recommendations regarding publicity and the principle of transparency and because only one of the candidates fulfils the conditions necessary to be considered for election and possesses all the qualifications required by the Convention.
27/04/2004 | News
In the light of the reforms it has already made and its commitments to introduce new laws, Monaco is now ready to become a member of the Council of Europe, the Assembly declared today – but it should be invited to join only once its consultations with France open the possibility for Monegasque citizens to be appointed to senior government and public posts in their own country.
27/04/2004 | News
The Assembly decided today that it “cannot but ratify the credentials of the parliamentary delegation of Serbia and Montenegro” following yesterday’s challenge, saying that it considers it necessary to be able to deal with extremist parties, and individual members of such parties, when they are appointed members of national delegations to the Assembly. A decision not to ratify – which must apply to the whole delegation under the Assembly’s current rules – would “punish the democratic forces in Serbia and Montenegro represented in its national delegation”, the parliamentarians said. The Assembly resolved to adapt its rules as quickly as possible to allow the credentials of individual members to be contested on the grounds of substance.
27/04/2004 | News
In his speech before the Assembly, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader stressed his country’s European vocation and its commitment to European ideals. With an agreement on EU accession expected in June, the country was pursuing a historic path of European integration and counted on the support and assistance of the Council of Europe, he said. “The Council of Europe should remain a vigilant fortress of its values for all Europe. Democracy, rule of law, human rights and minority rights are a heritage of our history and a guide to our future,” stated Mr Sanader.
27/04/2004 | News
The Parliamentary Assembly today called for a “European Prisons Charter” spelling out prisoners’ rights and obligations, which would be binding on all member states. Drawn up in conjunction with the EU, it would include rules on detention conditions, access to lawyers and doctors, visiting rights and activities for rehabilitation and education. This joint initiative by the two institutions will equip Europe with a permanent monitoring system in the judicial and penal field, ensuring supervision of all the players in the judicial and penal system.
27/04/2004 | News
Following a long debate on euthanasia, based on the report by Dick Marty (Switzerland, LDR), the Assembly decided not to vote on the text but instead to refer it back to committee. The parliamentarians gave the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee a year to prepare a new text which brings together the widely diverging approaches expressed during the debate. Dick Marty, who himself proposed the reference back to committee, nonetheless regretted the “too numerous misunderstandings” on the question and deplored “taboos, dogmatism and a refusal to discuss”. He hoped that the committee would submit a revised text which “no longer speaks of euthanasia, but uses another term which can do justice to a real problem existing in our society”.
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
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.