26/01/2004 | News
Members of the Assembly today honoured the memory of the late Lord Hardy. Peter Hardy, who died in December 2003, was one of the leading figures of the Parliamentary Assembly between 1976 and 1997 and a dynamic Vice-Chair of the Socialist Group. He was a member of the Environment Committee. The Assembly President expressed his deep sorrow at the loss of the British peer.
26/01/2004 | News
The Parliamentary Assembly opened on Monday 26 its Winter session in Strasbourg. The members decided to remove the debate on euthanasia, initially scheduled for Thursday, from the agenda. They also agreed to hold two urgent debates, on "Terrorism: a threat to democracy" and "The constitutional crisis in Ukraine". Other highlights include speeches by the Presidents of Georgia and Cyprus, to mark the debates on the situations in their respective countries.
26/01/2004 | News
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder (Austria) has today been re-elected for a third one-year mandate. The President of the Assembly is elected for a one year mandate, which can be renewed twice. The Parliamentary Assembly has also elected its 19 Vice-Presidents.
26/01/2004 | News
The Assembly today confirmed, by 71 votes to 28, the decision of its Bureau not to monitor Liechtenstein over recent constitutional changes but instead to start a dialogue with authorities of the Principality on the question. The Monitoring Committee had earlier recommended opening a full monitoring procedure. The Bureau will now consider what form the dialogue could take at its meeting on Friday.
26/01/2004 | European Conference of Presidents of Parliament
"The European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments, held at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 17-19 May 2004, brought together more than sixty Presidents and Speakers of the Parliaments of our 45 member States. It was a landmark event in 2004 for the Parliamentary Assembly, the Council of...
26/01/2004 | News
Strasbourg is Europe’s political capital, home to the Council of Europe, its Court of Human Rights and the European Parliament. But in order to pursue this vocation, the Assembly said that the city now needs a new, more forwardlooking and dynamic approach to its development on the part of the host country, France. To attract top government experts and diplomats, priority should be given to improving air connections and establishing high-speed train links with major European cities.
26/01/2004 | News
The Assembly today repeated its call for the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights to have the power to bring cases before the European Court of Human Rights in areas where obstacles exist or potential applicants might fear reprisals. Taking part in the debate, current Commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles called for “more direct” co-operation with the Court and welcomed the Assembly’s political support for his work.
26/01/2004 | News
Peter Schieder this morning welcomed the presence of NGO representatives in the debating chamber. "Like the Assembly, you challenge the political accountability of decisions, you consider participatory democracy as an indispensable element of pluralist democracy. For a long time, our Assembly has been asking for a change in your status and you have obtained this now: from consultation to participation. In the light of your new role within the Council of Europe, it is time to consider a specific and perhaps even more formal status for NGOs within the Assembly. The aim is a closer contact", he said.
22/01/2004 | News
Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili will address the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly during its winter session in Strasbourg (26-30 January 2004). Parliamentarians are due to debate the situations in both countries. Other highlights of the session include debates on euthanasia, public service broadcasting, the functioning of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan and Armenia’s honouring of its obligations and commitments.
22/01/2004 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
19-21 January, Pristina - The rapporteur on the human rights situation in Kosovo, Tony Lloyd (United Kingdom, SOC), visited the region, where he met the Prime Minister, Bajram Rexhepi, as well as representatives of the United Nations, the OSCE and NATO. Preparation of his report on the question will continue with the holding of a hearing in Paris on 16 March.
20/01/2004 | News
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and Dutch Minister of Justice Piet-Hein Donner addressed members of parliament from the Council of Europe, in Paris, at a conference organised by the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population and the French delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly. The conference, on the theme ''migration and integration: a challenge for Europe?'', looked at such issues as demographic trends and migration flows, controlling illegal immigration while respecting human rights and the right of asylum, migration and development and integration or sectarianism.
01/01/2004 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
22-23 January, London - The Committee on Economic Affairs and Development met in London at the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on 22 January and at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) the following day to discuss the EBRD’s contribution to economic development in central and eastern Europe. Draft recommendations for the reports on “Counterfeiting: problems and solutions” (Bernard Schreiner, France, EDG) and “Corporate ethics in Europe” (Christian Brunhart, Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) were adopted.