19/02/2004 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Terry Davis (United Kingdom, SOC) visited Nagorno-Karabakh, Yerevan and Baku from 23 to 27 February in the framework of a report he is preparing on behalf of the Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee on “the conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference”. Following earlier visits to Yerevan and Baku in April 2003, he was asked by the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to the region. He visited Stepanakert, Aghdam and Shusi/Shusha before travelling on to Yerevan and Baku for meetings with both heads of state as well as senior government members. The two countries pledged to seek a peaceful settlement of the conflict when they joined the Council of Europe in January 2001, although in January 2004 the Assembly noted “no progress” on the question. The report is due to be presented before the autumn.
13/02/2004 | President
A nine-member Parliamentary Assembly delegation, headed by President Peter Schieder, met members of the UN High-Level Panel on Global Threats, Challenges and Change in Paris on 16 February. The Assembly delegation was the first group to be met by the 16-member Panel, named by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in November 2003 to consider how best to ensure ”effective collective action”, including reform of UN organs and other international mechanisms, given the emergence of deep divergences of opinion on the nature and scope of the challenges the world faces. The Assembly delegation included Tana de Zulueta (Italy, SOC), currently preparing a report on “the strengthening of the United Nations” for possible debate in April, as well as other Assembly members who have prepared reports related to the Panel’s mandate. Council of Europe Secretary General Walter Schwimmer also took part.
13/02/2004 | Monitoring
Miloš Budin (Italy, SOC) and Jonas Čekuolis (Lithuania, LDR), co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Serbia and Montenegro, will make their first fact-finding visit to the State Union from 17 to 19 February. In Belgrade they will hold discussions with political leaders on the current political deadlock in Serbia, and both there and in Podgorica will meet with State Union, Serbian and Montenegrin representatives to begin assessment of Serbia and Montenegro’s honouring of the obligations and commitments it undertook on joining the Council of Europe in April 2003.
12/02/2004 | News
A delegation from Monaco, headed by Georges Grinda, Plenipotentiary Minister of European Affairs, was in Strasbourg from 12 to 13 February at the invitation of Assembly Secretary General Bruno Haller. Subjects discussed during the visit, which took place in the framework of Monaco’s request to join the Council of Europe, included the Monegasque position on Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights, the Cybercrime Convention and co-operation with the OECD. The delegation met the Secretary General of the Assembly as well as other senior officials of the Council of Europe. The Assembly is due to debate Monaco’s accession request during its spring session (26-30 April).
06/02/2004 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Sub-Committee on International Economic Relations meet in Paris (15-16 February) in order to participate in the 5th Annual Conference of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank (PNoWB), a unique parliamentary platform (set up in May 2000) for global policy dialogue on key development issues. The parliamentarians from more than 70 countries took part in a number of parallel working sessions devoted to issues such as building alliances of parliamentarians, multilateral organisations and civil society to further development policies and capacity building in aid recipient countries. High representatives of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and national governments took part in the discussions.
06/02/2004 | News
Council of Europe leaders today deplored the bomb attack at the Paveletskaya metro station in Moscow, which killed dozens of people and injured many more. Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder, Secretary General Walter Schwimmer, President of the Congress Herwig Van Staa and Human Rights Commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles condemned this barbaric act and called for an end to political violence. They said the attack only strengthened the Council of Europe’s resolve to fight terrorism. They sent their condolences to the families of the victims, the people of Moscow and the Russian authorities.
03/02/2004 | News
In a letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder appealed for clemency in the case of death row inmate Kevin Cooper. “Since you took office as Governor, you have shown mercy and humanity in supporting decisions by the California Board of Prison Terms to set free apparently rehabilitated murderers. Yet on Friday you rejected a clemency appeal from death row inmate Kevin Cooper. As President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the 45-member nation Council of Europe and as a fellow Austrian, I appeal to you in the name of mercy and humanity to stay the execution of Kevin Cooper set for 10 February"
30/01/2004 | News
The Assembly warned on building a 'two-tier Europe'. According to parliamentarians, solidarity mechanisms will have to be strengthened not only within the enlarged EU but also across the continent for a truly inclusive Europe. They called on EU member and acceding countries to proceed more swiftly with the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, to pursue pension reform or adjustment -as might be called for in view of population ageing- and to reinforce information links with citizens with a view to enhancing the transparency of European institutions.
30/01/2004 | News
The enlargement of the European Union in May 2004 and the subsequent expansion of the Schengen visa system would create an excessive impediment to the free movement of persons between the Council of Europe member states. Following the proposals of the rapporteur Vitaliy Shybko (Ukraine, SOC), the Assembly recommended to the Council of Europe member states and the EU to take a series of legal and policy measures intended to improve collaboration in the fields of migration policy and police and judicial co-operation, and to make the practical operation of the Schengen system itself as efficient and accessible as possible.
30/01/2004 | News
The Assembly – which has the right to elect judges of the European Court of Human Rights from a list of three candidates submitted by each contracting party – will refuse to consider any list not including at least one male and one female candidate. Approving a report by Kevin McNamara (United Kingdom, SOC) on the last day of the session, it also called for judges to be elected for a single non-renewable nine-year term, instead of the current six-year renewable term, to guarantee continuity and strengthen the Court's independence.
30/01/2004 | News
The Bureau of the Assembly rejected the Belarus Parliament's request for restoration of its special guest status with the Parliamentary Assembly. The Bureau considered that the reasons which had led to the suspension in 1997 were still valid. However, it expressed the desire to continue dialogue with Belarus and to observe the parliamentary elections due to be held there in the autumn of 2004.
29/01/2004 | News
The Assembly has said it may recommend the suspension of Ukraine from the Council of Europe if further attempts are made to push through political reforms “by unconstitutional means”, or if Ukraine should fail to guarantee a free and fair presidential election in October. Following an urgent debate, the parliamentarians said reforming election rules on the eve of Presidential elections was "biased and divisive" and called for any changes relating to the term and mode of election of the president to be submitted to a nation-wide referendum.