26/05/2023 | Standing Committee
Current affairs debates on “Excluding athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in the Olympics” (with a statement by Kaspars Cipruss, Secretary General of the Latvian Basketball Federation) and on “The follow-up to the Reykjavik Summit” (with the participation of Aoife Nolan, President...
26/05/2023 | Election observation
A 17-member delegation of members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), led by Frank Schwabe (Germany, SOC), will return to Türkiye from 26 to 29 May 2023 to observe the second round of the presidential election, alongside other international observers from the OSCE...
26/05/2023 | Standing Committee
“Now the #RoadToReykjavik is over and I wish to stress once again that this was an exciting, eventful, and – most importantly – successful journey. But when one road ends, another one begins. And now we must implement the decisions taken in Reykjavik, so that they bring meaningful results to...
26/05/2023 | Standing Committee
“We must undoubtedly and powerfully demonstrate that Russia’s approach of ‘might is right’ fails, and that justice is fully restored. We must ensure that after it is defeated in Ukraine, Russia never again resorts to aggression as an instrument of foreign policy,” Saeima Speaker Edvards Smiltēns...
26/05/2023 | Standing Committee
“The Latvian Presidency will be guided by the decisions taken at the Summit. We are committed to advance their implementation. Given the importance of the parliamentary dimension in the work of the Council of Europe, we count on your input in this process,” Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars...
26/05/2023 | Standing Committee
“With the Reykjavik declaration, the heads of State and Government have provided a new direction for the Council of Europe for the years to come, acknowledging its impact in fostering greater unity between its members States, and its central role in the evolving European multicultural...
26/05/2023 | Standing Committee
In the framework of the Standing Committee meeting in Riga, the ‘Women@PACE’ group today held an exchange of views with Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, who served as the President of Latvia from 1999 to 2007. She was the first woman to hold the post in the country. Addressing the participants, Ms Vīķe...
26/05/2023 | Standing Committee
“The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) has continuously adapted to the changing context in which it operates by developing new tools and instruments to meet member states’ needs, while remaining focused on its social mandate,” CEB Governor Carlo Monticelli said today, addressing the PACE...
26/05/2023 | Standing Committee
“The Olympic Charter clearly states that the goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity. The Russian war of aggression is an indisputable breach of this...
26/05/2023 | Artificial Intelligence
Organised by the PACE Interparliamentary Co-operation and Project Support Division in co-operation with the Latvian delegation to PACE, a Round Table on ‘Artificial intelligence, freedom of expression and disinformation: challenges and risks for democracy’ took place today after the Standing...
25/05/2023 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
A PACE committee is urging the United Kingdom government and parliament to carefully consider the content of provisions of the Illegal Migration Bill and Bill of Rights Bill that – were they to enter into force – “could risk placing the UK in breach of its international obligations”. Unanimously...
23/05/2023 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Since 2014, there have been 854 reported incidents of physical transnational repression carried out by 38 governments in 91 countries worldwide. PACE Legal Affairs Committee is alarmed about the number and gravity of acts of transnational repression committed in Europe. Russia, recently excluded...