The Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) met in Tallinn on Friday 27 May at the Riigikogu (Parliament), in the context of the Estonian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers (18 May – 22 November 2016).
After the opening of the meeting by PACE President Pedro Agramunt, the Speaker of the Riigikogu Eiki Nestor welcomed participants. The parliamentarians then held an exchange of views with the Estonian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marina Kaljurand, who is chairing the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers for a six-month period. The discussions focused on Estonia's priorities during its Chairmanship and other issues in the framework of the Assembly's ongoing political dialogue with the Committee of Ministers.
The members of the Standing Committee also held an exchange of views with Marin Mrcela, President of the Group of States against corruption (GRECO) and Daniel Thelesklaf, Chairman of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL).
They then discussed the other issues on the agenda, including:
(*) The Standing Committee, which acts on the Assembly's behalf between plenary sessions, is made up of the President and Vice-Presidents of the Assembly, the chairpersons of political groups, the chairpersons of national delegations and the committee chairpersons, totalling some 60 parliamentarians from the Council of Europe's 47 member States.
The meeting of the Standing Committee, which was open to the press, took place on Friday 27 May 2016 from 9.30 am to around 12.30 pm at the Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament), Lossi Plats 1A, Tallinn.
