The Standing Committee* met in Copenhagen on Friday 24 November 2017, in the context of the Danish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers (November 2017-May 2018).
After the opening of the meeting by PACE President Stella Kyriakides, the Speaker of the Folketinget (Danish Parliament), Pia Kjærsgaard, welcomed participants. The parliamentarians then held an exchange of views with Ulla Tørnæs, Minister for Development Co-operation, representing the Danish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
The agenda also included an exchange of views with George Tsereteli, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, as well as debates on the relations of the Council of Europe with Kazakhstan, the democratic approach to the issues of self-determination and secession, cross-border parental responsibility conflicts and child-friendly age assessment for unaccompanied migrant children.
There were also requests for current affairs debates on "Defending the acquis of the Council of Europe: the role of the Parliamentary Assembly. Follow up of Resolution 2186 (2017) and Recommendations 2113 (2017) and 2114 (2017)" and on "Democracy hacked. How to respond?".
(*) 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 and the chairs of the political groups, national delegations and Assembly committees, totalling some 60 parliamentarians from the 47 Council of Europe member states.
The meeting of the Standing Committee, which is open to the press, was held from 9.30 am to 5 pm at the Danish Folketinget (Christiansborg Castle, 1240 Copenhagen).
