Place of meeting of the Assembly and the committees
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 2 October 1987 (10th Sitting) (see Doc. 5776, motion for an order). Text adopted by the Assembly on 2 October 1987 (10th Sitting).
The Assembly,
1. Having regard to the French authorities' decision of 14 September 1986 to introduce a visa requirement for all foreigners with the exception of nationals of the European Community member states, Switzerland and Liechtenstein ;
2. Noting that, following the démarches by its President among others, an exception has been made for delegates and civil servants participating in the meetings of the Council of Europe ;
3. Recalling that, in his answer to oral questions in connection with his speech on the Europe of freedoms in the Assembly on 27 January 1987, Prime Minister Jacques Chirac qualified the visa requirement as a short-term measure and stated that the elimination of this restriction was a matter of months rather than years ;
4. Noting that, this statement notwithstanding, in February 1987 the visa requirement was extended for another period of six months ;
5. Having regard, furthermore, to the French authorities' decision of 8 August 1987 to stiffen the restrictions already in force by making the visa-holder's entry into France dependent on his ability to give an address in France and to prove that he has the financial means to secure his return from France ;
6. Observing that these restrictions are discriminatory and vexatious towards the citizens of several member states of the Council of Europe ;
7. Observing, furthermore, that these restrictions are in contradiction with the often declared aim of the Council of Europe to facilitate communications between European states,
8. Insists that the citizens of the twenty-one member states must be freed of all visa restrictions, but, failing the achievement of such a solution before the opening of its next part-session (25 January 1988), instructs the Bureau to consider the future location of meetings of the Assembly.
