Upon my election as President of the Parliamentary Assembly, I highlighted the issues on which I intend to concentrate my activities. As President of the Assembly, I shall seek to ensure the good functioning of the Assembly and contribute to restoring its credibility. Therefore, I shall concentrate my activities mainly on three issues: defending the values that unite the Council of Europe member States, as well as contributing to ensuring the viability of the European Convention on Human Rights System; continuing the Assembly’s activities aiming at restoring its credibility and promoting full transparency of our work; promoting further gender equality within the Assembly and the Council of Europe in general. I am looking forward to working in close co-operation with the Assembly bodies and members, as well as all Council of Europe institutions and officials during my mandate.
During the June 2018 part-session of the Assembly, I met a number of Assembly guests, including the Prime Minister of Croatia, the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Croatia and Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg, as well as the Minister of Migration Policy of Greece. We discussed the challenges that the Organisation was facing, including in particular the relations with the Russian Federation. Furthermore, with the Prime Ministers of Croatia and the Slovak Republic, I discussed the issue of ratification and implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). Moreover, my meeting with the Minister of Migration Policy of Greece was an opportunity to hear an update on the current situation regarding the arrival of refugees and migrants via the Eastern Mediterranean route, as well as the situation on the Greek islands.
I also met the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe as well as a number of chairpersons of national delegations. We discussed co-operation in addressing the challenges that the Organisation is currently facing.
The meeting of the Joint Committee was an opportunity to share with the Ministers’ Deputies the conclusions of the work of the Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee of the Bureau on the Role and Mission of the Parliamentary Assembly. These will be further looked at by the Assembly’s competent committees, i.e. the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs, on Political Affairs and Democracy, as well as by the Monitoring Committee.
On 4 July 2018, I held an exchange of views with the Ministers’ Deputies informing them of the priority issues on which I intend to concentrate my activities. We also discussed the conclusions of the June part-session and the future co-operation between the Parliamentary Assembly and the Committee of Ministers in this context.
In the margins of the exchange of views, I held a number of bilateral meetings including with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the various Secretariat teams within the Parliamentary Assembly.
On 27-28 August 2018, I travelled to Prague for an official visit, as well as to participate in the first meeting of the Selection Panel of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize. During the visit, I met the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, as well as the Speakers of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate of the Czech Parliament.
I welcomed good co-operation between the Council of Europe and the Czech Republic, praising in particular the successful Czech Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers and the active contribution of the Czech delegation to the work of the Parliamentary Assembly. We discussed the ways to address the challenges the Council of Europe is currently facing, in particular the implications of the Russian Federation’s decision to withhold its financial contribution. Furthermore, we discussed the co-operation between the Council of Europe monitoring bodies and the Czech authorities in a number of fields and I am grateful to my interlocutors for updating me on the state of implementation of current reforms, regarding in particular education and the situation of Roma. Finally, we touched upon the issue of the current refugee crisis and the need to address it on the basis of principles of solidarity, fair responsibility-sharing and respect for international obligations and commitments.
I am grateful to the Czech authorities, as well as to our partners from Charter 77 and the Václav Havel Library, for the excellent organisation of my meetings.
On 28 August 2018, the Selection Panel of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize shortlisted the following three nominees for the 2018 Prize:
The Selection Panel will meet once again, on 7 October 2018, to designate the laureate of the 2018 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize.
On 29-30 August 2018, I travelled to Strasbourg to hold bilateral meetings with Council of Europe officials, including the Chairman of the Ministers’ Deputies, the Director General of DGI (Human Rights and Rule of Law), the Secretary of the Venice Commission, as well as some Secretariat teams within the Parliamentary Assembly.
On 2 September 2018, I attended the meeting of the Presidential Committee.
On 3 September 2018, I attended the meeting of the Bureau followed by the meeting of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs which held an exchange of views on the proposals of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Role and Mission of the Parliamentary Assembly relating to the challenge or reconsideration of credentials and/or to representation and participation rights of national delegations, as well as regarding the voting rights of members and the voting procedures of the Assembly.
In the margins of the meetings, I gave an interview to the French language TV Channel TV5 Monde.
During the visits, I met a number of Permanent Representatives of the Council of Europe member States, as well as the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
Moreover, on 13 September 2018, I met Ms Annemie Turtleboom, member of the European Court of Auditors, responsible for Opinion 1/2018 concerning the proposal of 2 May 2018 for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of the Union´s budget in case of generalised deficiencies as regards the rule of law in member States.
I shared with Ms Turtleboom the Assembly’s recent Resolutions on the situation of the rule of law in Council of Europe member States and informed her of the Assembly’s monitoring procedure and our co-operation with the Venice Commission. I welcomed the fact that the European Union bodies were increasingly using reports by Council of Europe monitoring and expert bodies, in particular the Venice Commission, in their assessments of the rule of law situation in member States. I encouraged further co-operation with the Assembly and the Council of Europe in this respect.
At the invitation of Ms Valentina Matvienko, Chairperson of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States, I participated in the Second Eurasian Women’s Forum held in St Petersburg, on 19-21 September 2018. In particular, I addressed the Opening session of the Forum highlighting the Assembly’s contribution to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals relating to gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.
In my address, I welcomed the Forum’s strategic vision for the future. Furthermore, I presented the Assembly’s activities in two key areas: promoting representation of women in politics and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
Regarding political representation of women, I shared the Assembly’s experience of striving to ensure a balanced representation of women and men parliamentarians and encouraged parliaments to move in this direction.
Turning to combating violence against women, I presented the Istanbul Convention and encouraged participants to study it as a concrete tool to combat violence against women. I highlighted in particular the fact that the Istanbul Convention is open for accession by non-member States of the Council of Europe and that it can be seen as a model and a means of evaluation of State practices in view of achieving the UN 2030 Agenda. Moreover, I informed the participants of the work of the Assembly’s Parliamentary Network “Women Free from Violence”, which allows parliamentarians to work together to jointly seek solutions. I encouraged the participants to replicate this initiative at the national level or within international parliamentary assemblies.
During the Forum, I held a number of bilateral meetings, including with the President of the IPU, the Executive Director of UN Women and the Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, Chairperson of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS member States.
With the President of the IPU, I discussed the presentation of the joint Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe-IPU study on sexism, harassment and sexual violence against women in parliaments in Europe, to be held on 16 October 2018 in Geneva. I also shared with the IPU President information about the Parliamentary Network “Women Free from Violence”. I expressed the Assembly’s readiness to work with the IPU to help launch a similar initiative at their level.
With the Executive Director of UN Women, I discussed co-operation in combating violence against women and domestic violence as well as possible events that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe could hold regarding this subject during the next session of the United Nations Commission for the Status of Women.
With the Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, I discussed the relations between the Parliamentary Assembly and the Russian Parliament, stressing the need to overcome the existing situation by means of dialogue.
I was honoured to be invited to address the Swiss Parliament on 25 September 2018 and deliver a speech on the Council of Europe, its Parliamentary Assembly and our contribution to upholding the values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law on the European continent.
I highlighted the challenges that lay ahead of us, in particular, as regards our Human Rights Convention System. I called on member States to uphold the authority of the Convention and of the Court and to refrain from actions that would undermine it.
Members of the Selection Panel of the 2018 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize:
Representatives of the Charta 77 Foundation and of the Václav Havel Library: