07/09/2010 Bureau
The members of the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), led by the PACE President, Mevlüt Çavusoglu, will be received today for an audience with His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.
“We are deeply grateful to His Holiness for granting this audience”, said President Çavusoglu the day before the audience. He pointed out that the Holy See enjoyed observer status with the Council of Europe, and that it shared the Organisation’s and its Parliamentary Assembly’s faith in the value of the human being.
After the audience, the PACE President will meet with the Under-Secretary of State to the Italian Council of Ministers, Gianni Letta. The PACE Bureau will subsequently be meeting at the Palazzo Montecitorio, the seat of the Chamber of Deputies, at the invitation of the Chair of the Italian delegation to the Assembly, Luigi Vitali (EPP/CD). This meeting will also be attended by the Secretary General, Thorbjørn Jagland, and the Deputy Secretary General, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio.
The Bureau’s agenda will include the implementation of PACE Resolution 1739 (2010) on initiating dialogue with representatives of the political forces elected to the Kosovo[1] Assembly on issues of common interest. It will update the draft agenda for the October session and adopt a declaration for International Day of Democracy on 15 September 2010. Also on the agenda will be the observation of the constitutional referendum in Moldova on 5 September last and co-operation with the European Parliament.
[1] All reference to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.