23/11/2011 President
Strasbourg, 23.11.2011 - During his two-day working visit to the United Kingdom ending today, PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, welcomed the priorities of the UK presidency which hand in hand coincide with the priorities of the Assembly, in particular the emphasis put on the Reform of the Court. He recalled that as stated in PACE Resolution 1726, this process should take into account, the need to strengthen the implementation of Convention rights at the national level; the improvement of the effectiveness of domestic remedies in states with major structural problems, and the need to rapidly and fully execute the judgments of the Court.
In addition, he stressed the importance of the EU accession to European Court of Human Rights and expressed hope that the progress will be achieved during UK Chairmanship. After the finalisation of the accession negotiations, the next political challenge will be the rapid ratification and entry into force of the Accession Agreement, PACE President believes. “Further development of the Neighbourhood Policy is also crucial, especially in the light of current political changes in the Arab World,” he said.
During his visit, Mr Çavuşoğlu met the Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow and Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans. He also met the Minister for State for the Ministry of Justice Lord McNally, the Lord Speaker Baroness D’Souza, the Chair of the House of Lords EU Select Committee Lord Roper, the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Turkey Fabian Hamilton, and the Chair of the UK delegation to the PACE Robert Walter. He also attended Prime Minister’s question time.