01/10/2012 Session
Strasbourg, 01.10.2012 - In his opening address at the 4th session of the PACE, its President Jean-Claude Mignon called for "dialogue with our Russian friends and colleagues".
“I hope that we shall soon have another opportunity to hold an exchange of views with Mr Naryshkin, President of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, who has unfortunately cancelled his trip to Strasbourg during this part-session,” said the PACE President.
The tensions surrounding the report made him uneasy for they had no foundation. “We hold our debates according to the principles of dialogue and mutual respect, treating all participants on an equal footing and applying no double standards. The debate on the monitoring report provides the opportunity to make a political assessment of Russia's participation in the work of the Council of Europe, while together identifying tangible means of further reinforcing our co-operation, including on issues that are still causing debate,” he said.
He welcomed the fact that a current affairs debate was to be held on the Safarov case and said that glorification of the heinous crime committed by Mr Safarov was unacceptable and that he deeply regretted that a legal instrument of the Council of Europe developed for truly "humanistic” purposes had been used to obtain a pardon for a criminal.
The President also warned against increasing intolerance and the propagation of extreme and extremist ideas which represented a real danger to democracy. “The unrest in the Muslim world following recent dissemination on the Internet of an Islamophobic film, the worst manifestation of which was the killing of the United States Ambassador to Libya, makes clear to us the effect that such ill-considered and provocative acts may have. What has happened highlights the importance of 'living together', a field in which our Organisation has developed sound expertise,” he added.
Finally, Mr Mignon said he felt a degree of anxiety about the events which had followed the Arab Spring. “Now that the new authorities in the countries concerned, set up after elections which we considered generally free and democratic, are attempting to put in place major reforms, we still have some questions about compliance with the values and standards which we uphold, particularly in the spheres of equality between women and men, the place of religion in the State, and respect for the rights and fundamental freedoms of all, without discrimination,” he concluded.