08/11/2013 Political Affairs and Democracy
Tiny Kox: ‘PACE’s Partnership for Democracy is and should not be for free’
"A Partnership for Democracy with the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly is and should not be for free. It needs obligations and commitments, for both partners, in order to give the partnership serious substance," today said Tiny Kox (Netherlands, UEL), addressing the Conference on "Political changes in the South Mediterranean and the Middle East: the role of representative institutions”, organised in Lisbon by PACE’s Committee on Political Affairs.
“The Partnership for democracy allows our Assembly to broaden its contacts with the parliaments of countries in our neighborhood and gives these parliaments opportunities to take advantage of the assets build up by the Council of Europe and of its institutions, such as the Venice Commission. It is always work in progress. But we have to take care that the partnership is not for free and therefore we regularly have to evaluate the progress made in the partnership,” Mr Kox said.