The situation: Europe continues to be faced with unprecedented numbers of migrants seeking protection. Migrant children are the most vulnerable group, whether they are arriving with their families or as unaccompanied minors. A worrying number of them end up in administrative detention as a result of existing immigration laws and policies. In detention facilities … Read more

  European Conference of Presidents of Parliament Strasbourg, France, 15-16 September 2016 The Presidents and Speakers of parliament from the 47 Council of Europe member states and many partner, observer and neighbouring countries, along with the Presidents of other international assemblies, met in Strasbourg on 15 and 16 September 2016 for a European parliamentary summit, … Read more

The Assembly was instrumental in introducing institutionalised parliamentary observation of elections in Europe. Its first initiative was monitoring the electoral process of a state in 1974 in the context of the return of Greece to the Council of Europe. Founded on 5 May 1949 by ten states, in 1989 the Organisation had 23 members.  Since … Read more

PACE offers ‘self-service’ video clip tool With the aim of promoting parliamentary debate on social media, the Assembly offers an online tool which allows video clips from PACE plenary sessions to be swiftly edited, downloaded and posted on social media or the web. The “self-service” tool enables to download extracts from member and guests speeches … Read more

  Strasbourg, 30 September-4 October 2013   Strasbourg, 05.09.2013 – Addresses by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić and the Speaker of the Russian State Duma Sergey Naryshkin will be among highlights of PACE’s forthcoming autumn plenary session (30 September-4 October). Also on the agenda are debates on national security and access to … Read more

  Strasbourg, 8-12 October   At its autumn session in Strasbourg (8-12 October 2018), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) discussed the strengthening of its decision-making process concerning credentials and voting. The winner of the 2018 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize was announced on Monday 8 October, from a shortlist of three … Read more

  Anne Brasseur “I am proud to be the president of an Assembly which brings together 324 parliamentarians from 47 European countries, representing 820 million people. To benefit from this diversity, we must not only foster permanent dialogue and mutual respect but also make the effort to understand others, taking account of their backgrounds, their … Read more

Political groups In order to develop a non-national European outlook, the formation of political groups in the Parliamentary Assembly has been promoted and from 1964 onwards they were granted certain rights within the Rules of Procedure. At present the Assembly counts six political groups: the Group of the European People’s Party (EPP/CD); the Socialists, Democrats … Read more

  The meeting of the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly was held in Vienna at the Austrian Parliament on Friday 22 November 2013 under the Austrian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. After the opening of the meeting by PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon, the President of the Austrian National Council, Reinhard Todt, gave a … Read more

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  The PACE Standing Committee meets in Sarajevo on 22 May, ahead of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s six-month chairmanship of the Council of Europe. The parliamentarians will hold an exchange of views with Foreign Minister Igor Crnadak on his country’s priorities, and are also due to debate children’s rights, the criminalisation of irregular migrants and cultural … Read more

On this website you will find the texts adopted by the parliamentary assembly, its public working papers (“the Documents”) and the Assembly records. Adopted Texts The Assembly can adopt three different types of texts: recommendations, resolutions and opinions. Recommendations contain proposals addressed to the Committee of Ministers, the implementation of which is within the competence … Read more

  Parliamentary representation The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) consists of a number of individual representatives from each member State, with a President elected each year from among them for a maximum period of two sessions. The present President is Stella Kyriakides (Cyprus, EPP/CD). She was elected in October 2017. Whilst in … Read more

PACE Standing Committee will meet in Brussels on Tuesday 18 November at the Federal Parliament, in the context of the Belgian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers (November 2014-May 2015). After the opening of the meeting by PACE President Anne Brasseur, the Speaker of the House of Representatives [tbc] will address participants. The members of … Read more

Strasbourg, 22-26 June Speeches by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the President of Malta Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, and the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mladen Ivanic are among the highlights of the PACE 2015 Summer Session (Strasbourg, 22-26 June). Debates on the agenda include consideration of the annulment of the previously ratified … Read more

Political Affairs and Democracy News New guidelines for fair referendums 11/12/2018 Political Affairs and Democracy Political Affairs Committee unanimously adopted a draft resolution aimed at updating the Venice Commission’s Code of Good Practice on Referendums, following, in particular, the increasing use of referendums. More A PACE delegation at the UN ponders how to uphold common … Read more

The Bureau and the committees The Bureau The President, twenty Vice-Presidents, the Chairpersons of the political groups or their representatives as well as the Chairpersons of the general PACE Committees or their substitutes make up the Bureau of the Assembly. The big countries have a permanent seat in the Bureau; the smaller countries take turns. … Read more

Detail of decisions taken by the Committee at each meeting Détail des décisions prises par la Commission à chacune de ses réunions Date English Français 2016 25/01/2016 AS/SOC 001 AS/SOC 001 15/03/2016 AS/SOC 002 AS/SOC 002 17/03/2016 AS/SOC/CSE 001 AS/SOC/CSE 001 18/04/2016 AS/SOC 003 AS/SOC/003 02/06/2016 AS/SOC 004 AS/SOC/004 21/06/2016 AS/SOC 005 AS/SOC/005 08/07/2016 AS/SOC/PRIX … Read more

Detail of decisions taken by the Committee at each meeting Détail des décisions prises par la Commission à chacune de ses réunions Date English Français 2018 12/01/2018 AS/CDH 001 AS/CDH 001 24/01/2018 AS/CDH 002 AS/CDH 002 12/04/2018 AS/CDH 003 AS/CDH 003 15/06/2018 AS/CDH 004 AS/CDH 004 27/09/2018 AS/CDH 005 AS/CDH 005 2017 13/01/2017 AS/CDH 001 … Read more