FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE BUREAU OF THE ASSEMBLY

Office of the Clerk of the Assembly

Synopsis N° 2000 / 037

07 March 2000

• authorised the visit to Moscow and the Caucasus (8-13 March 2000) of the ad hoc Committee on follow-up to Recommendation 1444 (2000), appointed Lord Judd (SOC, UK) as its Chairman and empowered him to take any measure which would be deemed necessary on the spot concerning the implementation of the programme prepared by the Russian authorities;

• held an exchange of views on "the Council of Europe and the political situation in Austria";

• adopted the draft agenda and drew up the preliminary draft order of business for the second part of the 2000 Ordinary Session of the Assembly (3-7 April 2000);

 

• agreed to propose to the Committee of Ministers the following subjects for the meeting of the Joint Committee on 6 April 2000 : the state of the accession process for the applicant States and the situation in Chechnya ;

 

• appointed Mr Surjan ( EPP/CD, Hungary ) as rapporteur for the progress report of the Bureau of the Assembly;

 

• considered follow-up to Assembly Recommendation 1441 (2000) on the situation in Belarus, heard statements by MM Davis (SOC, United Kingdom) and Behrendt (SOC, Germany) on their participation in the tripartite joint mission to Minsk (1-4 March 2000) of the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe and the OSCE and of the European Parliament and decided to continue this inter-parliamentary cooperation;

 

• took note of and declassified the report of the ad hoc Committee on the presidential elections in Croatia (24 January and 7 February 2000);

• agreed to set up an ad hoc Committee to observe the presidential elections in Georgia (9 April 2000);

 

• on the basis of proposals from the Monitoring Committee and a memorandum by the Secretary General of the Assembly, agreed on a methodology for post monitoring dialogue with Member States concerned;

 

• considered the list of candidates in respect of Malta to the European Committee on the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) and agreed to forward the candidatures to the Committee of Ministers in the order proposed by the Maltese parliamentary delegation;

 

• endorsed the conclusions of the Committee on Rules of Procedure and Immunities relating to the forms of the Assembly’s co-operation with the parliaments of non-member states and agreed to develop a model co-operation agreement for the parliaments of non-member States prepared, if appropriate, with relevant Assembly Committees;

• approved the changes in the composition of Assembly Committees contained in document commissions 2000 (4);

 

• decided to consult the Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities on the opportunity to set up an ad hoc Committee of the Assembly to combat marine pollution by hydrocarbons (Doc. 8610);

. Motion for a recommendation on introduction of a label for products derived from hill farming (Doc.8621) to the Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development and Food, for report to the Standing Committee;

. Motion for a resolution on European architecture of the 21st century (Doc 8639) to the Political Affairs Committee;

. Motion for a resolution on the need for a better functioning World Trade Organisation and for a greater parliamentary involvement in the organisation’s work (Doc. 8641) to the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development;

. Motion for a recommendation on maritime transport safety (Doc.8642) to the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development and, for opinion, to the Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities;

. Motion for a recommendation on democratic developments in Iran (Doc. 8643): transmission to the Political Affairs Committee for information;

. Motion for a recommendation on freedom of movement in Europe (Doc. 8644) to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights;

. Motion for a recommendation on improving the social status and role of volunteers as a contribution by the Assembly to the International Year of Volunteers 2001 (Doc. 8645) to the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, for report to the Standing Committee;

. Motion for a recommendation on prohibition of growth hormones in meat (Doc.8646) to the Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development and Food;

. Motion for a recommendation on freedom of movement for the residents of Latvia and Estonia (Doc. 8647) to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights;

. Motion for a resolution on sporting rights of the Turkish Cypriot people (Doc.8648) to the Committee on Culture and Education for information;

. Motion for a resolution on elimination of religious discrimination against Jehova’s Witnesses (Doc.8649): transmission to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights for information;

 

• authorised the following meetings elsewhere than in Strasbourg or Paris:

 

. Committee on Culture and Education in Brussels on 23 March 2000;

. Ad hoc Committee of Chairmen of Political Groups in Bucharest in connection with the Ninth Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (6 - 10 July 2000);

. Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in Limassol (Cyprus) on 22 and 23 May 2000;

. Committee on Science and Technology in Brussels on 22 March 2000;

. Committee on Science and Technology in Gdansk (Poland) from 9 - 11 October 2000;

. Ad hoc Committee of Chairmen of Political Groups in Mexico from 17 - 23 April 2000;

 

• appointed the following Assembly representatives :

. Mr Gjellerod (SOC, Denmark) to participate in the OSCE parliamentary seminar "New risks and challenges: Minorities in the 21st Century" (Antalya, Turkey, 12-13 April 2000);

. Mrs Roudy (SOC, France) to participate in the tripartite session on "Democracy through partnership between men and women" to be organised in New York on 6 June 2000 by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in connection with the follow-up to the 4th World Conference of the United Nations on Women (Beijing, 1995);

. Mrs Stepova (SOC, Czech Republic) to visit the WTO headquarters in Madrid on 28 – 29 March 2000;

• asked the Committee on Rules of Procedure and Immunities to set up a working group to consider the proposals in document AS/Bur (2000)1 revised concerning the modification of the official report of Assembly sittings and to report back to the Bureau;

 

• took note of the necessary modifications to the procedure and practice due to the introduction of electronic vote in the Assembly as from the April 2000 part-session (document AS/Bur (2000) 020);

 

• approved the composition of the Assembly’s delegation (the President, the Chairmen of the Political groups, the Chairman and the Rapporteur of the Committee on the Budget and the Secretary General of the Assembly) for the consultation meeting with the Committee of Ministers on the Budget for 2001 and agreed on the timetable for examining of budgetary questions (AS/Bur (2000) 022);

• took note of a letter of Mr Jurgens (SOC, Netherlands) to the President concerning the implementation by France of the decision of the former European Commission of Human Rights of 1995 and the Committee of Ministers of 1997 in the case of " Hakkar v. France " and invited the President to send a letter to the French Minister of Justice in this connection.

 

• agreed to hold its next meetings as follows :

.Strasbourg, Monday 3 April 2000 at 8.30 am.

. Strasbourg, Friday 7 April 2000 at 8 am.

. Dublin, Tuesday 16 May 2000 at 9.30 am.

. Paris, Thursday 8 June 2000 at 3 pm.

. Strasbourg, Monday 26 June 2000 at 8.30 am.

. Strasbourg, Friday 30 June 2000 at 8 am;

. Paris, Friday 8 September 2000 at 9.30 am.

 

A. Nollinger / M. Heinrich