FOR THE ATTENTION OF MEMBERS OF THE POLITICAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

 

Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly

 

Synopsis No. 2001 / 071

18 June 2001

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The Political Affairs Committee, meeting in Vaduz (Liechtenstein) on 11 June 2001, under the Chairmanship of Mr Terry Davis (United Kingdom, SOC):

• held an exchange of views with :

• Mr Ivars PUNDURS,  Under-Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, representative of the out-going Chairman of the Committee of Ministers

• Mr Ernst WALCH, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Principality of Liechtenstein, Chairman-in-Office of the Committee of Ministers

• Mr Josef WOLF, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Liechtenstein to the Council of Europe

• Mr Oskaras JUSYS, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, representative of the next Chairman of the Committee of Ministers

• Mr Rokas BERNOTAS, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the Council of Europe

As regards :

• Conflict in the Chechen Republic : heard a report by Lord Judd (United Kingdom, SOC), on the meeting of the Joint Working Group on Chechnya (Prague, 24-25 May 2001) and on the hearing “on the search for people missing and held hostage in Chechnya”, organised by the State Duma (Moscow, 4 June 2001);

• Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe (Rapporteur: Mr Bársony, Hungary, SOC): heard a report by Mr Bársony on the first meeting of the “Troïka” Task Force on Parliamentary Co-operation (Working Table I of the Stability Pack - Brussels 5 June 2001) and asked the Rapporteur to prepare a memorandum for its meeting next September;

• Situation in the “former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” : instructed its President to ask the Bureau for its authorisation to hold an urgent debate during the June part-session and appointed Mr Jakič (Slovenia, LDR) rapporteur;

• European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (Strasbourg, 19-22 June 2001): nominated Mr Bársony (Hungary, SOC) to represent it at the meeting and asked him to submit a memorandum to the Commission before the end of the year;

• Regional Ministerial Conference on National and Ethnic Communities and Minorities in South East Europe – Domestic and Regional Confidence Building (Belgrade, 5-6 July 2001) : appointed Mr Frey (Switzerland, LDR) to represent it at the conference organised by the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Federal Ministry of National and Ethnic Communities, in co-operation with the Council of Europe (Subject to the Bureau’s authorisation);

• Request for Observer Status with the Assembly: Parliament of Kazakhstan: decided to wait on the results of the visit by the Bureau’s delegation before pursuing the examination of this point;

• Situation in Cyprus (Rapporteur: Mr Bársony, Hungary, SOC) : authorised the rapporteur to visit the country in the near future  and instructed him to submit a report to it at the January part-session;

• Relations with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) : took note of a letter from the Chairman of the Permanent Commission on Political Issues and International Co-operation of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States and decided to invite a delegation of that Commission to one the Political Affairs Committee’s future meetings in Strasbourg or in Paris;

• Next meetings :

• Strasbourg, Saturday 23 June 2001

• Strasbourg, during the Assembly’s June part-session (25 - 29 June 2001)

• Tbilissi (Georgia), 2 - 4 September 2001 (Subject to the Bureau’s authorisation)

• Ottawa (Canada), 22 - 23 October 2001, joint seminar with the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association (Subject to the Bureau’s authorisation)

• Vilnius (Lithuania), 19 - 20 November 2001 - Exchange of views with the Chairman-in Office of the Committee of Ministers (Subject to the Bureau’s authorisation)

Barış Perin, Petr Sich