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

 

Secretariat of the Assembly

Synopsis No. 2000 / 132

26 September 2000

 

The Bureau of the Assembly, meeting on 25 September 2000 in Strasbourg with Lord Russell-Johnston in the Chair,

-                 held an exchange of views on the follow-up to the texts adopted on the conflict in the Chechen Republic, following the visit by an ad hoc committee to Russia from 18 to 22 September, heard statements from the leader of the delegation (Mr Surjan, Hungary, EPP/CD) on the Duma hearing on Chechnya, from the rapporteur of the Political Affairs Committee (Lord Judd, UK, SOC) on the visit of Mr Kalamanov’s office, and from the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr Schwimmer, on his contacts with senior Russian officials;

-           expressed itself in favour of holding a current affairs debate on the elections in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on Tuesday afternoon, 26 September, in place of two debates originally foreseen on the impact of new technologies and on demographic changes;

-           updated the draft order of business and, in particular, took note of a ceremony at 10 am on Thursday, 28 September, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signature of the European Convention on Human Rights;

-           approved the Progress Report of the Bureau of the Assembly (Rapporteur: Mrs Ragnarsdóttir, Iceland, EDG);

-           appointed Mr Mota Amaral (Chairman of the Monitoring Committee) and Mr Atkinson spokespersons for the Joint Committee meeting (28 September 2000), respectively on the item on monitoring and on relations with the United Nations;

-           approved, subject to ratification by the Assembly, the following references and transmissions:

                        Motion for a recommendation on the establishment of a European Organic Farming Charter (Doc. 8816): to the Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development and Food, for report to the Standing Committee;

                        Motion for a recommendation on the improvement of living and social conditions of the Roma/Gypsy population in order to decrease possible Romani migration from the countries of central and Eastern Europe (Doc. 8830): to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and to the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography and to the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, for opinion

                        Motion for an order on the situation of Roma/Gypsies in respect of asylum (Doc. 8829): the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography, for information, to be taken into account in the opinion on the report to be drafted for Doc. 8830 above;

-           took note that the Committee on Rules of Procedure and Immunities had decided to give no follow-up to Order n° 556 (1999) on the Respect for international humanitarian law in Europe;

-                       approved the following meetings outside Strasbourg and Paris:

.    Sub-Committee on relations with non-member countries in New York (USA) on 19-20 October 2000;

.    Sub-Committee on the Europe Prize (of the Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities) in Cockermouth (UK) on 27 October 2000;

.    Committee on Economic Affairs and Development in Brussels (Belgium) on 22 November 2000;

.     Political Affairs Committee in Riga (Latvia) on 12-13 December 2000;

-                   appointed the following Assembly representatives for official activities:

.     Mr Saakashvili (Georgia, EDG) for the 16th Plenary Session of the PABSEC General Assembly in Yerevan on 29-30 November 2000;

.     Mrs Poptodorova (Bulgaria, SOC) for a fact-finding mission on the cultural situation in Kosovo (week of 2 October 2000);

-            confirmed its next meetings as follows:

            .            Strasbourg, Friday 29 September 2000 at 8.30 am.

.            Strasbourg, Wednesday 8 November 2000 at 2.30 pm

.            Paris, Thursday 14 December 2000 at 3 pm

.            Paris, Monday 8 January 2001 at 9.30 am.

 

Horst Schade/Agnès Nollinger