Secretariat of the Assembly

 

Synopsis No. 2001/003

23 January 2001

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            The Bureau of the Assembly, meeting on 22 January 2001 in Strasbourg with Lord Russell-Johnston in the Chair,

• updated the draft order of business of the first part of the 2001 Ordinary Session of the Assembly (22-26 January) and decided to recommend to the Assembly:

• to hold an urgent debate on “freedom of expression and the functioning of parliamentary democracy in Ukraine”;

• to consider that the request for an urgent debate on the ecological damage caused by military activities in former Yugoslavia could be met by the discussion on the report by the Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities on the “environmental impact of the war in Yugoslavia on south-east Europe” within the framework of the debate on the implementation of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe ;

• to proceed to the election of a Judge to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Italy, subject to a request for urgent procedure being made and the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights being able to carry out the procedure in force;

• took note of the decision by the Ministers’ Deputies fixing the date of accession of Armenia and Azerbaijan to the Council of Europe for Thursday 25 January 2001 at 9.15 am during the Assembly’s Part-Session;

• following the request from the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), and after having consulted the Political Affairs Committee (Rapporteur: Mr Frey, Switzerland, LDR), granted special guest status with the Assembly to the Federal Parliament of the FRY whose delegation shall have 7 members;

• approved its draft progress report to the Assembly (Rapporteur: Mr Behrendt, Germany, SOC);

• appointed spokespersons for the Joint Committee on 25 January and took note of the report by the Joint Working Group of the Assembly and the Committee of Ministers;

• approved the composition of the Monitoring Committee as proposed by the political groups and submitted it to the Assembly for ratification, it being understood that the composition would be completed later;

• took note, within the framework of the follow-up to Resolution 1227 (2000) and to Recommendation 1478 (2000) on the conflict in the Chechen Republic, of:

• the results of a fact-finding visit to Moscow and the Chechen Republic by the Rapporteurs of the Political Affairs Committee (Lord Judd) and the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights (Mr Bindig) (13-18 January 2001);

• the reply by the Committee of Ministers to Recommendation 1478 (2000) adopted by the Ministers’ Deputies on 17 January 2001;

• declassified the report on the elections to the National Assembly of Serbia, FRY (23 December 2000);

• declassified the report on the re-run of parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan in 11 single-mandate districts held on 7 January 2001;

• agreed to resume the discussion on the logo of the Council of Europe at its next meeting following the adoption by the Committee of Ministers of Resolution (2000) 2 on the Council of Europe’s information strategy;

• agreed to hold its next meetings as follows:

• Strasbourg, Friday 26 January 2001 at 8.30 am

• Paris, Tuesday 13 March 2001 at 3 pm

• Strasbourg, Monday 23 April 2001 at 8.30 am

• Strasbourg, Friday 27 April 2001 at 8.30 am

 

Horst Schade / Agnès Nollinger