CoE Parliamentary Assembly reconvenes

The fall sessions of the Council of Europe (CoE) Parliamentary Assembly begin today in Strasbourg. Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica will address the assembly tomorrow with the aim of gaining the support of the international community for Serbia’s Kosovo status proposal. CoE Parliamentary Assembly reconvenes Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic will also speak at the assembly on October 4, regarding the results of the work of the Council of Europe (CoE) Ministers Committee. Serbia is presiding over the CoE from May to November. The report on the future status of Kosovo, which is being prepared by Lord Russell Johnston for the Political Affairs Committee, will not be presented at the meeting nor will the report be compiled by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. The report on legal aspects and the human rights situation in Kosovo will be presented to the Parliamentary Assembly in January and will be accompanied by Lord Johnston’s report. The report on Serbia’s commitments towards the CoE will also be completed in January and will be presented three months later, during which time Serbia has the right to respond to any of the findings. President of the Serbian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly Milos Aligrudic, will address the Political Affairs Committee regarding the rules that need to be adopted on a European level for secret ballots, including the behavior of politicians, observers and voters. Some of the main topics of the autumn sessions, which will run from October 1-5, will be the possible missile shield which the U.S. and NATO want to set up in Poland and the Czech Republic, the concept of preventive war and its consequences on the international community, the danger of teaching the theory of creationism in European schools, and regulating the flow of illegal immigrants.

CoE Parliamentary Assembly reconvenes

Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić will also speak at the assembly on October 4, regarding the results of the work of the Council of Europe (CoE) Ministers Committee.

Serbia is presiding over the CoE from May to November.

The report on the future status of Kosovo, which is being prepared by Lord Russell Johnston for the Political Affairs Committee, will not be presented at the meeting nor will the report be compiled by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.

The report on legal aspects and the human rights situation in Kosovo will be presented to the Parliamentary Assembly in January and will be accompanied by Lord Johnston’s report.

The report on Serbia’s commitments towards the CoE will also be completed in January and will be presented three months later, during which time Serbia has the right to respond to any of the findings.

President of the Serbian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly Miloš Aligrudić, will address the Political Affairs Committee regarding the rules that need to be adopted on a European level for secret ballots, including the behavior of politicians, observers and voters.

Some of the main topics of the autumn sessions, which will run from October 1-5, will be the possible missile shield which the U.S. and NATO want to set up in Poland and the Czech Republic, the concept of preventive war and its consequences on the international community, the danger of teaching the theory of creationism in European schools, and regulating the flow of illegal immigrants.