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PACE autumn session begins

28 September 2009 12:37 (UTC +04:00)

Following the plenary meeting, PACE President Luis Maria de Puig held a traditional press conference, APA correspondent reports. He first mentioned the election of Council of Europe Secretary General. â€œThe PACE couldnâ€™t change the list of candidates proposed by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers. Majority of the parliamentarians decided to vote for them. The European Peopleâ€™s Party demanded to postpone the electionsâ€.

Luis Maria de Puig said PACE Bureau decided to enter two candidates into the ballots. â€œThe Committee of Ministers had an opportunity to propose the list demonstrated pluralism. The parliamentarians decided to vote on the basis of this list. I think all four candidates deserved this post. I hope the Secretary General will be elected by majority of the votesâ€. The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers nominated Former Polish Prime Minister Vlodzimej Tymoshevic and former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland for the post of Secretary General. PACE Bureau postponed the elections until the autumn session because of disputes between PACE and Committee of Ministers. Former Head of the Flanders Government (Belgium) Luke van den Brande and member of the Hungarian Parliament Matias Jorsh were also nominated for the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe accepted the candidacy of Jagland and Tymoshevich in May, 2009.

The PACE President mentioned the Turkish-Armenian relations and called their intention to sign protocols as an important step. He welcomed all steps made toward establishing of new relations.