Parliamentary Assembly Assemblée parlementaire

FOR THE ATTENTION OF MEMBERS OF THE POLITICAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly

Synopsis No. 2006 / 07 14 September 2006

The Political Affairs Committee , meeting in Gaziantep (Turkey) on 11 and 12 September 2006, with Mr Ate ş (Turkey, SOC) in the chair:

. took note of a message by Mr Arinç, Speaker of the of Turkey;

. held an exchange of views with:

Mr Kamçi, Governor of Gaziantep, Mr Güzelbey, Mayor of Greater Gaziantep, Ambassador Kuneralp, Director General for Policy Planning, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Mr Aslan, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Gaziantep, Mr Kocer, Chair of the Chamber of Industry of Gaziantep; as regards:

- Possibilities of co-operation between the Council of Europe and (Rapporteur: Mr Brincat, Malta, SOC): took note of an oral statement by the Rapporteur on his visit to Lebanon (13- 14 June 2006);

. took note of the message by Mr Berri, Speaker of the of Lebanon, regretted that no members of the Parliament were present, and held an exchange of views with Mr Siam, Ambassador of Lebanon to Turkey on the possibilities of future co-operation between the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and and invited the Rapporteur to prepare a list of possible areas for such co-operation;

- Urgent debate : held an exchange of views on the situation in the Middle East in light of recent developments, decided to request the holding of a debate under urgent procedure on Recent developments in Lebanon in the context of the situation in the Middle East during the October 2006 part- session of the Assembly, and agreed to appoint Mr Lindblad (Sweden, EPP/CD) as Rapporteur subject to authorisation by the Assembly to hold such a debate;

- Current situation in Kosovo (Rapporteur: Lord Russell-Johnston, United Kingdom, ALDE): following a request by representatives of Serbia on the basis of Rule 46.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly supported by more than five members, decided to postpone the consideration of the item and to

cc Secretary General and secretariat of the Assembly Director General and staff of the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly Secretaries of National Delegations to the Assembly Secretaries of Political Groups of the Assembly Special Guests and Observers to the Assembly Directors General Secretary of the Committee of Ministers Director of the Private Office of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Director of Communication and Research Permanent Delegations to the Council of Europe

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F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex, tel: +33 3 88 41 20 00, fax: +33 3 88 41 27 76, http://assembly.coe.int, e-mail: [email protected] Synopsis 2006/07 proceed to the adoption of a draft Resolution and draft Recommendation at a meeting to be held on 18 September 2006, so that the report could be presented at the October 2006 part-session of the Assembly and took note of the Rapporteur's intention of writing to the Committee on the Rules of Procedure and Immunities concerning the problem of use of the rules in order to prevent the discussion;

- Debate on general policy on the situation in the Balkans (Rapporteur: Mr Eörsi, Hungary, ALDE): took note of an oral statement by the Rapporteur on his visit to Belgrade (8 September 2006) and on the Conference “Credibility of European Integration” (Budapest, 1 September 2006), and held an exchange of views on the basis of a memorandum presented by the Rapporteur;

- Need of a greater transparency in the arms trade (Rapporteur: Ms Ohlsson, Sweden, SOC): considered a draft report presented by the Rapporteur;

- The code for good practices of the political parties (Rapporteur: Mr Elo, Finland, SOC): held an exchange of views on the basis of an outline for a report presented by the Rapporteur;

- The institutional balance at the Council of Europe (Rapporteur for Opinion: Mr Nemeth, Hungary, EPP-CD): in the absence of the Rapporteur, took note of the main elements for an Opinion presented by the Chair on behalf of the Rapporteur, and approved proposals for amendments to be tabled on behalf of the Committee;

- Compliance by observer countries with the values of the Council of Europe (Rapporteur: Mr Wilshire, United Kingdom, EDG): heard an oral statement by the Rapporteur and took note of his intention to present, at a further meeting, proposals to define the scope of the report;

- Future debate on the state of human rights and democracy in the Council of Europe member states : expressed the view that the Political Affairs Committee must be fully involved in the preparation of such a debate;

- Follow-up to the Third Summit : was informed by the Chairman of recent developments concerning the draft Memorandum of understanding between the Council of Europe and the European Union and the Forum for future of democracy;

- Hearing on the Situation in the Middle East : held an exchange of views on the situation in the Middle East and on the prospects for the tripartite forum with Mr Abdullah Abdullah, Chair of the Political Committee of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and Ms Sharon Bar Li Saar, representative of the Embassy of Israel in Turkey;

. regretted that representatives of of Lebanon and Syria who were invited did not attend the hearing;

. further regretted that representatives of the Parliament of Iraq, who came to Gaziantep, decided not to attend the hearing because of the presence of an Israeli representative;

. took note of the invitation from the Palestinian Legislative Council to a Political Affairs Committee delegation to visit the Palestinian Authority;

. decided to continue efforts in order to promote parliamentary dialogue with the countries of the region;

Appointments in Sub-Committees

- Ad Hoc Sub-Committee on the Forum for the Future of Democracy: appointed Mrs Beck (Germany) as full member;

2 Synopsis 2006/07

- Forthcoming meetings:

Plenary Committee

. 18 September 2006 – ;

. 4th part-session 2006 – Strasbourg (2-6 October 2006);

. 14 November 2006 – Paris (to be confirmed);

. 11-12 December 2006 – Baku (Azerbaijan).

Sub-Committees

. 18-19 October 2006 - Moscow (Russian Federation)- Ad Hoc Sub-Committee on the Forum for the Future of Democracy

. 19-20 October 2006 - New York (United States of America) – Sub-Committee on External Relations

Agnieszka Nachilo, Pavel Chevtchenko, Eliza Pieter

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