Council of Europe

BELGRADE - At a meeting with the new head of the Council of Europe (CoE) office in Belgrade Janos Babity, Serbian First Deputy PM and FM Ivica Dacic reiterated that Pristina's application for membership in the organisation was unacceptable to Serbia.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has criticized the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for not ratifying the credentials of the Azerbaijani National Delegation.

In a written statement on Feb. 16, the ministry expressed Türkiye's regret that the credentials of the Azerbaijani National Delegation were not ratified by the PACE.

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic said on Monday a soon-to-be-adopted European Parliament resolution on the recent Serbian elections had nothing to do with the polls themselves but would be a form of additional pressure on Serbia and President Aleksandar Vucic and the Serbian Progressive Party, which will have the majority in the new Serbian parliament and the next government.

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic said on Monday no calls had been made in recent European Parliament (EP) and Council of Europe (CoE) debates for an international inquiry into the December 17 Serbian elections and that any such calls were not the dominant stance in the two bodies.

New Democracy MP Theodoros Roussopoulos has been elected as the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Roussopoulos is the 35th PACE president since 1949 and the first Greek national to hold this office. Presidents serve a one-year term, which may be renewed once. 

Bulgaria has chosen Meglena Kuneva as its candidate for the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, as revealed by Deputy Minister Irena Dimitrova during a presentation to diplomats from Council of Europe member countries accredited in Sofia, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

BELGRADE - Maria Lina Veca, an Italian journalist and researcher who was among the first in the world to uncover the story of organ trafficking in Kosovo-Metohija, says Europe has never had a genuine interest in prosecuting those responsible for these crimes, and notes that the last hope of this ever happening is dashed following Dick Marty's death.

BERN - Dick Marty, the former Council of Europe rapporteur who investigated crimes committed by the so-called "Kosovo Liberation Army" ("KLA") and human organ trafficking in Kosovo-Metohija, died on Thursday aged 78, Swiss.info reported.

The news of his death was confirmed by Switzerland's Radical-Liberal Party.

BELGRADE - In a letter to European institutions, the opposition Serbia Against Violence coalition has requested a "full international investigation into electoral irregularities" in Serbia and called on the institutions not to recognise the results of the parliamentary, provincial and, especially, local elections, until such an investigation was over.

Member of parliament and former minister of New Democracy, Theodoros Rousopoulos stands on the brink of assuming the presidency of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, having gathered 73% in Thursday's vote among European People's Party members from the Council's 46 member countries.