BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

16/04/2007

Ukraine situation on agenda of PACE session

STRASBOURG, April 16 (ITAR-TASS) - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) opens its spring session in the Palace of Europe in Strasbourg on Monday.

The agenda will centre on human rights, democracy and the building of a law-ruled state in Europe.

The chief of the State Duma's committee on international affairs, Konstantin Kosachyov, said that a Russian delegation had proposed discussing these topics every year with a focus on old, and not new state members of the Council of Europe that make an account of obligations assumed by them at admission to the CE.

The session agenda gets acuity in connection with the events in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian issue will be put up for an urgent debate, and the discussion is expected to be intense.

The Council of Europe's press service told ITAR-TASS that the Ukrainian side had confirmed that Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich arrives in Strasbourg.

His speech at the session is set for Tuesday.

PACE members and representatives of the Belarussian opposition will take part in hearings on "Belarus: A Strategy Down the Road to Democratisation".

The hearings will be held at a meeting of the Political Commission, and not at the plenary session.

Belarus is the European continent's sole country that is not a member of the Council of Europe.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11437105&PageNum=0