MALTESE PARTICIPATION AT COUNCIL OF EUROPE ASSEMBLY

MALTESE PARTICIPATION AT COUNCIL OF EUROPE ASSEMBLY

A parliamentary delegation led by the Hon. John Vella and comprising the Hon. Michael Asciak and the Hon. Joe Debono Grech will be attending the first part of the 2000 Ordinary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, to be held in Strasbourg, between the 24th and 28th January 2000.

During this session, Mr Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, Mrs Rosario Green, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Mr Wolfgang Schussel, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Austria and Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, Mrs Fusum Koroglu, Deputy Under Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office of Turkey, and Mr Christos Pachtas, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of the National Economy of Greece, will be addressing the Parliamentary Assembly.

Subjects to be discussed during this session are:

- democracy and economic development;

- non formal education;

- threat posed to democracy by extremist parties and movements in Europe;

- charter of fundamental rights of the European Union;

- restrictions on asylum in the Member States of the Council of Europe and the European Union;

- situation in Belarus;

- honouring of obligations and commitments by Bulgaria;

- international adoption: respecting children's rights

- conflict in Chechnya;

- health security for Europe's populations;

- ban on antibiotics in food production;

- economic and social consequences of the recent earthquakes in Turkey and in Greece; and

- clandestine migration from the South of the Mediterranean into Europe.

21.01.2000