Moldovan MPs attend PACE spring session

A parliamentary delegation is participating in the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France, on 7-11 April .

According to the parliament's communication and public relations department, the delegation is headed by MP Ion Groza, deputy head of the foreign policy and European integration committee. The delegation also includes Vlad Batrîncea, deputy speaker, Natalia Davidovici, deputy head of the Committee on Human Rights and Interethnic Relations, Adela Răileanu, deputy head of the Committee on Culture, Education, Research, Youth, Sports and Media and Andrian Cheptonar, member of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Public Order.

During the meeting, MPs will urgently debate several current issues, including the war in Ukraine: the need for accountability and avoiding impunity; the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul and the state of democracy and human rights in Turkey; the situation in Georgia and monitoring the implementation of the resolution which challenges the still unratified credentials of the Georgian parliamentary delegation; an urgent appeal for the immediate end of the humanitarian blockade in Gaza and the restoration of the ceasefire; protests in Serbia and the situation in the Western Balkans, as well as the erosion of freedom of assembly in Hungary.

They will also examine the 2024 activity reports of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and the one on observation of Kosovo parliamentary elections on 9 February 2025.

On 8 April, they are to elect a judge to the European Court of Human Rights and to consider issues on the interconnections between the Council of Europe and the European Political Community, foreign interference: a threat to democratic security in Europe, as well as the cessation of collective expulsions of foreigners.

The Parliamentary Assembly is composed of 306 parliamentarians from the 46 member states.