Hon. Rudy Salles (France), President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean has participated to the European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments of the Council of Europe member states. The event was jointly organised by the House of Representatives of Cyprus and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), on 10-12 June, in Limassol.
The Cyprus Conference focused on two main issues: The Rights and Responsibilities of the Opposition in Parliament and the National Parliaments and International Human Rights Law: Implementation of the Principles of non discrimination.
In his intervention at the Conference, PAM President Hon. Salles, underlined the structures of the Assembly, whereby all National delegations are expected, by statute, to include a fair representation of the opposition and to allow room for minorities’ opinions to be voiced. This philosophy, Hon Salles added, is applied to all the institutional levels of PAM, from the Bureau through to the Standing Committees, the Special Task Forces and other Working Groups.
“This unique approach allows us to defend the rights of the opposition members, giving them the opportunity to express themselves beyond national boundaries”, Hon. Salles said. The PAM President concluded his address, by stating that this is an important requirement for an Assembly that intends to represent the Mediterranean people in their rich diversity, and to build for their benefit a stable, peaceful and prosperous Mediterranean.
In the conclusions of the meeting, a number of recommendations were put forward, among which, two clearly reflect the working model of PAM, namely the adoption of a pluralist composition of National delegations to inter-parliamentary bodies and secondly, the encouragement towards participation in these international fora, as a way to increase knowledge, exchange of information and good practices.
Concurrently, PAM Secretary General, Dr Sergio Piazzi, participated, on the invitation of PACE and the Cypriot Parliament, to the meeting of the Secretaries General of Parliaments, who discussed the action plan for the European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (EPRD) and the priorities for its functionality. Dr. Piazzi said that PAM will be seeking to establish links with the EPRD in order to strengthen the exchange information on issues of common interest.