Minister Zaorálek to Speak at the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE
22.06.2017 / 14:12
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lubomír Zaorálek, in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, will present the priorities of the Czech Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers to parliamentarians of the Council of Europe’s member states on June 27, 2017 in Strasbourg. Minister will attend the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) where he will also respond to questions of the legislators related to the activities of the Committee of Ministers. The Czech Republic holds the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the CoE from May 19 to November 15, 2017.
The priorities of the Czech Chairmanship, approved by Government’s resolution No. 334 of May 3, 2017, include the protection of human rights of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, gender equality, strengthening the rule of law, supporting local and regional democracy and public administration reforms, promoting human rights education and linguistic skills and cooperation with other international organizations.
On the occasion of his visit to Council of Europe’s headquarters Minister Zaorálek will meet with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland and with the President of PACE Pedro Agramunt for short bilateral talks.
PACE is originally a consultative body of the Council of Europe which consists of individual national parliamentary delegations. There are four sessions of the PACE in plenary in Strasbourg each year. The PACE adopts non-binding documents such as resolutions, recommendations and opinions. Among its special tasks is the monitoring of member states’ obligations, assumed at their accession to the Council of Europe.