Synopsis

of the meeting held in Vaduz, Liechtenstein

on 28 November 2023

The Standing Committee, meeting on 28 November 2023 in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, with Mr Tiny Kox, President of the Assembly, and Mr Darko Kaevski, Vice-President of the Assembly, in the Chair:

- heard an opening speech by Mr Albert Frick, President of the Landtag;

- held an exchange of views with Ms Dominique Hasler, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Education and Sport of Liechtenstein, President of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers;

- ratified the credentials of new members of the Assembly submitted by the delegations of France and Norway;

- approved the changes in the composition of Assembly committees;

- took note of the preliminary draft agenda of the first part-session of the Assembly (22-26 January 2024);

- ratified the references proposed by the Bureau (see Appendix);

- held a current affairs debate on “Budget and priorities of the Council of Europe and follow-up to the Reykjavík Summit”;

- within the framework of the Event on the Vigdís Prize for Women’s Empowerment, held an interactive panel discussion moderated by Ms Mariia Mezentseva, Chairperson of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Parliamentary Assembly, with the participation of Mr Tiny Kox, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; Ms Bernadette Kubik-Risch, Equal opportunities expert, Liechtenstein; Mr Wilfried Marxer, President of the Association for Human Rights, Liechtenstein; and Ms Rósa Björk Brynjólfsdóttir, member of the Selection Panel of the Vigdís Prize for Women’s Empowerment, Office of the Prime Minister of Iceland, followed by an exchange of views;

- held a current affairs debate on ”Spiral of violence and humanitarian crisis in the Middle East: finding a peaceful way out”;

- took note of the report of the Ad hoc Committee of the Bureau on the Observation of the parliamentary elections in Poland (15 October 2023);

- unanimously adopted the following texts on behalf of the Assembly:

Recommendation 2264 (2023)	Heritable genome editing in human beings
Resolution 2523 (2023)	Institutional racism of law enforcement authorities against Roma and Travellers

- decided to hold its next meetings as follows:

· Paris, March 2024 (meeting to be confirmed)

· Vilnius, Lithuania, 24 May 2024.

Valérie Clamer, Ayşegül Elveriş

cc. Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly

Director and all staff of the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly

Secretaries of National Delegations and of Political Groups of the Assembly

Secretaries of observer and partner for democracy delegations

Secretary General of the Congress

Secretary to the Committee of Ministers

Directors General

Director of the Private Office of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Director of the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights

Director of Communication

Permanent Representations to the Council of Europe

appendix

References and transmissions to committees

A. REFERENCES TO COMMITTEES

1. Tools to prevent and address transnational repression

Doc. 15847

Motion for a resolution tabled by Mr Constantinos Efstathiou and other members of the Assembly

Transmission to Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights for information

2. Strengthening democracy through participatory and deliberative processes

Doc. 15848

Motion for a resolution tabled by Mr George Papandreou and other members of the Assembly

Reference to the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy for report

3. The Council of Europe Development Bank: implementing the Reykjavík Declaration

Reference to the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development for report