18 March, Strasbourg
The Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body MONEYVAL will publish a new follow-up report on Serbia analysing the progress in addressing the technical compliance deficiencies identified in its previous report.
In its monitoring work, MONEYVAL assesses countries’ level of compliance with standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in countering money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Contact: Tatiana Baeva-Frachon, tel. +33 3 88 41 21 41
18-19 March, Mons (Belgium)
President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Marc Cools will take part in the high-level political panel on “Ensuring a decentralised reconstruction process for Ukraine”, organised by the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) on the occasion of the 10th European Summit of Regions and Cities.
The panel is part of the meeting of the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, ahead of the Ukraine Recovery Conference to be held in Berlin on 11-12 June 2024. The Alliance will put forward recommendations that stress the key role of local and regional authorities play in the reconstruction of Ukraine and ways to promote a decentralised approach. Marc Cools will also attend the ceremony for the winner of the CoR’s 2023 Mayor Pawel Adamowicz Award.
Open to media, the meeting will be broadcast live.
Contact: Andrew Cutting, tel. +32 485 21 72 02
18-22 March, Strasbourg
In a plenary meeting, the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) will examine, with a view to their adoption, evaluation reports on Armenia, Georgia and Italy assessing their institutional and legal frameworks to prevent corruption and promote integrity among persons with top executive functions in the central government and as regards the police. GRECO will also examine follow-up reports on Greece and Lithuania evaluating their compliance with its recommendations on these subjects.
As regards the evaluation of measures to prevent corruption in respect of parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors, GRECO will adopt follow-up reports on Belgium, Germany, Georgia and Italy.
On the agenda there is also a follow up report on Switzerland on the criminalisation of corruption and the transparency of political funding, and a follow-up report on Kazakhstan dealing with the independence, specialisation and means available to national anti-corruption bodies, immunities, and recovery of proceeds of corruption, among other topics.
More information - Contact: Jaime Rodriguez, tel. +33 6 89 99 50 42
19 March, Strasbourg
The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing ten judgments concerning Portugal, Russia and Türkiye.
More information – ECHR Website, tel. +33 3 90 21 42 08
19 March, Zagreb (Sheraton Hotel)
A high-level conference on “Digital by default: Optimisation of Efficiency and Quality of Judicial Services and Transparency of Judicial Decisions”, will assess results of a two-year project.
The Croatian Minister of Justice and Public Administration Ivan Malenica is expected to open the conference on the project, which is co-funded by the EU and implemented by the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the European Commission.
Vice-President of the Croatian Supreme Court Gordana Jalšovečki, is also expected to attend, as is Head of the Council of Europe’s Department on implementation of Human Rights, Justice and Legal Co-operation Standards Frédéric Dolt.
Media can attend the conference between 2 and 2.50 pm, with prior registration.
Contact: Panos Kakaviatos, tel. +33 6 98 37 64 04
19 March, Strasbourg (Palais de l’Europe, Room 9) and online
A new joint EU/CoE project entitled “Child-friendly Justice” will be launched during a conference which will bring together representatives of national ministries and institutions from Belgium, Poland and Slovenia as the project’s focus countries, and Greece, Hungary and Portugal as partner countries. They will work closely to improve the protection of the rights of children in contact with the law across Europe. The project aims to help the countries implement the Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on Child-friendly Justice.
Open to media, the event will start at 9 am.
Programme – Contact: Tatiana Baeva-Frachon, tel. +33 3 88 41 21 41
19 March, Vienna
The Pompidou Group, the Council of Europe's drug policy co-operation group, will host a side event during the 67th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of the United Nations on “Interventions for strengthening the role of parents in drug prevention” with the support of Czechia, Georgia, Italy, Mexico and Poland.
Interested media can follow online (Meeting ID: 672 9161 4891 - Passcode: 111111)
Contact: Panos Kakaviatos, tel. +33 6 98 37 64 04
19-20 March, Riga
As a follow-up to an initial assessment through the Intercultural cities programme (ICC) Index, the city will host an ICC expert visit composed of a representative of the Council of Europe and an independent expert.
They will meet a wide range of stakeholders working in fields related to intercultural integration, in order to establish an in-depth diagnosis of the city's strengths and needs in terms of intercultural policies and governance.
The visit will result in a report that will draw the “intercultural profile” of the city and provide targeted recommendations as a basis for subsequent work.
Only the opening meeting in the morning of 19 March will be open to the press.
Contact: Tatiana Baeva-Frachon, tel. +33 3 88 41 21 41
20 March, Belgrade (Sava Center)
The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality will present results of two surveys, on attitudes of citizens towards discrimination in Serbia and attitudes of the representatives of public authorities towards discrimination in Serbia. Both surveys were funded through the joint European Union/Council of Europe action “Combating discrimination and promoting diversity in Serbia”.
Commissioner for the Protection of Equality Brankica Janković, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade Nadia Ćuk and Deputy Head of the Delegation of European Union to Serbia Plamena Halacheva will open the event.
The event will begin at 10.30 am and will be open to media. Simultaneous English/Serbian interpretation will be provided.
Programme
Contacts: Tatiana Baeva-Frachon, tel. +33 3 88 41 21 41; Marija Simić, tel. +381 63 601 337
21 March, Strasbourg
The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing 23 judgments and/or decisions concerning Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Russia, Türkiye and Ukraine.
More information – ECHR Website, tel. +33 3 90 21 42 08
22 March, Strasbourg
Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge will participate in a public lecture by Professor Nikolay Koposov from Georgia Tech, USA on his book “Memory Laws, Memory Wars: The Politics of the Past in Europe and Russia”.
Contact: Päivi Suhonen, tel. +33 6 69 76 52 89
22 March, Lisbon
Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge will participate (by video message) in the final conference of the project “Foster Transparency of Judicial Decisions and Enhancing National Implementation of European Convention on Human Rights” (TJENI).
Contact: Päivi Suhonen, tel. +33 6 69 76 52 89
All times are CET unless indicated otherwise.