Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, Leader of the Parliamentary delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, together with Robert Arrigo, Joseph Debono Grech, Leo Brincat and Joseph Falzon, will be attending the Third Part of the 2007 Ordinary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, to be held in Strasbourg between 25 and 29 June.

During this part session, Alfred Gusenbauer, Federal Chancellor of Austria and Jose’ Louis Rodriguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain, will be addressing the Assembly, while Antonio Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will be making a statement during the debate on the situation of longstanding refugees and displaced persons in South-East Europe.

Among the subjects to be debated during this part session are:-

Euro-Mediterranean agricultural and rural policy with a statement by Mr Jacques Diouf, Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations;

Intercultural and inter-religious dialogue with a statement by Mr Hans Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament;

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD): focus on Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, with a statement by the President of the EBRD Mr Jean Lemierre;

Promotion by Council of Europe member states of an international moratorium on the death penalty;

Alleged secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states;

Combating anti-Semitism in Europe;

Prosecution of offences falling within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia with a statement by Mrs Carla del Ponte, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia;

Honouring of obligations and commitments by the Principality of Monaco;

The image of women in advertising;

Iran’s nuclear programme: the need for an international response; and

Europe’s social dimension: full implementation of the revised European Social Charter and evaluation of new labour regulations and minimum wages.