Nemeth: Russian attacks on civilians ‘unacceptable’

The Hungarian delegation of PACE joined a statement issued by the three leaders of the CoE condemning Monday’s Russian air strikes on Ukrainian cities, Nemeth told MTI. CoE Secretary-General Marija Pejcinovic Buric, PACE President Tiny Cox and President of the CoE’s Committee of Ministers Simon Coveney said that such a serious violation of international law could not go unpunished.

Nemeth said one of the main topics of this week’s PACE session in Strasbourg would be the preparation of the fourth CoE summit. The organisation last held a summit in 2005, but was urging another meeting in light of the war in Ukraine, he added.

Nemeth said he had called for a report to be issued on the relationship between the CoE and the European Politicsl Community (EPC) set up under the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this year. He underscored the importance of the CoE acting as a supplementary organisation to the EPC rather than as a rival.

He said one of the CoE’s long-term task in the coming period would be to support the Western Balkan countries in shaping their rule-of-law norms.