"Freedom of expression and respect of religious beliefs": this is the subject of the official speech that the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is going to present on Wednesday June 28th to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace), which is convened in Strasbourg from today to Friday. The meeting of the MPs of the 46 member states of the organisation focuses on several "hot topics" for the summer season. The meeting is going to be opened in the afternoon by a statement of the president of Pace, the Dutch René van der Linden. Tomorrow, the Swiss delegate Dick Marty is going to give a report on "alleged secret detentions and illegal interstate transfers of convicts across the member states of the Council of Europe", a subject that has raised a lot of interest already and has caused a reaction in Europe and in the United States. Participants in the debate include Franco Frattini, vice-president of the EU Commission, and Claudio Fava, spokesman of the EU Parliament for the same subject. Reports at the Palais de l’Europe will also focus on Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Azerbaijan, domestic violence on women, "with a view to opening a three-year campaign of the CoE in this area". Thursday will be the day of "the ceremony for the launch of the campaign of young Europeans in favour of diversity, human rights and participation, named: All Different, All Equal".
