Greek Representative Becomes the New President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Today, the representative of Greece, Theodoros Roussopoulos, a member of the New Democracy party, was elected the new President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). 

Roussopoulos became the 35th President of the PACE and the first Greek citizen to hold this position since 1949. 

Until now, Roussopoulos has served as chairman of the PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons. In addition, he served as Vice-President of the European People's Party (EEP) in the Assembly.

The term of office of PACE presidents is one year and can be renewed once. 

The PACE is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, an international organisation of 46 countries committed to promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

The Assembly consists of 306 members elected from the national parliaments of the Council of Europe member states, who meet four times a year for week-long plenary sessions in Strasbourg.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has also established a committee on the protection of Ukrainian children. The committee will help children fleeing war in Ukraine or Europe and facilitate the return of Ukrainian children deported by Russia.

As a reminder, the winter session of the PACE started in Strasbourg on 22 January. The Ukrainian delegation has requested an urgent debate on the situation of children in Ukraine. They are tentatively scheduled for Thursday, 25 January.

As The Gaze wrote, in December, PACE held hearings on the fate of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.

Earlier, in April, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognised the deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children to the territory of the Russian Federation as genocide and called on the International Criminal Court to consider bringing the perpetrators to justice for this crime.