Strasbourg. “The Council of Europe supports the brave struggle of the people of Ukraine to protect, uphold and regain national sovereignty and territorial integrity of their country and our member State” President Tiny Kox said today at the opening the 2022 Autumn Session of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.

The parliamentarians held a moment of silence for all the victims of “a war that should never have started and must end as soon as possible”. Earlier this morning, the President said, the whole of Ukraine woke up under sirens “as another series of barbaric Russian strikes on residential areas and civilian infrastructure” took place targeting the historic centre of Kyiv, the cities of Zaporizzhya, Dnipro, Odessa, Lviv, Zhytomyr and many other. “These atrocities that deliberately and manifestly target non-military targets and aim to terrorise innocent people cannot be ignored and cannot be justified”, he said.

Russia’s unilateral aggression has led to a whole series of multilateral reactions, Tiny Kox underlined. “For tomorrow, I have convened a meeting of the joint committee of the Assembly and Committee of Ministers. There we will discuss the need to convoke at the earliest possible opportunity, a 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of all our 46 member States, to decide on the future role of the Council of Europe, as Europe’s oldest and broadest treaty based political community, in the future multilateral architecture to protect peace and promote prosperity for all European citizens, on the basis of respect for the rule of law, human rights and democracy”, he added.

Many other important challenges in Europe, Mr Kox stated, “require our close attention this week. One of them is the recent most worrying escalation in hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan which has led to further casualties on both sides. I urge both countries to double their efforts in finding a peaceful sustainable solution to the conflict that so negatively affects lives of millions of people in the South Caucasus region. I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities to discuss the most difficult issues and to establish a meaningful dialogue to try to bridge disagreements. Again: if not now, when then?”, the PACE President added.

The Permanent Parliamentary Delegation of Georgia to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), under the leadership of a member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Georgian Parliament, Irakli Chikovani, will participate in the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg from 10 to 14 October 2022. "News Day Georgia" was informed about this in the administration of the Parliament.

According to their information, other members of the Permanent Parliamentary Delegation of Georgia: Irakli Kobakhidze, Levan Ioseliani, Khatia Dekanoidze, Givi Mikanadze and Fridon Injia will also participate in the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) by videoconference during its autumn plenary session.

There will also be addresses by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, and the President of the Swiss Confederation, Ignazio Cassis, as well as the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama.

In addition, the 2022 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize will be awarded in a special ceremony during the session, with the overall winner to be selected from among three shortlisted candidates.

During the working days of the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Current affairs debates have been requested on “Europe half a year after the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”, “Food security in Europe: grain exports through Ukrainian ports” and “The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan”. An urgent debate has also been requested on "Recent outrageous and inhuman activities of the Russian Federation".

Thomas Byrne, Ireland’s European Affairs Minister, will present the Communication from the Committee of Ministers in the framework of the Irish Presidency of the Council of Europe. The Organisation’s Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić will hold the usual question time with PACE members.

The Assembly is also due to debate reports on the misuse of the Schengen Information system by States as a politically-motivated sanction, discrimination against women in sport, safe third countries for asylum seekers, illegal measures of migration management in the context of pushbacks on land and sea, and revisiting labour rights.

The Assembly will decide its final agenda on the first day of the session.

Georgia's national anthem was played as the tenth convocation of Parliament opened the autumn session. According to the administration of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Parliament, greeted the lawmakers at the start of the session.

"We are commencing the autumn session, and I want to start by wishing you everyone a productive session. We have a full schedule, so it's crucial that you all participate fully in the work and that we complete this meeting with as many decisions that will be beneficial as possible.

At the same time, I'd like to extend a greeting and best wishes for a fruitful and engaging session to the parliamentary media. We wish to work with you since comprehensive coverage of the Parliament's actions is highly essential to us", - Shalva Papuashvili addressed to his colleagues and journalists.

The Parliament convenes twice a year, in the spring and autumn sessions. The first Tuesday in September marks the beginning of the autumn session, which ends on the third Friday in December.