Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD), rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on co-operation with the emerging democracies in the Arab world, and Konstantinos Vrettos (Greece, SOC), rapporteur on the situation in the Middle East, visited Egypt from 23 to 26 September 2011.

The visit was an opportunity for the rapporteurs to gather information about the political situation in Egypt in the run-up to the parliamentary elections with a view to intensifying and broadening co-operation between Egypt and the Council of Europe, including via the Partner for Democracy status created recently by the PACE for parliaments in neighbouring regions. The Moroccan Parliament has already been granted Partner for Democracy status and the Assembly is expected to take a decision on the award of this status to the Palestinian National Council on 4 October in Strasbourg. (more...)