On the fourth, penultimate, day of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Summer Session, the debates were held on the need for a common European response to migration challenges, missing persons during the conflict in Ukraine, and a new European Social Model.

When opening the debate on the topic of migration, Head of Delegation of the Turkish Parliament Mr Reha Denemeç reminded on the position of the UN officials that the war in Syria had unleashed the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. He invited all members of PACE to call on European leaders to take up their responsibilities and show more solidarity in receiving refugees on their soil and supporting those countries bearing most of the burden.

Upon the end of discussion on the problem of the missing persons during the conflict in Ukraine, PACE adopted a Resolution in which, highlighting the significance of joint effort from all sides involved in conflict, it called for implementation of a series of measures, aimed at more effective resolving of this problem and providing help to families of missing persons. PACE, among other things, proposed setting up of a joint mechanism (working group) dealing with this issue.

Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe today also discussed the new European Social Model and called for the European authorities to define a new socio-economic, educational and fiscal policies, which would be followed by adequate budget allocation to social protection systems. In order to preserve its value, the European Social Model should not only counterbalance market dysfunctions and insufficiencies, but also promote new approaches to education and training, social and economic participation, investment in sustainable economic activities, new forms of public services delivery and take into account changes in family structures and lifestyles.

On day four of the Session, meetings of the following committees were held: Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons; Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development; Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media; Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination; Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, and Joint Committee. Furthermore, a meeting was held between the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Chairpersons of national delegations to PACE.

The final day of the Session will be dedicated to covering the following topics: recognising and preventing neo-racism, and increasing co-operation against cyberterrorism and other large-scale attacks on the Internet.