The Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which brings together around 60 parliamentarians from the Council of Europe’s 46 member states, is to meet in the Moldovan capital Chisinau on Friday 21 November 2025.

A week earlier, on 14 November 2025, the Republic of Moldova begins its six-month Presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, the Organisation’s executive body. The Assembly’s Standing Committee traditionally meets in the capital of the country holding the Presidency.

The meeting will be opened by PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos, followed by a welcome address by the President of the Moldovan Parliament Igor Grosu.

The parliamentarians are then due to hold an exchange of views with the Republic of Moldova’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Mihai Popșoi, in the framework of the Moldovan Presidency.

There has been a request for a current affairs debate on “Citizens’ mobilisation in the defence of human rights and democracy: recent developments in Latvia”.

The agenda also includes a debate on the Assembly’s observation of the recent parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova, as well as a debate on preventing and combating gender discrimination in health.

The parliamentarians will also discuss a trio of reports on the Assembly’s own functioning, covering managing conflicts of interest in the Assembly and increasing members’ participation in its work, as well as the modification of various provisions of its Rules of Procedure.

The day will conclude with a parliamentary round table, co-organised with the Women@PACE group, on “Violence against women and the role of parliaments and parliamentarians in implementing the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention”.

The Standing Committee, which acts on the Assembly’s behalf between plenary sessions, is made up of the President and Vice-Presidents of the Assembly as well as the chairpersons of its five political groups, its 46 national delegations and its nine committees.