The Summer Session of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) starts today in Strasbourg (until 28 June). “A debate on the decision-making process of the Assembly concerning credentials and voting will be a highlight” of the session, a statement from the CoE reads. The session will also mark “the 70^th anniversary of the Council of Europe”. PACE will also elect a new Secretary General. Today, Amélie de Montchalin, French Minister of State for European Affairs, will present the communication from the Committee of Ministers, and on 26 June, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of Portugal, will address the Assembly. Items on the agenda include a debate on Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination and the rule of law in Malta; a joint debate on the need to end violence against women and achieve gender equality; stopping violence against children, with an address on the sale and sexual exploitation of children by United Nations Special Rapporteur Maud de Boer-Buquicchio; ending coercion in mental health; the situation in Syria; the murder of Boris Nemtsov; and pushback action by Member States. Today also marks the end of the mission of the delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities which travelled to Istanbul, at the invitation of the Turkish authorities, to observe the re-run of the mayoral election on 23 June.