Strasbourg, 09/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - The status of partner for democracy granted to the Kyrgyzstani parliament on Tuesday 8 April by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is not a “medal for work done” but the “sign of a willingness to work together”, said Swiss Socialist Andreas Gross, author of the report on which the resolution was based (86 votes in favour, two against and two abstentions). “Kyrgyzstan expects from Europe information on democracy, having experienced two revolutions since its independence in 1991, which have allowed it to overcome oligarchical structures and begin to create parliamentary democracy”, the rapporteur continued. It is by no means a stage in pre-accession to the Council of Europe, he pointed out, as it is not the aim of the Council to extend into Central Asia or to become “a reduced model of the United Nations”, stressing, however, that it is “open to supporting its neighbouring countries in the interests of democracy”. Created in 2009, the status of partner for democracy was granted to the Moroccan parliament and to the Palestinian National Council in 2011. This is the first time that it has been granted to a country on the eastern borders of the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe's committee on legal affairs and human rights, which deplores all the cases of torture, arbitrary arrests, attacks on human rights defenders (mainly of Uzbeki origin), lack of impartiality in the judiciary and limitations on the freedom of expression for certain associations in the country, expects reforms in Kyrgyzstan. These facts did not prevent the Spanish member Pedro Agramunt (EPP), who was speaking on behalf of this committee, from calling on his colleagues to vote in favour of the resolution. (VL)