After two years at the helm of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), liberal Rik Daems is passing the torch to Dutch socialist Tiny Kox, who takes over the Presidency as announced today. Daems is a former Member of the Flemish Parliament, delegate to the Belgian Senate and member of the city council of Leuven.

“It has been a difficult two years, completely in COVID-19 times, but we achieved a number of extraordinary results”, he said in his farewell speech, taking the chance to thank the staff and the support of the individual members of the Assembly.

Watch his final speech as President here:

Daems will continue at PACE as an individual member and promises to be as active and innovative as ever to add value to the Assembly’s work.

ALDE Party Acting Co-Presidents Senator Timmy Dooley and Ilhan Kyuchyuk MEP, congratulated Daems on his achievements during his mandate in a personal a letter available here.

Photo credit: Rik Daems