B Explanatory
memorandum by Mr Díaz Tejera, rapporteur
1 Introduction
1. At its meeting on 27 January 2012, the Bureau of
the Parliamentary Assembly decided, in response to a letter dated
25 January 2012 from Ms Liliane Maury Pasquier, Chairperson of the
Swiss parliamentary delegation, to refer to the Committee on Rules
of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs for report the question
of the status of chairpersons of political groups in Assembly committees.
2. The aforementioned letter proposes a modification to Rule 18.5
of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure to harmonise the “rights of
the Chairs of the political groups in all the committees concerned,
namely the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments
by member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee),
the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional
Affairs and the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy”.
2 Rules
in force
3. In application of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure,
certain Assembly members have a right to sit on committees as ex officio members. However, there
is no harmonisation of the relevant provisions regarding the associated
participation rights.
2.1 Chairpersons of
political groups as ex officio members
4. Under the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure:
- the chairpersons of political
groups are ex officio members
of the Bureau and the Standing Committee with the right to vote
(Rule 18.4) and members of the Presidential Committee (Rule 13.4);
- chairpersons of political groups who are not appointed
to the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy in accordance
with Rule 43.7 shall be ex officio members
of that committee, in whose activities they shall participate including
as a rapporteur, but may not take part in votes, nor be elected to
the Bureau of that committee and its sub-committees (Rule 18.5);
- chairpersons of political groups are ex officio members of the Committee
on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs (Rule 43.3.b); the Rules of Procedure contain
no restriction on their participation in the work of that committee:
they have the right to vote and could be appointed rapporteurs or
be elected to the bureau of the committee.
2.2 Other ex officio
members
5. It might be helpful for the Rules Committee when
reflecting on the rights which the chairpersons of political groups
enjoy or could enjoy, to take into account the situation of other
ex officio members of certain committees,
namely:
- the chairpersons of
the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy and of the Committee
on Legal Affairs and Human Rights are ex officio members
of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments
by member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee)
(Rule 43.1); they therefore have the right to vote in the Monitoring
Committee; in theory they could also be appointed rapporteurs (although
this has never happened);
- the outgoing President of the Assembly, if he or she remains
a member of the Assembly, is an ex officio member
of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy (Rule 19.3),
but may not take part in votes, nor be appointed rapporteur, nor
be elected to the bureau of that committee and its sub-committees.
2.3 Considerations
taken into account by the Assembly when adopting these provisions
6. The Assembly decided to grant the status of member
of the Political Affairs Committee to the chairpersons of the political
groups (and to the outgoing President of the Assembly) by
Resolution 1284 (2002).
Note Prior to that resolution, the chairpersons
of the political groups could take part in the meetings of that committee
without the right to vote. This change to the Rules of Procedure
was prompted by a proposal from the Presidential Committee. At the
time, the Presidential Committee felt that granting the status of
ex officio member to the outgoing
President and the chairpersons of the political groups would enable
the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy to benefit from
their political experience.
3 Points for consideration
7. The Rules Committee was invited to reflect on the
need to amend the Rules of Procedure regarding the status of chairpersons
of political groups as ex officio members
of certain committees. The points below offered some food for thought.
3.1 Status and role
of chairpersons of political groups
8. The Rules of Procedure do not specify the role of
the chairpersons of political groups and Rule 18 merely lists the
Assembly bodies and committees on which they sit as ex officio members. In principle,
the role of the chairperson of a political group is to preside over
the group’s meetings and to represent that group. It is therefore
necessary to assess the rights and responsibilities which could
fall to the chairpersons of political groups in committees, as ex officio members, in the light
of their “statutory” role, insofar as they are supposed to be the
spokespersons of their own group on the questions being discussed
and to present their group’s position. This particular situation
accounts for the limits laid down by the Rules of Procedure regarding
the fact of being unable to be a member of the bureau of the committee
or have the right to vote.
9. In this connection, the rules of procedure or statutes of
the political groups in the Parliamentary Assembly provide some
relevant points regarding the role of their chairperson:
Note
- under the Rules of Procedure
of the Group of the European People’s Party (EPP/CD), the group
is led by the bureau, of which the Chair (President) is a member;
it is the Chair’s role to represent the group in external matters
(Article 14), and to convene and chair the meetings of the organs
of the group (Article 16);
- under the statute of the Socialist Group (SOC), the group
is led by the bureau; the Chair (President) is a member of the bureau
and convenes the plenary Assembly of the group. With regard to the
committees of the Parliamentary Assembly, the bureau appoints a
delegate responsible for each committee of the Assembly, who shall
in particular co-ordinate the activities of the Socialist Group
within the committee, endeavour to reach an agreement between the
socialist members during the voting, prepare themes for resolutions
and recommendations, and proposals for the nomination of committee
rapporteurs and experts (Article III.C);
- Article 6 of the rules of procedure of the Alliance of
Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) provides that the Chair
represents the group in its external relations and in the organs
of the Assembly in which the political groups have ex officio membership. The Chair
is a member of the bureau and presides over the meetings of the
group and submits proposals for policy decisions. The Chair is also
responsible for communications made on behalf of the group;
- the rules of procedure of the European Democrat Group
(EDG) simply provide that the Chair of the group is responsible
for the day-to-day management of the group’s affairs (Article 6.d), convenes the meetings of the
group and is a member of the bureau over whose meetings he or she
presides.
10. By way of comparison, in other inter-parliamentary institutions
and in the European Parliament, the chairpersons of political groups
are not ex officio committee
members or ex officio members
of some of them. They may, in accordance with customary parliamentary
practice, be ex officio members
of the institution’s decision-making body (for example, the European
Parliament’s Conference of Presidents). In some organisations –
such as the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Parliamentary Assembly of
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Parliamentary
Assembly of La Francophonie and the Mediterranean Parliamentary
Assembly – the rules make no provision regarding political groups.
11. In addition, Rule 12 of the Rules of Procedure of the Council
of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities provides that:
“A president of a political group may not at the same time … be
a chair of a committee, or act as rapporteur or head of delegation
during election observation exercises.”
3.2 Possible change
to the status
12. The current rules are not harmonised regarding the
status of chairpersons of political groups in committees. Therefore,
the following points must be considered:
- Of what committees should the chairpersons of political
groups be ex officio members?
The two committees of which they are currently members (Committee
on Political Affairs and Democracy, and the Rules Committee)? Other
committees (such as the Monitoring Committee, as the Swiss delegation would
like)? Is there a case for making ex officio membership
apply to all eight Assembly committees?
- Should the chairpersons of political groups, as ex officio members, be granted all
the rights enjoyed by committee members? The right to vote? To be
appointed rapporteur? To be a member of the bureau of a committee
or sub-committee?
- Should the chairpersons of political groups be ex officio members of the sub-committees
of the committees concerned?
3.3 Consequences for
the functioning of the Assembly
13. Other factors need to be taken into account:
- the impact which the appointment
of chairpersons of political groups as ex officio members
of certain committees could have on the balance of the prerogatives
of national delegations in committees;
- the consequences for the way the relevant committees would
operate resulting from the increase in the number of members (to
89), for instance regarding the application of the quorum rule (with
the quorum increasing to 30 members for committees with 89 seats
filled);
- the imbalance in the representation of certain national
delegations (those of which the group chairpersons were members
and which would therefore have additional representation).
4 Comments by the
committees
14. In order to finalise his proposals to the Rules Committee
and the Assembly, the rapporteur decided to consult in full transparency
the seven other Assembly committees and send their chairpersons
a questionnaire setting out the questions indicated in paragraph 12
above. The committees have managed to take stances on the questions
raised in due time. The rapporteur wishes to express his sincere
gratitude to his colleagues for their diligent work.
15. Three committees have come out in favour of harmonising the
status of the chairpersons of political groups in the committees
concerned:
- the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy concluded
at its meeting on 10 September 2012 that the status of the chairpersons
of political groups should be harmonised and its members came out
in favour of granting them the status of ex officio members
of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, with the same
rights as the other members of the committee;
- the members of the Committee
on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development,
meeting on 7 September 2012, were in favour of harmonisation of
the rights of chairpersons of political groups in the two committees
of which they were already ex officio members,
the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy and the Committee
on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs. The committee
believed that the chairpersons of political groups should also enjoy
all rights within the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy,
including the rights to vote, to be appointed rapporteurs or be
elected to the bureau of the committee or one of its sub-committees.
The committee was against extending the participation of the chairpersons
of political groups to other committees;
- the Committee on Culture, Science,
Education and Media, meeting on 2 October 2012, expressed
the view that the chairpersons of political groups, in addition
to their present assignments, could be ex officio members
of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy (with all related
rights); however, it concluded that they should not be ex officio members of other committees.
16. Four committees have come out in favour of keeping the Rules
of Procedure as they stand:
- the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights,
meeting on 6 September 2012, “unanimously expressed a preference
for the status quo”;
- the Committee on Equality and
Non-Discrimination, meeting on 13 September 2012, also
recommended that the current status of the chairpersons of political
groups in committees be maintained, concluding that “a harmonisation
of the rights of ex officio members
would be advisable. However, the committee was against increasing
the number of committees of which chairpersons of political groups
can be ex officio members”.
The committee believed that granting the chairpersons of political
groups the status of ex officio members
of other committees would be contradictory to the spirit of the
recent reform of the Assembly, which aims to increase participation
and engagement amongst all members. In addition, it would create
great disparity between chairpersons of political groups and ordinary
members, as the latter cannot be members of more than two committees;
- the Committee on Migration,
Refugees and Displaced Persons, meeting on 14 September 2012, also concluded
that the status quo should be maintained;
- lastly, the Monitoring Committee,
meeting on 2 October 2012, also supported the view that the status quo
as regards the status of the chairpersons of political groups in
committees should be maintained. It recalls that the committee has
specific operating rules (with regard to the limited number of members
of national delegations from a State under monitoring procedure
or involved in a post-monitoring dialogue, or to the apportionment
of rapporteurships) which may be more complicated to implement if
chairpersons of political groups were appointed ex officio members.
5 Committee’s
proposals
17. In the light of the comments received, the Rules
Committee wishes to make the following proposals:
- the status of the chairpersons
of the political groups shall be harmonised on the basis of the
existing rules and they shall be granted the status of ex officio members of the Committee
on Political Affairs and Democracy and the Monitoring Committee
(in addition to the Rules Committee);
- from the entry into force of the resolution to be adopted,
the chairpersons of the political groups will be ex officio members of the Committee
on Political Affairs and Democracy and the Monitoring Committee and
will have the same rights as the other members of these committees
(right to vote, right to be members of the bureau, right to be members
of the sub-committees and their bureaux, in accordance with Rule 48.6
of the Rules of Procedure), this being the status which they already
hold on the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional
Affairs.
18. The Assembly’s Rules of Procedure should therefore be amended:
- by replacing Rule 18.5 as follows:
“Chairpersons of political groups are ex officio members
of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, the Committee
on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States
of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee) and the Committee on
Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs. Rule 43.6
shall not apply to them.”;
- by amending Rule 43.1 as follows: “Committee on Political
Affairs and Democracy (89 seats)” and “Committee on the Honouring
of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe
(Monitoring Committee) (89 seats)”;
- in Rule 43.3, by replacing “the 84 members of the Monitoring
Committee” with “84 of the 89 members of the Monitoring Committee”
and deleting the words “Chairpersons of political groups shall be ex officio members of the committee”;
- in Rule 48.3, by replacing the words “A committee of 84
seats” with “A committee of 84 or 89 seats”.
19. It should also be noted that increasing the number of members
of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy and the Monitoring
Committee to 89 has consequences for the calculation of the quorum
of one third of the members provided for in Rule 46.3.
20. Once the resolution has been adopted, the changes in the rules
will enter into force at the opening of the 2013 ordinary session
(21 January 2013).
