Progress report of the Bureau of the Assembly and of the Standing Committee (2 October 2009-25 January 2010)

Progress report | Doc. 12126 Part II | 25 January 2010

Author(s):: Bureau of the Assembly
Rapporteur :: Mr Lluís Maria de PUIG i OLIVE, Spain, SOC

A. Introduction

1. The Bureau met on 25 January in Strasbourg.

B. Functioning of the Assembly

I. Progress Report of the Bureau of the Assembly and of the Standing Committee (2 October 2009 – 25 January 2010)

2. On 25 January, the Bureau approved the progress report.

II. 1st ordinary part-Session of the Assembly of 2010 (Strasbourg, 25-29 January 2010)

3. On 25 January, the Bureau:

i. Draft agenda:

updated the draft agenda and decided to limit the speaking time at 3 minutes on Monday afternoon.

ii. Request for debate under urgent procedure:

a “Faked Pandemics – a threat for health” (submitted by the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee): confirmed its decision to recommend to the Assembly not to hold a debate under urgent procedure on this matter;

b “Recent events in Turkey” (submitted by the Presidential Committee): decided to recommend to the Assembly not to hold a debate under urgent procedure on this matter.

iii. Requests for a current affairs debate:

a. «The tragedy in Haiti» (submitted by the Italian national delegation):

decided to recommend to the Assembly to hold a current affairs debate on the subject;
decided to propose to the Assembly to change the title of the debate as follows: “What can Europe do for Haiti?”
and appointed Mr Vitali in order to open the debate.

iv. Election of a judge to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Italy:

took note of the proposals made by the Sub-Committee on election of judges to the European Court of Human Rights contains in the document AS/Jur/Cdh (2009) 5 and decided to transmit this document to the members of the Assembly.

III. Vice-Presidents of the Assembly in 2010

4. On 25 January, the Bureau:

a took note that the Ukrainian delegation had decided to withdraw its candidate for a Vice-President in respect of Ukraine;

b took note of the names of the other candidates for the posts of Vice-Presidents of the Assembly in 2010.

IV. Credentials

5. On 25 January, the Bureau asked the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs to give an opinion on criteria to assess the fairness of the representation of the political parties or groups existing in the national parliaments in national delegations (Rule 6.2.a of the Assembly Rule of Procedure).

V. Composition of the Monitoring Committee and the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs

6. On 25 January, the Bureau:

i. Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs:

approved the list of members as proposed by political groups for ratification by the Assembly;

ii. Monitoring Committee:

a noted that there was not yet an agreement among political groups regarding members from Armenia and Ukraine;

b asked political groups to reach such an agreement up to Wednesday 27 January 2010;

c approved the rest of the list of members as proposed by political groups for ratification by the Assembly.

VI. Appointments of Assembly Representatives for official activities

7. On 25 January, in reply to formal invitations, the Bureau took the following decisions:

a Mr Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD): Winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Vienna (Austria), 18-19 February 2010 (no cost for the Assembly);

b Mr Blum (France, EPP/CD): Seminar on the prospects of co-operation between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Council of Europe, Rabat (Morocco), 22-23 February 2010.

C. Elections

I. Presidential election in Ukraine (17 January 2010)

8. On 25 January, the Bureau:

a approved the report on the first round of the ad hoc committee to observe this election;

b extended the mandate of the ad hoc committee in order to observe the 2nd round of the presidential election which will took place on 7 February 2010.

D. Other business

I. Communications

9. On 25 January, the Bureau took note of the communications by the President, the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe as well as the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly.

Appendix – References and transmissions to committees

On, 25 January, the Bureau approved the following references and modifications of references, which were ratified the same day by the Assembly:

i. references to committees

1. Living wills and the protection of health and human rights

Motion for a resolution presented by Mrs McCafferty and others

Doc. 12088, to the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee for report

2. The need for a code of good practice in the field of funding of electoral campaigns

Motion for a recommendation presented by Mr Lindblad and others

Doc. 12089, to the Political Affairs Committee for report

3. The political situation in Northern Caucasus: immediate need for measures to increase democratic stability in accordance with Council of Europe standards

Motion for a resolution presented by Mr Lindblad and others

Doc. 12090, to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights to take into account in the preparation of the report on “Legal remedies for Human Rights violations in the North Caucasus Region”

4. Towards a land acquisition policy in less developed countries and land governance

Motion for a recommendation presented by Mr Ducarme and others

Doc. 12091, to the Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs for information

5. The environmental impact of sunken shipwrecks

Motion for a resolution presented by Mr Meale and others

Doc. 12092, to the Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs for report at the Standing Committee

6. The protection of freedom of expression and information in electronic media

Motion for a resolution presented by Mr McIntosh and others

Doc. 12094, to the Committee on Culture, Science and Education for report

7. Request for the Assembly opinion from the Committee of Ministers

Draft Third Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Extradition, to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights for report

8. Request for the Assembly opinion from the Committee of Ministers

Draft Council of Europe Convention on the Counterfeiting of Medical Products and Similar Crimes involving Threats to Public Health, to the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee for report