Parliamentary Assembly integrity

Written declaration No. 624 | Doc. 14256 rev | 05 May 2017

Signatories:

Mr Pieter OMTZIGT, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Mr Claude ADAM, Luxembourg, SOC ; Mr Raivo AEG, Estonia, EPP/CD ; Ms Brigitte ALLAIN, France, SOC ; Mr Jean-Charles ALLAVENA, Monaco, EPP/CD ; Ms Luise AMTSBERG, Germany, SOC ; Lord Donald ANDERSON, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Sirkka-Liisa ANTTILA, Finland, ALDE ; Mr Volodymyr ARIEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Annalena BAERBOCK, Germany, SOC ; Ms Doris BARNETT, Germany, SOC ; Ms Marieluise BECK, Germany, ALDE ; Mr Andris BĒRZINŠ, Latvia, ALDE ; Mr Tobias BILLSTRÖM, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Ms Maryvonne BLONDIN, France, SOC ; Mr Mladen BOSIĆ, Bosnia and Herzegovina, EPP/CD ; Ms Anne BRASSEUR, Luxembourg, ALDE ; Mr Roland Rino BÜCHEL, Switzerland, ALDE ; Ms Valentina BULIGA, Republic of Moldova, SOC ; Ms Nunzia CATALFO, Italy, NR ; Mr José CEPEDA, Spain, SOC ; Ms Anastasia CHRISTODOULOPOULOU, Greece, UEL ; Ms Lise CHRISTOFFERSEN, Norway, SOC ; Mr Boriss CILEVIČS, Latvia, SOC ; Mr Raphaël COMTE, Switzerland, ALDE ; Mr Titus CORLĂŢEAN, Romania, SOC ; Mr Paolo CORSINI, Italy, SOC ; Ms Pascale CROZON, France, SOC ; Mr Yves CRUCHTEN, Luxembourg, SOC ; Mr Geraint DAVIES, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Renata DESKOSKA, ''The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia'', SOC ; Mr Manlio DI STEFANO, Italy, NR ; Mr Namik DOKLE, Albania, SOC ; Ms Elvira DROBINSKI-WEISS, Germany, SOC ; Ms Josette DURRIEU, France, SOC ; Ms Susanne EBERLE-STRUB, Liechtenstein, NR ; Ms Ute FINCKH-KRÄMER, Germany, SOC ; Lord George FOULKES, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Cindy FRANSSEN, Belgium, EPP/CD ; Mr Pierre-Alain FRIDEZ, Switzerland, SOC ; Ms Iryna GERASHCHENKO, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Vladyslav GOLUB, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Oleksii GONCHARENKO, Ukraine, EC ; Ms Geneviève GOSSELIN-FLEURY, France, SOC ; Ms Annette GROTH, Germany, UEL ; Mr Jonas GUNNARSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Antonio GUTIÉRREZ, Spain, SOC ; Mr Gábor HARANGOZÓ, Hungary, SOC ; Mr Alfred HEER, Switzerland, ALDE ; Ms Gabriela HEINRICH, Germany, SOC ; Mr Andres HERKEL, Estonia, EPP/CD ; Ms Françoise HETTO-GAASCH, Luxembourg, EPP/CD ; Mr Andrej HUNKO, Germany, UEL ; Ms Susanna HUOVINEN, Finland, SOC ; Mr Ihor HUZ, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Eva-Lena JANSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Mogens JENSEN, Denmark, SOC ; Ms Kristin Ørmen JOHNSEN, Norway, EPP/CD ; Ms Lotta JOHNSSON FORNARVE, Sweden, UEL ; Mr Josip JURATOVIC, Germany, SOC ; Ms Anne KALMARI, Finland, ALDE ; Mr Giorgi KANDELAKI, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Ms Marietta KARAMANLI, France, SOC ; Mr Niklas KARLSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Ms Ioanneta KAVVADIA, Greece, UEL ; Mr Serhii KIRAL, Ukraine, EC ; Ms Nellija KLEINBERGA, Latvia, ALDE ; Ms Elvira KOVÁCS, Serbia, EPP/CD ; Mr Tiny KOX, Netherlands, UEL ; Mr Eerik-Niiles KROSS, Estonia, ALDE ; Mr Georgios KYRITSIS, Greece ; Ms Yuliya L OVOCHKINA, Ukraine, SOC ; Mr Serhiy LABAZIUK, Ukraine, SOC ; Mr Pierre-Yves LE BORGN', France, SOC ; Mr Jean-Yves LE DÉAUT, France, SOC ; Ms Valentina LESKAJ, Albania, SOC ; Ms Inese LĪBIŅA-EGNERE, Latvia, EPP/CD ; Mr Ian LIDDELL-GRAINGER, United Kingdom, EC ; Mr Filippo LOMBARDI, Switzerland, EPP/CD ; Mr George LOUCAIDES, Cyprus, UEL ; Ms Kerstin LUNDGREN, Sweden, ALDE ; Mr Jaak MADISON, Estonia, EC ; Mr Dirk Van der MAELEN, Belgium, SOC ; Mr Philippe MAHOUX, Belgium, SOC ; Ms Marit MAIJ, Netherlands, SOC ; Baroness Doreen MASSEY, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Liliane MAURY PASQUIER, Switzerland, SOC ; Sir Alan MEALE, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Martine MERGEN, Luxembourg, EPP/CD ; Mr Attila MESTERHÁZY, Hungary, SOC ; Mr Jean-Claude MIGNON, France, EPP/CD ; Ms Marianne MIKKO, Estonia, SOC ; Mr Rónán MULLEN, Ireland, EPP/CD ; Mr Rolf MÜTZENICH, Germany, SOC ; Mr Zsolt NÉMETH, Hungary, EPP/CD ; Mr Michele NICOLETTI, Italy, SOC ; Mr Johan NISSINEN, Sweden, NR ; Mr Andrei NOVIKOV, Estonia, ALDE ; Ms Carina OHLSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Ms Ria OOMEN-RUIJTEN, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Mr Luis Alberto ORELLANA, Italy, SOC ; Mr Henk OVERBEEK, Netherlands, UEL ; Mr Bernard PASQUIER, Monaco, ALDE ; Mr Harald PETZOLD, Germany, UEL ; Mr Martin POLIAČIK, Slovak Republic, ALDE ; Mr John PRESCOTT, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Mechthild RAWERT, Germany, SOC ; Ms Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Spain, SOC ; Ms Azadeh ROJHAN GUSTAFSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr René ROUQUET, France, SOC ; Mr Johann SAATHOFF, Germany ; Mr Vincenzo SANTANGELO, Italy, NR ; Ms Milena SANTERINI, Italy, SOC ; Mr Axel SCHÄFER, Germany, SOC ; Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria, SOC ; Mr Frithjof SCHMIDT, Germany, SOC ; Ms Ingjerd SCHOU, Norway, EPP/CD ; Mr Nico SCHRIJVER, Netherlands, SOC ; Mr Frank SCHWABE, Germany, SOC ; Mr Daniel SEGER, Liechtenstein, NR ; Mr Predrag SEKULIĆ, Montenegro, SOC ; Ms Olena SOTNYK, Ukraine, ALDE ; Ms Maria Edera SPADONI, Italy, NR ; Ms Petra De SUTTER, Belgium, SOC ; Mr Imre VEJKEY, Hungary, EPP/CD ; Mr Nikolaj VILLUMSEN, Denmark, UEL ; Mr Günter VOGT, Liechtenstein, NR ; Mr Viktor VOVK, Ukraine, EC ; Mr Johann WADEPHUL, Germany, EPP/CD ; Mr Christoph WENAWESER, Liechtenstein, NR ; Ms Katrin WERNER, Germany, UEL ; Mr Markus WIECHEL, Sweden, NR ; Mr Phil WILSON, United Kingdom, SOC ; Dame Rosie WINTERTON, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Gisela WURM, Austria, SOC ; Mr Leonid YEMETS, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

The integrity and effectiveness of the Parliamentary Assembly depend on the observance of the highest standards of conduct by its members. Recent, serious and credible allegations of grave misconduct by some ot its members risk undermining public confidence in the Parliamentary Assembly's integrity.

We, the undersigned members of the Parliamentary Assembly believe that the Assembly must:

1. establish, without delay, an external, fully independent and impartial inquiry into all allegations of improper conduct or corruption that may have sought to influence the work of the Assembly in recent years, focusing in particular on allegations surrounding the vote on political prisoners in Azerbaijan in January 2013; the conclusions of the inquiry and its recommendations should be made public directly to the Assembly and the public at large;

2. ensure that the Assembly's Code of Conduct is strengthened in accordance with international best practice and recommendations requested from GRECO; and that the strict observance of these standards is monitored and enforced by a permanent independent mechanism attached to the Assembly.

We therefore call on all members from across political party groups to support our call for an independent investigation and for an integrity framework worthy of our institution.