On the basis also of the findings of the Ad hoc Committee
of its Bureau on the role and mission of the Parliamentary Assembly,
which underlined the need to step up political dialogue between
the Assembly and the Committee of Ministers, while respecting each
other’s prerogatives, the Assembly:
5.1 welcomes the fact that contacts and dialogue with the
Committee of Ministers have significantly intensified recently,
at different levels and in different formats;
5.2 calls on the Committee of Ministers to ensure that its
replies to Assembly recommendations address fully and substantially
all issues raised and proposes to revive the practice of regular
exchanges of views between Committee of Ministers Rapporteur Groups
and Assembly rapporteurs and between Assembly committees and Chairpersons
of Committee of Ministers Rapporteur Groups or intergovernmental
experts during the drafting process of new Council of Europe conventions;
5.3 referring to its
Recommendation
1999 (2012) on follow-up by the Committee of Ministers
to the work of the Parliamentary Assembly, reiterates the call it
made to the Chairs of the Committee of Ministers Rapporteur Groups
and working parties to maintain regular working relations with the Assembly’s
committee chairs, rapporteurs and general rapporteurs operating
in the relevant areas. A steady practice of holding an annual meeting
between a general rapporteur and the relevant rapporteur group could
be introduced;
5.4 referring also to its
Resolution 2186 (2017) on the call
for a Council of Europe summit to reaffirm European unity and to
defend and promote democratic security in Europe, as well as to
the 1998 Committee of Wise Persons Final Report to the Committee
of Ministers, notes that there is an urgent need to develop synergies
and provide for joint action by the two statutory organs in order
to strengthen the Organisation’s ability to react more effectively
in situations where a member State violates its statutory obligations
or does not respect the fundamental principles and values upheld
by the Council of Europe;
5.5 asks the Committee of Ministers to consider its proposal
to put in place, in such situations, in addition, a joint response
procedure which could be triggered by either the Parliamentary Assembly,
the Committee of Ministers or the Secretary General and in which
all three of them would participate; this joint procedure could
consist of a step-by-step process, starting with the notification
of the member State concerned and including a number of concrete
and well-defined steps, such as co-ordinated dialogue with the State
concerned, the setting-up of a special monitoring procedure enhanced
by a joint task force, the publication of a public statement and
ultimately the decision to act under Articles 7, 8 or 9 of the Statute;
a strict time frame would have to be fixed for each step by common
agreement of the three parties; this joint procedure would ensure
enhanced legitimacy, credibility, impact, relevance and synergy
of the measures to be taken, both regarding the member State concerned
and within the Organisation, without prejudice to each organ’s existing
separate powers and responsibilities; political action could also
be combined, where appropriate, with technical support to the State
concerned;
5.6 with respect to member States’ contributions, asks the
Committee of Ministers to consult the Assembly by means of an ad
hoc urgent procedure if and when a member State has not made its
due contribution to the budget for a period in excess of six months;
5.7 calls for stronger and more structured co-ordination between
the monitoring activities of the two statutory organs, the Secretary
General and the Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as of the various
specialised monitoring and advisory bodies and mechanisms of the
Organisation, without prejudice to their independence.
