The reform of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: a forum for dialogue between the people of Europe

Motion for a resolution | Doc. 12408 | 13 October 2010

Signatories:

Mr Latchezar TOSHEV, Bulgaria, EPP/CD ; Mr Francis AGIUS, Malta, EPP/CD ; Lord Donald ANDERSON, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Joseph DEBONO GRECH, Malta, SOC ; Mr Joseph FALZON, Malta, EPP/CD ; Mr Valeriu GHILETCHI, Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD ; Mr Jean HUSS, Luxembourg, SOC ; Ms Birgen KELEŞ, Turkey, SOC ; Ms Elvira KOVÁCS, Serbia, EPP/CD ; Mr Göran LINDBLAD, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Dariusz LIPIŃSKI, Poland, EPP/CD ; Sir Alan MEALE, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr José MENDES BOTA, Portugal, EPP/CD ; Mr Krasimir MINCHEV, Bulgaria, EPP/CD ; Mr Ronan MULLEN, Ireland, EPP/CD ; Ms Lajla PERNASKA, Albania, EPP/CD ; Mr Petar PETROV, Bulgaria, EPP/CD ; Mr Lluís Maria de PUIG i OLIVE, Spain, SOC ; Ms Elke TINDEMANS, Belgium ; Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Mr Piotr WACH, Poland, EPP/CD

Thesaurus

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

The Parliamentary Assembly:

Being convinced of the need for reform of its structures and function in order to achieve greater efficiency and to strengthen its role in the European architecture;

Stressing that these reforms should be based on a wide agreement between the members of the Assembly;

Underlining that this agreement could be reached by a dialogue with no exclusion of opinions of its members,

Decides that its reform should be based on the following objectives:

• the Assembly should remain a forum for dialogue not only between states but also between the people of Europe;
• the Presidential Committee should remain a consultative body of the Assembly and shall not be changed into a decision-making committee;
• the monitoring procedure of the Assembly should include comparative aspects evaluating the situation in all member states and the confidentiality of the procedure should be lifted;
• the Resolutions and Recommendations of the Assembly should have their follow-up in accordance with the procedure set out in Resolution 1640 (2008);
• the Committees of the Assembly should receive an annual ticket to organise a joint meeting with the relevant committees in the national parliaments of the member states. The agenda for these meetings should be drafted jointly with the chairpersons of the committees of the national parliaments. Representatives of countries from the neighbourhood of the Council of Europe and interested NGOs could also be invited when appropriate.