Progress Report of the Assembly’s Bureau and Standing Committee (25 June – 4 October 2010)
Progress report
| Doc. 12374 Part. I
| 01 October 2010
- Committee
- Bureau of the Assembly
- Rapporteur :
- Mr David WILSHIRE,
United Kingdom, EDG
- Origin
- [Instantiation] 2010 - Fourth part-session
- Thesaurus
A. Introduction
1. The Bureau met on 25 June and 8 September 2010. On
25 June it appointed me rapporteur for this report. The Standing
Committee has not met since the last part-session.
2. This is the first time I have prepared this report. It gives
me the opportunity to make what I consider are some long-overdue
changes.
3. Consideration of these reports occupies a prime position in
a part-session’s agenda but, typically, much of its content is simply
lists of decisions taken and routine information – which is never
referred to in debate. I have put all of this in appendices. In
future it could simply be circulated in advance and then omitted
from the report itself.
4. Removing these lists and general information from the report
provides an opportunity to use it to report on the important issues
that have arisen since the last part-session and on the decisions
that only the Assembly can take. This would provide an opportunity
on the first day of each part-session to hold a mini current affairs debate.
I believe this would be of great value.
B. Important issues arising
since the June 2010 Part-Session requiring decisions by the Assembly
I. Roma
5. Perhaps the most important issue arising since the
last part-session is the serious concerns that have been publicly
expressed in a number of member states about the human rights of
Roma communities.
6. There is no need to rehearse the issues and concerns in this
report as the Bureau has recommended the holding of an urgent debate
during the part-session. The Assembly will be asked to take a decision
under a different agenda item.
II. Election of new Secretary General of the Parliamentary
Assembly
7. I am pleased to be able to report that, unlike the
appointment of a new Secretary General of the Council of Europe,
the process of appointing a new Secretary General of the Parliamentary
Assembly has gone smoothly. Following consultations with the Committee
of Ministers, the Bureau received a list of two candidates. The
Assembly now has to decide who to appoint. A secret ballot will
be held during the part-session.
8. Selecting the person entrusted with overseeing all aspects
of the Parliamentary Assembly is a crucially important decision
– especially this time since the person appointed will have to implement
the changes that will need to be made as a result of the Council
of Europe Secretary General’s fundamental review of the organisation.
9. In response to paragraph 18.2 in Assembly
Resolution 1739 (2010) on
“The situation in Kosovo and the role of the Council of Europe”,
the Bureau instructed the Secretariat to prepare a memorandum on
ways of initiating a dialogue with representatives of the elected
Kosovo Assembly on issues of common interest and decided to invite
the Chairperson of the Serbian delegation to the Assembly to attend
a meeting for an exchange of views.
10. On 8 September, the Bureau held the exchange of views with
the participation of Mr Dragoljub Mićunović, Chairperson of the
Serbian delegation to the Assembly. It then approved the proposals
contained in the memorandum, for subsequent ratification by the
Assembly within the framework of the Progress Report, as they appear
below.
“Kosovo:
Practical implementation of paragraph 18.2 of Resolution 1739 (2010)2
It would appear to be advisable that, for the purposes
of Resolution 1739 (2010),
a step-by-step approach be followed as regards the initiation of
a dialogue between the PACE and the Kosovo Assembly. Hence, as a
first step, such a dialogue could be initiated at the level of Assembly
committees, subject to the following conditions:
- As
paragraph 18.2 mentions that the dialogue should be on “issues of
common interest”, representatives elected to the Kosovo Assembly
could be invited to attend committee meetings whenever a question
directly concerning Kosovo is on the agenda;
- As paragraph 18.2 refers to
“representatives of the political forces elected to the Kosovo Assembly”
only “elected” representatives “to the Kosovo Assembly” could be
invited. To ensure that the different “political forces” are represented
and in accordance with long-standing PACE practice, the committee
concerned should invite one representative from the majority and
one from the opposition (to be decided by the respective groups
within the Kosovo Assembly themselves);
- Participation of “representatives
of the political forces elected to the Kosovo Assembly” in committee
meetings should be at no cost for the Parliamentary Assembly.
An evaluation of the above procedure could be made at
the latest one year after the adoption of Resolution 1739 (2010), namely at
a Bureau meeting during the June 2011 part-session.”
11. When considering whether to ratify the Bureau’s recommendation,
the Assembly will need to reflect on two recent developments – the
decision of the Serbian government to hold talks with Kosovo politicians
and “Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration
of Independence In Respect of Kosovo” (the advisory opinion of International
Court of Justice requested by the UN General Assembly which concluded
that international law has not been broken).
12. The Assembly will also need to consider whether representation
within PACE of representatives from the Northern Cyprus and Palestine
communities amount to precedents in respect of the decision to be
taken.
13. Finally, the Assembly will need to consider whether its decision
will have consequences for other issues of dialogue, representation
and recognition (including in Northern Cyprus, Nagorno Karabakh,
Transnistria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia).
IV. “Partner for Democracy” status: Relations
with the Palestine National Council
14. On 25 June, the Bureau discussed the request by the
Palestine National Council (PNC) to obtain “Partner for Democracy”
status with the Assembly. As Assembly
Resolution 1680 (2009) on the “Establishment of
a ’Partner for Democracy’ status with the Parliamentary Assembly”
made specific reference to the Palestinian Legislative Council,
it was necessary to interpret the resolution to decide whether the
request submitted by the Palestine National Council was admissible.
The Bureau felt that the request was admissible. The Assembly is
invited to ratify this decision.
15. When considering this matter, the Assembly will need to consider
the issues arising from the previous item – precedents already set
and possible consequences for other controversial matters.
16. If the Assembly ratifies the Bureau’s decision, the President
of the PNC will need to be informed of this decision so he can submit
a formal request based on the terms of Article 60 of the Rules of
Procedure of the Assembly. If/when such a request is received, the
Assembly will need to decide whether to grant this status. Ratification
of the current Bureau decision will not grant this status.
C. Important issues arising since
the June 2010 part-session not requiring decisions by the Assembly
I. Members’ rights to attend official meeting
17. By the time the Assembly considers this report, the
Bureau will have considered a letter from the Chairperson of the
Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee. It reports that a committee
member was refused entry to Georgia to attend a formal committee
meeting in Tbilisi. After the facts have been researched and legal
advice taken, the Assembly will need to decide whether this episode
amounts to a breach of Article 13 of the General Agreement on Privileges
and Immunities of the Council of Europe. If it does so decide, this will
become a very serious matter.
II. Co-operation with the European Parliament
18. Following a Presidential Committee meeting with the
European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents in Brussels, the
Bureau has discussed possible terms of reference and composition
of a joint European Parliament–Parliamentary Assembly informal body
to coordinate information sharing regarding the proposed accession
of the European Union to the European Convention of Human Rights.
Important and controversial issues arise. The Bureau plans to return
to this matter during this part-session. In due course the Assembly
will need to debate and decide on these matters.
III. Council of Europe reform: measures to enhance
the Assembly
19. On 25 June, the Bureau asked the Political Groups
to discuss how the Assembly could respond to the Council of Europe
Secretary General’s comprehensive review. The President is suggesting
that the Bureau sets up an ad hoc Committee to consider the groups’
proposals and prepare a report.
IV. Responsibility of the parliaments of member
states of the Council of Europe as regards their representation
in the Assembly
20. On 25 June, the Bureau considered the potentially
harmful effects of attendance rule changes being made by a growing
number of national delegations. It asked the President of the Assembly
to remind Speakers of national parliaments of the duty of member
states to bear the expenses of their representation in the Assembly,
in line with Article 38 of the Statute of the Council of Europe.
D. Other issues requiring Assembly
decision
References of motions to committees
i. References to committees
21. On 8 September, the Bureau approved the following
references to committees, subject to ratification by the Assembly:
a Doc. 12306, Motion for a resolution
presented by Mrs Bemelmans-Videc and others, Accession of the European
Union to the European Convention on Human Rights: election of judges,
to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights
for report
b Doc. 12312,
Motion for a resolution presented by Mr Badré and others, Reaffirming
the universal nature of human rights, to the Political Affairs Committee
for report and to the Committee
on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and to the Committee on Equal
Opportunities for Women and Men
for opinion
c Bureau Decision, Recent rise in national security discourse
in Europe: the case of Roma, to the Political Affairs Committee for report, and to the Committee
on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and the Committee on Migration,
Refugees and Population for opinion
ii. Transmission to committees for information
22. On 8 September, the Bureau approved the following
transmission for information, subject to ratification by the Assembly:
a Doc. 12314, Motion for a resolution
presented by the Earl of Dundee and others, The need for the creation
of a better measure of national well-being than Gross Domestic Product
(GDP), to the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development
for information
iii. Decisions of no further action
23. On 8 September, the Bureau approved the following
decisions of no further action, subject to ratification by the Assembly:
a Doc. 12311, Motion for a recommendation
presented by Mr Toshev and others, Need for political and civil
rehabilitation of people who have suffered repression from the communist
regimes in Europe, no further action
b Doc. 12315,
Motion for a resolution presented by Mr Reimann and others, Elderly
drivers: transnational harmonisation of driving aptitude, no further
action
c Doc. 12316,
Motion for a resolution presented by Mr R. Huseynov and others,
Soviet political repressions as a crime against humanity, no further
action
d Doc. 12230,
Motion for a resolution presented by Mrs Stump and others, More
gender equality in Parliamentary Assembly positions, no further
action
In a letter dated 1 July 2010, the Committee on Rules of
Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs informed the Bureau
that it considered that there was no need to prepare a further report
on this issue.
The Assembly is invited to approve these recommendations.
Appendix 1 – Routine Bureau Decisions since 25 June 2010
I. Composition of the Committee on Rules
and Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs
1. The Bureau has nominated Mr Joseph
Debono Grech (Malta, SOC) as a new member (replacing Mr Rudy Vis
(UK, SOC)).
II. Issues raised by committees
a. Committee on Legal Affairs and Human
Rights
1. The Bureau has taken note of the decision of the
Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights to deal with two motions
for a Resolution referred to it – “The definition of political prisoners”
(
Doc. 11922)
and “The follow-up to the issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan”
(
Doc. 11468)
– in a single report.
b. Committee on Equal Opportunities for
Women and Men
1. The Bureau has authorised Ms Err to attend a United
Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals to be held in
New York from 20 to 22 September 2010, for the purposes of her report
“Fighting the global backlash against women’s human rights”.
III. European Court of Human Rights: Election
of judges to the European Court of Human Rights
1. The Bureau has referred an initiative by the President
of the Court to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights
for a report in time for the Assembly’s October 2010 part-Session.
IV. Budgetary matters
1. The Bureau has approved a report submitted by the
Committee on Economic Affairs and Development on the use made by
the Assembly’s political groups on the allocations for 2009.
V. Meetings elsewhere than in Strasbourg
and Paris
1. The Bureau has authorised the following meetings:
a Sub-Committee on the Europe Prize
(of the Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional
Affairs): Kharkiv (Ukraine), 23 August 2010;
b Political Affairs Committee: Belgrade (Serbia), 6-7 September
2010;
c Sub-Committee on the Media (of the Committee on Culture,
Science and Education): Vilnius (Lithuania), 15-16 September 2010;
d Sub-Committee on Youth and Sport (of the Committee on
Culture, Science and Education): Budapest (Hungary), 18-20 October
2010.
VI. Appointments of Assembly Representatives
for official activities
1. The Bureau has made the following appointments:
a Mr Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD):
Regional Workshop for Arab Parliaments on implementing the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) and ending violence against women, Beirut (Lebanon), 27-29
July 2010, at no cost for the Assembly;
b Ms Vėsaitė (Lithuania, SOC): 19th Baltic
Sea Parliamentary Conference, Mariehamn (Finland), 29-31 August
2010;
c Mr Wille (Belgium, ALDE): 20th Economic
Forum, Krynica (Poland), 8-11 September 2010;
d Mr Dalgaard (Denmark, EDG): 9th Conference
of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region, Brussels (Belgium), 13-15
September 2010;
e Mr Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD): Parliamentary Panel within
the framework of the WTO Public Forum, Geneva (Switzerland), 16
September 2010;
f Ms Cecilia Keaveney (Ireland, ALDE): 18th Council
of Europe Informal Conference of Ministers responsible for Sport,
Baku (Azerbaijan), 22 September 2010;
g The Chairperson of the Committee on Legal Affairs and
Human Rights or his representative: Conference on “Strengthening
Subsidiarity: Integrating the Court’s Case Law Into National Law
and Judicial Practice”, Skopje (“the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia”), 1-2 October 2010;
h Mr Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, PPE/DC): 2010 OSCE PA
Fall Meetings, Palermo (Italy), 8-10 October 2010, at no cost to
the Assembly;
i Mr Denis MacShane (United Kingdom, SOC), NATO Parliamentary
Assembly Fall Session, Warsaw (Poland), 12-16 November 2010, at
no cost to the Assembly;
j On 8 September, the Bureau appointed Mr Denis MacShane
as a new member of the Parliamentary Assembly’s institutional representation
to the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI)
in 2010.
Appendix 2 – Other Information
I. Bureau ad hoc election and referenda
monitoring committees
1. The Bureau has made the following
appointments:
a. Constitutional referendum in Moldova
(5 September 2010)
30 members, in accordance with the D’Hondt system. Mr Andreas
Gross (Switzerland, SOC) was appointed Chairman. Mr Gross, was unable
to attend due to exceptional circumstances so Mr Egidijus Vareikis
(Lithuania, EPP/CD) was appointed to replace him. On 8 September,
the Bureau heard a statement by Mr Olsson, member of the observation
mission, and decided to return to this matter at its meeting in
Strasbourg on 4 October on the basis of the report from the observation
mission.
b. Parliamentary elections in Bosnia and
Herzegovina (3 October 2010)
On 25 June, the Bureau approved the list of members and appointed
Mr Kox (The Netherlands, UEL) as its Chairperson.
c. Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan
(7 November 2010)
On 25 June, the Bureau approved the list of members and appointed
Mr Wille (Belgium, ALDE) as its Chairperson.
II. Other Bureau ad hoc Committees
1. On 25 June the President reported on his contacts
with the national delegations directly involved in the work of the
Ad Hoc Committees for promoting dialogue between the Russian and
Georgian delegations. The Bureau has received reports on the following
and on the implementation of
Resolution
1416 (2005) on the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh
region dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference.
2. On 25 June, the Bureau approved the composition of an Ad Hoc
Committee to participate in the Forum for the Future of Democracy,
Yerevan (Armenia) 19-20 October 2010. On 8 September, it took note
of the report of the meeting of the Advisory Board for the Forum
held on 18 June 2010.
III. Reports by Assembly representatives
on participation in official activities
1. On 25 June, the Bureau took note of the report by
Mr de Puig (Spain, SOC) on his participation in the events to celebrate
the 20th anniversary of the Council of
Europe North-South Centre in Lisbon.
IV. Meetings of the Standing Committee
and the Bureau in 2011
1. On 8 September, the Bureau approved the schedule
of meetings as it appears in Appendix 3.
V. Other business
1. The Bureau has taken note of the final declaration
of the Fifth Summer University for Democracy (Strasbourg, 28 June
– 2 July 2010).
2. The Bureau approved a draft Declaration to be published in
connection with the International Day of Democracy, 15 September
2010 (Inter-Parliamentary Union).
3. The Bureau has discussed the Proposed Joint Conference – Interparliamentary
Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe: Nevsky International Ecological
Congress, Saint Petersburg (Russian Federation), 16 – 17 May 2011.
It decided to return to this matter at a forthcoming meeting on
the basis of a Secretariat memorandum dealing with past experiences
of these Joint Conferences.
VI. Date and place of the next meetings
1. On 25 June, the Bureau decided to hold forthcoming
meetings as follows:
- Monday
4 October 2010, Strasbourg, at 8 am;
- Friday 8 October 2010, Strasbourg, at 8.30 am.
Appendix 3 – Meetings of the Standing Committee and the
Bureau in 2011
Monday 24 January, 8.00 am Strasbourg (part-session):
Bureau
Friday 28 January, 8.30 am Strasbourg (part-session): Bureau
Thursday 10 March, 3.00 pm, Paris: Bureau
Friday 11 March, 9.00 am, Paris: Standing Committee
Monday 11 April, 8.00 am, Strasbourg (part-session): Bureau
Friday 15 April, 8.30 am, Strasbourg (part-session): Bureau
May, Ukraine (date and place to be confirmed): Bureau and
Standing Committee (CM Presidency)
Monday 20 June, 8.00 am, Strasbourg (part-session): Bureau
Friday 24 June, 8.30 am, Strasbourg (part-session): Bureau
Monday 5 September, 9.30 am, Paris: Bureau
Monday 3 October, 8.00 am, Strasbourg (part-session): Bureau
Friday 7 October, 8.30 am, Strasbourg (part-session): Bureau
November, United Kingdom (date and place to be confirmed):
Bureau and Standing Committee (CM Presidency)
Monday 12 December, 9.30 am, Paris: Bureau
