1. At its meeting on 10 September 1990 in Warsaw, the
Political Affairs Committee heard the Presidents of the Diet and
the Senate, together with the Polish Prime Minister and the Minister
for Foreign Affairs. The Political Affairs Committee subsequently
considered the report by Sir Geoffrey Finsberg, Rapporteur, on Poland's
request to accede to the Council of Europe and adopted a draft opinion
suggesting that the Assembly recommend that the Committee of Ministers,
at its next meeting, should invite the Republic of Poland to become
a member of the Council of Europe immediately after the holding
of free general elections in the country (See
Doc. 6289). The Political Affairs
Committee further proposed that this opinion should be discussed
and put to the vote in the Assembly at its autumn 1990 part-session.
However, the debate on Poland was scheduled for a later date and
it was therefore necessary to place this question on the order of
business under urgent procedure.
2. The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights for its part
considered the Political Affairs Committee's report at its meeting
on 13 September 1990 in Budapest.
3. In order to become and remain a member of the Council of Europe,
a country must, firstly, uphold human rights and the rule of law
and. secondly, be a parliamentary democracy.
4. As to the first requirement, observance of human rights and
the rule of law, the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights
has not yet had the time or opportunity to form an adequate idea
of the situation in Poland. Where the other applicant countries
are concerned, the committee has sent its Rapporteur to the scene and
or held a meeting in the country or intends to do so shortly. In
my capacity as Rapporteur, I attended the Political Affaire Committee's
meeting and took part in highly interesting discussions with the
Polish dignitaries mentioned above, but neither the committee nor
myself were able to engage in the detailed exchanges of views which
we had in Budapest during the visit by the Rapporteurs last spring
and on the occasion of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human
Rights meeting from 12 to 14 September, at which a large number
of questions were reviewed, such as the operation of justice, the
independence of courts, freedom of the press and protection of human
rights. Sir Geoffrey Finsberg's report says very little about human
rights and nothing at all about such matters as whether Poland can
accede to the European Convention on Human Rights. Consequently,
the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is not in a position
to make a fully informed appraisal of the state of law and the human
rights situation in Poland.
5. As to the second requirement, parliamentary democracy, Poland
clearly does not yet fulfil the conditions for membership of the
Council of Europe. There have of course been free elections for
the Senate and local authorities, but the membership of the chief
parliamentary body, the Diet, is still 65% designated by the former government.
However, the Diet has come out in favour of dissolving the two chambers
of parliament before the end of the first quarter 1991. A resolution
to this effect was adopted on 21 September by a very substantial majority.
However, there is no electoral law as yet and many questions remain
open, for instance will voting be proportional or according to a
majority system?
6. The parliamentary elections will be preceded by presidential
elections in December. They will also be held by universal suffrage.
Mr Jaruzelski has said he is prepared to relinquish his functions,
but considerable controversy has grown up within the Diet regarding
the conditions of his resignation, particularly as to whether he
should resign without further ado or whether he would be entitled
to hand over power to a democratically elected successor. The president
is normally elected for six years. Will the French or the German
model be chosen as regards the powers of the future president? For
the time being, the only candidate in the running is Mr Lech Walesa.
The Prime Minister, Mr Tadeusz Mazowiecki, is also expected to stand.
The Constitution needs to be amended. Will the new Constitution
be passed by referendum or by a vote in the two chambers of parliament?
Next comes the problem of the political parties: the situation is
far from clear, there being a hundred or so mainly tiny parties.
There is some degree of consensus in Poland on many of these problems.
Other countries (Hungary and the German Democratic Republic) have
shown that questions of this kind can be quickly cleared up, even
though the proposed timetable seems highly optimistic.
7. For the foregoing reasons, the Committee on Legal Affairs
and Human Rights considered the debate on Poland's admission untimely.
It considers that the text of the Political Affairs Committee lacks
conviction in that it asks the Committee of Ministers to decide
instead of leaving it to the Assembly to ensure that free parliamentary
elections are held in the proper manner. In fact, it is very well
known that our Assembly is far better equipped than the Committee
of Ministers to send a delegation of independent observers to follow
the elections.
8. However, as the Assembly decided on 26 September to hold a
debate under urgent procedure, the Committee on Legal Affairs and
Human Rights concludes that the Assembly wishes not only to discuss
but also to decide on Poland's request to join the Council of Europe
at the present part-session.
9. In order to make this possible and render the draft opinion
formulated by the Political Affairs Committee acceptable to a larger
number of Assembly members, the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human
Rights decided to approve three amendments and two sub-amendments
which were proposed to it by the chairmen of the three committees
concerned.
Reporting committee: Political Affairs Committee.
Committee for opinion: Committee on Legal Affairs and Human
Rights.
Reference to committee: Reference No. 1667of
21 March 1990.
Opinion approved by the committee on 28 September 1990.
See 16th Sitting, 2 October 1990; and Opinion No. 154.
