Respect for the rule of law and the fight against corruption within the Council of Europe
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 9 April 2025 (14th sitting) (see Doc. 16138, report of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities
and Institutional Affairs, rapporteur: Mr Frank Schwabe). Text adopted by the Assembly on
9 April 2025 (14th sitting).See also Recommendation 2293 (2025).
1. The Parliamentary Assembly recalls
that, in the aftermath of the corruption scandal linked to the vote
in the Assembly on the Strässer report in 2012 and the observation
of the 2013, 2015 and 2016 elections in Azerbaijan, the Assembly
set up, in April 2017, the ad hoc Independent Investigation Body
on the allegations of corruption within the Parliamentary Assembly.
Since then, the Assembly has clearer codes of conduct and clearer
rules on declarations of interests and gifts, on honorary status
and on lobbying.
2. However, the Assembly emphasises that all ethical frameworks
need regular reviews to ensure they are fit for purpose to address
the latest challenges, expectations and standards. Moreover, it
is important that an ethical culture is encouraged to flourish and
develop within the Council of Europe, which includes ensuring that the
Organisation has adequate – and adequately resourced – enforcement
mechanisms to uphold its ethical standards.
3. The Assembly welcomes the Council of Europe Policy on reporting
wrongdoing and protection from retaliation (Speak Up Policy) and
the Rule on investigations, operational since 1 January 2023, which
applies to the Secretariat and all members of the Council of Europe’s
organs and bodies, including members of the Assembly, members of
the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the judges at
the European Court of Human Rights. This enables whistle-blower-type
complaints to be made to the Directorate of Internal Oversight,
which can undertake an initial consideration and, thereafter, a
preliminary assessment into any wrongdoing contrary to the public
interest. An investigation can then follow (whether through the
Directorate of Internal Oversight or the relevant organ’s ethics
body). The Assembly emphasises the importance of effective enforcement
mechanisms in improving behaviours and standards, while being aware
that only a small number of cases are currently reaching the directorate.
The Assembly invites all instances of the Council of Europe, including
the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, to raise awareness
of the availability of the whistle-blower contacts within the Speak
Up Policy and to create an environment and culture in which reporting
alleged wrongdoing is supported and enabled.
4. Acknowledging the need for a bespoke approach for the judiciary,
the Assembly welcomes recent steps by the European Court of Human
Rights to review and to make more transparent its own procedures
and ethical standards, including in relation to recusal. The Assembly
encourages the Court to foster the development of an ethical culture
and to keep ethical questions under review.
5. The Assembly resolves to review its own ethical standards,
procedures and practices on a regular basis, to ensure its standards
are exemplary and its processes reflect best practices, while having
regard to the importance of the separation of powers and the peculiarities
of political life. In its activities, the Assembly will remain vigilant
to the risks of political favouritism, exertion of influence and
trading of influence within political life, and their potential
impact on the Assembly and national parliaments. To improve the
accessibility and visibility of its codes of conduct and ethical
standards, the Assembly will:
5.1 revise
the structure of its Rules of Procedure to make it more coherent,
accessible and user-friendly, while placing the ethical standards
upfront;
5.2 promote transparency, ethics and anti-corruption on its
website and produce user-friendly infographics and guides on ethical
standards, including for specific roles.
6. Desiring to consolidate the considerable progress made in
relation to declarations of interests, the Assembly decides to have
a single, updatable document, published online, containing all declarations
of interests relating to a member’s various mandates within the
Assembly. Declarations of interests will identify how any perceived,
potential or actual conflicts of interest will be addressed and
will be required for all roles of significance within the Assembly.
The Assembly decides to amend the Code of conduct for members of
the Parliamentary Assembly (set out in
Resolution 1903 (2012) “Code of
conduct of members of the Parliamentary Assembly: good practice
or a core duty?”, as modified, contained in Appendix II to the Rules
of Procedure), in relation to declarations of interests, as follows:
6.1 in order to clarify how to address
actual or potential conflicts, to replace paragraph 9 with the following
paragraph:
“In their declarations
of interests, members should identify any actual or potential conflicts between
economic, commercial, financial or other interests on a professional,
personal or family level on the one hand, and the public interest
in the work of the Assembly on the other hand. In doing so, special
regard should be paid to that member’s particular roles within the
Assembly. Once an actual or potential conflict of interest has been
identified, members should set out steps that will be taken to avoid
that conflict unduly affecting their work in the Assembly (for example by
desisting from certain actions or roles). Conflicts of interest
should thus be resolved in favour of the public interest and should
be disclosed.”;
6.2 to replace paragraph 10 with the following paragraph:
“Any member with interests relevant
to a debate that are not yet adequately reflected in their written
declaration must set them out in an oral declaration when speaking
in any proceedings of the Assembly or its committees, or in any
relevant communications.”;
6.3 while generally discouraging the seeking, giving or receiving
of gifts, to replace paragraph 15 with the following paragraph:
“Members shall not accept any gifts
or benefits whose nature and/or value is not strictly within the bounds
of parliamentary protocol or practices regarding hospitality.”;
6.4 to add, at the end of paragraph 18, the following sentences:
“The declaration shall include
a specific entry for every specific role that member has within
the Assembly, including President or Vice-President of the Assembly,
chairperson or vice-chairperson of committees, sub-committees, networks,
platforms and alliances, rapporteur (including general rapporteur
or co-rapporteur), chairperson and member of an ad hoc committee for
the observation of elections, member of an ad hoc committee of the
Bureau, or a role representing the Assembly or a committee. Such
entries shall set out any interests specific to that role and shall
identify how any perceived, potential or actual conflicts of interest
that might arise would be addressed.”;
6.5 in order to reflect that gifts are now recorded in declarations
of interests, to add, before the last sentence of paragraph 18,
the following sentence:
“Members
shall update their declarations of interests, within 30 days, to
include any relevant new information, including any gifts or similar
benefits (such as travel expenses, accommodation, subsistence, meals
or entertainment expenses) of a value in excess of €200 that they
accept in the performance of their duties as Assembly members.”;
6.6 in order to encourage the submission of annual declarations
of interests, to add, after paragraph 18, the following three paragraphs:
“Any member who has not submitted
an annual declaration of interests for the relevant year shall not
be entitled to apply for, be granted or continue to hold any specific
office within the Assembly, including President or Vice-President
of the Assembly, chairperson or vice-chairperson of a committee,
sub-committee, network, platform or alliance, rapporteur (including
general rapporteur or co-rapporteur), member of an ad hoc committee
for the observation of elections, member of an ad hoc committee
of the Bureau, or a role representing the Assembly or a committee.
In case of the late submission of a declaration, this prohibition
shall cease two months after the submission of that member’s declaration
for that year.
If intervening in a debate, a member who has not submitted
an annual declaration of interests for the relevant year must start
their intervention with an oral declaration of interests.
Upon the second consecutive year of a failure to submit
a declaration of interests by a given member, the President shall
write to the Speaker of the relevant parliament highlighting the continued
absence of a declaration of interests for that member and asking
the Speaker to consider (in accordance with national procedures
and in consultation with the competent persons) whether that member
is suitable to remain a member of the national delegation given the
continued failure to provide a declaration of interests.”
7. The Assembly consequently decides to modify other provisions
of its Rules of Procedure as follows:
7.1 in order to apply similar standards to those for rapporteurs
in paragraph 1 of the Code of conduct for rapporteurs of the Parliamentary
Assembly (as set out in
Resolution
1799 (2011) “Code of conduct for rapporteurs of the Parliamentary
Assembly”, as modified, contained in Appendix III of the Rules of Procedure),
to members with similarly significant mandates within the Assembly,
to add, after paragraph 18, the following paragraphs:
“Rules of conduct applicable to
the President and Vice-Presidents of the Assembly, the chairpersons
and vice-chairpersons of committees, sub-committees, networks, platforms
and alliances, and the chairpersons of political groups
Rules of conduct for the President and Vice-Presidents
of the Assembly, the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of committees,
sub-committees, networks, platforms and alliances, and the chairpersons
of political groups:
– principle of neutrality, impartiality and objectivity,
including in particular:
- obligation
to declare any economic, commercial, financial or other interests,
on a professional, personal or family level, connected with the
work of the Assembly, committee, sub-committee, network, platform,
alliance or political group, as the case may be;
- undertaking not to seek or accept instructions from
any government or governmental or non-governmental organisation,
or pressure group or individual;
- undertaking not to accept any reward, honorary distinction,
decoration, favour, substantial gift or remuneration from a government
or governmental or non-governmental organisation, a pressure group
or an individual in connection with activities carried out in the
exercise of their duties;
– obligation of discretion, in particular the undertaking
not to make personal use of information acquired in the course of
their duties;
– undertaking of availability, in particular undertaking
to attend Assembly sessions, Standing Committee meetings and meetings
of committees, sub-committees, networks, platforms and alliances,
in connection with their duties;
– undertaking to respect the values of the Council of
Europe.”;
7.2 at the end of paragraph 1.1.1 of the Code of conduct for
rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly, to add the following
sentence:
“Such a declaration
shall be in writing and shall be made public by being added to the
existing annual declaration of interests for that member.”;
7.3 to replace paragraph 20 of the Guidelines for the observation
of elections by the Parliamentary Assembly (adopted by the Bureau
of the Assembly and set out in Appendix XIV to the Rules of Procedure)
with the following paragraph:
“All
candidates for membership of an ad hoc committee, at the time of
putting forward their candidacy, shall make a written declaration
of interests in connection with the country concerned by an election
observation; this declaration shall be added to their declaration
of interests published on the Assembly website. In that addition
to their declaration of interests, members shall identify any actual
or potential conflicts between any economic, commercial, financial
or other interests on a professional, personal or relational level
on the one hand, and the public interest in the work of the ad hoc
committee for observing those elections on the other hand. The term
“relational” includes direct and indirect family relations as well
as people with whom they are in regular contact. Once an actual
or potential conflict of interest has been identified, members should
set out steps that will be taken to avoid that conflict unduly affecting
their work in that role (for example desisting from certain actions
or roles). Political groups shall not submit the candidatures of
members with noteworthy conflicts of interest in respect of a particular
country.”;
7.4 to incorporate the Code of conduct for rapporteurs of
the Parliamentary Assembly into the Code of conduct for members
of the Parliamentary Assembly, adding it after the final paragraph
of the Code of conduct for members of the Parliamentary Assembly;
7.5 in order to strengthen the test to be applied to the President
and Vice-Presidents to include untruthful declarations or failing
to declare relevant interests, so as to align it with that for rapporteurs
as set out in Appendix III, paragraph 4, in Rule 54.1 to replace
the words “
no longer fulfils the conditions required
for the exercise of that office or is guilty of serious misconduct
by seriously or repeatedly violating the provisions of the Code
of conduct for members of the Parliamentary Assembly”
with the following words:
“no
longer fulfils the conditions required for the exercise of that
office, or if he or she fails to honour one or more undertaking
in the Code of conduct for members of the Parliamentary Assembly, including
if he or she failed to declare any relevant interests or made an
untruthful declaration, or if he or she is guilty of serious misconduct
by seriously or repeatedly violating the provisions of the Code
of conduct for members of the Parliamentary Assembly”;
7.6 in order to strengthen the test to be applied to the chairpersons
and vice-chairpersons of committees to include untruthful declarations
or failing to declare relevant interests, so as to align it with that
for rapporteurs as set out in Appendix III, paragraph 4; and in
order to apply the same standards to the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons
of sub-committees, networks, platforms and alliances, to modify Rule 55
as follows:
7.6.1 at the end of the title, to add the following
words:
“, sub-committees, networks,
platforms and alliances”;
7.6.2 in Rule 55.1, to replace the words “no longer fulfils
the conditions required for the exercise of that office or is guilty
of serious misconduct by seriously or repeatedly violating the provisions
of the Code of conduct for members of the Parliamentary Assembly”
with the following words:
“no
longer fulfils the conditions required for the exercise of that
office, or if he or she fails to honour one or more undertaking
in the Code of conduct for members of the Parliamentary Assembly,
including if he or she failed to declare any relevant interests
or made an untruthful declaration, or if he or she is guilty of
serious misconduct by seriously or repeatedly violating the provisions
of the Code of conduct for members of the Parliamentary Assembly”;
7.6.3 after Rule 55.6, to add the following paragraph:
“References, in this paragraph,
to committee include sub-committee, network, platform and alliance.”.
8. In order to improve transparency and to better emphasise the
obligations on rapporteurs, the Code of conduct for rapporteurs
of the Parliamentary Assembly is amended as follows:
8.1 after paragraph 1.5, to add
the following paragraph:
“Obligation
on rapporteurs to sign an undertaking, when updating their declaration
of interests, to abide by the obligations of neutrality, impartiality,
objectivity, discretion and availability as part of that role”;
8.2 to replace paragraph 3 with the following paragraph:
“The rapporteur should, unless
there are good reasons for not doing so, publish the list of individuals,
experts and representatives of governmental or non-governmental
organisations consulted, met or received in the process of drafting
the report.”.
9. Reiterating the importance of effective enforcement mechanisms
in improving behaviours and standards, the Assembly decides to amend
the Code of conduct for members of the Parliamentary Assembly to
better highlight reporting options and to indicate some types of
expertise that can be used in an investigation, as follows:
9.1 after paragraph 20, to add the
following paragraph:
“Concerns
about wrongdoing affecting the public interest, including breaches
of the Assembly’s codes of conduct or inaccurate declarations of
interests, can be reported to the President of the Assembly or the
Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs.”.
The Assembly website should be
similarly updated to highlight relevant reporting options;
9.2 at the end of paragraph 22, to add the following sentence:
“The committee may avail itself
of the expertise of internal and national experts to assist in such an
investigation.”;
9.3 after paragraph 25, to add the following paragraph:
“Where the committee decides to
open an investigation, it may refer the matter to the Conduct Investigation
Panel of the Parliamentary Assembly to gather evidence and to establish
the facts on its behalf. The Conduct Investigation Panel of the
Parliamentary Assembly is composed of seven former judges of the
European Court of Human Rights and is supported by a secretariat composed
of Council of Europe staff members. For each referral, three of
those former judges will serve as the panel for that matter. The
provisions of paragraphs 23 and 24 above apply to the Conduct Investigation
Panel of the Parliamentary Assembly, as if it were the committee.
Any final determination shall remain for the committee itself.”.
10. The Assembly will develop an improved checking mechanism for
declarations of interests by its members:
10.1 the Secretariat would undertake initial checks of declarations
of interests to raise any potential obvious omissions or potential
conflicts with the member concerned;
10.2 this mechanism should focus, as a priority, on checks
in relation to those members who have specific offices within the
Assembly (the President, the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly, chairpersons and
vice-chairpersons of committees, sub-committees, networks, platforms
and alliances, chairpersons of political groups, rapporteurs, co-rapporteurs
and members of ad hoc election observation committees);
10.3 appropriate additional resources should be placed at the
disposal of the Secretariat of the Assembly in order to facilitate
this checking mechanism;
10.4 the Secretariat should produce an annual information note,
for the attention of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities
and Institutional Affairs, on its progress in this work checking
the declarations of interests of the Assembly members. The President
of the Assembly should also receive a copy.
11. In order to address concerns in respect of conduct by members
who have left the Assembly, the following amendments are made to
the Code of conduct for members of the Parliamentary Assembly:
11.1 after paragraph 28, add the
following two paragraphs:
“In
respect of a member who has left the Assembly, where allegations
arise of significant breaches of the rules of conduct, or conduct
likely to bring the Assembly into disrepute through association
with that former member, the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities
and Institutional Affairs may examine alleged breaches of the Code
of conduct as for current members.
Where a member leaves the Assembly following allegations
of serious or repetitive breaches of the rules of conduct, the President
of the Assembly or the President of the Committee on Rules of Procedure,
Immunities and Institutional Affairs, should send information concerning
those concerns to the Speaker of the relevant national Assembly,
inviting him or her to consider taking appropriate action pursuant
to their own ethical standards and enforcement mechanisms and to keep
the President and the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities
and Institutional Affairs informed.”;
11.2 after paragraph 29, add the following paragraph:
“In cases of serious or repetitive
breaches of the rules of conduct by a former member, or of conduct
by that member likely to bring the Assembly into disrepute through
association with that former member, the Committee on Rules of Procedure,
Immunities and Institutional Affairs may remove that former member’s
honorary status and may ban the former member from accessing the
Council of Europe’s premises.”
12. Recalling concerns that members could seek to avoid investigations
by leaving the Assembly and rejoining, the Assembly notes that sanctions
under paragraph 29 of the Code of conduct for members of the Parliamentary
Assembly could also be taken in relation to previous serious or
repetitive breaches, where a member rejoins the Assembly.
13. Recognising the unique pressures on election observation missions,
the Assembly:
13.1 welcomes its
new Parliamentary Alliance for Free and Fair Elections and encourages
it to undertake work to further strengthen ethical standards related
to election observation missions, including the issue of suitability
of appointments to an ad hoc committee for election observation, declarations
of interests, impartial conduct during an election observation mission
(including by declining any individual gift or bilateral invitation
by the hosting authorities, making public statements and the overall
attitude of members during the mission) and the enforcement of the
rules;
13.2 acknowledging the potential for unofficial election observation
missions to damage the reputation of the Assembly and the viability
of election observation in general, and noting the need for clarity
as to the criteria for appointment, decides to replace paragraph
13 of the Guidelines for the observation of elections by the Parliamentary
Assembly with the following text:
“In
making appointments to an ad hoc committee for election observation,
political groups must exercise due diligence, ensuring appropriate,
impartial and skilled members for such missions. In particular,
political groups must respect:
– the principle of gender balance having regard to gender
membership of their respective groups;
– the principle of fair geographical representation;
– the need for the candidate to participate meaningfully
in the work of the mission, having regard to the candidate’s linguistic
capability, given that, in situ, interpretation is only provided
to and from English or French;
– the prohibition on members observing elections in their
own country;
– the prohibition on appointing members who took part
in non-official missions conducted for the purposes of observing
elections or in connection with elections in the country concerned
and which were sponsored by or undertaken at the invitation of a
State, a parliamentary, governmental or non-governmental organisation,
association, foundation or any other natural or legal person, which
includes any mission that would contradict the 2005 Declaration
of Principles for International Election Observation, including
the principle of impartiality.”.
14. Acknowledging that political groups have an important and
powerful role within the work of the Assembly, the Assembly:
14.1 encourages consideration as
to whether ethical standards should be developed for political groups;
14.2 calls on political groups to act to ensure improved transparency
of their expenditures;
14.3 calls on political groups to have regard to the reputation
of the Assembly in their work and to exercise due diligence in their
decisions to nominate members to committees, as well as in proposing
or supporting candidates for significant roles within the Assembly,
including as President of the Assembly or chairperson or vice-chairperson
of committees;
14.4 after paragraph 7 of
Resolution 1115 (1997) “Setting
up of an Assembly committee on the honouring of obligations and
commitments by member states of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee)”,
as modified, set out in Appendix IX to the Rules of Procedure –
Honouring of obligations and commitments by member states of the
Council of Europe, decides to insert the following paragraph:
“Political groups must exercise
due diligence in their decision to nominate members to the Monitoring
Committee, as well as in proposing or supporting candidates as a
co-rapporteur, noting the importance of ensuring appropriate, impartial
and skilled co-rapporteurs.”.
15. The Assembly decides to instruct the Bureau to review the
special rules on honorary status and, in order to improve transparency,
decides to publish on its website a list of those with honorary
status. The Assembly emphasises that it should be possible to remove
honorary status due to disreputable conduct that could have an impact
on the reputation of the Assembly.
16. Conscious that links between parliamentarians and lobbyists
require clear ethical guidance, the Assembly will develop a code
of conduct for lobbyists at the Assembly, taking account of the
work on the framework of principles for lobbyists to the Council
of Europe.
17. Given the well-known potential for conflict with the work
of the Assembly for members acting in a consultancy role, the Assembly
decides to replace paragraph 11 of the Code of conduct for members
of the Parliamentary Assembly with the following sentence:
“No member shall act as a paid
advocate or consultant in any work relating to activities of the
Assembly.”.
18. In order to better reflect the importance of ethical standards
in the work of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and
Institutional Affairs, the Assembly decides to change the name of
the committee, as follows:
Committee
on Rules, Ethics and Immunities.
19. The amendments to the Rules of Procedure contained in paragraphs
6.4, 7.2, 7.3 and 8.1 to this Resolution, which require the establishment
of a single consolidated declaration of interests, shall enter into force
on 1 January 2026. All the other amendments to the Rules of Procedure
set out in this Resolution shall enter into force upon its adoption.
