06/06/2013 Political Affairs and Democracy
Strasbourg, 06.06.2013 – “When, in 2011, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) agreed to grant partnership for democracy status to the Moroccan parliament, it stressed that the prime aim was progress in taking forward reforms and I note with satisfaction that this aim has been achieved. The partnership for democracy has created new dynamics between the Council of Europe and Morocco,” said Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD), introducing his report on “evaluation of the partnership for democracy in respect of the Parliament of Morocco”*.
In unanimously adopting a resolution presented by Mr Volontè in Paris today, PACE Political Affairs Committee welcomed the many reforms implemented, including the adoption of the new constitution, and reiterated the importance of continuing and speeding up the reform process by adopting the necessary constitutional laws and establishing the planned governance structures so as to fully implement the democratic potential of the new constitution.
Welcoming the de facto moratorium on capital punishment, the committee calls on the Moroccan parliament to abolish the death penalty. It urges the parliament to speed up the drafting of legislation establishing the Authority for parity and fight all forms of discrimination, as provided for in the new constitution, and to take further action to ensure that women are duly represented at all levels of government and society. It also calls on the parliament to tackle the remaining problems in the field of the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to give civil society a more active role in this.
Lastly, the committee welcomes the active participation of the Moroccan parliamentary delegation in PACE’s work and the Moroccan authorities’ co-operation with the Council of Europe, in particular the Venice Commission, and invites them to conclude an agreement on a permanent Council of Europe presence in Rabat.
Luca Volontè’s report will be debated at the next PACE plenary session in Strasbourg (24-28 June 2013).
*When granting partnership for democracy status to the Moroccan parliament on 21 June 2011, PACE decided, in Resolution 1818 (2011), to review, two years after the granting of the status, the progress achieved in implementing the political commitments and key reforms.