Action taken on Assembly recommendations and on relations with the Committee of Ministers

Recommendation 871 (1979)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 28 June 1979. See Doc. 4366, report of the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations.

Thesaurus

The Assembly,

1. Having taken note of the report of its Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations on action taken on Assembly recommendations and relations with the Committee of Ministers (Doc. 4366) ;

2. Considering that various proposals for strengthening working relations between the two Council of Europe organs have been put forward and examined since 1949, and that some of them have been put into effect, but that others have not been adopted or have not yielded the expected results, without, however, losing their relevance ;

3. Believing, after several years' operation, that an analysis of the means and methods employed by the Committee of Ministers in acting on Assembly recommendations may usefully be carried out ;

4. Welcoming the improvements which have come about in the examination of Assembly recommendations by the Committee of Ministers ;

5. Aware that a re-examination of working methods can serve no really useful purpose until the position of the Assembly in the years ahead has been determined, and referring in this connection to Resolution 693 (1979), on direct elections to the European Parliament and the role of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,

6. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

6.1 envisage the discussion of political Assembly recommendations by the Committee of Ministers at ministerial level ;

6.2 make greater use of the Joint Committee in discussing action taken on political Assembly recommendations or other important texts ;

6.3 add its own comments, whenever it sees fit, to those Assembly recommendations which it forwards to governments ;

6.4 not hesitate to apply more strictly the rules laid down in Article 15 of the Rules of Procedure of the Committee of Ministers, and refer back to the Assembly, with its own comments, recommendations which it considers only partially acceptable ;

6.5 when laying down ad hoc terms of reference for committees of experts, state its political views regarding the aims to be attained ;

6.6 invite the Secretary General to explain the Assembly's views clearly to the members of committees of governmental experts whenever a recommendation is submitted to them for opinion ;

6.7 instruct the Secretary General, when he is preparing drafts of the medium-term plan or revisions thereof, to take into account the proposals contained in the Assembly recommendations which the Committee of Ministers has not previously included in the Work Programme ;

6.8 examine the expediency of replacing the provisions of Resolution (61) 6 of the Committee of Ministers, on the ratification of Council of Europe conventions, by a more flexible procedure, more respectful of the legitimate interests of the Assembly and the role assigned to it by the Statute ;

6.9 introduce the single system for supervising the implementation of its recommendations to governments envisaged in paragraphs 88 and 89 of Doc. 4366 ;

6.10 select certain of its own recommendations periodically, on a proposal by the Secretary General, and invite governments to communicate them to the national parliaments ;

6.11 in the light of Resolutions (54) 26, (63) 6 and (74) 4 of the Committee of Ministers, and of Assembly Resolution 693 (1979), submit more questions to the Assembly for opinion, particularly certain recommendations of the Committee of Ministers prior to their final adoption ;

6.12 envisage the possibility of holding occasional meetings elsewhere than in Strasbourg or Paris.