Amendment of Article 33 of the Statute of the Council of Europe

Recommendation 1097 (1989)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 1 February 1989 (22nd Sitting) (see Doc. 5986, report of the Political Affairs Committee, Rapporteur : Mr Tarschys). Text adopted by the Assembly on 1 February 1989 (22nd Sitting).

Thesaurus

The Assembly

1. Recalling that Article 33 of the Statute of the Council of Europe provides that ‘‘ordinary sessions of the Consultative Assembly shall be held at the seat of the Council unless both the Assembly and the Committee of Ministers concur that the session should be held elsewhere'', whereas Article 21 permits the Committee of Ministers to decide by itself to meet elsewhere than at the seat ;

2. Considering that this situation creates an imbalance between the Organisation's statutory organs, which conflicts with the Assembly's power to organise itself and decide on matters affecting its working conditions ;

3. Reaffirming its willingness to continue to meet in Strasbourg, seat of the Council of Europe (Article 11 of the Statute) ; considering however that the Assembly should be able to decide in exceptional cases and without referring to the Committee of Ministers to meet elsewhere,

4. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers, in accordance with Article 41 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, amend the Statute as follows :

4.1 Replace Article 33 of the Statute by the following : ‘‘Ordinary sessions of the Assembly shall be held at the seat of the Council, unless the Assembly decides in special cases otherwise, with due regard to the provisions of Article 38, paragraph d'' ;

4.2 Amend Article 29 so as to require a two-thirds majority for decisions according to Article 33, as amended.