Composition of the Assembly’s political groups
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- See Doc. 8096, report of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, rapporteur: Mr Sinka. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 26 May 1998.
- Thesaurus
1. The Assembly notes that Rule 41 of the Rules of Procedure provides that: "A political group shall consist of Representatives or Substitutes of at least three different nationalities. To be acknowledged by the Bureau it shall have not less than fifteen members."
2. It recalls that, since the adoption of this provision by the Assembly in January 1977, the number of member states has more than doubled, and the number of members of the Assembly has increased from 308 to 572.
3. It considers that, bearing in mind the aims and composition of the Parliamentary Assembly, political groups should be formed on a larger multi-national base, and as a consequence considers that, in order to be recognised by the Bureau, a political group should include members of at least six national delegations and include a minimum of twenty members.
4. It furthermore considers that the Rules of Procedure should make it clear that a member of the Assembly may not belong to more than one political group.
5. The Assembly therefore decides to amend Rule 41, paragraph 4 of the Rules of Procedure as follows: "To be acknowledged by the Bureau a political group shall have no fewer than twenty members and shall consist of Representatives or Substitutes of at least six national delegations. No member of the Assembly may be a member of more than one political group."
