Progress report of the Bureau of the Assembly and of the Standing Committee (21 June 2010)

Progress report | Doc. 12292 Part II | 21 June 2010

Author(s):

Bureau of the Assembly

Rapporteur :

Mr Tiny KOX, Netherlands, UEL

Thesaurus

1 Introduction

1. The Bureau met on 21 June in Strasbourg.

2 Functioning of the Assembly

2.1 Progress report of the Bureau of the Assembly and of the Standing Committee (30 April-21 June 2010)

2. On 21 June, the Bureau approved the progress report.

2.2 2010 Third ordinary part-Session of the Assembly (21-25 June 2010)

3. On 21 June, the Bureau:

i Request for a debate under urgent procedure

a “Flare-up of tension in the Middle East” (submitted by the Political Affairs Committee): decided to recommend to the Assembly to hold a debate under urgent procedure on the subject and proposed to refer the matter to the Political Affairs Committee for report and to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights for opinion;

ii Request for a current affairs debate

a “Situation in Kyrgyzstan” (submitted by the five political groups): decided to recommend to the Assembly to hold a current affairs debate on the subject and chose Mr Wilshire (United Kingdom, EDG) as first speaker;

iii Election of judges to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Germany and Malta: took note of the recommendations of the Sub-committee on the election of judges to the European Court of Human Rights contained in the document [AS/Jur/Cdh (2010) 06] and decided to transmit them to members of the Assembly;

iv Draft agenda: adopted the updated the draft agenda.

2.3 Composition of the Monitoring Committee

4. On 21 June, the Bureau approved a modification to the list of members.

2.4 Appointments of Assembly Representatives for official activities

5. On 21 June, the Bureau appointed the following Assembly representatives:

a Mr Gross (Switzerland, SOC) and Mr Mignon (France, EPP/CD): 5th Summer University for Democracy, Strasbourg (France), 30 June 2010 (no cost for the Assembly);

b Mrs John-Calame (Switzerland, SOC): 36th session of the parliamentary Assembly of Francophony, Dakar (Senegal), 5-8 July 2010 (no cost for the Assembly);

c Mrs Woldseth (Norway, EDG): OSCE Parliamentary Assembly annual session, Oslo (Norway), 6-10 July 2010 (no cost for the Assembly).

3 Conferences

3.1 European Conference of Presidents of Parliament, Limassol (Cyprus) 10-12 June 2010

6. The Bureau took note of the conclusions of the Conference, and decided to forward them to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights to take into account in its future work, and to the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs for information.

4 Elections

4.1 Azerbaijan: observation of parliamentary elections (7 November 2010)

7. On 21 June, the Bureau decided:

• to observe the parliamentary elections scheduled to take place on 7 November 2010;
• to constitute an Ad hoc Committee to observe these elections composed of 30 members in accordance with the D’Hondt system (11 EPP/CD; 9 SOC; 5 ALDE; 4 EDG; 1 UEL);
• to authorise a pre-electoral mission composed of five members – one from each political group who are also members of the Ad hoc Committee – to be carried out approximately one month before the elections.

5 Other business

5.1 Communications

8. On 21 June, the Bureau took note of the communications by the President, the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe as well as the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly.

Appendix – References and transmissions to committees

On 21 June, the Bureau approved the following references to committees subject to ratification by the Assembly:

1. Child abuse in institutions: ensure full protection of the victims

Motion for a resolution presented by Mr Omtzigt and others

Doc. 12238, to the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee for report

2. National sovereignty and statehood in contemporary international law: the need for clarification

Motion for a resolution presented by Mr Haibach and others

Doc. 12251, to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights for report and to the Political Affairs Committee for opinion

3. The rule of law in Council of Europe member states: upholding the authority of the Parliamentary Assembly’s recommendations

Motion for a resolution presented by Ms Beck and others

Doc. 12252, to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights for report and to the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and institutional Affairs for opinion

4. Violations of human rights in Cuba

Motion for a resolution presented by Mr Vareikis and others

Doc. 12253, to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights for information

5. European norms concerning the enforcement and supervision of restraining orders in case of gender-based violence

Motion for a recommendation presented by Ms Kiuru and others

Doc. 12254, to the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men for report and to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights for opinion

6. Action to combat violence against women must also take account of psychological violence

Motion for a resolution presented by Mrs Greff and others

Doc. 12255, to the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men for report and to the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee for opinion

7. Young Europeans: an urgent educational challenge

Motion for a recommendation presented by Mr Volontè and others

Doc. 12256, to the Committee on Culture, Science and Education for report

8. Combating all forms of discrimination and intolerance based on religion

Motion for a recommendation presented by Mr Volontè and others

Doc. 12257, to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights for report and to the Committee on Culture, Science and Education for opinion

9. Sex-selective abortion – “Gendercide”

Motion for a resolution presented by Mr Volontè and others

Doc. 12258, to the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee for report to the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men for opinion

The Bureau also took the following decisions on the extensions of references:

1. Request for an investigation to clarify the allegedly suspicious death of former President Boris Trajkovski of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”

Doc. 11172, Ref. 3329 until 31 December 2010

2. Protecting innovation and consumers in Europe

Doc. 11578, Ref. 3472 until 31 December 2010

3. Promoting a prevention policy against gambling addiction and combating cybercrime related to on-line betting and gambling

Doc. 11667, Ref. 3478 until 31 January 2011