At its meeting on 22 April 2016, the Bureau appointed me as rapporteur for this report, which covers activities over the period from the last Bureau meeting of the second part-session of 2016 (Friday 22 April) to the first Bureau meeting of the third part-session of 2016 (Monday 20 June).
The following chapters include the decisions taken at the Bureau meetings of 22 April in Strasbourg and 26 May in Tallinn. Chapter 2 presents a list of decisions, which have either already been ratified by the Standing Committee on 27 May or which do not require ratification.
An addendum to this report will be issued after the Bureau meeting of 20 June which will also include decisions to be ratified on the same day. A second addendum will be issued after the Bureau meeting of 24 June. It will include only the decisions to be ratified by the Assembly on the same day, notably the references and transmissions which will have been approved by the Bureau.
The Bureau will hold its next meetings in Strasbourg on Monday 20 June at 8 am and Friday 24 June at 8.30 am, then on Monday 5 September in Paris.
On 22 April, the Bureau agreed that the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Nils Muižnieks, would address the Assembly the same day, in the context of the debate on The case against a Council of Europe legal instrument on involuntary measures in psychiatry.
It also approved the proposals made by the Secretary General of the Assembly for the follow-up to adopted texts:
14. The Assembly underlines the importance of the gender dimension in election observation missions. The Assembly is committed to promoting this dimension with its international partner organisations in the framework of election observation missions both concerning the composition of missions, which should be gender balanced, and the observation reports which should systematically include a specific focus on women’s participation in all stages of the electoral process.
Follow-up: to be taken into account in the context of the review of the Guidelines for the observation of elections.
On 22 April and 26 May, the Bureau took note of the draft agenda.
On 22 April, the Bureau drew up the preliminary draft agenda, which it revised at its meeting of 26 May.
On 22 April, the Bureau took note of the report which had been adopted by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities on 23 March 2016.
On 22 April, the Bureau took note of the press release. On 26 May, the Bureau approved the report of the ad hoc committee.
On 22 April, the Bureau took note of the statement of the pre-electoral mission and approved the revised list of members of the ad hoc committee to observe these elections (Appendix 1). On 26 May, the Bureau approved the report of the ad hoc committee.
On 22 April, the Bureau approved the revised list of members of the ad hoc committee to observe these elections initially scheduled on 5 June 2016. On 26 May, the Bureau took note of the press release of the pre-electoral mission and of the cancellation of these elections.
On 22 April, the Bureau took note of the elections calendar for 2016 as presented in the memorandum prepared by the Secretary General of the Assembly (Appendix 2).
On 26 May, the Bureau decided to ensure a presence on the occasion of these elections with a delegation composed of 3 members: Mr Jordi Xuclà (Spain, ALDE) and the co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee, Mr Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC) and Mr Cezar Florin Preda (Romania, EPP/CD). On 9 June, having been consulted in writing, the Bureau approved the President’s proposal that Mr Xuclà, who would be unable to participate, be replaced by Mr Alain Destexhe (Belgium, ALDE).
On 26 May, the Bureau decided to observe these elections and constituted an ad hoc committee for this purpose composed of 11 members (EPP/CD: 3; SOC: 3; ALDE: 2; EC: 2; UEL: 1) as well as the Rapporteur on the situation in Belarus of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy.
On 26 May, the Bureau decided to resume the matter at a later stage.
On 26 May, the Bureau decided to observe these elections and constituted an ad hoc committee for this purpose composed of 11 members (EPP/CD: 3; SOC: 3; ALDE: 2; EC: 2; UEL: 1).
On 26 May, the Bureau decided to observe these elections and constituted an ad hoc committee for this purpose composed of 30 members (EPP/CD: 11; SOC: 10; ALDE: 4; EC: 3; UEL: 2) as well as the co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee. It also authorised a pre-electoral mission.
On 26 May, the Bureau decided to observe these elections and constituted an ad hoc committee for this purpose composed of 11 members (EPP/CD: 3; SOC: 3; ALDE: 2; EC: 2; UEL: 1) as well as the co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee.
On 26 May, the Bureau decided to observe this election and constituted an ad hoc committee for this purpose composed of 20 members (EPP/CD: 8; SOC: 7; ALDE: 2; EC: 2; UEL: 1) as well as the co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee. It also authorised a pre-electoral mission.
On 26 May, the Bureau decided to observe this election and constituted an ad hoc committee for this purpose composed of 11 members (EPP/CD: 3; SOC: 3; ALDE: 2; EC: 2; UEL: 1) as well as the co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee.
On 22 April, in addition to the references and transmissions that were ratified by the Assembly on the same day within the addendum to the Progress report, the Bureau considered and approved the following references which did not require ratification.
On 26 May, the Bureau approved the following references and transmissions, which were subsequently ratified by the Standing Committee:
On 26 May, the Bureau approved the following modification of references, which were subsequently ratified by the Standing Committee:
On 22 April, the Bureau approved the list of candidates in respect of Azerbaijan, which was subsequently transmitted to the Committee of Ministers.
On 22 April, the Bureau authorised Ms Deborah Bergamini (Italy, EPP/CD), Rapporteur on The political transition in Egypt, to carry out a fact-finding visit to Egypt by the end of 2016, in the framework of the preparation of her report.
On 22 April, the Bureau approved the appointments of Mr Luís Leite Ramos (Portugal, EPP/CD) as member and Mr Paolo Corsini (Italy, SOC) as substitute of the Executive Committee of the North-South Centre (European Centre for Global interdependence and Solidarity), as proposed by the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media.
On 22 April, the Bureau authorised:
On 22 April, the Bureau took note of the extension of the deadline for the submission of nominations to 30 June 2016.
On 22 April, the Bureau took note of a letter by the Chairperson of the delegation informing that parliament had been dissolved on 15 April 2016, hence the absence of the delegation, and that early parliamentary elections would be held on 5 June 2016. These elections have since been cancelled.
On 26 May, the Bureau took note of the communication by the President of the Parliamentary Assembly and of his intention to submit a draft declaration on interparliamentary dialogue and co-operation at its next meeting. The Bureau also took note of the communication by the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
On 26 May, the Bureau took note of the draft agenda of the meeting held on 30 and 31 May. It approved the list of members of the ad hoc committee (Appendix 3) and appointed Mr Pedro Agramunt, President of the Parliamentary Assembly, and Ms Meritxell Mateu (Andorra, ALDE) respectively as Chairperson and Rapporteur of the ad hoc committee.
On 26 May, the Bureau took note of the concept paper and decided to constitute an ad hoc committee of the Bureau to participate in the Forum, composed of members to be proposed by the Assembly committees before the Bureau meeting of 24 June 2016.
On 26 May, the Bureau took note of the communication submitted by the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs.
On 26 May, the Bureau decided that a fixed amount of €679.01 of per capita allowance be granted in 2016 to Mr Alex Salmond (United Kingdom, NR) upon his request in accordance with the Assembly Rules of Procedure and Opinion 82 (1977) after the submission to the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs of proof of expenses incurred.
On 26 May, the Bureau took note of the memorandum by the Secretary General of the Assembly, found that the petition was admissible and decided to transmit it to the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development to be taken into account in the context of the preparation of the report on Human rights and ethical issues related to surrogacy.
On 26 May, the Bureau took note of the memorandum by the Secretary General of the Assembly and decided that the petition was inadmissible.
On 26 May, on the basis of a proposal by the Socialist Group, the Bureau nominated Mr Evangelos Venizelos (Greece) to replace Mr Florin Iordache (Romania).
On 26 May, the Bureau took note of the exchange of letters between the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly and Mr Axel Fischer (Germany, EPP/CD) on the procedures for the adoption of reports in committees and in plenary session and agreed to request the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs to give its opinion on interpretation of the Rules of Procedure in this respect.
The Bureau invited the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly to inform it about the procedure concerning staff appointments at one of its next meetings.
On 27 May, the Standing Committee heard a welcome address by Mr Eiki Nestor, Speaker of the Riigikogu, and held an exchange of views with Ms Marina Kaljurand, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Estonia, Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers.
It ratified the credentials of new members of the Assembly submitted by the delegations of Romania and San Marino and approved changes in the composition of Assembly committees.
The Standing Committee took note of the draft agenda of the third part-session of the Assembly (20 - 24 June 2016) and ratified the references which are contained in chapter 2.5.
It held an exchange of views with Mr Marin Mrčela, President of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), and Mr Daniel Thelesklaf, Chairperson of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL).
It also took note of the reports of the ad hoc committees of the Bureau on Observation of the early parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan (20 March 2016) and Observation of the early parliamentary elections in Serbia (24 April 2016).
The Standing Committee adopted the following texts on behalf of the Assembly:
Finally, it decided to hold its next meeting in Cyprus on 25 November 2016.
* members of the pre-election delegation
|
COUNTRY |
TYPE |
DATE |
STATUS |
BUREAU DECISION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Azerbaijan |
Repeat of the parliamentary elections in constituency No. 90 |
18 June 2016 |
Monitoring |
3 members |
|
Belarus |
Parliamentary elections |
11 September 2016 |
Special guest status was suspended by the Bureau on 13/01/97 |
11 members + rapporteur AS/Pol |
|
Russian Federation |
Parliamentary elections |
18 September 2016 |
Monitoring |
|
|
Morocco |
Parliamentary elections |
7 October 2016 |
Partner for democracy |
11 members |
|
Georgia |
Parliamentary elections |
8 October 2016 |
Monitoring |
30 members + 2 co-rapporteurs AS/Mon |
|
Montenegro |
Parliamentary elections |
16 October 2016 (tbc) |
Post-monitoring dialogue |
11 members + 2 co-rapporteurs AS/Mon |
|
Republic of Moldova |
Presidential election |
30 October 2016 |
Monitoring |
20 members + 2 co-rapporteurs AS/Mon |
|
Bulgaria |
Presidential election |
October 2016 (tbc) |
Post-monitoring dialogue |
11 members + 2 co-rapporteurs AS/Mon |
* members of the delegation going to Lesvos on 31 May
** members of the secretariat accompanying the delegation to Lesvos on 31 May