Appendix - Decision of the Bureau on admissibility
and selection criteria of requests for urgent procedure or current
affairs debates
In line with Rules 51 and 53 of the Assembly’s
Rules of Procedure, it is the responsibility of the Bureau of the Assembly
to submit to the Assembly proposals for urgent procedure or current
affairs debates on the basis of requests submitted to it.
1. When proposing to the Assembly
to hold a debate under urgent procedure, the selection criteria
for the Bureau shall be the following:
- relative urgency (as opposed to topicality), taking into
account the need for time to prepare proper draft text;
- the political, social or economic context at the particular
point in time justifying the urgency, with the subject-matter either
being a new one for the Assembly or an ongoing subject which had
come to a culminating point;
- the controversial nature of the subject-matter, which
implied higher participation by members and a bigger impact of the
text adopted;
- the number of member States affected;
- the number and relative priority of all the requests tabled.
2. When proposing to the Assembly to hold a current affairs debate,
the selection criteria for the Bureau shall be the following:
- the topicality of the subject-matter
(as opposed to the urgency);
- the interest in the subject-matter by a large number of
members of the Assembly and member States of the Council of Europe;
- the input which a debate could provide for an Assembly
committee thereafter to draw up a report;
- the visibility in the media which a debate could engender.
3. The above criteria are not biding but are designed to help
the Bureau in taking a decision.
4. The following explanatory footnote shall be added to Rule
51.2. of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure:
“The Assembly does not have the
competence to turn a request for a debate under urgent procedure
into a current affairs debate”.
5. The following explanatory footnote
shall be added to Rule 53.3. of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure:
“If a member of the Assembly
objects to the decision of the Bureau to reject a request for a
current affairs debate, and if the Assembly endorses the decision
of the Bureau, by a majority of the votes cast, the Assembly will
not hold such a current affairs debate. If the Assembly rejects
the decision of the Bureau, by a majority of the votes cast, the
Assembly will hold this current affairs debate.
A member of the Assembly who
objects to the decision of the Bureau to reject all requests for
a current affairs debate shall specify their objection, clarifying
which specific current affairs debate they wish to propose to be held
by the Assembly. If the Assembly approves the decision of the Bureau,
by a majority of the votes cast, the Assembly will hold no current
affairs debate. If the Assembly rejects the decision of the Bureau,
by a majority of the votes cast, the Assembly will hold the current
affairs debate which has been the subject of the contestation.
The Assembly does not have the
competence to turn a request for a current affairs debate into a
debate under urgent procedure. The Assembly does not have the competence
to change the title of a current affairs debate.”
6. The Bureau shall have right
to transform a request for a current affairs debate into an urgent
procedure debate and vice versa, subject to provisions of paragraph
8 below.
7. The Bureau shall have right to change the title of an urgent
procedure or a current affairs debate, subject to provisions of
paragraph 8 below.
8. For both the transformation of a request and the change of
the title by the Bureau, the prior agreement of those who made the
original request (or their representatives) shall be required. If
such an agreement is not obtained, the Bureau cannot proceed with
neither transformation of a request nor change of the title.
