Increasing members’ active participation in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Text
adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of
the Assembly, on 21 November 2025 (see Doc. 16293, report of the Committee on Rules, Ethics and Immunities,
rapporteur: Ms Petra Bayr).
1. Since its establishment, the Parliamentary
Assembly has embodied a pioneering vision: placing parliamentarians
at the heart of a multilateral organisation dedicated to the protection
of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. At a time when both
multilateralism and democracy are under strain, active commitment
by its members is more crucial than ever to preserve the Assembly’s
authority and strengthen its role as a guardian of Europe’s shared
values.
2. The Assembly recognises the unique value of the dual mandate
of its members, as both national legislators and members of a pan‑European
forum, which enables them to enrich European debates and return home
as ambassadors of the Council of Europe. It underlines that this
dual mandate is both a strength and a challenge, requiring careful
organisation and support from political groups and national parliaments. Participation
is not merely a procedural formality but a political responsibility.
It lends legitimacy to the decisions of the Assembly, reflects the
democratic will of Europe’s citizens and ensures that the Assembly
remains responsive, effective and representative.
3. Building on past reforms and extensive recent consultations,
the Assembly considers that its internal procedures and practices
must evolve towards a framework that inspires a sense of purpose,
fosters ownership, recognises effort, ensures a real impact, promotes
equality and fairness and creates the conditions for engaged and
effective participation, thereby enabling all members to fulfil
their full potential in their work within the Assembly. The Assembly
also reaffirms the importance of ensuring that its activities remain accessible
and inclusive, while safeguarding high standards of political deliberation.
4. Consequently, the Assembly decides, as a central and forward-looking
reform, to strengthen its institutional capacity and the pertinence
of its work by creating the possibility for its Bureau to establish
special committees. This measure will provide flexibility and ensure
that priority or cross‑cutting challenges can be addressed with
dedicated parliamentary focus. Hence, the Assembly decides to amend
its Rules of Procedure by inserting, after Rule 50, the following
provision:
“Rule 51 – Special
committees
51.1. The Bureau of the Assembly may establish up to two
special committees at any given time, each with a clear, time-limited
mandate to address priority or transversal issues requiring focused parliamentary
consideration.
51.2. Each special committee shall be established for
a term of one year, which may be renewed once by a decision of the
Bureau.
51.3. The mandate, composition, duration and specific
tasks of each special committee shall be defined by the Bureau upon
its establishment.
51.4. Special committees shall submit their reports and
recommendations within the time frame set by the Bureau and shall
automatically cease to exist upon completion of their mandate, the
expiry of the one-year period or at the end of the renewal period.
51.5. Members of special committees shall be nominated
by the Bureau, taking into account political, geographical and gender
balance.
51.6. Special committees shall operate under the general
rules applicable to general committees, unless otherwise specified
by the Bureau.
51.7. Members serving on special committees shall be exempt
from the membership limitation set out in Rule 44.6.”
5. To add dynamism to its work and debates, the Assembly decides
to:
5.1 introduce a “blue card”
mechanism allowing rapporteurs and speakers on behalf of political groups
to put direct, concise questions to other speakers during debates.
Hence, the Assembly decides to insert, after Rule 37 of the Rules
of Procedure, the following paragraph:
“37.4. During a debate, the President may give the floor
to the rapporteur(s) and to members speaking on behalf of their
political groups who indicate, by raising a blue card, their intention
to ask another member not belonging to the same political group,
in response to that member’s speech, a question lasting no more
than thirty seconds, directly related to the speech and the subject
of the debate. The member to whom the question is put may respond
within the same time limit. The rapporteur(s) may make use of at
most two blue cards per debate, and members speaking on behalf of
their political groups may make use of one blue card per debate.
This procedure shall not apply to exchanges with guest speakers.”;
5.2 while valuing the contribution of its networks in promoting
dialogue and co-operation on important themes, invite the Bureau
to review the Assembly’s list of networks on a regular basis to
ensure that they remain focused on priority objectives, are adequately
resourced and can evolve or be phased out once their tasks have
been fulfilled;
5.3 require guest speakers to respond to questions from members
of the Assembly, so as to ensure a genuine and fruitful exchange
within the remit of the Council of Europe;
5.4 encourage opportunities for meaningful exchanges with
representatives of the Council of Europe and its bodies, such as
the European Court of Human Rights, the Commissioner for Human Rights,
the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission),
expert bodies and steering committees within the Council of Europe
or its institutions, depending on the subject matter. The aim should
be genuine co-operation and constructive dialogue, rather than interactions
of a purely formal or procedural nature.
6. As regards enhancing participation by a greater number of
its members, the Assembly:
6.1 welcomes
the Bureau’s recent practice of reducing speaking time from three
to two minutes for registered speakers, while proposing to preserve
a longer speaking time for political group representatives. It further
decides, in the “Additional provisions relating to Assembly debates” (Appendix I.
iv. to the Rules of Procedure, “Speaking
time”), to:
6.1.1 replace paragraph 1 with the following
paragraph:
“Speakers registered
for a debate, including youth rapporteurs, shall have three minutes’
speaking time, unless the Bureau decides, at the start of the part-session, owing
to the high number of registered speakers for a particular debate,
to reduce speaking time for that debate to two minutes. Speakers
on behalf of political groups shall have three minutes’ speaking
time.”;
6.1.2 add, at the end of paragraph 4, the following words:
“, or two minutes if the speaking
time has been reduced to two minutes for the other speakers.”;
6.2 considers that, to ensure orderly proceedings and equitable
opportunities for all members, one possible method would be to automatically
cut the microphone once a speaker has reached the time limit;
6.3 decides to recognise consistent participation in voting
by providing that the 10 members who have participated in the highest
number of votes in plenary shall move up seven positions on the
lists of speakers. It therefore decides to replace, in the “Additional
provisions relating to Assembly debates” (Appendix I.iii. to the Rules of Procedure,
“Order of speakers”), in paragraph 10, the word “three” with the
word “seven”;
6.4 decides to set limits on the number of simultaneous rapporteurships
held per member and per committee. It therefore decides to replace,
in Rule 50.1 of the Rules of Procedure, the sentence “
A member of the Assembly who is simultaneously
rapporteur for five reports or opinions under preparation, on behalf
of one or more committees, may not be appointed rapporteur.”
with the following text:
“No member
may be appointed to prepare more than three reports simultaneously,
excluding reports prepared by the Monitoring Committee; reports
under the urgent procedure; opinions on the reports of other committees;
and reports or opinions for which the chairperson of a committee is
required to act as rapporteur. No member may hold more than one
general or youth rapporteurship at any one time.”;
6.5 decides to replace the first sentence of Rule 50.7 as
follows:
“Committees may appoint
one or more general rapporteurs, whose terms of reference they shall determine
beforehand, with no more than four general rapporteurs per committee.
A chairperson of a committee may not simultaneously hold the position
of general rapporteur of that committee.”;
6.6 entrusts the Secretary General of the Assembly, on the
basis of guidelines approved by the Bureau of the Assembly, with
the implementation of
Resolution 2615 (2025) “Promoting
inclusive participation in parliamentary life: gender equality,
accessibility and inclusive policies”, including the provision of
support for limited, exceptional online attendance in committee
work for pregnant members, members caring for children under the
age of three or those facing health or caregiving challenges.
7. As regards transparency and the optimisation of its order
of business, the Assembly decides:
7.1 to lengthen the time limit for distributing lists of speakers
to members and, in the “Additional provisions relating to Assembly
debates” (Appendix I.
ii. to
the Rules of Procedure, “List of speakers”), to replace paragraph 4
with the following paragraph:
“The
list of speakers for a debate taking place during a morning sitting
shall be closed at 4 p.m. on the previous day, and for a debate
taking place during an afternoon sitting at 9 a.m. on the same day.”;
7.2 to debate the progress report of the Monitoring Committee
once every two years, aligning the duration with that of the typical
term of office of the committee chairperson. The Assembly therefore decides
to amend
Resolution 1115 (1997) “Setting
up of an Assembly committee on the honouring of obligations and
commitments by member states of the Council of Europe (Monitoring
Committee)”, as modified, (Appendix VIII.
i to
the Rules of Procedure), by replacing in paragraph 15 the words
“
once a year” with the words
“
once every two years”;
7.3 that the chairperson, or, in his or her absence, a vice-chairperson,
of the Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court
of Human Rights shall be invited, during the debate on the Bureau’s
progress report, to make a brief oral intervention in order to present
the committee’s recommendation on the list of candidates for the
post of judge submitted by a member State.
8. As regards visibility, support and outreach, the Assembly
resolves to:
8.1 further develop
and maintain the PACE-APPS tool, turning it into a dedicated mobile
application and member portal offering real-time information on
debates, lists of speakers, procedures, voting and resources for
members;
8.2 further improve public visibility and communication about
its work, including by making the available tools more well known,
using concise, media-friendly report titles, enhancing press and
social media outreach and making online presentation clearer on
the Council of Europe website;
8.3 expand induction, mentoring and training programmes for
new members, including handbooks (drawing in particular on the Assembly’s
handbook entitled “National parliaments as guarantors of human rights
in Europe”), briefings, digital tools and peer support initiatives;
8.4 facilitate joint committee meetings, hearings and best-practice
exchanges, to promote collaborative and transversal work for greater
coherence and impact;
8.5 collect and analyse data on travel connections to Strasbourg, advocating
for improved public transport to and from the city and easier access
for members.
9. The Assembly invites national parliaments to support and facilitate
members’ participation in its work by:
9.1 ensuring that members regularly attend plenary sittings
and committee meetings, and taking appropriate measures to promote
active participation;
9.2 treating Assembly work as an integral component of their
members’ parliamentary service and providing all necessary practical
and political support;
9.3 facilitating “pairing agreements” and similar forms of
co-operation among parliamentary groups belonging to the majority
and the opposition, to facilitate attendance at sessions and committee meetings;
9.4 aiming to avoid timetabling conflicts between national
parliamentary calendars and meetings of other international parliamentary
bodies with Assembly sessions;
9.5 encouraging and enhancing reporting by national parliaments
on Assembly activities by supporting parliamentary television, briefings,
newsletters and plenary debates in national chambers;
9.6 fostering co-operation and information exchange between
national parliamentary committees and Assembly committees, including
joint hearings and exchange opportunities for officials;
9.7 facilitating parliamentary staff study visits and learning
opportunities about the Assembly and the Council of Europe in general;
9.8 monitoring member attendance and working constructively
to restore regular participation where needed.
10. The Assembly decides that the amendments to the Rules of Procedure
set out in this Resolution shall enter into force at the opening
of the January 2026 part-session.
