21/01/2013 Session
Strasbourg, 21.01.2012 – The credentials of a member of the Greek delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Eleni Zaroulia, and a member of the Hungarian delegation, Tamás Gaudi Nagy, were challenged on procedural grounds at the opening of the PACE session today in Strasbourg.
Making the challenges, Fiamma Nirenstein (Italy, EPP/CD) said that both members belonged to political parties which were “racist and anti-semitic” and that the values of these parties were in conflict with the Council of Europe’s ideals and principles, as referred to in Article 3 of its Statute and in Rule 7.1 of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure. Both challenges were supported by at least ten members of the Assembly present in the Chamber, belonging to at least five different national delegations.
The Assembly’s Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs will now meet to consider both challenges. Under Rule 7, it may propose either to ratify the credentials – in which case, the President reads out the committee’s opinion without debate – or it may propose not to ratify them, or to ratify them but to deprive or suspend the members concerned of the exercise of some of their rights of participation or representation in the Assembly and its bodies. In the latter two cases, the committee’s report is placed on the Assembly’s agenda for debate later in the week.
Both members continue to sit provisionally in the Assembly until it has reached a decision.
The nomination of both members to the Assembly’s Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, as well as Mr Gaudi Nagy’s membership of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, were also subsequently challenged, by Arlette Grosskost (France, EPP/CD). Under Rule 43.7, disputed committee nominations are forwarded by the President of the Assembly to the national delegation concerned. If confirmed proposals or new proposals are disputed, the Assembly votes on the matter.