31/05/2013 Bureau
Strasbourg, 30.05.2013 – A request for the opening of a monitoring procedure in respect of Hungary will be included on the draft agenda of the summer plenary session (24-28 June 2013) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
The Bureau of the Assembly – which brings together its leading members – meeting today in Yerevan said it was opposed to opening such a procedure. In April the Monitoring Committee voted to recommend opening a procedure, citing deep concerns at “the erosion of democratic checks and balances” in Hungary.
Under the Assembly’s Rules, both the Assembly’s Monitoring Committee and subsequently its Bureau must express their opinion on whether or not to open a monitoring procedure. In a case where the two bodies take divergent positions, the plenary Assembly debates the issue. The final decision on whether or not to monitor therefore rests with the Assembly.
The Assembly will decide its final agenda on the opening day of the session.
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Ten of the Council of Europe’s 47 member states are currently subject to the Assembly’s monitoring procedure (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Russian Federation, Serbia and Ukraine) and four are subject to “post-monitoring dialogue” (Bulgaria, Monaco, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and Turkey).
The monitoring procedure involves regular visits to the monitored country to assess progress and engage in dialogue with the authorities, political forces, judiciary and civil society, as well as periodic evaluations debated by the Assembly.