02/10/2014 Session
During a plenary debate on the activities of the EBRD in 2013-2014, the PACE pointed out that, while providing assistance to its countries of operations in their transition to market economies, the EBRD should also contribute to their “progress towards democracy and the rule of law”.
In this context, the parliamentarians emphasised that a large number of those countries were not applying the principles of multi-party democracy and pluralism. They encouraged implementation of the EBRD’s new methodology for assessing its countries’ compliance with the political aspects of its terms of reference, particularly the existence of a representative government; civil society and the media; the rule of law and access to justice; and, lastly, civil and political rights.
“The recent review of our assessment methodology, to which PACE contributed, has proved very useful. We look forward to continuing co-operation with the Assembly in this area”, the President of the EBRD, Sir Suma Chakrabarti, said. “Under the new approach, the Bank looks more carefully at factors such as fair elections, the effective power to govern of elected officials, the role of civil society, and efforts to combat corruption”.
The resolution adopted today, on the basis of the report by Cheryl Gillan (United Kingdom, EDG), also welcomes the expansion of the EBRD’s activities over the past two years to the southern and eastern part of the Mediterranean basin, where Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia have joined the Bank’s countries of operations, and Egypt might also become a country of operations.