Op maandag 3 juni besliste de Rules-commissie van de Raad van Europa om Rusland en Bosnië de kans te geven hun geloofsbrieven in te dienen tegen eind juni 2019. Met deze beslissing geeft de parlementscommissie een positief gevolg aan de beslissing van de ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken van de 47 lidstaten - die op 17 mei in Helsinki genomen werd -. Een eventuele terugkeer van deze twee landen stoot op weerstand van landen zoals Oekraïne, Georgië en de Baltische staten.
Indien het rapport, dat Petra De Sutter schreef, op maandag 24 juni in Straatsburg ook plenair goedgekeurd wordt, krijgen Rusland en Bosnië opnieuw een kans om als delegatie toe te treden tot de Raad van Europa. "Dit is heel belangrijk voor de Russische en Bosnische burgers, wiens mensenrechten onder druk staan, omdat zij dan beter beschermd kunnen worden en - indien nodig - naar het Hof van de Rechten van de Mens kunnen stappen," zegt Petra De Sutter, voorzitster van de Rules-commissie.
Het officiële persbericht van de Parlementaire Assemblee van de Raad van Europa leest u hier:
Strasbourg, 03.06.2019 - In a draft resolution adopted today in Paris, the Committee on Rules of Procedure of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) welcomes the Committee of Ministers' support for the Assembly's proposal to "set up, in addition to existing procedures, a joint reaction procedure [...] in order to strengthen the Organisation's capacity to react more effectively in situations where a member State violates its statutory obligations or does not respect the standards, fundamental principles and values upheld by the Council of Europe," underlining its commitment to make this proposal operational as soon as possible.
Taking into consideration the decision of the Committee of Ministers taken in Helsinki on 17 May and the exceptional context which led to it, the committee proposes a derogation from the PACE Rules of Procedure in order to be able to invite the parliaments of member States which are not represented by a delegation to the Assembly - Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Russian Federation - to present their credentials during the June 2019 part-session. It is proposed that the credentials thus transmitted be examined at the meeting immediately following their transmission.
In the draft resolution adopted, the committee also proposes to supplement its Rules of Procedure to clarify that in the context of a challenge to or reconsideration of credentials, members’ rights to vote, to speak and to be represented in the Assembly and its bodies shall not be suspended or withdrawn. Referring to its Recommendation 2153 (2019) and the Committee of Ministers' decision of 17 May last, the committee recalls that this clarification ensures respect for member States’ right and obligation to be represented and to participate in both statutory bodies of the Council of Europe.
Finally, the committee proposes to further examine the question of supplementing its Rules of Procedure with regard to introducing a procedure for challenging the credentials of individual members of a national delegation on substantial grounds.
This draft resolution, contained in a report by Petra De Sutter (Belgium, SOC), is scheduled for debate at the Assembly's plenary session in Strasbourg on Monday 24 June.
Decision of the Committee of Ministers, Helsinki, 17 May 2019
