FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE BUREAU OF THE ASSEMBLY
Office of the Clerk of the Assembly
Synopsis N° 2000 / 001
11 January 2000
The Bureau of the Assembly, meeting in Paris on 10 January 2000, with Lord Russell-Johnston in the chair,
as a follow-up to Assembly Resolution 1201 (1999) and to the Declaration by the Bureau of 13 December 1999 on the situation in Chechnya, decided to set up an ad hoc Committee to visit the Russian Federation from 16-19 January 2000. The visit will be composed of two parts: political talks in Moscow and a fact-finding mission to the North Caucasus;
updated the draft order of business of the first part of the 2000 Ordinary Session of the Assembly (24 - 28 January 2000) and expressed itself in favour of holding a debate under urgent procedure on the conflict in Chechnya ;
proposed the following subjects for the agenda of the next meeting of the Joint Committee (27 January 2000) : the conflict in Chechnya, the European Union Charter of fundamental rights and the accession of the EU (Community) to the European Convention on Human Rights and, as other business, the recognition of the Council of Europe as a regional agency in the meaning of the UN Charter;
agreed to use provisionally the modified logo of the Council of Europe’s 50th Anniversary and asked to be consulted before the adoption of a new logo by the Committee of Ministers during the year;
- took note of statements by Mr Muehlemann (Switzerland, LDR) and Mr van der Linden (Netherlands, EPP/CD) on the observation of the parliamentary elections in respectively Russia (19 December 1999) and Croatia (3 January 2000) and set up an ad hoc Committee composed of one member of each of the Assembly’s political groups to observe the presidential elections in Croatia on 24 January 2000;
approved the proposals from the Assembly’s political groups for the composition of the Monitoring Committee, which will be submitted to the Assembly for ratification;
approved decisions to be included in the criteria applicable when drawing up the list of speakers for Assembly debates which will enter into force after the January 2000 part-session;
heard a statement by the Secretary General concerning the Council of Europe’s budget for 2000 and invited members to approach their competent national authorities with a view to supporting the Secretary General's proposals relating to an ad hoc supplementary budget for the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe and UNMIK/Kosovo;
took note of a Secretariat memorandum on the budget of the Parliamentary Assembly for the 2000 financial year;
considered a memorandum from the Office of the Clerk on the Parliamentary Assembly contribution to the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe and endorsed the suggested parliamentary projects of co-operation with South Eastern Europe;
authorised the rapporteurs for the accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Council of Europe of the Political Affairs Committee and the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights to visit the country from 12 - 14 January 2000;
set up an ad hoc Committee to participate in the European Conference : All different all equal: from principle to practice - European contribution to the World Conference against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance (Strasbourg, 11 - 13 October 2000) with the following composition : five members each of the Political Affairs Committee, of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and of the Committee on Culture and Education ;
took note of a report by Mr Atkinson (United Kingdom, EDG) on his attendance at the XIth International Symposium of the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD) "The third way and the orientations of political parties" in Tunis (4 - 5 November 1999) and referred it to the Political Affairs Committee;
took note of the designation by the Committee on Culture and Education of Mr Cherribi (Netherlands, LDR) as member and Mr McNamara (United Kingdom, SOC) as alternate to the Governing body of the North-South Centre;
agreed to hold its next meetings :
. in Strasbourg on Monday 24 January 2000 at 8.30 am.
. in Strasbourg on Friday 28 January 2000 at 8 am.
. in Paris on Monday 6 March 2000 at 9.30 am.
Mario Heinrich / Agnès Nollinger