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Resolution 2319 (2020)
Complementary joint procedure between the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly in response to a serious violation by a member State of its statutory obligations
1. The Parliamentary Assembly welcomes
the intensification of dialogue and contacts with the Committee of
Ministers with a view to setting up a complementary joint procedure
between the two statutory organs of the Council of Europe in response
to a serious violation by a member State of its statutory obligations.
It reiterates that such a procedure, in which the two statutory
organs and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe participate,
will strengthen the Organisation’s ability to react more effectively
in situations where a member State violates its statutory obligations
and will enhance the impact of any measures to be taken both regarding the
member State concerned and the Organisation as a whole.
2. The Assembly refers in this respect to its initial proposal
to set up a joint response procedure, in addition to existing procedures,
included in Resolution
2277 (2019) and Recommendation
2153 (2019) “Role and mission of the Parliamentary Assembly:
main challenges for the future”, adopted in April 2019, and the
positive follow-up given in the Decision “A shared responsibility
for democratic security in Europe – Ensuring respect for rights
and obligations, principles, standards and values”, adopted by the
Committee of Ministers at its 129th Session (CM/Del/Dec(2019)129/2,
Helsinki, 17 May 2019). It further recalls its Resolution 2287 (2019) on strengthening
the decision-making process of the Parliamentary Assembly concerning
credentials and voting, adopted on 25 June 2019, in which it expressed
its firm commitment to making this proposal operational as soon
as possible.
3. The Assembly takes note that, on 25 November 2019, Ms Amélie
de Montchalin, French Secretary of State for European Affairs, transmitted
to Ms Liliane Maury Pasquier, President of the Assembly, a draft decision
by the Ministers’ Deputies for the application of Articles 3 and
8 of the Statute of the Council of Europe (ETS No. 1) “which enjoys
a very broad support within the Committee of Ministers and could
serve as a basis for an agreement with the Parliamentary Assembly”.
Referring to the Committee of Ministers’ extensive work “to define
the principles and practical arrangements for the complementary
joint reaction procedure” and “the close dialogue with the Parliamentary
Assembly”, the French Secretary of State underlined that “the objective is
for us, working together, to be stronger and more effective in ensuring
that all member States fully honour their commitments and duties”.
4. In light of the above-mentioned decisions by the Assembly
and the Committee of Ministers, discussions in and between the two
statutory organs, at various levels and in various forms, with the
participation of the former and current Secretary General of the
Organisation, the Assembly resolves that the complementary joint procedure
should be credible, predictable, reactive and reversible and governed
by the following basic principles:
4.1. the primary aim of the complementary joint procedure is
to bring a member State, through constructive dialogue and co-operation,
into compliance with the obligations and principles of the Organisation,
and avoid imposing sanctions;
4.2. this procedure, of an exceptional nature, is complementary
to existing rules and regulations, building upon the 1994 Committee
of Ministers Declaration on compliance with commitments accepted by
member States of the Council of Europe, and its implementation will
not require any changes to the Statute. It will not affect existing
procedures arising from statutory or conventional control mechanisms, neither
will it affect the Assembly’s existing monitoring procedure;
4.3. an underlying requirement is the conformity with existing
roles and mandates of the two statutory organs, as well as of the
Secretary General;
4.4. the procedure will address only the most serious violations
of fundamental principles and values enshrined in the Statute of
the Council of Europe;
4.5. the procedure can be initiated by the Committee of Ministers,
the Parliamentary Assembly or the Secretary General, and all three
parties will participate in it;
4.6. the procedure will include a number of concrete and well-defined
steps, each step having a strict time frame fixed by common agreement
of the three parties;
4.7. before taking any decision throughout the process, any
of the three parties will consult the other two. The active involvement
of the member State concerned in all stages of the process is necessary
as the aim of the procedure is to return, through constructive dialogue
and co-operation, to a situation in which the member State concerned
respects the obligations and principles of the Organisation;
4.8. it is a primary responsibility of any member State having
violated the statutory obligations to take steps towards resolving
the situation;
4.9. the procedure may ultimately lead to a decision to act
under Article 8 of the Statute, a decision all aspects of which
lie with the Committee of Ministers, after consultation with the
Parliamentary Assembly, in line with Statutory Resolution (51) 30.
The procedure does not preclude the direct implementation by the
Committee of Ministers of Article 8, as provided in the Statute;
neither does it preclude the possibility for the Assembly to ask
the Committee of Ministers, through a recommendation, to directly
act under Article 8 of the Statute.
5. The Assembly reiterates that the complementary joint procedure
can be initiated by the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary
Assembly or the Secretary General. As regards initiation by the
Assembly:
5.1. a motion for a recommendation
to initiate the complementary joint procedure between the Committee
of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly in response to a serious
violation by a member State of its statutory obligations will be
presented in both official languages and signed by at least one fifth
of the component members (representatives and substitutes) of the
Assembly, belonging to at least 3 political groups and 15 national
delegations; this will be the only means through which the complementary
joint procedure can be initiated by the Assembly;
5.2. as soon as a motion to initiate the complementary joint
procedure is tabled, the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy
will be automatically seized for report on this matter. The motion
will be published as an official document within twenty-four working
hours and immediately forwarded to the chairperson of the Committee
on Political Affairs and Democracy, who will place the item on the
agenda of the following meeting of the committee for the appointment
of a rapporteur. The draft report, including a preliminary draft
recommendation on whether or not to initiate the complementary joint
procedure, will be considered for adoption at the following committee
meeting;
5.3. the report, including a draft recommendation, will be
debated by the Assembly at the part-session which immediately follows
its adoption by the committee. It will not be possible to propose
a debate under urgent procedure for the initiation of the complementary
joint procedure;
5.4. with a view to strengthening its legitimacy, the decision
by the Assembly to initiate the complementary joint procedure will
require a double majority, namely the relevant recommendation will have
to be adopted by a majority of two thirds of the votes cast and
by a number of votes in favour equivalent to at least one third
of the total number of members of the Assembly authorised to vote;
if at least one of these two conditions is not met, the draft recommendation
will be rejected;
5.5. taking into account that such a procedure may ultimately
lead to a decision to act under Article 8 of the Statute of the
Council of Europe and, in line with the above-mentioned basic principles,
only the most serious violations of fundamental principles and values
enshrined in the Statute of the Council of Europe, namely Article 3
of, and the Preamble to, the Statute, can justify the decision of
the Assembly to initiate the complementary joint procedure with
respect to a member State.
6. Immediately after any of the parties has initiated the procedure,
a meeting of the Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers, the
President of the Parliamentary Assembly and the Secretary General
will take place. This will be followed by a joint high-level mission
to the member State in question, within four weeks of the decision
by any of the three parties to initiate the procedure, in order
to discuss the concerns that led to the initiation of the procedure
and to seek clarification of the situation. They will thereafter
report back to the two statutory organs on the outcome of the mission.
As regards the follow-up:
6.1. the
President of the Assembly will present to the Bureau of the Assembly
the above-mentioned report on the outcome of the joint mission.
This report, together with any proposals by the President of the
Assembly for the road map to be subsequently prepared by the Secretary
General of the Council of Europe, will be appended to the Bureau’s
progress report and debated by the Assembly in the context of the
debate and vote on the Bureau’s progress report;
6.2. on the basis of the outcome of the joint mission, if the
situation has been remedied or significant positive progress made,
the Committee of Ministers, having consulted the Assembly and the
Secretary General, may decide to terminate the complementary joint
procedure; in any event, the Committee of Ministers should decide
on moving to the second step of the procedure no later than four
weeks after having consulted the Assembly and the Secretary General.
7. Within the following eight weeks, upon proposals by the Committee
of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly, and after consultations
with the member State concerned, the Secretary General will prepare
a road map, co-ordinating the various proposed measures and submit
it to the two statutory organs. More specifically:
7.1. the road map will contain concrete
actions, with strict time frames, to be taken by the member State
concerned, and it will list initiatives and activities proposed
and planned by the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly
and the Secretary General, such as initiatives and activities proposed
and planned by different Assembly committees, by monitoring or advisory
bodies of the Organisation or by the Office of the Commissioner
for Human Rights, which would help to bring the member State concerned
into compliance with the obligations and principles of the Organisation;
7.2. the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, acting
on behalf of the Assembly, will consider the road map for approval
at the meeting which immediately follows the submission of the text
by the Secretary General;
7.3. if approved by the Assembly, the road map will be examined
and adopted by the Committee of Ministers; if rejected, there should
be new consultations to revise it.
8. After the adoption of the road map, the procedure will continue
with its implementation. The implementation of the road map will
be conducted in close co-operation with the member State concerned
and will be co-ordinated by the Secretary General. More specifically:
8.1. the aim will be to engage with
the member State concerned in a constructive and co-operative dialogue
to help remedy the situation;
8.2. in the course of the implementation of the road map, the
three parties may agree to make joint public statements;
8.3. regular dialogue will take place with the member State
concerned, as well as between the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary
Assembly and the Secretary General in a format to be defined in
the road map, including the Joint Committee;
8.4. the Assembly will regularly assess the implementation
of the road map through the debate on its Bureau’s progress report.
The Bureau will prepare its assessment relying on, inter alia, the expertise of the
relevant monitoring and advisory bodies of the Organisation and
the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as Assembly
committees, as necessary;
8.5. if the situation has been remedied or significant positive
progress made, the Committee of Ministers, having consulted the
Parliamentary Assembly and the Secretary General, may decide to terminate
the procedure without undue delay;
8.6. the implementation of the road map should be foreseen
within a total of nine months of its adoption by the Committee of
Ministers.
9. If the Committee of Ministers, after consultations with the
Parliamentary Assembly and the Secretary General, concludes that
there has been no improvement in the situation, and that a serious
violation of Article 3 by the member State concerned continues to
exist, it will move to the final stage of the procedure. More specifically:
9.1. a decision by the Committee
of Ministers based on Article 8 of the Statute will follow;
9.2. the prior consultation of the Assembly, in line with Statutory
Resolution (51) 30, will require the preparation of a report and
an Assembly debate with a view to providing the Committee of Ministers
with an opinion on the application of Article 8 of the Statute;
9.3. should the member State concerned eventually remedy the
situation, bringing itself into compliance with the Statute, the
Committee of Ministers may, after consultations with the Parliamentary Assembly
and the Secretary General, revoke its decision under Article 8.
In case of exclusion, the State concerned will have to reapply for
membership.
10. Any changes required to implement the present Resolution will
be introduced into the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure through a subsequent
resolution to be adopted on the basis of a report by the Committee
on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs. The
complementary joint procedure will enter into force upon adoption
of the latter resolution and a decision by the Committees of Ministers
along the same lines.