Parliamentary Assembly

Draft resolution

1The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution 2186 (2017) on the call for a Council of Europe summit to reaffirm European unity and to defend and promote democratic security in Europe and reiterates that the Council of Europe, set up 70 years ago to achieve greater unity among its member States on the basis of common values and principles, is today more necessary than ever to help meet major challenges in and between the 47 member States, as well as to avoid creating new dividing lines.

2The Parliamentary Assembly, as one of the two statutory organs of the Council of Europe, has itself played an essential role in developing European unity within diversity. It has largely contributed to the enlargement process of the Organisation since the fall of the Berlin Wall, in particular through the preparation of accession Opinions to the other statutory organ, the Committee of Ministers, including a list of specific commitments undertaken by the authorities of the candidate States following negotiations with Assembly rapporteurs.

3Thus, the Assembly, with its pluralistic composition of members of national parliaments, has become a unique, permanent and structured pan-European forum for interparliamentary dialogue among representatives of the citizens from all 47 European States with an important deliberative role on the many issues which fall within the aim and scope of the Organisation (Articles 1 and 3 of the Statute of the Council of Europe (ETS No. 1)).

4The Assembly refers to its Recommendation 2114 (2017) “Defending the acquis of the Council of Europe: preserving 65 years of successful intergovernmental co-operation” and recalls that the Assembly, being “the political engine” of the Organisation, shares with the Committee of Ministers and member States the responsibility for the development of the unique convention system of the Council of Europe, which has substantially helped to “improve the functioning of democratic institutions in Europe, to develop the rule of law throughout Europe and to protect and promote the rights of all European citizens and inhabitants”.

5Having the obligation, under the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5), to elect the judges to the European Court of Human Rights, and having significantly contributed to the process of ensuring the execution of the Court’s judgments by member States, the Assembly plays – together with the Court and the Committee of Ministers, which has the primary responsibility for overseeing the execution of the Court’s judgments – a major role in the unique European system of the protection of human rights, the rule of law and democracy, which has become a beacon to the rest for the world.

6The Assembly’s role as Europe’s guardian of human rights and democracy is further fulfilled through intensive fact-finding and election observation missions, as well as thematic or country-specific reports on the state of human rights, social rights, the rule of law and democracy in member States. This includes concrete recommendations to the governments and parliaments of the States concerned – either directly or through recommendations to the Committee of Ministers – for the purpose of ensuring compliance with their binding obligations stemming from the Statute, the European Convention on Human Rights, the judgments of the Court and all other conventions to which they are Parties.

7However, 70 years after it was founded, the Council of Europe is in a deep political and financial crisis. It finds itself confronted with many challenges which seriously threaten the effectiveness of its statutory organs and of its mechanisms and instruments, and thus ultimately the statutory aims of the Organisation: dangerous conflicts in and between member States persist instead of being solved by using inter alia the means of the Organisation; the multilateral implementation of international human rights standards, including through the European Court of Human Rights, is increasingly being challenged in member States; the respect for the Organisation’s Statute and the European Convention on Human Rights is weakening; and the Assembly itself has not yet been able to effectively assist in overcoming these crises.

8As regards the Council of Europe’s pan-European mission, the intended “unity within diversity” has, as of 2014, been seriously put into question following the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, an act considered as a clear violation of international law and the Council of Europe’s Statute. Russia’s decision, in reaction to the Assembly’s decision to apply sanctions vis-à-vis its parliamentary delegation, to stop participating in the activities of the Assembly, has led to a rift within the Organisation with one member State being present in one statutory organ, the Committee of Ministers, while being absent in the other, the Assembly. As of June 2017, the Russian Government’s decision, in reaction to this situation, to suspend payment of its contribution to the budget of the Organisation has led to a major budgetary crisis threatening the Council of Europe’s key activities.

9To face these challenges, promote security in Europe, reinvigorate trust in the Council of Europe and among member States and preserve the future of the Organisation, the Assembly:

9.1calls on all member States to reaffirm, 70 years after the foundation of the Organisation, their commitment to the ideal of European unity and the values and principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and support and further strengthen the Council of Europe as a unique pan-European organisation which upholds these values for the benefit of European citizens;

9.2underlines that Council of Europe membership implies an obligation of all member States to participate in both statutory organs;

9.3calls on the Russian Federation, in accordance with its statutory obligations, to appoint a delegation to the Assembly and to resume obligatory payment of its contribution to the Organisation’s budget, failure of which may lead to the suspension of its representation rights in both statutory organs, should the Committee of Ministers decide to apply Article 9 of the Statute;

9.4calls for intensified dialogue among all actors concerned in order to preserve the pan-European mission of the Council of Europe and avoid a situation in which the biggest member State would be asked to, or chooses to, leave the Organisation with all the geopolitical implications this would have and also the concrete consequences for Russian citizens; welcomes in this respect the commitment and efforts made by the Finnish Presidency of the Committee of Ministers;

9.5calls on the governments of member States to consider all available options to ensure the political relevance and financial sustainability of the Organisation so as to avoid seriously undermining its activities and thereby its effectiveness;

9.6calls on its members to put this issue on the agenda of their national parliaments as a matter of urgency and urge their governments to act responsibly, in line with their obligations under the Council of Europe Statute, so as to ensure the Organisation’s financial sustainability.

10For its part, during these challenging times for the Organisation, the Assembly resolves to streamline, restructure and modernise its work and focus its activities on issues within the aim and scope of the Organisation which are politically relevant and likely to have an impact on the work of the Organisation and/or in the member States for the benefit of European citizens.

11Therefore, the Assembly, on the basis also of the findings of the Ad hoc Committee of its Bureau on the role and mission of the Assembly, considers that its work and activities should primarily focus on:

11.1promoting the strengthening and further development of the Organisation’s unique convention system, which has greatly contributed to the creation of a single legal space across the 47 member States, to the benefit of their citizens; this priority also includes the implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and of recommendations issued by the Organisation’s standard-setting, monitoring and advisory bodies, as well as the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights;

11.2helping to identify to what extent the current Council of Europe legal instruments should be revised or whether new ones should be developed, old ones strengthened or implemented more effectively or suspended as having become obsolete, in order to better respond to new societal challenges or situations such as: artificial intelligence, the ever-increasing use of social media, disinformation, radicalisation and new phenomena linked to terrorism, climate change, migration and refugees;

11.3promoting women’s rights and gender equality and applying a human rights and gender sensitive approach;

11.4developing further and increasing its election observation tools and missions, in close co-operation with the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), in order to improve the legal framework of its member States on elections and referendums, electoral practice and compliance by member States with relevant recommendations;

11.5defending the Organisation’s system of values and standards against undemocratic and illiberal trends, political extremism and aggressive nationalism, discrimination, xenophobia, hate speech and other threats to the rule of law;

11.6promoting the Council of Europe values of human rights, rule of law and democratic principles also in the Council of Europe’s neighbourhood as a means of improving living conditions and stability in these regions and thus contributing to security and stability on the European continent.

12In light of the above considerations, the Assembly;

12.1resolves to review, based on proposals by its committees, their mandate, work programme and institutional representation in intergovernmental committees and other Council of Europe bodies in order to verify political relevance and added value;

12.2invites its committees to focus in their reports on proposals which can be translated into tangible action by the intergovernmental sector of the Organisation (standard-setting, advisory or monitoring bodies) so as to enhance their impact and visibility, and to accompany, where appropriate, criticism addressed to member States (on failures in the legislative field or in the implementation of legislation or violations of human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law) with proposals for support activities aimed at addressing these shortcomings or lack of compliance; in both cases, such proposals should be forwarded to the other statutory organ, the Committee of Ministers, through recommendations adopted by the Assembly.

13Enhanced impact and visibility of the Assembly’s work is only possible if the decisions it takes are being followed up, in particular by or through national parliaments. In this respect, the Assembly, on the basis of the findings of the Ad hoc Committee of its Bureau on the role and mission of the Assembly, and referring also to its Resolution 1640 (2008) “Use by Assembly members of their dual parliamentary role – both parliamentary and European”, calls on:

13.1the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly to ensure that Speakers of national parliaments are regularly informed about conclusions and proposals made in Assembly resolutions, especially those concerning their own country;

13.2national parliamentary delegations to the Assembly to regularly report to their parliaments on their activities in the Assembly, preferably after each part-session, and to inform the Assembly’s Bureau on the national follow-up given to Assembly resolutions at least once a year;

13.3Assembly rapporteurs, in case of follow-up to country-specific proposals, to prepare, with the active involvement of the national delegation concerned, a memorandum on the follow-up given by the national parliaments and governments to their report, at the latest one year after its adoption by the Assembly;

13.4its committees to increase their contacts with the relevant committees of national parliaments, including exchanges of views between respective chairpersons and/or rapporteurs;

13.5political groups in the Assembly to encourage their members to ensure appropriate follow-up of those resolutions the group considers relevant and to consider creating their own follow-up mechanisms;

13.6all its members to promote awareness of and follow-up to Assembly and, more generally, Council of Europe activities by explaining to their electorate the direct impact these may have on their daily life and acting as catalysts to change their mindsets on a number of ethical issues.

14Aware of the importance of local democracy and the central role that local and regional powers play in relationships with citizens, the Assembly undertakes to develop mechanisms for periodical consultation and permanent co-operation between the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe – and their structures – in order to make the decisions and activities of the Council of Europe more effective and homogenous.

15The Assembly notes that the Ad hoc Committee of its Bureau on the role and mission of the Assembly underlined the need to step up the political dialogue between the Assembly and the Committee of Ministers. It would in particular be necessary to promote synergies between the two statutory organs while respecting each other’s prerogatives. In this respect, the Assembly:

15.1welcomes the fact that contacts and dialogue with the Committee of Ministers have recently significantly intensified at different levels and in different formats;

15.2referring also to its Resolution 2186 (2017) on the call for a Council of Europe summit to reaffirm European unity and to defend and promote democratic security in Europe, as well as to the 1998 Final Report to the Committee of Ministers by the Committee of Wise Persons, notes that there is an urgent need to develop synergies and provide for joint action by the two statutory organs in order to strengthen the Organisation’s ability to react more effectively in situations where a member State violates its statutory obligations or does not respect the fundamental principles and values upheld by the Council of Europe;

15.3proposes to put into place, in such situations, in addition, a joint procedure of reaction which could be triggered by either the Parliamentary Assembly, the Committee of Ministers or the Secretary General and in which all three of them would participate; this joint procedure could consist of a step-by-step process, starting from the notification of the member State concerned and including a number of concrete and well-defined steps such us a co-ordinated dialogue with the State concerned, the setting up of a special monitoring procedure enhanced by a joint task force, the publication of a public statement and ultimately the decision to act under Articles 7, 8 or 9 of the Statute within a fixed time-frame; this joint procedure would ensure enhanced legitimacy, credibility, impact, relevance and synergy of the measures to be taken, both regarding the member State concerned and within the Organisation, without prejudice to each organ’s existing separate powers and responsibilities; political action could also be combined, where appropriate, with technical support to the State concerned;

15.4calls for a stronger and more structured co-ordination between the monitoring activities of the Assembly, the Committee of Ministers, the Secretary General and the Commissioner for Human Rights as well as of the various specialised monitoring and advisory bodies and mechanisms of the Organisation, without prejudice to their respective independence.

16As regards the need to step up the political dialogue between the Assembly and the European Union, the Assembly:

16.1considers that promotion of European Union accession to the European Convention on Human Rights should remain at the forefront of its political dialogue with the various European Union institutions as it will lead to a common legal space for human rights protection across the continent in the interest of all Europeans; welcomes the declared commitment, at the highest political level, from both the Council of Europe and the European Union institutions, in favour of this accession, which is a long-standing legal obligation for the European Union under the Lisbon Treaty with also undeniable political consequences; urges the European Commission to translate this commitment into concrete action by submitting without further delay to the Council of the European Union consolidated proposals in reply to the legal issues raised by the Court of Justice of the European Union in December 2014, which would then be discussed in the framework of negotiations with the Council of Europe;

16.2welcomes the Communication on the Rule of Law, published by the European Commission on 3 April 2019, which includes several references to the work of the Council of Europe, in line also with the 2006 report on “Council of Europe-European Union: a sole ambition for the European continent” and the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Europe and the European Union, and opens the way for the Council of Europe to advance concrete proposals on how to enhance the European Union rule of law toolbox; these proposals should also refer to relevant work by the Assembly, emanating from its Monitoring Committee or its general committees, in particular country-specific findings and recommendations included in country-specific or thematic reports and resolutions;

16.3encourages ongoing discussions about the possibility for the European Union to make a non-earmarked contribution to the Council of Europe’s work on the rule of law;

16.4calls for increased participation of senior European Union officials, including European Commissioners, in relevant debates in the Assembly as well as for more frequent exchanges of views between its committees and relevant committees from the European Parliament;

16.5recalls its Resolution 1836 (2011) on the impact of the Lisbon Treaty on the Council of Europe and reiterates the proposals to: set up an Assembly–European Parliament joint informal body to discuss topical issues of common interest, in a variable composition; organise, jointly with the European Parliament, interparliamentary conferences on specific topics of common interest; and enhance co-operation in joint electoral observation missions;

17As regards co-operation with other international and/or regional organisations, the Assembly:

17.1refers to its Resolution … (2019) on strengthening co-operation with the United Nations in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which commits the Assembly to regularly reviewing the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals and fully playing its role as a platform for exchanging national experiences and good practice, as well as to its Resolution … (2019) “Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals: synergy needed on the part of all stakeholders, from parliaments to local authorities”, which seeks to mobilise national parliaments and local and regional authorities in support of Sustainable Development Goals;

17.2welcomes the measures recently agreed with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which provide for a stronger and more efficient institutional relationship between the two organisations, streamline procedures and make better use of both organisations’ strengths;

17.3considers it timely to evaluate its co-operation agreements with various international parliamentary assemblies or organisations with a view to possibly updating them and enhancing their effectiveness.

Draft recommendation

1The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution … (2019) “Role and mission of the Assembly: main challenges for the future” and notes that the Council of Europe, set up 70 years ago to achieve greater unity among its member States on the basis of common values and principles, is today in a deep political and financial crisis. It is confronted with many challenges which seriously threaten the effectiveness of its statutory organs and of its mechanisms and instruments, and thus ultimately the statutory aims of the Organisation.

2To face these challenges, promote security in Europe, reinvigorate trust in the Council of Europe and among its member States and preserve the future of the Organisation, the Assembly calls on all member States to reaffirm their commitment to the ideal of European unity and the values and principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, to support and further strengthen the Council of Europe as a unique pan-European organisation which upholds these values for the benefit of European citizens, and to consider all available options to ensure the political relevance and financial sustainability of the Organisation so as to avoid seriously undermining its activities and thereby its effectiveness. It also encourages in this respect ongoing discussions with the European Union about the possibility of the latter making a non-earmarked contribution to the Council of Europe’s work on the rule of law.

3Considering that Council of Europe membership must imply an obligation of all member States to participate in both statutory organs, the Assembly calls on the Russian Federation, in accordance with its statutory obligations, to appoint a delegation to the Assembly and to resume obligatory payment of its contribution to the Organisation’s budget, failure of which may lead to the suspension of its representation rights in both statutory organs, should the Committee of Ministers decide to apply Article 9 of the Statute of the Council of Europe (ETS No. 1).

4The Assembly calls for intensified dialogue among all actors concerned in order to preserve the pan-European mission of the Council of Europe and avoid a situation in which the biggest member State would be asked to, or chooses to, leave the Organisation with all the geopolitical implications this would have and also the concrete consequences for Russian citizens. It welcomes in this respect the commitment and efforts made by the Finnish Presidency of the Committee of Ministers.

5On the basis also of the findings of the Ad hoc Committee of its Bureau on the role and mission of the Assembly, which underlined the need to step up political dialogue between the Assembly and the Committee of Ministers, while respecting each other’s prerogatives, the Assembly:

5.1welcomes the fact that contacts and dialogue with the Committee of Ministers have recently significantly intensified at different levels and in different formats;

5.2calls on the Committee of Ministers to ensure that its replies to Assembly recommendations address fully and substantially all issues raised and proposes to revive the practice of regular exchanges of views between Committee of Ministers Rapporteur Groups and Assembly rapporteurs and between Assembly committees and Chairpersons of Committee of Ministers Rapporteur Groups or intergovernmental experts during the drafting process of new Council of Europe conventions;

5.3referring also to its Resolution 2186 (2017) on the call for a Council of Europe summit to reaffirm European unity and to defend and promote democratic security in Europe, as well as to the 1998 Final Report to the Committee of Ministers by the Committee of Wise Persons, notes that there is an urgent need to develop synergies and provide for joint action by the two statutory organs in order to strengthen the Organisation’s ability to react more effectively in situations where a member State violates its statutory obligations or does not respect the fundamental principles and values upheld by the Council of Europe;

5.4asks the Committee of Ministers to consider its proposal to put in place, in such situations, in addition, a joint procedure of reaction which could be triggered by either the Parliamentary Assembly, the Committee of Ministers or the Secretary General and in which all three of them would participate; this joint procedure could consist of a step-by-step process, starting from the notification of the member State concerned and including a number of concrete and well-defined steps such us a co-ordinated dialogue with the State concerned, the setting up of a special monitoring procedure enhanced by a joint task force, the publication of a public statement and ultimately the decision to act under Articles 7, 8 or 9 of the Statute within a fixed time-frame; this joint procedure would ensure enhanced legitimacy, credibility, impact, relevance and synergy of the measures to be taken, both regarding the member State concerned and within the Organisation, without prejudice to each organ’s existing separate powers and responsibilities; political action could also be combined, where appropriate, with technical support to the State concerned;

5.5calls for stronger and more structured co-ordination between the monitoring activities of the two statutory organs, the Secretary General and the Commissioner for Human Rights as well as of the various specialised monitoring and advisory bodies and mechanisms of the Organisation, without prejudice to their respective independence.