Motion for a resolution | Doc. 11831 | 04 February 2009

Lack of appropriate follow-up, by the Committee of Ministers, to the work of the Parliamentary Assembly

Signatories: Mr Dick MARTY, Switzerland, ALDE ; Ms Marie-Louise BEMELMANS-VIDEC, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Mr Christopher CHOPE, United Kingdom, EDG ; Mr Boriss CILEVIČS, Latvia, SOC ; Mr Arcadio DÍAZ TEJERA, Spain, SOC ; Mr Jean-Charles GARDETTO, Monaco, EPP/CD ; Mr Holger HAIBACH, Germany ; Mr Michel HUNAULT, France ; Mr Aleksei LOTMAN, Estonia, UEL ; Mr Pieter OMTZIGT, Netherlands ; Mr Klaas de VRIES, Netherlands, SOC ; Mr Frans WEEKERS, Netherlands

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

The Parliamentary Assembly, a statutory organ of the Council of Europe, is the driving force of the Council of Europe, which inter alia, initiated the creation of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Council of Europe's Committee for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (CPT).

Given the double mandate (national and European) of its parliamentarians, it is indisputably the major political motor of the Organisation.

We are dissatisfied and concerned that the work of the Assembly, including its statutory opinions to the Committee of Ministers (see Recommendation 1763 (2006) on the institutional balance at the Council of Europe, § 21.5) has not been seriously taken by the Committee of Ministers, not to say ignored.

Witness what happened with regard to Opinion No. 270 (2008) on the draft Council of Europe convention on access to official documents and the (non-)replies received to several important Recommendations, such as Recommendation 1801 (2007) on Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states, Recommendation 1754 (2006) on Alleged secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states or Recommendation 1824 (2008) on the United Nations Security Council and European Union blacklists.

This matter is sufficiently serious to merit priority consideration by its Committees concerned.