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The framework
- An Assembly for the whole of Europe
- Statutory provisions and membership
- Special guest status
- Observers
- Inter-parliamentary co-operation
- External relations
- Outlook
1. An Assembly for the whole of
Europe
The
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which held its
first session on 10 August 1949, can be considered the oldest international
parliamentary Assembly with a pluralistic composition of democratically
elected members of parliament established on the basis of an
intergovernmental treaty. The Assembly is one of the two statutory organs
of the Council of Europe, which is composed of a Committee of Ministers
(the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, meeting usually at the level of their
deputies) and an Assembly representing the political forces in its member
states.
2. Statutory provisions and membership
The statutory aim of
the Council of Europe, which started with ten member states and now
has
46, is to achieve greater unity among its members through common
action, agreements and debates. The conditions for membership are
pluralistic democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Only
those countries, which fulfill these criteria, can accede. Consequently
some countries were only able to join the Organisation at a subsequent
stage; i.e. Portugal in 1976, Spain in 1977. Greece was obliged to
withdraw from the Council of Europe in 1970 for a period of four years.
The Knesset of Israel participates in
the work of the Parliamentary Assembly as an Observer since 1957, the
Parliament of Canada since May 1997 and the Parliament of Mexico since
November 1999.
The United States of America were granted
Observer status with the Council of Europe on 10 January, Canada on
29 May, Japan on 21 November 1996 and
Mexico on 7 December 1999.
The democratisation process
in Central and Eastern Europe led to Hungary's accession in 1990, Poland's
in 1991,
Bulgaria's in 1992 and Estonia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Romania in 1993.
That of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic replaced
Czechoslovakia's accession from 1991 in 1993. Latvia joined the Council
of Europe on 10 February, Moldova and Albania on 13 July and Ukraine
and the
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on 9 November 1995. The Russian
Federation acceded on 28 February, Croatia on 6 November 1996, Georgia
on 27 April 1999, Armenia and Azerbaijan on 25 January 2001, Bosnia
and Herzegovina on 24 April 2002 and Serbia
and Montenegro on 3 April 2003. Following the declaration of independence
of the Republic of Montenegro on 3 June 2006, and in accordance with
Article 60 of the Constitutional Charter of the State Union of Serbia
and Montenegro, the Republic of Serbia continues membership of
the State Union in the Council of Europe. On Friday 11 May, the Republic
of Montenegro joined the Council of Europe as its 47th member.
The accession process usually begins
with a request to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, who
transmits it to the Committee of Ministers for
consideration. The latter consults the Parliamentary Assembly, which in
turn examines whether the candidate fulfils all the
necessary requirements. This is done by an on-the-spot visit by
parliamentary committees and also, since the 90s, by fact-finding missions
by eminent jurists. Although not a statutory provision, it has also become
customary to require the acceptance of the European Convention on Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms by any new candidate. The Opinion adopted
by the PACE then determines the invitation from the Committee of
Ministers to the State to become a full member.
3. Special guest status
In
order to facilitate the process of accession of the countries from Central
and Eastern Europe, the Assembly introduced in 1989 a so-called special
guest status, applicable to all national legislative assemblies of
European non-member states, which have signed the Helsinki Final Act and
the Charter of Paris for a New Europe. The decision to grant special guest
status is taken by the Bureau of the PACE.
The National Assembly
of Belarus obtained the status on 16 September 1992 but it was suspended
on 13 January 1997 by a decision of the Bureau. The number of
seats allocated to each special guest delegation is the same (although
without substitutes) as that likely to be attributed when becoming a full
member.
Special guests have many
rights in the Assembly and in committees (except in the Joint Committee,
the Monitoring Commitee and the Committee on Rules of Procedure
and Immunities), with the exception of the right to vote or to stand
for election.
4. Observers
The Assembly may, on the proposal of the Bureau,
grant Observer status to national parliaments of non-member states
of the Council of Europe which meet the conditions set out in
paragraph 1 of Statutory
Resolution (93) 26 of the Committee of Ministers on Observer status.
The Assembly shall specify the number of members of Observer delegations
(Canada, Israel, Mexico). The parliaments concerned are not required
to submit credentials to the President of the Assembly but, in
appointing their delegations, they should reflect the various currents
of opinion within their parliaments
Members of such delegations may sit in the Assembly but without
the right to vote. They shall have the right to speak with the authorisation of the President
of the Assembly.
They may attend committee meetings as provided in Rule 47.5.
(Source: rule 60 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly)
5. Interparliamentary co-operation
The
Pan-European Programme for Inter-Parliamentary Co-operation and Assistance
of the Parliamentary Assembly (DEMOPARL) is open to member states as well
as to those enjoying special guest status. The programme covers in
particular three fields: information and training for parliamentarians and
parliamentary staff; multilateral and bilateral co-operation in the
legislative field; assistance with documentation and the organisation of
meetings.
6. External relations
External relations of
the Assembly cover national parliaments of member states, of non-member
states, international parliamentary assemblies and international
intergovernmental organisations and are governed by decisions of the
Bureau of the Assembly.
Whilst relations with national parliaments
are covered by the provisions of membership, special guest or observer
status, the PACE has developed its contacts with other international
parliamentary assemblies such as the European Parliament, the Western
European Union, the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, the
Inter-Parliamentary Union, Benelux, the Nordic Council, PABSEC, CIS and
others.
For many years the Assembly has also been operational as
parliamentary forum for a certain number of intergovernmental
organisations, in particular the OECD, and has developed close relations with
specific organisations such as the EBRD and many of the specialised agencies
of the United Nations.
7. Outlook
In more than fifty years of
existence, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has shown
its great flexibility and adaptability as an international
inter-parliamentary body to the developments in Europe, and in particular
to the dramatic historic changes which have taken place over the last
years. No other international parliamentary forum was so well equipped
as the Parliamentary Assembly to integrate the new democracies of Central
and
Eastern Europe into the family of the other European democracies. The
tremendous advantage of its members also being members of their national
parliaments enables the Assembly to keep in close
contact with national politics.
Its contribution in preparing candidate
countries for membership and supporting their democratic development was
also underlined in the Final Declaration adopted by the Heads of State
and Government of the member states of the Council of Europe meeting
in
Strasbourg on 10-11 October 1997 for the Organisation's Second Summit.
There is no doubt that the Parliamentary Assembly, which
covers the whole of geographical Europe remains the best tool for
European co-operation on the broadest possible scale, fostering democratic
security, respecting the fundamental criteria of pluralistic democracy,
the rule of law and respect for human rights.
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