The document will be sent to the President of the Russian Federation, the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the parliaments of the CoE member states
The Federation Council adopted a statement on the situation related to Russia’s participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev was the speaker.
According to Kosachev, there is a “nominal” reason for addressing this topic which is next week’s session of PACE, during which the authority of national delegations will be reviewed in accordance with the rules of procedure.
“However, the current situation which is, without a doubt, off-nominal, has much deeper roots,” the senator said. He noted that the problem dates back to 1985, when the possibility of using political sanctions against parliamentarians for disagreeing with their political views was introduced into PACE rules.
“Such odious and repressive measures like sanctions against legally elected parliamentarians representing exclusively their own base are not included in the procedures of any other inter-parliamentary organisation,” Konstantin Kosachev said.
He noted that Russia’s roadmap for resolving the PACE crisis was articulated clearly and openly. “The path lies through removing the very possibility of political sanctions from PACE regulations. Our logic found support in the legal opinion of independent experts prepared on the instructions of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.”
However, Konstantin Kosachev went on to say, neither the position of the Council of Europe’s lawyers, nor the Russian initiatives supported by many sensible European parliamentarians, have yet elicited a response from PACE, and the situation remains almost unchanged.
“Hence, the position of the Federal Assembly remains unchanged. We should not and will not apply for confirmation of authority for the delegation of the Federal Assembly to PACE at the upcoming session of the 2019 assembly. This is the consolidated position of the Federal Assembly, which we worked out in close cooperation and in full agreement with our colleagues in the State Duma. ”
Also, Konstantin Kosachev stressed that Russia will continue its efforts to return PACE to the positions of democracy, political responsibility and elementary common sense.
The senators supported the statement.
Igor Chernyshenko, member of the Federation Council Committee on Federal Structure, Regional Policy, Local Government and Northern Affairs, noted that the majority of PACE parliamentarians are passive. According to the senator, returning to this organisation makes no sense without a fundamental change in the parliamentary rules of procedure in PACE.
Oleg Morozov, member of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, supported this position. He noted that the issue is about the role and importance of a parliamentary dialogue.
According to member of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, Alexei Pushkov, one cannot remain in an organisation that deprives its members of their voting rights.
The Federation Council’s statement says that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has adopted at its previous sessions a number of decisions to limit the powers of the Russian delegation to PACE, abandoned the basic principles of democracy and violated one of the fundamental principles of international law which is the principle of sovereign equality of states.
“PACE’s discriminatory decisions imposed by a group of anti-Russia politicians, which led to the actual suspension of Russia’s interaction with the Council of Europe in the parliamentary sphere, and the fact that in recent years the judges of the European Court of Human Rights and the key officials of the Council of Europe were elected without Russia’s participation, deal a blow to the authority of the Council of Europe.“
As noted in the document, despite attempts to make a number of adjustments to the Rules of Procedure of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, no substantive changes have been made, since it is still possible to limit the rights of national parliamentary delegations who are representing the interests of their constituents. Thus, there remains the possibility of further discrimination against the Russian delegation for political reasons.
“In this situation, members of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation do not see any grounds for filing an appropriate application to confirm the authority of the Russian delegation to PACE for the regular session of 2019,” runs the statement, which will be sent to the President of the Russian Federation, the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the parliaments of the CoE member states.