Strasbourg, 02/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's (PACE) monitoring procedure is its main instrument for checking that Council of Europe member states are abiding by their democratic commitments towards the institution and with regard to the European Court of Human Rights. It also relates to specific commitments made by member states at their accession. It was designed to accompany countries on the way to the rule of law, as a sort of assistance, but it has not proved popular with those subject to it. They see it as a source of vexation, a humiliation, though that is not the reason behind it, said Estonian Conservative Andres Herkel on Tuesday 1 October, presenting his report on how the monitoring procedure is developing. Recalling the efforts made by Hungary at the June session to avoid this provision and the success it enjoyed, the rapporteur stressed how important it was to stick with the country by country approach and called for the Committee of Ministers to be more closely involved.
The resolution passed, while neither really a reform nor a strengthening of the monitoring procedure, restates the importance of the said procedure and calls for reflection on how to improve the mechanisms that make it up. Based on activity reports, the text assesses the progress and ground lost in the ten countries under monitoring (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine) and in the four counties which are part of the post-monitoring procedure (Bulgaria, Monaco, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey). It also took stock of how well the 33 other member states were complying with their obligations. It expressed serious concern at developments in the situation of the Roma, migrants, refugees and minorities in certain countries and unsatisfactory compliance with anti-corruption recommendations. (VL/transl.fl)