Pedro Agramunt, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has said that he considers that the impeachment proceedings launched on 27 June last by the PACE against him are “an affront” to his honour and that he would “defend” himself (see EUROPE 11817).
In a press release on Friday 13 June, Mr Agramunt denounced the “groundless attack” by the left wing of the PACE and Ukrainian delegation as part of a political “settling of scores” and with the “complicity and active support” of the Secretariat of the Assembly.
Pedro Agramunt is a member of the European People’s Party (Conservatives) and his meeting with the Syrian President, Bashar el Assad, is at the source of the conflict pitting MEPs against one another. The meeting took place last March under the jurisdiction of the Russian authorities. Mr Agramunt justified this visit on the grounds that he wanted to promote dialogue in the Syrian conflict and in the context of the efforts made by Moscow as a means of the Russian delegation rejoining the ranks of the PACE (see other article). The Russian delegation no longer has a seat at the Assembly since its right to vote was withdrawn in April 2014 as a sanction for the annexation of the Crimea.
The President of the PACE, who still holds this title, despite no longer enjoying the confidence of his political group since last April (see EUROPE 11777), argues that the modification of the regulation to enable his impeachment was decided and voted on “in a hurry”, without prior consultation of the Venice Commission (the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional rights) and against the opinion of the directorate of legal opinions and international public law at the Council of Europe, for which any retroactive sanction is considered “contrary to the principle of legal security”.
At the time, the demand for the impeachment of Pedro Agramunt was introduced according to the new rules adopted on 27 June. It is expected to be put to a vote at the next PACE plenary session in Strasbourg from 9-13 October next. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)