On Wednesday 27 June, following a decision by the regulatory committee, 14 former members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) were stripped of their right to access the premises of the Council of Europe and Assembly for life.
The Chairperson of this committee, Petra De Sutter, stated that these people “will still be able to make a specific request as ordinary visitors to the Palace of Europe but they will not in any instance be able to participate in meetings as their status of former members authorised them to do so”.
According to Ms De Sutter, who intervened as part of the follow-up to the independent experts group report on the allegations of corruption at PACE published on 22 April (see EUROPE 12007), this is the “strongest possible” penalty.
Three regulatory committee meetings have so far been organised to decide on the fate of the PACE members cited in this report on Azerigate. The first two meetings focused on the current members (see EUROPE 12021), while this week’s meeting focused on former members.
The incriminating facts were classed into two categories: minor breaches of the ethical rules of the Parliamentary Assembly for five former members and serious violations for the nine people concerned. The removal of access to Council of Europe premises for life was decided in both cases.
A 15th former member, the Swiss socialist, Andreas Gross, was cited in the report but will not be the subject of any penalty because the committee deemed that he had not infringed the Assembly's ethical rules
Petra De Sutter announced that a fourth follow-up meeting is planned for September. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)