"I don't know where the negotiations are at the highest level, but as far as we are concerned, we have brought our piece to the puzzle", summarised Belgian Petra De Sutter (Greens) on Tuesday 4 June, the day after the meeting of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, which she chairs in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
Monday 3 June was in fact an important step in the process of defusing the crisis with Russia, which was formalised on 17 May in Helsinki by a Declaration of the Committee of Ministers (CM) (see EUROPE 12257/22).
It explicitly requested the participation of all national delegations in the election of the new Secretary General of the Council of Europe, scheduled for the session at the end of June. All of them, which includes the Russian delegation, which has not been a member of PACE since the suspension of its voting rights in April 2014, and the Bosnian delegation, which, for domestic political reasons, was unable to present its credentials in January 2019, as provided for in the Rules of Procedure.
Although theoretically excluded from the vote, these two delegations could nevertheless participate if the 'De Sutter' report, adopted on Monday by the Committee on Rules of Procedure, is also adopted by the Assembly on Monday 24 June. In view of the "exceptional circumstances", this report provides for such an approach to be authorised during the year.
In the event of a positive vote, the Russian and Bosnian delegations will be able to present their credentials as early as Tuesday morning, bearing in mind that it is more than likely that the Russians' ratification will be contested by the Ukraine and its supporters.
Two processes could then take place in parallel: - the Political Committee's examination of the challenge, with the opinion of the Committee on Rules of Procedure and a report to be drafted to be put to the vote at the Assembly, probably on the Thursday of the session, 27 June ; - the election of the new Secretary General, which could take place on Wednesday 26 June and include all delegations since, until it has been decided, the challenge to credentials does not require suspension.
However, the process remains uncertain. The 'De Sutter' report provides that ratification may be accompanied by sanctions such as the prohibiting members of a delegation concerned to submit a report or to participate in election observation missions... However, not including this famous suspension of the right to vote, which had so irritated the Russians.
Will this be enough to appease Moscow? "That's the whole point", Petra De Sutter confirmed, but she noted positive reports in the Russian press on Tuesday. "Foreign Minister Lavrov said that he had taken note of the position of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, but that the final word would be that of the Duma", she noted. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)