Launched in 2018, the definition of a “complementary joint procedure in response to a serious violation by a Member State of its statutory obligations” took an important step forward on Wednesday 29 January with the adoption of a resolution defining the almost definitive position of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (COE). The vote was 109 in favour, 24 against and 30 abstentions.
This procedure is designed to co-ordinate the reaction of the three statutory organs of the organisation, namely the Secretary General (SG), the Committee of Ministers (CM), on which the representatives of the 47 Member States sit (CM), and the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE).
The aim is to avoid a relapse into the near-institutional crisis that the Council of Europe went through after the so-called “Russian” crisis. Following the annexation of the Crimea in 2014, the Russian Federation had been deprived of several of its rights within PACE, but continued to be a full member of the Committee of Ministers. An institutional dichotomy fuelled by a legal opinion questioning PACE's right to decide alone on sanctions against a Member State, including in the case of serious violations of COE status.
Intense exchanges under the Finnish and French presidencies of the COE, to redefine a procedure that had shown its limits, are therefore on well on their way.
On the basis of a draft position of the CM transmitted to PACE last November, PACE has formalised its position on this future procedure which will be “of an exceptional nature” and will “address only the most serious violations of the fundamental principles and values enshrined in the Statute of the Council of Europe” on the basis of “constructive dialogue” and “co-operation”.
It may be initiated by each of the statutory bodies, will include several stages and will maintain a permanent dialogue between the parties in order to define a “roadmap” whose “implementation will be conducted in close cooperation with the State concerned”.
If at the end of this process it is found that the serious violation persists, the MC may in the very last instance apply Article 8 of the Treaty and decide that the Member State concerned “has ceased to be a member of the Council as from such date as the Committee may determine”. If the Member State in question remedied the situation during this last stage of the procedure, the MC - in consultation with the SG and PACE - could reverse its decision to trigger Article 8.
This joint procedure will enter into force after the adoption by PACE (probably at the April session) of a final resolution based on a report by the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs, a vote that should be followed by a decision of the CM along the same lines. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)