After suspending Russia’s rights of representation on 25 February, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers could go further and ask it to “withdraw by notifying the Secretary General of its decision” (Article 7 of the organisation’s Statute).
“More and more voices” are moving in this direction, Croatian Marija Pejčinović Burić, the current Secretary General of the Council of Europe, said on Friday; but on Monday, discussions were still intense among representatives of the Member States’ foreign ministers, who kept the item on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting.
However, it is possible that a final decision will be postponed until Thursday.
If it is adopted, it will have to be validated by a consultation of the Parliamentary Assembly at its extraordinary meeting on 14 and 15 March.
And if the Kremlin does not comply, the Committee of Ministers could “decide that Russia shall cease to be a member as from a date to be determined by it” (Article 8), which amounts to an expulsion of the Russian Federation from the Council of Europe. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)