On Wednesday, 9 April, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution strengthening its own rules on ethics and calling on the Council of Europe to develop an “ethical culture”.
Changes had already been implemented after the Azerbaijan-related corruption scandal, which had shaken the Assembly and, in April 2017, led to an investigation being opened into some of its members and former members.
Nearly a decade later, it is time to respond to the “current challenges”, stressed German Socialist rapporteur Frank Schwabe before the chamber.
The new amendments include a more rigorous procedure for declaring interests, harsher sanctions for failing to declare interests, and a better checking mechanism for declarations.
Any future investigations will be able to call on a new panel, the ‘Conduct Investigation Panel of the Parliamentary Assembly’, which will be composed of seven former judges from the European Court of Human Rights.
The Assembly also created a new position: ‘General Rapporteur on Ethical Standards and Anti-Corruption’.
The Committee on Rules of Procedure has, for its part, been renamed the ‘Committee on Rules, Ethics and Immunities’.
As a reminder: on 27 January this year, the European Court of Human Rights announced on its side of things that it was creating an “Ethics Council” responsible for providing guidance regarding sitting judges, ad hoc judges, former judges, and the court itself as an institution.
Link to the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/gdc (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)