Brussels, 05/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in closed session in Strasbourg on Wednesday 3 September, the ambassadors of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe exchanged views on the consequences of the Russo-Georgian conflict on the workings of the pan-European organisation. Under the terms of the statute of the Council of Europe, it is for the Committee of Ministers to assess member states' compliance with the obligations which flow from membership of the organisation. In principle, a state of war or any other action which deprives citizens of the rights and freedoms recognised in the European Convention on Human Rights is liable to result in the suspension or the expulsion of the member state responsible for the violation. Under Articles 7 and 8, any member state may be suspended on the basis of a decision taken by a two thirds majority in the Committee of the Ministers. The member state concerned is asked to leave and, if it refuses to do so, a second vote - on its expulsion - is held. The Parliamentary Assembly is consulted. These provisions have only been used at the time of the coup by the Generals in Greece and the Turkish intervention in Cyprus. Some, principally the Robert Schuman Foundation, have recently suggested that Russia and Georgia should be suspended.
In Strasbourg on Wednesday, the ambassadors held “an extraordinary, in-depth debate” on the impact of the conflict on the values of the Council of Europe, according to one who took part. This person says that no one suggested suspension. While there has been much criticism, no one considers treating the two sides in the confrontation in the same way. Russia met with the unanimous condemnation of its partners for its disproportionate response in Georgia. “There was no understanding from anyone of the unilateral recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” one ambassador pointed out.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who currently chairs the organisation, is to convene an informal meeting of foreign ministers. This will probably take place in New York on the sidelines of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Holding this Council of Europe meeting on the other side of the Atlantic will avoid any of the heightened tension that could have resulted from a meeting of this importance in the organisation's own headquarters.
As is the case in other organisations, this meeting served above all to show that “we cannot carry on as if nothing had happened,” commented the above-mentioned ambassador, stressing how little room for manoeuvres there is. It remains to be seen what position the Parliamentary Assembly will take at the end of the month. (O.J./transl.rt)