23/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 22 June, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe entered a new stage in its dispute with the Committee of Ministers, which has refused to forward a complete list of four candidates to the post of secretary general of the pan-European organisation located in Strasbourg. Despite a formal request from the Assembly, the Committee of Ministers plans to impose a choice between the former Polish Socialist prime minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz and the former Norwegian Labour prime minister, Thorbjorn Jagland. In so doing it excludes the candidatures of Flemish Christian Democrat Luc Van den Brande and Hungarian Liberal Mathias Eorsi. As a result, the Assembly decided on Monday to postpone any debate or vote on the election of the new secretary general. After British Liberal Democrat Mike Hancock had insisted that this point be included on the agenda, the Assembly confirmed by a slim majority of eight (98 votes against, 90 for and 6 abstentions) its refusal to include the point on the session's agenda. (O.J./transl.jl)