{"id":33036,"date":"2019-06-12T15:10:26","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T13:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libmod.de\/?p=33036"},"modified":"2020-07-03T14:30:46","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T12:30:46","slug":"open-letter-to-pace-concerning-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/en\/open-letter-to-pace-concerning-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Letter to PACE concerning Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"
Foto: (c) Council of Europe\/\u200bEllen Wuibaux<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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An Open Letter to the Parlia\u00admentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: Please don\u2019t deprive yourself of the right to impose sanctions on member states that are violating the statutes and the spirit of the European Community. We don\u2019t want Russia to leave the Council of Europe, but PACE should defend its principles and not give in to extortion.<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

To the attention of the
\nMembers of the Parlia\u00admentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)<\/p>\n

Dear Sir or Madam<\/p>\n

On 24 June the resolution \u201cStrength\u00adening the decision-making process of the Parlia\u00admentary Assembly concerning creden\u00adtials and voting\u201d of the Committee on Rules of Procedure (3.6.2019) will be put to the vote in Stras\u00adbourg. The intention of this resolution is to have the attempts of the Committee of Ministers to keep Russia in the Council of Europe (A shared respon\u00adsi\u00adbility for democ\u00adratic security in Europe, Helsinki 17.5.2019) approved by the Parlia\u00admentary Assembly.<\/p>\n

We support the efforts to enable Russia to remain in the Council of Europe. Membership of the Council of Europe offers Russian citizens the oppor\u00adtunity to file complaints before the ECHR and has numerous important and positive effects in many areas of law and society. However, Russia\u2019s membership of the Council of Europe will only be meaningful and beneficial if the Council of Europe can sanction non-compliance with its basic rules. We see this option threatened by the draft resolution.<\/p>\n

The draft resolution provides for an amendment of the Rules of Procedure (\u00a7 10), according to which PACE would largely lose the possi\u00adbility of sanctioning members who violate the principles of the Council of Europe. PACE would thus no longer be able to fulfil its oblig\u00adation to monitor compliance with the principles of the Council of Europe. The functioning and credi\u00adbility of the Council of Europe would be seriously damaged. In the Council of Europe, the Council of Ministers would become empowered in favour of PACE, which would continue far beyond the current conflict over the Russian Federation.<\/p>\n

In 2014, the Parlia\u00admentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted Resolution No. 1990 by a large majority, thus not excluding the Russian delegation from the Council of Europe, but depriving it of its voting rights and its right to elect the Secretary General and judges of the European Court of Human Rights until Russian troops have been withdrawn from Eastern Ukraine. Since then, there have been no positive devel\u00adop\u00adments in the Minsk process. On the contrary \u2014 due to further military aggression in the Sea of Azov, ongoing human rights viola\u00adtions in Crimea, the illegal arrest of over 100 Ukrainian prisoners, and the distri\u00adb\u00adution of Russian passports in Eastern Ukraine, the government of the Russian Feder\u00adation is further escalating the conflict and has not yet made any serious attempts to fulfil the require\u00adments of the PACE Resolution 1990. Russia is now threat\u00adening to leave the Council of Europe to pre-empt its exclusion and is using the non-payment of its membership dues as a tool to exert pressure.<\/p>\n

We are convinced that such a far-reaching limitation of future PACE sanctions, as provided for in the draft resolution, would in this situation undermine the credi\u00adbility of the Council of Europe and perma\u00adnently damage the reputation and compe\u00adtences of PACE.<\/p>\n

We call on you to<\/p>\n

- vote against the planned amendment of \u00a7 10 of the Rules of Procedure and thus to maintain the function\u00adality and indepen\u00addence of PACE from the executive branch (Committee of Ministers)<\/p>\n

- enable the Russian Feder\u00adation to remain in the Council of Europe by waiving the strict appli\u00adcation of \u00a7 9 of the Statutes of the Council of Europe (the exclusion of a member state for non-payment of contri\u00adbu\u00adtions) in its 1994 version (\u2018Decla\u00adration of Compliance\u2019) in this case<\/p>\n

- work to ensure that the budget bottle\u00adnecks caused by the Russian Feder\u00ada\u00adtion\u2019s failure to make payments are offset by contri\u00adbu\u00adtions from third parties and that the Council of Europe\u2019s ability to function fully is maintained despite the lack of Russian contributions.<\/p>\n

Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n

Stefanie Schiffer, European Exchange<\/p>\n

Marieluise Beck, Center for Liberal Modernity<\/p>\n

Stefan Melle, DRA \u2013 German-Russian Exchange\/\u200bBerlin<\/p>\n

Ralf F\u00fccks, Center for Liberal Modernity<\/p>\n

Marie Mendras, Sciences Po University, Paris<\/p>\n

\"Textende\"<\/p>\n

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