Today, the report of the Dutch Senator Tiny Kox was adopted within the framework of an urgent debate in Strasbourg. This report allows the creation of a special mechanism when a decision on the countries in non-standard, problematic situations will be taken not by PACE but by the Committee of Ministers, said Leonid Slutsky, Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma on International Affairs.
”The report of Tiny Kox is only the first step towards this, that is why it is now too early to celebrate,“ said Leonid Slutskiy Slutsky
Leonid Eduardovich , Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs, in a comment to the State Duma website.
He noted that for the Russian parliamentarians this is a “positive signal, but, nevertheless, the Committee of Ministers, as we understand, will not be able to revise the PACE regulations in the part that is the prerequisite of our return to the full-fledged work in PACE, namely removal PACE discriminatory rules on the possibility of revising the credentials of country delegations”.
As the Head of the Committee of the State Duma on International Affairs said, “after the adoption of the Tiny Kox report, there is a possibility that at the next Standing Committee [the Assembly’s body that meets between sessions, its next meeting will be held in May] a resolution will be adopted to exclude the discriminatory rule that, in fact, divides all countries — participants of the Assembly into the first and second echelon from the PACE regulation“.
According to him, this rule does not suit the Russian delegation, contradicts the PACE Statute and the very spirit of parliamentarism.
Leonid Slutskiy added that if such a decision is taken at the Standing Committee in May, then a full-fledged return of the Russian delegation to PACE could be discussed.