“It [the statement] does not contain specific recommendations to PACE on the elimination of sanctions regulations, which lead to discrimination of national delegations. There are also no compromise suggestions. There are only general calls for equality of rights for all member states of the Council of Europe, which partially opens the way for us,” Leonid Slutskiy said.
Thus, the parliamentarian said that “the ball is in the PACE court again.”
“We still have time before the June session, where the new Secretary General of the Council of Europe will be elected. Participation or non-participation of the Russian delegation in this election will be crucial for the Russian cooperation with the organization,” said the Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs.
He stressed that it is worth to continue the dialog only if the Bureau and the PACE Standing Committee are ready to discuss a compromise solution on amending the Regulations.
“We do not change our fundamental position, we still insist on removing norms that allow depriving national delegations of key powers, such as the right to vote, from the Regulations of the Assembly,” Leonid Slutskiy said.
“The Finnish chairmanship has done everything possible to overcome the prolonged confrontation. Now we count on the French chairmanship and the sound approaches of the constructive part of PACE. Personally, I do not support Russia's withdrawal from the Council of Europe,” the parliamentarian concluded.
Earlier, on May 17, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe issued a statement saying that all member states should be entitled to participate on an equal basis in the Committee of Ministers and in the Parliamentary Assembly. In April 2014, the Russian delegation was deprived of fundamental powers because of the events in Ukraine and the reunification of the Crimea with the Russian Federation.
In 2015, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe twice considered the issue of restoring the powers of the Russian delegation but the sanctions remained in force. After that, the delegation of the Russian Federation refused to work under such conditions and did not send an application to confirm its credentials in 2016 and 2017.
In summer 2017, it was announced that the Russian Federation suspends payments to the Council of Europe due to the non-participation of the Russian delegation in the PACE work. At the same time, the Russian side proposed to amend PACE regulations.
In January 2019, the State Duma and the Federation Council adopted statements where they indicated the absence of any grounds for the return to PACE of the delegation of the Russian Federation in 2019. The State Duma also urged to keep in force the decision to freeze the payments of Russia's contribution to the CE budget.
On April 10, the PACE members adopted a resolution on the role and mission of the Assembly, which, inter alia, refers to the need to preserve Russia in the Council of Europe and calls upon Moscow to send a delegation to PACE and pay contributions to the organization’s budget.
