The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has not yet collected enough votes to amend the rules, which may complicate the procedure for maintaining sanctions against Russia, according to a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE, Leonid Yemets.
“In short, today, Russia will not receive any changes to the charter. After a very heated discussion, the issue was sent back to the committee,” Yemets wrote on Facebook.
“The regular delegates stand with us on this,” added Yemets.
Following the discussion, a Belgian delegate, Petra De Sutter, who is the rapporteur on amending the procedures and rules of the PACE regarding the appeals against the powers of national delegations, suggested returning the report containing the corresponding draft resolution to the relevant committee.
A total of 99 MPs voted for the proposal to return the report to the relevant committee, 79 voted no, and 16 abstained.
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The move illustrates how difficult and complicated the situation has become, according to De Sutter. In this regard, she noted that the PACE seems fragmented rather than having a consensus.
Also, according to the delegate, if the situation inside the Assembly changes, then the debate will be resumed later, at a January session.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on Tuesday, PACE was considering changes to the rules and procedures that may complicate the procedure for maintaining sanctions against Russia. In particular, it was planned to increase the share of votes from 50% to 2/3 on the issue of appealing the powers of national delegations, including in the context of the extension of sanctions against the Russian Federation.
On October 8, at the opening of the session, PACE President Lilian Mori-Pasquier expressed her support for a constructive, frank and open dialogue with Russian deputies. According to Mori-Pasquier, it is necessary to discuss the introduction of changes in the procedures and rules of the PACE, which may lead to the lifting of sanctions against Russia.
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Earlier, the chairman of the permanent delegation of the Verkhovna Rada in PACE, Volodymyr Ariev, said that the PACE suggested complicating the procedure for imposing sanctions on delegations of countries violating human rights, as well as principles of democracy and the rule of law. In addition, he stated that the planned increase in the share of votes from 50% to 2/3 on the issue of challenging the powers of national delegations could complicate the procedure for the extension of sanctions against Russia, introduced in April 2014 over the illegal annexation of Crimea.
According to the relevant resolution, Russian deputies were deprived of the right to vote in PACE, as well as the right to be represented in its governing bodies. Since then, the effect of sanctions against the Russian delegation was extended several times, and in relevant resolutions, the Assembly called on the Kremlin to return Crimea to Ukraine, to stop military aggression in Donbas and to withdraw Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine.
