On October 9 at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Russia suffered yet another loss, albeit one that did not get major headlines in this country. A Euromaidan Press headline read: “Russia loses battle for PACE: resolution allowing sanctions to be lifted fails vote.” Furthermore, an analysis by Yevropeiska Pravda (an information resource devoted to Ukraine’s international security and euro-integration) underscored that – for the first time ever – PACE delegates had begun to discuss whether Russia even has a place in that European body.
Readers may have noticed that in last week’s issue we published an open letter titled “Save the Council of Europe.” In that missive, well over 100 political leaders, experts, scholars, human rights activists and others called upon the Council of Europe to resist Russian attempts to force the Council of Europe to lift sanctions and return Russia to its Parliamentary Assembly without witnessing any change in Russia’s aggressive behavior, and war, against its neighbors.
“In response to Russia’s illegal annexation of the Crimea and military aggression in Eastern Ukraine the Council of Europe suspended the voting rights of the Russian delegation. In its turn, Russia has turned to blackmail, having suspended membership fees to the Council of Europe and boycotting participation in the Parliamentary Assembly. In order to triumphantly return to the PACE in January next year without implementing demands contained in a number of PACE resolutions, Russia and its supporters decided to act by the principle: if you can not change the policy of the Council of Europe, change its rules,” the letter begins. What was at stake was the complete discreditation of the Council of Europe and the emasculation of PACE.
A helpful explanation of what was going on at PACE was offered by the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC): “On 20 September 2018, the Committee on Rules of Procedures of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted and tabled with the plenary assembly a draft resolution on the decision-making process concerning credentials and voting. [Editor’s note: It bore the innocuous-sounding title ‘Strengthening the decision-making process of the Parliamentary Assembly concerning credentials and voting.’] These proposed amendments will make it more difficult to discipline the larger in number PACE delegations for unacceptable behavior. In addition, these proposed amendments come at a time when PACE will be considering whether to allow the Russian Federation to regain all of its rights despite its persistent and blatant violations of all PACE resolutions that call for the Russian Federation to de-occupy Crimea and end its military aggression against Ukraine.” Supporters of Ukraine were calling on PACE members to reject that draft resolution when it would be put to a vote during the plenary session on October 9 because, even though the resolution did not specifically refer to Russia, it clearly was designed to allow sanctions against the Russian delegation to be lifted.
Indeed, it was under Russia’s pressure that PACE had begun to reassess its own procedures. Russia, you see, after having its right to vote suspended, had stopped paying membership fees to the Council of Europe (its payments amount to 7 percent of the council’s budget), threatened to withdraw recognition of its official organs, such as the European Court of Human Rights, and threatened to completely withdraw from PACE. Russia demanded that it be allowed to return to PACE without fulfilling any of PACE’s demands. In effect, all should be forgotten and forgiven.
A debate at the Parliamentary Assembly brought forth such opinions as those of Angela Smith of Britain, who said Russia had played the blackmail game for too long. “I will not be intimidated. Such countries should not be in our ranks!” Thorhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir of Iceland commented: “Maybe it’s time to part ways with the Russian delegation? This would be more honest. It would be right to discuss if Russia could be a member of this club in the first place, and this dialogue should be held at all levels in the Council of Europe.”
What ultimately happened during the October 9 session was that PACE delegates did not have enough votes to change PACE rules – a two-thirds majority was required. A failed vote would have killed the resolution that favored Russia’s position, so rapporteur Petra de Sutter of Belgium proposed that debate be stopped, the discussion postponed until January, and the draft resolution referred back to committee. The vote was 99 in favor of the rapporteur’s proposal, with 79 votes against and 16 abstaining.
The result is that Russia will remain under sanctions for at least another year. And that Russia has become more isolated, yet again, from Europe.