On the occasion of its spring session from 23 to 27 April 2018 in Strasbourg, France, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is set to review issues ranging from the state of emergency to proportionality relating to the derogation provided for in Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights. PACE will also discuss Europe’s fight against organized crime through the confiscation of illegal assets, the funding of international terrorist cells like “Daesh” not to mention legal and human rights challenges implicated in hybrid war. A comprehensive joint debate will speak to issues of the status of journalism (and journalists) as well as the issue of press integrity. The Council of Europe’s role in the Middle East (especially regarding the massive refugee crisis in Libya) and a report on the humanitarian needs of internally-displaced populations and a report on the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement on will also be included in the agenda.
There has been a request for an urgent debate on “Rising anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and xenophobia in Europe: a threat to European values” and for current affairs debates on “The Copenhagen Declaration, appreciation and follow-up” as well as “Europe’s Role in Peace-Making Initiative in Syria” among other things. The foreign ministers of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” will address the Assembly and answer questions. PACE members will also have the opportunity to have an exchange of views with the Secretary-General of the Organization and the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers.
As part of the progress report of its Bureau, the Assembly has organized a chance to discuss the final report of an independent external investigation body that was put in charge a little less than a year ago of carrying out a detailed external inquiry into allegations of corruption among certain PACE members. The extensive report which is now available on the webpage of the independent external investigation body, will be reviewed following the presentation of the report to the PACE Bureau on the eve of the session. However, the investigation body also includes a caveat in its executive summary at the onset of its report that due to the organizational, temporal and operational limits of their efforts, they were unable to conduct a thorough enough investigation into all those allegations.
Regardless of the inevitable limitations of the investigation, in the course of the investigation body’s work, certain activities within PACE have been brought to its attention according to the report. The key deficiency in the organization of work and political processes in PACE was found to relate to the manner in which the decisions on appointments to different functions were made. This is particular concerned the lack of transparency and sufficient regulation of the procedures for such appointments, especially the appointments of members of the Monitoring Committee and the Rules Committee, as well as the appointments of rapporteurs in general. An issue of lack of transparency and an absence of safeguards against abuse was also found to arise with regard to the voting processes in the committees, which might affect the voting results and open the door to the possibility of exertion of improper influence, including that of financial nature.
In view of its findings and conclusions, the investigation body made a number of recommendations on the measures to be implemented to rectify the identified shortcomings and fill the gaps in the Assembly’s ethical framework. Frist, the body recommended that the Assembly take necessary measures without delay to make the new ethical framework in relation to the prevention of conflict of interest, the receipt of gifts, lobbying the privileges and duties of honorary members and the capacity to institute the relevant proceedings in the event of non-compliance with the ethical standards. Second, the body recommends that the Assembly foster transparency in the work and decision-making processes of the leaders of various political groups especially by establishing mechanisms which will ensure that the decision-making processes in the Monitoring Committee and the Rules Committee.
Corruption is one of the most widespread and insidious of social evils according to the investigation body’s final remarks. Its scourge has been felt in every part of European society, if not the whole world, undermining the public trust and confidence in their public officials, elected representatives and democratic institutions. The most recent report has demonstrated that PACE has not been spared of that scourge either much like the rest of the international community. But the PACE and the European Council also deserves credit and commendation for their courage in responding in a timely manner to these allegations of corruption and lack of transparency—making apparent its will not to tolerate further corruption within its ranks. It has done a model job by not only inviting external bodies independent of their internal bureaucratic machinery to come and assess—and thereby improve—the overall regulatory framework governing the conduct of members of the Assembly. In so doing, the Assembly has set an excellent example to both national parliaments and inter-parliamentary bodies confronted with similar challenges across the world about how internal defects and shortcomings can indeed be managed—even remedied.
By MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr) |
