PACE to appeal Russian delegation’s credentials
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) intends to appeal the Russian delegation’s credentials on Monday, said Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Honcharenko, Ukrinform reports.
Honcharenko said that the relevant procedure is initiated by delegates standing up during the voting to support the credentials of national delegations. This will be the first item on the agenda for the PACE winter session, which began on January 27.
“We will stand. We need the support of 10 and 30 delegates,” said Honcharenko.
He added that credentials can be appealed for two reasons: procedural – this matter will be raised by the Latvian delegation; and substantive, which will be brought up by Georgia, which is currently chairing the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers.
Accordingly, in order to raise the issue of appealing the Russian delegation’s credentials for these two reasons, 10 and 30 delegates will be required respectively to show their support by rising while the matter is being considered.
If the matter is supported in the session hall, the credentials of the Russian delegation will automatically not be confirmed on Monday. Consequently, the matter will be passed on to the PACE Procedural and Monitoring Committee, which will have 48 hours, i.e. until Wednesday, to consider it.
PACE’s winter session will be held between January 27-31.
The Ukrainian delegation boycotted the autumn PACE session in 2019 as a sign of protest against the reinstatement of the Russian delegation’s voting right. In 2020, however, the Ukrainian delegation will resume its involvement in PACE.