Secretary General of PACE: If Russia does not pay, it will be excluded from the statutory bodies
Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland warned that Russia’s participation in statutory bodies would be terminated if it did not pay its contributions to the OSCE budget in 2019, Evropeyska Pravda reports.
Jagland said that the Committee of Ministers can terminate Russia’s participation in the PACE and Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in accordance with the statute that imposes restrictions against the State that does not pay membership fees. Russia may face this in June next year because it has not paid its dues for 2 years.
Jagland believes that Russia may leave the organization anyway due to the conflict. He will introduce this scenario at the meeting of the Committee of Ministers at the end of this week to adjust the budget. The Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council had not yet changed its sanctions rules due to the lack of votes.