ERD, Alm.del - 2018-19 (1. samling) - Bilag 17: Brev fra formanden for Ukraines Pace-delegation til PACE-præsidenten, formændene for delegationerne og de politiske grupper

Europarådet 2018-19 (1. samling)
ERD Alm.del Bilag 17
Offentligt

У аї а, 01008, .Киї ,

у . Г уше ь

PERMANENT DELEGATION

OF THE VERKHOVNA RADA

OF UKRAINE

TO THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

PARLIAMENTARY

ASSEMBLY

5 Hrushevskyi str., Kyiv, 01008, Ukraine

+38 (044) 255-27-92, 255-25-07, 255-28-49, 255-20-79, 255-24-28

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

To the President of the PACE,

To the Chairpersons of the PACE political groups,

To the Chairpersons of the PACE national delegations

Kyiv, 10 June 2019

Your Excellency,

On 3 June 2019, the Committee on Rules of Procedure of the Parliamentary Assembly of the

Council of Europe adopted the draft report by Ms. Petra De Sutter “Strengthening the decision-

making process of the Parliamentary Assembly concerning credentials and

voting” where it is

proposed to supplement Assembly’s Rules of Procedure to clarify that “The

members’ rights to

vote, to speak and to be represented in the Assembly and its bodies shall not be suspended or

withdrawn in the context of a challenge to or reconsideration of credentials”.

The Committee also proposed a derogation from the PACE Rules of Procedure in order to be able

to invite the parliaments of member States which are not represented by a delegation to the

Assembly to present their credentials during the June 2019 part-session.

The initiators of these decisions might think that the adoption by the Assembly of the above-

mentioned report could lead to the situation when the delegation of the Russian Federation would

submit its credentials without worrying that its credentials could be challenged and any sanctions

could be imposed.

We would like to remind that in the Resolution 1990 (2014) the Assembly considered that the

illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, and the involvement and actions of the

Russian Federation in the lead up to this annexation, constituted a grave violation of international

law and were a clear contradiction to the Statute of the Council of Europe and Russia’s accession

commitments. The Assembly strongly condemned the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and

territorial integrity by the Russian Federation, which required a strong signal of disapproval from

the Assembly. The Assembly therefore decided not to suspend, until the end of the 2014 session,

the voting rights of the Russian delegation as well as its right to be represented in the Bureau,

Presidential Committee and Standing Committee of the Assembly and its right to participate in

election observation missions. In addition, in this resolution, the Assembly reserved the right to

annul the credentials of the Russian delegation if the Russian Federation did not de-escalate the

situation and reverse the annexation of Crimea.

In the Resolution 2034 (2015) the Assembly resolutely condemned the grave violations of

international law committed by the Russian Federation with regard to the conflict in eastern Ukraine

ERD, Alm.del - 2018-19 (1. samling) - Bilag 17: Brev fra formanden for Ukraines Pace-delegation til PACE-præsidenten, formændene for delegationerne og de politiske grupper

and the illegal annexation of Crimea. As a clear expression of its condemnation, the Assembly

decided to deprive the Russian delegation to the Assembly of a number of rights for the duration of

the 2015 session. However, for the sole and explicit purpose of maintaining an open and

constructive dialogue with the Russian delegation, including on its actions with regard to Ukraine,

the Assembly decided to ratify the credentials of the Russian delegation. At the same time, in

paragraph 16 of Resolution 2034 (2015), the Assembly resolved to annul the credentials of the

Russian delegation at its June 2015 part-session if no progress had been made with regard to the

implementation of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum, as well as the demands and

recommendations of the Assembly as expressed in that resolution, in particular with regard to the

immediate withdrawal of Russian military troops from eastern Ukraine.

Unfortunately, until now there was no progress on the Russian side with regard to the

implementation of the demands mentioned above.

Despite the current situation it will be still possible to challenge the credentials of the Russian

delegation and to impose certain sanctions that are provided for in the Opinion of the Committee on

Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs approved on 30 September 2014 (AS/Pro

(2014) 10 def).

In this regard, we urge all the members to support our proposal to challenge the credentials of the

Russian Federation, if presented, and to impose sanctions in order to suspend any attempts related

to the unconditional return of the Russian delegation to the Assembly.

Yours sincerely,

Volodymyr ARIEV

Chairperson of the Delegation