Written declaration No. 633 | Doc. 14367 | 20 October 2017

Czech Parliament breaching Parliamentary Assembly rules

Signatories: Mr Volodymyr ARIEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Anne BRASSEUR, Luxembourg, ALDE ; Ms Reina de BRUIJN-WEZEMAN, Netherlands, ALDE ; Mr Algirdas BUTKEVIČIUS, Lithuania, SOC ; Mr Mustafa DZHEMILIEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Iryna GERASHCHENKO, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Vladyslav GOLUB, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Andrzej HALICKI, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Andres HERKEL, Estonia, EPP/CD ; Ms Mariia IONOVA, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Giorgi KANDELAKI, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Mr Serhii KIRAL, Ukraine, EC ; Mr Georgii LOGVYNSKYI, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Yuliya LOVOCHKINA, Ukraine, SOC ; Ms Kerstin LUNDGREN, Sweden, ALDE ; Mr Luis Alberto ORELLANA, Italy, SOC ; Ms Gabriela PECKOVÁ, Czech Republic, EPP/CD ; Mr Martin POLIAČIK, Slovak Republic, ALDE ; Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria, SOC ; Ms Ingjerd SCHOU, Norway, EPP/CD ; Mr Serhii SOBOLIEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Olena SOTNYK, Ukraine, ALDE ; Mr Pavlo UNGURYAN, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Mart van de VEN, Netherlands, ALDE ; Mr Leonid YEMETS, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

As we have learned from the Czech media, the Parliament of the Czech Republic has expelled our colleague Kristyna Zelienkova from the delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly in the middle of her mandate, which is in breach of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure. She was not on the list of delegates to the 2017 summer part-session and therefore she had to pay all her expenses herself.

However, she is still a member of Parliamentary Assembly according to the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure, which guarantee to representatives that their term of office shall expire only at the opening of the next ordinary session. With regard to the current situation of Kristyna Zelienkova, it is not a good sign that the country holding the chairmanship of this Organisation is breaking the rules.

We therefore hope that the Czech Republic will resolve this situation in accordance with the rule of law.