Progress report | Doc. 14911 Add. 3 | 28 June 2019
Activities of the Assembly’s Bureau and Standing Committee (28 June 2019)
1. Decisions of the Bureau of 28 June 2019 requiring ratification by the Assembly
1.1. References and transmissions to committees
The Bureau considered and approved the following reference:
- Doc. 14929, Motion for a resolution, Ensuring accountability for the downing of flight MH 17: reference to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights for report.
1.2. Composition of the Monitoring Committee and of the Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights
1.2.1. Monitoring Committee
The Bureau,
1.2.2. Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights
The Bureau, on the basis of a proposal by the EPP/CD Group, appointed Mr Jason Azzopardi (Malta).
1.3. OECD Global Parliamentary Network (Paris, 10 0ctober 2019)
The Bureau decided to set up an ad hoc committee of the Bureau to participate in the OECD Global Parliamentary Network to be held in Paris on 10 October 2019, approved its composition and appointed Ms Liliane Maury Pasquier, President of the Assembly, as its Chairperson.
1.4. Requests for urgent procedure or current affairs debates: admissibility and selection criteria
The Bureau took note of the memorandum prepared by the Secretary General of the Assembly and approved the admissibility and selection criteria of requests for urgent procedure or current affairs debates (see appendix).
The Assembly is invited to ratify these Bureau decisions.
Appendix - Decision of the Bureau on admissibility and selection criteria of requests for urgent procedure or current affairs debates
(open)In line with Rules 51 and 53 of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure, it is the responsibility of the Bureau of the Assembly to submit to the Assembly proposals for urgent procedure or current affairs debates on the basis of requests submitted to it.
- relative urgency (as opposed to topicality), taking into account the need for time to prepare proper draft text;
- the political, social or economic context at the particular point in time justifying the urgency, with the subject-matter either being a new one for the Assembly or an ongoing subject which had come to a culminating point;
- the controversial nature of the subject-matter, which implied higher participation by members and a bigger impact of the text adopted;
- the number of member States affected;
- the number and relative priority of all the requests tabled.
- the topicality of the subject-matter (as opposed to the urgency);
- the interest in the subject-matter by a large number of members of the Assembly and member States of the Council of Europe;
- the input which a debate could provide for an Assembly committee thereafter to draw up a report;
- the visibility in the media which a debate could engender.
“The Assembly does not have the competence to turn a request for a debate under urgent procedure into a current affairs debate”.
“If a member of the Assembly objects to the decision of the Bureau to reject a request for a current affairs debate, and if the Assembly endorses the decision of the Bureau, by a majority of the votes cast, the Assembly will not hold such a current affairs debate. If the Assembly rejects the decision of the Bureau, by a majority of the votes cast, the Assembly will hold this current affairs debate.
A member of the Assembly who objects to the decision of the Bureau to reject all requests for a current affairs debate shall specify their objection, clarifying which specific current affairs debate they wish to propose to be held by the Assembly. If the Assembly approves the decision of the Bureau, by a majority of the votes cast, the Assembly will hold no current affairs debate. If the Assembly rejects the decision of the Bureau, by a majority of the votes cast, the Assembly will hold the current affairs debate which has been the subject of the contestation.
The Assembly does not have the competence to turn a request for a current affairs debate into a debate under urgent procedure. The Assembly does not have the competence to change the title of a current affairs debate.”