Motion for a resolution | Doc. 11945 | 10 June 2009

Improving the procedure for drafting documents of the Assembly

Signatories: Mr Davit HARUTYUNYAN, Armenia, EDG ; Mr Artsruni AGHAJANYAN, Armenia ; Mr Mustafa DZHEMILIEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Tuur ELZINGA, Netherlands, UEL ; Mr Jean-Charles GARDETTO, Monaco, EPP/CD ; Mr Jean HUSS, Luxembourg, SOC ; Mr Jan KAŹMIERCZAK, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Aleksei LOTMAN, Estonia, UEL ; Mr Bernard MARQUET, Monaco, ALDE ; Mr Maximiano MARTINS, Portugal ; Ms Nursuna MEMECAN, Turkey, ALDE ; Ms Hermine NAGHDALYAN, Armenia, ALDE ; Mr Hryhoriy OMELCHENKO, Ukraine ; Mr Viktor PLESKACHEVSKIY, Russian Federation, EDG ; Mr Alexander POCHINOK, Russian Federation ; Mr François ROCHEBLOINE, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Mykola SHERSHUN, Ukraine, ALDE ; Mr Serhiy SOBOLEV, Ukraine ; Mr Tuğrul TÜRKEŞ, Turkey, EDG ; Ms Özlem TÜRKÖNE, Turkey, EPP/CD

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

At present there exists an established procedure in the Assembly regarding the drafting of resolutions and recommendations on various issues of competence and concern of the Assembly.

Such draft resolutions and recommendations are accompanied with explanatory memoranda from rapporteurs nominated by the relevant Committee(s). The rules allow for debating the content of reports with the subsequent introduction of amendments to draft resolutions and recommendations. However, explanatory memoranda are considered to be the ownership of the rapporteurs and are not subject to amendments. It is important to recall that the explanatory memoranda are considered official working documents of the Assembly, are broadly accessible and are a source of reference for the public and the media. This fact underlines the importance of the factual credibility and quality of such documents.

While the memoranda represent the view of the rapporteurs and facts supporting it, the practice has shown that at times such memoranda may contain information which is factually flawed, incorrect or irrelevant to the subject under consideration.

This raises serious questions about the integrity and credibility of the reports within this Assembly. Considering this as a matter of concern we invite the Bureau to address this issue and to instruct the appropriate Assembly Committee to prepare a report with a view to improving the procedure to deal with such cases.