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Resolution 1379 (2004)
Composition of the Bureau of the Assembly
1. The Parliamentary Assembly recalls that the composition of its Bureau has been adapted on different occasions to make it more representative of the Assembly.
2. It notes that, at present, the chairpersons of the ten general committees of the Assembly are not ex-officio Bureau members. These chairpersons, however, have in-depth knowledge of the activities and the functioning of the Assembly and its subordinate structures.
3. It considers that ex-officio Bureau membership of committee chairpersons would increase the representativeness of the Bureau and its possibilities for co-ordination of Assembly and committee activities.
4. The Assembly therefore believes that the committee chairpersons should be added to the current Bureau members. They would thus also become ex-officio members of the Joint Committee (Rule 55 of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure).
5. It notes that, under the current procedure and practice, the fifteen countries with between two and four seats on the Assembly only have three vice-presidencies and thus Bureau membership once every fifteen years. This situation should be improved by increasing the number of Assembly vice-presidencies from nineteen to twenty and allocating the additional vice-presidency to that group of countries.
6. Consequently the Assembly decides:
6.1. to modify the first sentence of Rule 12.2 of its Rules of Procedure as follows: "The Bureau shall consist of the President, twenty Vice-Presidents of the Assembly elected according to the system of apportionment of Bureau seats and the chairpersons (or their representatives) of the political groups and of the Assembly’s general committees.";
6.2. to replace in Rule 14.1. of the Rules of Procedure the words "the election of the nineteen Vice-Presidents" by "the election of the twenty Vice-Presidents";
6.3. to replace the appendix to Resolution 1105 (1996) by the enclosed text;
6.4. that these changes shall enter into force upon their adoption, with the exception of the provisions concerning the increase of the number of Assembly Vice-Presidents to twenty, which shall be applicable as from the opening of the January 2005 part-session.
Appendix Appendix to Resolution 1379 (2004)
(open)System for the attribution of seats in the Bureau for Vice-Presidents of the Assembly
1. Member states are divided into four categories:
group I: delegations with eighteen seats in the Assembly (France, Germany, Italy, Russian Federation, United Kingdom) will have five seats in the Bureau every ordinary session;
group II: delegations with between twelve and seventeen seats in the Assembly (Poland, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine) will have three seats in the Bureau every ordinary session;
group III: delegations with between five and eleven seats in the Assembly (Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Switzerland) will have eight seats in the Bureau every ordinary session;
group IV: delegations with between two and four seats in the Assembly (Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Cyprus, Estonia, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, San Marino, Slovenia, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia") will have four seats in the Bureau every ordinary session.
2. Within these groups, seats in the Bureau are allocated for one ordinary session following continuous English alphabetical order. Any new member state will be included in the relevant group and take its place according to English alphabetical order. As regards groups II, III and IV, the annual review will be partial in order to ensure a greater continuity in the composition of the Bureau. This renewal will take place annually:
for a third of the seats allocated to group II;
for half of the seats allocated to groups III and IV.
N.B. The chairpersons of political groups or their representatives and the chairpersons of the Assembly general committees or their representatives are ex-officio members of the Bureau of the Assembly.