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Resolution 2058 (2015)
The allocation of seats in the Parliamentary Assembly with respect to Turkey
1. The Parliamentary Assembly recalls
that the allocation of seats in the Assembly between Council of Europe
member States, as set out in Article 26 of the Statute of the Council
of Europe (ETS No. 1), is based solely on the criterion of States’
populations, which was established in the travaux
préparatoires on the Statute in 1949. It notes that the
allocation of seats in the Assembly has not been adjusted since
1977 and that the Statute has only been amended in connection with
new accessions to the Organisation.
2. The Assembly further notes that, since then, Turkey has seen
the highest population growth in Europe and now has Europe’s third-largest
population. It therefore believes that the representation of the
Turkish Parliament in the Assembly is clearly too low and that,
given recent population statistics, it is entirely justified and
fair to grant the legitimate request made by the Turkish parliamentary
delegation to increase the number of seats allocated to the Turkish
national delegation in the Assembly.
3. The Assembly also supports the request made by the Turkish
parliamentary delegation to introduce Turkish as a working language
in the Assembly. However, in view of the major implications of this
measure for the Assembly’s budget, it believes that it cannot meet
the financial cost involved, estimated at €700 000 a year, without
being allocated corresponding additional appropriations in the ordinary
budget of the Council of Europe.
4. The Assembly underlines the clear stance it took in Resolution 2046 (2015) on
the expenditure of the Parliamentary Assembly for the biennium 2016-2017
and in Opinion 288 (2015) on
the budget and priorities of the Council of Europe for the biennium
2016-2017, in which it welcomes the Turkish Government’s decision
to support the strengthening of the Council of Europe’s capacities
and resources by offering to become a major contributor to the Organisation’s
budgets from 1 January 2016. It therefore makes the introduction
of Turkish as a working language in the Assembly dependent on a
decision by the Committee of Ministers to approve the request by
Turkey to become a major contributor to the Council of Europe’s
budgets, without any counterbalancing exercise, and to allocate
it in the biennial budget for 2016-2017 – and in subsequent budgets –
the necessary corresponding financial allocations.
5. Accordingly, in view of the above and subject to a future
decision by the Committee of Ministers to amend the Statute of the
Council of Europe and increase to 18 the number of seats allocated
to the Turkish national delegation, the Assembly resolves to amend
its Rules of Procedure as follows:
5.1. with regard to the membership of committees:
5.1.1. replace
the first two paragraphs in Rule 44.2 with the following two paragraphs:
“France, Germany, Italy, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the United Kingdom shall have four seats in each of the first six committees.
Poland, Romania, Spain and Ukraine shall have three seats in each of the first six committees”;
5.1.2. in Rule 44.1, for the first seven Assembly committees,
replace “84 seats” with “85 seats” (Committee on Legal Affairs and
Human Rights, Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable
Development, Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, Committee
on Culture, Science, Education and Media, Committee on Equality
and Non-Discrimination) and “89 seats” with “90 seats” (Committee
on Political Affairs and Democracy, Committee on the Honouring of
Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe
(Monitoring Committee));
5.1.3. in Rule 44.3 (appointment of members of the Monitoring
Committee), replace “84 of the 89 members” with “85 of the 90 members”;
5.1.4. in Rule 49.3 (number of standing sub-committees per committee),
replace “A committee of 84 or 89 seats may not appoint more than
three standing sub-committees” with “A committee of 85 or 90 seats
may not appoint more than three standing sub-committees;
5.1.5. in the complementary texts, amend the number of seats
allocated to the committees in the Assembly committees’ specific
terms of reference;
5.2. with regard to the vice-presidents of the Assembly and
the granting of a permanent vice-presidency of the Assembly to the
Turkish delegation, amend the system for allocating seats on the Bureau
for Assembly Vice-Presidents (Appendix to Resolution 1379 (2004)), as follows:
5.2.1. “group I: delegations with eighteen seats in the Assembly
(France, Germany, Italy, Russian Federation, Turkey, United Kingdom)
will have six seats in the Bureau every ordinary session;
5.2.2. group II: delegations with between twelve and seventeen
seats in the Assembly (Poland, Spain, Ukraine) will have two seats
in the Bureau every ordinary session”;
5.3. with regard to recognition of Turkish as a working language,
replace Rule 28.3 with the following: “The working languages in
the Assembly shall be German, Italian, Russian and Turkish.”
6. The Assembly resolves that the amendments to the Rules of
Procedure set out in this resolution will enter into force:
6.1. following the actual amendment
of the Statute of the Council of Europe, subject to the decision by
the Committee of Ministers and the procedure provided for in Article
41.d of the Statute, in the case of the amendments mentioned in
paragraphs 5.1 and 5.2;
6.2. from the opening of the 2016 ordinary session, in the
case of the amendment mentioned in paragraph 5.3, subject to a decision
by the Committee of Ministers to allocate the Assembly the essential budgetary
appropriations to offset the additional expenditure arising from
the decision to introduce Turkish as a working language in the Assembly.
7. In addition, the Assembly invites the enlarged Parliamentary
Assembly, in connection with the next report on the activities of
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
scheduled for the fourth part-session of 2015, to consider the issue
of increasing the number of seats for the Turkish delegation and
adopting the necessary amendments to its rules of procedure.