Progress report | Doc. 14345 Add. 1 | 26 June 2017
Activities of the Assembly’s Bureau and Standing Committee (26 June 2017)
1. Decisions of the Bureau of 26 June 2017 requiring ratification by the Assembly
1.1. Composition of committees
1.1.1. Composition of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs
On the basis of a proposal by the EC Group, the Bureau nominated Ms Nino Goguadze (Georgia).
On the basis of proposals by the EPP/CD Group, the Bureau nominated Mr Tobias Zech (Germany) and Mr Jordi Roca (Spain).
2. Other decisions of the Bureau
2.1. Third part-session of 2017 (26 to 30 June)
2.1.1. Request for a current affairs debate
The Bureau decided to recommend to the Assembly to hold a current affairs debate on Europe’s common fight against terrorism: successes and failures, on Thursday, 29 June, and designated Mr Talip Küçukcan (Turkey, EC) as the first speaker.
2.1.2. Draft agenda
The Bureau updated the draft agenda.
2.2. Communication
The Bureau took note of the communication by the President of the Assembly.
2.3. Issues raised by committees
2.3.1. Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Bureau took note of the letter by Mr Alain Destexhe (Belgium, ALDE), Chairperson of the Committee, concerning reports on Towards a democratic approach to the issues of governance in European multinational States, Accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights: Election of Judges; and State of emergency: proportionality issues concerning derogations under Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
2.3.2. Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Bureau took note of the letter by Ms Stella Kyriakides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), Chairperson of the Committee, concerning the appointment of Mr Luís Leite Ramos (Portugal, EPP/CD) as General Rapporteur on Local and Regional Authorities of the Parliamentary Assembly for a second year.
2.3.3. Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy
The Bureau authorised Ms Josette Durrieu (France, SOC), Rapporteur on The evaluation of the Partnership for democracy in respect of the Parliament of Jordan, to carry out an additional fact-finding visit to Jordan in 2017, in the framework of the preparation of her report.
2.4. Participation of members in Parliamentary Assembly plenary sessions and committee meetings in 2016
The Bureau took note of the information memorandum prepared by the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs, and decided to invite the President of the Assembly to notify in writing the chairpersons of the delegations and the speakers of the parliaments concerned by low participation rates (Rule 44.10 of the Rules of Procedure and paragraph 7.2 of Resolution 1583 (2007) – the President of the Assembly is invited “to examine, with the speakers and political groups of the parliaments concerned, the possible consequences if… the average level of participation of national delegations in Assembly sittings… falls below 50% of their nominal strength”) or to arrange a meeting with the chairpersons of the relevant delegations. The Bureau also decided to make publicly available the statistics related to the participation of national delegations on the Assembly’s website.