Committee structure of the Assembly

Due to the enlargement of the Council of Europe, the Assembly considers that an adaption of the structure of its committees is necessary for a better rationalisation of its work.

It notes that the process of enlargement is nearly completed and that the Committee on Relations with European Non-Member Countries has therefore fulfilled its mandate.

In addition, in the interests of simplication, the Assembly proposes that there will only be two size categories of committees.

1.The Assembly considers that the enlargement of the Council of Europe, in terms of its membership and mandate, calls for an adaptation of its committee structure with a view to rationalisation and simplification.

2.As regards the number of committees, the current structure of 13 general committees is to be preserved subject to one modification: the Committee on Relations with European Non-Member Countries shall cease to exist as almost all European states are already members of the Organisation or are likely to become so in the near future. Relations with the remaining European non-member states shall be maintained by the Political Affairs Committee.

3.On the other hand, the Assembly has decided to create a new general committee on the honouring of obligations and commitments by member states of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee).

4.In the interest of rationalisation, the present four size categories of committees shall be reduced to two. The following committees shall each have 65 seats: Political Affairs; Economic Affairs and Development; Social, Health and Family Affairs; Legal Affairs and Human Rights; Culture and Education; Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities; Migration, Refugees and Demography. The following committees shall each have 45 seats: Science and Technology; Rules of Procedure; Agriculture and Rural Development; Parliamentary and Public Relations; Budget and Intergovernmental Work Programme (for the allocation of these seats, see paragraph 8(2) below). Given the specific nature and composition of the Monitoring Committee, its membership is determined by a different system outlined in Resolution .. (1997).

5.Concerning the number of sub-committees and in accordance with Rule 46, paragraph 2, of the Assembly's Rules of Procedure, committees with 65 seats are authorised to set up a maximum of three whereas committees with 45 seats shall only set up a maximum of two such sub-committees.

6.In accordance with Rule 43, paragraph 3, ad hoc committees shall be set up only in exceptional circumstances to deal with specific situations.

7.The Assembly underlines that the adapted structure places no additional burden on the budgets of national parliaments and will rather tend to bring about a reduction of expenses.

"1.At the beginning of each Ordinary Session the Assembly shall set up the following general committees:

2. Committee on Economic Affairs and Development (number of seats: 65), 3. Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee (number of seats: 65),

6. Committee on Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities (number of seats: 65),

10. Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (number of seats: 45), 11. Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations (number of seats: 45), 12. Committee on the Budget and Intergovernmental Work Programme (number of seats: 45),

13. Committee on the honouring of obligations and commitments by member states of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee)

2.France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United Kingdom shall have three seats in each of the first seven committees and two seats in the next five committees.

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine shall have two seats in each of the first seven committees and one seat in the next five committees.

Albania, Andorra, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Malta, Moldova, Norway, San Marino, Slovak Republic and Slovenia shall have one seat in each of the first twelve committees."^[3]

"3. In accordance with Resolution ... (1997), the Assembly shall set up a committee on the honouring of obligations and commitments by member states of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee)."

At its meetings on 30 January and 3 February 1995, the Bureau of the Assembly considered the proposals of the ad hoc committee on the Assembly's committee structure for restructuring the Assembly committees (the main issue being the setting up of three new committees and the reduction in the committees' size). Following the discussion, it was decided to send these proposals to the Chairmen of the committees, national delegations and political groups to enable them to submit their comments by the end of April 1995.

The ad hoc committee on the Assembly's committee structure met in Strasbourg on 24 April 1995 to discuss the comments which had reached it by that date. Having noted that a number of committee Chairmen wanted the Standing Committee to hold an exchange of views on this question on 22 May 1995, the ad hoc committee asked the Bureau of the Assembly to place it on the meeting agenda. The Bureau granted this request.

Following the exchange of views, the Standing Committee asked the Chairmen of the national delegations to state their position on a series of specific points which had been raised during the discussion.

On 28 June 1995 the President of the Assembly sent the Chairmen of the national delegations a letter conveying to them his reflections on the proposed restructuring. Having regard to the opinions expressed in the Standing Committee, the President found that three options were open to the Assembly:

The President stated in his letter that each option had material and financial implications both for the Council of Europe and for the national parliaments, which would have to be taken into account when reaching the final decision.

During the September 1995 part-session of the Assembly, the President received oral comments from several Chairmen of delegations and written comments from others.

These comments, together with the views expressed in the Standing Committee on 22 May 1995, indicated a clear majority in favour of maintaining the present committee structure with some adaptations aimed at rationalisation and simplification and bearing in mind that there were outstanding questions as to the continued existence of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee on Relations with European Non-Member Countries.

On 10 January 1996, the Bureau of the Assembly took note of a memorandum prepared by the Office of the Clerk on the committee structure and decided to reconsider this question after having received the conclusions of the ad hoc committee on the Assembly's committee structure.

In the meantime, between January and June 1996, the Bureau discussed the implementation of Order n� 508 (1995) on the honouring of obligations and commitments by member states of the Council of Europe, on the basis of proposals from the Committee on Rules of Procedure and the three committees directly concerned by that Order, viz the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, the Political Affairs Committee and the Committee on Relations with European Non-Member Countries. Among the proposals, the setting up of an Assembly's ad hoc committee was considered.

On 28 June 1996, the Bureau had a preliminary discussion on a draft report of the Committee on Rules of Procedure on the creation of an ad hoc committee of the Assembly to deal with the honouring of obligations and commitments by member states of the Council of Europe. On that occasion, it was also informed that the Chairmen of the political groups had put forward new ideas on this subject at a meeting held on 27 June. After a brief exchange of views the Bureau instructed the Clerk of the Assembly to prepare a memorandum on the basis of those new ideas with a view to the continuation of its discussion at its next meeting.

On 3 September 1996, the Bureau discussed a memorandum by the Clerk of the Assembly, confirmed its intention to create an ad hoc committee of the Assembly on "monitoring" which should be composed of 40 members proposed by the political groups and of the Chairmen of the three general committees and asked the Committee on Rules of Procedure to revise its draft report, on the basis of the latest Bureau position, as regards the creation of such an ad hoc committee of the Assembly and the procedure to be followed.

On 26 September 1996, the Committee on Rules of Procedure was informed of further discussions by the political groups from which it resulted that a majority was in favour of the creation of a permanent committee on monitoring instead of an ad hoc committee of the Assembly. The Committee on Rules of Procedure, following a vote, supported this proposal.

The previous day, the ad hoc committee on the Assembly's committee structure met in Strasbourg and decided to postpone any decision on the proposed structure until the report of the Committee on Rules of Procedure was submitted. However, the ad hoc committee expressed its views on the new proposed structure which is reflected in Part B below. The proposal is formulated on the basis of 40 member states following the accession of Croatia on 6 November 1996. The prospective accession of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Georgia has not been considered.

At its meetings on 5 November 1996 and 7 January 1997, the Committee on Rules of Procedure adopted a draft resolution confirming the proposal to create a permanent monitoring committee composed of 40 members and approved the report presented by Mrs Lentz-Cornette and contained in Doc. 7722.

On 6 November 1996, the Bureau approved the proposals submitted by its ad hoc committee and asked the Committee on Rules of Procedure to prepare a draft report on the basis of those proposals, including in particular draft amendments to the relevant provisions of the Rules of Procedure. In accordance with those instructions, the committee adopted a draft resolution and approved the present report at its meeting on 7 January 1997.

In accordance with the wishes of all who stated their views on this point, the statutory number of Assembly seats to which national delegations are entitled would remain unchanged. The Assembly consists of 286 representatives following the accession of Croatia. There is the same number of substitutes.

The principle that all national delegations are represented on all committees would also be upheld, the exception possibly being the Committee on the honouring of obligations and commitments by member states of the Council of Europe.

The principle that committees, as well as sub-committees, shall only be composed by members of the Assembly should also be reaffirmed.

Regarding the number of committees (13 at present), it is generally felt that it should not be increased. In this connection, the proposal of the Committee on Rules of Procedure to constitute a permanent committee on the honouring of obligations and commitments by member states of the Council of Europe creates a new situation and a clear decision is needed concerning the future of the two committees mentioned in paragraph 7.

As regards the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, although its transformation into a sub-committee was suggested, the ad hoc committee on the Assembly's committee structure was in favour of maintaining it.

Concerning the Committee on Relations with European Non-Member Countries, it is also generally felt that, as almost all European States are already members of the Organisation, or likely to become so in the near future, the mandate of this committee has virtually been completed. There would appear to be no pressing reasons to prolong the existence of this committee. Relations with the few remaining European non-member states could in fact easily be maintained by the Political Affairs Committee. The Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations would be charged with maintaining the Assembly's interparliamentary relations by adaptation of its terms of reference.

In this context, attention should also be drawn to the proposal by the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee and the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography to set up a Committee on Equality of the Sexes. A similar proposal was contained in the motion for a resolution on the setting up of a committee on equality between men and women (Doc 7478 revised). It should be recalled that an ad hoc committee of the Bureau on equality of the sexes already exists. The ad hoc committee on the Assembly's committee structures was in favour of maintaining the present situation.

In the interests of rationalisation, the present four size categories of committees would be reduced to two, with committees either having 65 or 45 seats. In order to effect this simplification, the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography would become a committee with 65 seats and the Committee on Science and Technology, the Committee on Rules of Procedure and the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development would become committees with 45 seats. Taking into account the proposals on the creation of a Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe, this committee would not fit into these two categories as its membership would be determined by a different system (40 members and 40 alternates appointed by the Bureau by applying the apportionment ratio based on the so-called "D'Hondt principle" on the basis of the list of candidates submitted by the political groups).

Within the committees having 65 seats, each national delegation would be allocated seats as shown in Appendix 1. This allocation follows from an adaptation of Rule 43.2 of the Assembly's Rules of Procedure to the altered size classification of committees proposed.

Following Croatia's accession, 7 committees would thus have 65 seats each and 5 committees would each have 45 seats.

Regarding the permissible number of sub-committees to be appointed by each committee, it seems logical that this should be made dependent on the size of the full committee. Thus committees with 65 seats would be able to set up a maximum of three, and committees with 45 seats only two sub-committees. It should be remembered that at present, according to Rule 46.2, "the number of standing sub-committees appointed by a committee should not exceed three, unless authorised by the Bureau ...". Appendix 2 contains a list of the sub-committees (not including ad hoc sub-committees) now in existence. It will be for the committees to determine the sub-committees which they wish to set up, having regard to their terms of reference (see paragraph 33 below), and which may or may not coincide with the present sub-committees.

Ad hoc committees should be set up only in exceptional cases to deal with specific situations. As stipulated by the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly in Rule 43.3, their term of office should be prescribed at the time of formation. Appendix 2 lists those now in existence.

In order to allow active participation by the parliamentarians in the proceedings of the committees with 65 seats, their meeting time would no doubt require extension to last possibly a full day. This would enable the committees to get through their agendas and the members to avail themselves of their right to speak.

By systematically extending to a full day the duration of committee meetings, it should be possible not only to organise proceedings more satisfactorily but also to reduce the number of meetings. The convening of sub-committee meetings immediately before or after the plenary committee meeting, a practice already established by certain committees, would make for improvement in members' participation as well as in the quality of sub-committee work.

One of the concerns expressed by many national delegations during discussions on the future committee structure of the Assembly was that the national parliaments might incur higher expenditure for the financing of the Assembly's operation. The proposed structure, being merely an adaptation of the present one, should place no additional burden on the budgets of the national parliaments.

Reduction in the number of committee and sub-committee meetings should also be conducive to greater participation in meetings by members of the small delegations. Certain national delegations in fact stated that the proliferation of meetings which had occurred in recent years made it difficult for their members to attend regularly. Their journeys moreover represented an expense which certain national parliaments were not always in a position to bear.

Further, a reduction in the number of sub-committees and ad hoc committees, and their convening in conjunction with the plenary committee or the Bureau of the Assembly, would also bring about a reduction of expenses for the national parliaments.

As pointed out during discussion in the Standing Committee in May 1995, it will be necessary to define precisely the terms of reference of the various Assembly committees which, like the Council of Europe itself, have evolved considerably over the past few years. This should make for greater coherence in the Assembly's work and avert duplication between the activities of the various committees and sub-committees. This redefinition will also afford a clearer perception of the part to be played by the various committees in the Assembly's relations with other bodies, both outside and inside the Council of Europe. The Assembly could, on the basis of a second report of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, decide on new terms of reference for committees at a later stage.

By comparison with the other options previously considered (see paragraph 4), the one now proposed is the most readily applicable as it requires no more than an adaptation of the structure now in existence. Indeed, only four committees would have the size of their membership altered (Migration, Refugees and Demography, Science and Technology, Rules of Procedure and Agriculture and Rural Development) and the changes in the sub-committees could be made gradually.

The Committee on Rules of Procedure decided that the present report should be submitted to the Assembly at its first part-session in 1997 (27-31 January 1997) together with the report on the setting up of a monitoring committee (see Doc. 7722). It furthermore considered that the new structure could be put into place rapidly.

2 seats : Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine

1 seat : Albania, Andorra, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Malta, Moldova, Norway, San Marino, Slovak Republic, Slovenia

C. Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee) (40 seats^[4])

40 regular members appointed by the Bureau by applying the apportionment ratio based on the so-called "D'Hondt principle" on the basis of the list of candidates submitted by the political groups.

"1.A committee may ...... appoint one or more standing or ad hoc sub-committees ...........................

2.The number of standing sub-committees appointed by a committee should not exceed three, unless authorised by the Bureau .......

5.The number of members of a sub-committee may not exceed a third of the regular membership of the full committee......".

Committees	Sub-Committees
Political Affairs	Middle East Dayton Agreements
Economic Affairs and Development	International Economic Relations "North-South : Europe's role"
Social, Health and Family Affairs	European Social Charter and Social Rights Family Affairs, Health and Bioethics Labour and Employment
Legal Affairs and Human Rights	Human Rights
Culture and Education	Architectural and Artistic Heritage of Europe Youth and Sport Media
Science and Technology	Technology Policy and Energy
Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities	Europe Prize Environment Regional Planning Local and Regional Authorities
Migration, Refugees and Demography	Migration Refugees Demography
Rules of Procedure	-
Agriculture and Rural Development	Fisheries World Food Problems East-West agricultural and rural development
Relations with European Non-member Countries	-
Parliamentary and Public Relations	Relations with NGOs Participatory Democracy
Budget and Intergovernmental Work Programme	European Civil Service

Members of the committee: Mrs Lentz-Cornette (Chairperson), Mr Rewaj (Vice-Chairperson), Mr Verbeek (Vice-Chairperson), MM. A�ba, Alloncle, Bianchi (Alternate: Giannattasio), Brancati, Cummings (Alternate: Sir Russell Johnston), Dias, Djerov, Sir Anthony Durant, MM. Fenech, Frankl, Gabrielescu, Gjellerod, Goovaerts (Alternate: Mrs Maximus), Mrs Holand, Mrs Iotti (Alternate: Lorenzi), MM. Korakas, Kovacevic, Kostiutkin, Kyprianou, Laakso, Magnusson, Marten, Masson, Moln�r (Alternate: E�rsi), Proriol, Pukl, Mrs Pulgar, Mr Pyatnitsky (Alternate: Averchev), Mrs Ragnarsdottir, MM. Schieder, Schloten, von Schmude, Seiler, Sinka, Slobodnik, Spahia, Stretovych, Tahiri (Alternate: Vangelov), Wallace.

N.B. The names of those members who took part in the vote are printed in italics.

[3] For the composition of the Monitoring Committee, see paragraph 3 below and Resolution .. (1997) (see Doc. 7722).

[4] Plus the ex officio members (see paragraph 5 of the draft resolution contained in Doc. 7722).