PACE fails to create working group to work on Russia’s return to the organization
The Joint Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe met on Thursday, October 12 but failed in its objective to create a working group that would explore ways to reform the Council of Europe so that Russia may rejoin, wrote representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe, Dmytro Kuleba on Facebook.
"During the meeting, they were supposed to decide on the creation of a working group that, in fact, had to look for ways of reforming the Council of Europe to return Russia. According to the scenario of Russia’s advocates, the creation of a working group should itself have become a signal to Moscow and all those who have not decided yet in the Council of Europe: we are ready to negotiate, we are looking for a solution," he wrote.
"The meeting has just ended. The position of the government of Ukraine is that there are no conditions for the return of Russia, that there is no need to create any working groups, and that the dialogue between the Committee of Ministers and the Assembly can continue only within the already available formats. Our partners were more diplomatic, but they did not support the creation of the group either. The Ambassador of Russia and some other ambassadors spoke in favor of creating the group," Kuleba added.
According to him, Ukrainian delegates, together with their partners, "overwhelmed" Russia’s initiative.
"There will be no working group. Each body will continue the discussions autonomously, the PACE chairman will conduct a bilateral dialogue with the CMCE (Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe) chairman, and in January 2018 we will gather for a regular meeting of the Joint Committee. The picture for the advocates of Russia has deteriorated, though they will continue to try to make progress in any possible way," Kuleba wrote.
PACE approved a resolution on Wednesday, October 11 that aims to lift political sanctions from the Russian Federation.
In 2014, the Committee adopted a resolution whereby the delegation of the Russian Federation, because of the annexation of the Crimea, was deprived of the right to vote in the assembly and expelled from all governing bodies.