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Tension deepens between PACE and CE Ministerial Council regarding the candidates nominated to the post of Secretary General

29 April 2009 17:43 (UTC +04:00)

At the meeting on April 23, CE Committee of Representatives initially confirmed participation of two out of four candidates nominated to the post of Secretary General without holding discussions with PACE. The candidates of PACE were isolated from the list. This caused divergence between the bodies. PACE appealed to the Disciplinary, Immunity and Institutional Affairs commission. The Assembly considers that resolution should be adopted at the 119th meeting of CE Foreign Ministers in Madrid on May 12 to make broad choice among the candidates to the post of Secretary General. Moreover, the Committee of Representatives is asked to reconsider the draft resolution adopted in connection with the candidates nominated to the post of Secretary General on April 23, 2009. Draft resolution on the procedures of election for the post of CE Secretary General was adopted at the end of the discussions. It was noted that the new Secretary General will be elected on June 23 during summer session of PACE and the new Secretary General will take the office on September 1.
They say, if the PACE Foreign Ministerial Council does not take the PACE recommendations into consideration in Madrid and confirms the nomination of two candidates, the PACE in its turn may boycott these elections in its summer session. In that case, the Secretary General will resign and Deputy Secretary General will temporarily take the office. It should be noted that candidates on the post of General Secretary are Norwegian former Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland, Polish former Prime Minister WÅ‚odzimierz Cimoszewicz, PACE representative from Belgium Luc Van den Brande and Matias Yorsh, the head of the delegation of the PACE observation committee (Hungary).