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Rene van der Linden: â€œSecretary Generalâ€™s election procedure is broken not by PACE, but by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministersâ€

24 June 2009 15:14 (UTC +04:00)

Strasbourg. Fuad Gulubeyli â€“ APA. Members of the European Peopleâ€™s Party Faction at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Christos Pourgourides and PACE former president Rene van der Linden held a joint press conference on the election of CoE Secretary General. Pourgourides said the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers made decision about the approval of the candidates without consultations with PACE, APA European bureau reports. â€œThe issue must be agreed with us before the decision because consultations between the two institutions are very important. The second issue is related to that the Committee of Ministers broke the CoE procedures and unilaterally changed some criterions. We, PACE, consider that it is not correct and undemocratic to change the rules during the beginning of election procedure. Therefore there is a conflict between PACE and Committee of Ministers. Both candidates approved by the Committee of Ministers are the members of the Socialist Party. We, on behalf of the European Peopleâ€™s Party, consider that the balance was disrupted in this electionâ€.

Rene van der Linden said the procedure was broken by the CoE Committee of Ministers. â€œThe Committee of Ministers tries to create an impression that PACE is responsible for that. But the procedure and criterions were broken by the Committee. We have to elaborate new rules and regulations to solve the crisis and then to start the elections. It is a unique in the 60-year history of the Council of Europe that the Committee of Ministers dictates its interests to the Council of Europeâ€. The European Peopleâ€™s Party, particularly on the Rene van der Lindenâ€™s initiative, is going to address the Venice Commission to express opinion on the issue. The faction made a decision and it is expected to be approved at the PACE Bureau meeting.