Agramunt impeachment motion disagrees with PACE Rules of Procedure - Slutsky
SEOUL. June 27 (Interfax) - The draft report modifying the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Rules of Procedure for the purpose of unseating PACE President Pedro Agramunt distorts the essence of parliamentarianism, State Duma International Affairs Committee Chairman Leonid Slutsky said.
"Hopefully, the report to be presented in Strasbourg within the next few hours will not entail any modification of the Rules of Procedure, which would distort the very idea of parliamentarianism and the very essence of the Parliamentary Assembly to which I have devoted 14 years of my life," Slutsky told reporters on Tuesday.
The report "may pass with balancing amendments" although it "has been obviously drafted for impeachment purposes, and the withdrawal of this draft resolution will negate its essence and core," he said.
The proposal to adjust the PACE regulations in order to make the impeachment of its president possible "is at odds with the rules, the procedure, and the spirit of cooperation in the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly," Slutsky said.
He regretted the fact that "yesterday's meeting of the PACE Bureau attended by 29 members, approved by 15 votes to 14 the report by [PACE Committee on Rules of Procedure head] Liliane Maury Pasquier, instituting a procedure, which, in particular, will allow the impeachment of the PACE president."
"We remain hopeful and continue to cooperate with all the five political groups in PACE," Slutsky said.
The PACE is set to discuss the draft report instituting "a procedure to bring into play the institutional accountability of holders of elective offices within the Assembly and to dismiss them during their term of office" on Tuesday.
The document derives from the situation involving PACE President Pedro Agramunt, which occurred in March 2017. The Assembly passed a motion of no-confidence in Agramunt because of his visit to Syria but failed to remove him from office, because the current regulations did not envisage that option.
