Statement of no confidence in Agramunt results from orchestrated harassment of PACE president - Kosachyov
MOSCOW. April 30 (Interfax) - Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) President Pedro Agramunt has been a victim of an orchestrated harassment, Russian Federation Council international affairs committee head Konstantin Kosachyov said following the PACE Bureau's statement of no-confidence in Agramunt.
"From a political perspective, the statement is unprecedented. It resulted from an orchestrated harassment of the politician, which started somewhere in March. In fact, [it started] long before, as soon as he [Agramunt] started making efforts on reinstatement of the PACE as an across-the-board institution, in which all European countries are represented, without an exception," Kosachyov said on his Facebook page.
However, the Russian senator remarked that the Bureau's decision has no legal force in itself since there is no provision regarding either a no confidence vote or an impeachment in the PACE Rules of Procedure.
"Apart from the formal pretext - the unauthorized meeting with al-Assad, who is demonized by the West - Agramunt has faced standard accusations: links with Russia (it is 'the hit of the season') and, of course, corruption, which is considered to be a sure winner in the hands of any accuser since it is difficult to prove (and as usual, there is no need to), while the effect is guaranteed," Kosachyov said.
The senator believes that Agramunt never was a pro-Russian politician on any of the positions he held and that he is not one now, as criticism of Russia could be heard from him many times, he said.
"However, it has turned out to be Agramunt's problem that he sincerely perceives the PACE as a ground for dialogue and as a place where conflicts are solved, not ignited. He adheres to a democratic principle of Roman law, which is almost forgotten today, which reads: Audiatur et altera pars - Let the other side be heard as well," Kosachyov said.
"The point is that the anti-Russian 'crowd' at the PACE is rather scared of a direct dialogue and is trying its best to avoid it," he went on.
"So Agramunt came under the pressure of a virulent campaign, not because of his visit to Syria but only because of, one can say, the lack of understanding of the political situation. Today, Westerners don't need either dialogue grounds or across-the-board institutions. Their goal is turning the PACE into an assembly of the like-minded, by analogy with the European Union institutions, which they have long been referring to as just European institutions," he said.
"What once seemed to be a conventionalism - when the EU representatives were confidently referring to themselves alone as Europe - now has turned into a political problem, which paralyzes true all-European integration, as well as elementary interaction", he said.
In Kosachyov's view, another problem for the PACE, as well as other European grounds, is Ukraine, "a country that sees counteracting Russia as its only goal, which takes 100% of its time".
"This is of no benefit to Europe. It does an enormous harm. And if all-European entities don't solve the issue of Ukraine, then this spoiler will keep on working for their paralysis. Or maybe someone wants exactly that," Kosachyov said.
Kosachyov went on to wish Agramunt to have enough perseverance and patience, noting that the PACE president "is defending European values".
