MOSCOW, January 27. /Corr. Sergey Izotov/. The Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko said that Russia will continue the dialogue with the new President of the parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Pedro Agramunt.
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In her opinion, Spanish politician structurally configured in relation to Russia, because he “was not encumbered by foolish, dead-end solution”, which took PACE under the chairmanship of Anne Brasseur.
“He (Agramunt) is not burdened with this stupid, dead-end decision, which took the PACE, when its President was Mrs. (Ann) Brasseur,” said the Federation Council speaker, answering the question. “Since the new President is not burdened with such decisions, it is structurally set up, and we will continue to have a dialogue with him,” said she.
Matvienko expressed the view that presidency Brasseur “will go down in history as the PACE is not the brightest page, and this will remain, including on her conscience, as Chairman of PACE”.
Spanish politician Pedro Agramunt, on 25 January, was elected the new PACE President. He replaced Anne Brasseur, who headed the organization the past two years. The native of Valencia Agramunt since 2008 is a member of the Senate of Spain from the people’s party. At the PACE he plays an active role, acting as Rapporteur on a number of controversial topics.
The PACE Chairman is elected for 1 year renewable for 1 year.
The payment of dues to the Council of Europe
Russia can be settled with the payment of its contribution to the Council of Europe depending on the development of the situation in the parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said the speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko.
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The head of the upper house of the Russian Parliament noted that earlier the representatives of Russia said “ready to adjust its position (relative to the contribution to the budget of the COE) depending on the situation in PACE”.
However, she recalled that this contribution is not only on the funding of PACE, but also the other institutions of the Council of Europe, including the Committee of Ministers and the ECHR. “Nevertheless, while decided to pay only a portion of this contribution, and then look at the developments and to finalize my decision,” concluded the Senator.
Earlier, the speaker of the state Duma Sergey Naryshkin has informed that in February Russia will pay the third part of its contribution to the Council of Europe.
The loss of authority of Russia in PACE
The Russian delegation in PACE in April 2014 was deprived of substantive powers because of the events in Ukraine and the reunification of the Crimea with Russia. In 2015 PACE twice considered the question of the restoration of the Russian delegation in her rights, but sanctions still remain: Russia deprived of voting rights and participation in the governing bodies of the Assembly and its monitoring missions to observe elections in the CE space. In response, Russia said it will suspend its involvement in PACE activity until the end of 2015. The leadership of the Russian delegation has repeatedly stated that she will be back to PACE only when removed from all sanctions.
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Disagreements between Russia and PACE
© Mikhail Japaridze/TASS
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Pushkov: the new President of the PACE can be created conditions for dialogue with Russia
Kosachev: the election of Agramunt, head of the PACE gives cautious hope for change for the better
Pushkov: PACE should focus on the problems of Ukraine, refugees and “attacks on women”
On 18 January, the Chairman of the state Duma Sergey Naryshkin has informed on refusal of the Russian delegation to submit an application to participate in PACE session in January, which will be held from 25 to 29 January. In her address the Chairman of the state Duma Sergei Naryshkin and the head of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko at the head of the PACE, in particular, stated that the Parliament of the Russian Federation “at the moment it is not possible to refer to PACE for approval of the credentials of the Russian delegation to the January session of the Assembly in 2016”. The document noted that the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation is ready to resume work in PACE in case of observance of the rights of national delegations.
In response to a letter from Brasseur made a statement, which noted that “under article 26 of the Statute of the Council of Europe and article 6 of the Regulations of the Assembly, the delegation of the Russian Federation will not be able to participate in the work of the Assembly throughout the 2016 or at least until the next parliamentary elections in Russia.”
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Pushkov: PACE is not imposed and may not impose sanctions for the deputies who visited the Crimea
