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The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted on Tuesday the resolution on recognising and enforcing the principle of accountability in the Parliamentary Assembly by a vote of 154 in favour, 30 against and 13 abstentions at the PACE plenary session on June 27.

The resolution was presented by Swiss lawmaker Liliane Maury Pasquier.

To note, the adopted resolution makes amendments in the PACE Rules of Procedure. The reforms will allow the MPs to make proposals on dismissing any official in the Assembly published within 24 hours.

The offer on impeaching an official is to be put up to voting in the Assembly within 24 hours following its publication.

An official’s impeachment will be carried out through electronic voting. He will be impeached when receiving a two-thirds majority support of lawmakers.

The resolution will also allows the impeachment of the PACE President, who can currently be relieved from the post only through his own resignation.

The draft resolution notes that the members of the Parliamentary Assembly are required to act in compliance with the duties and obligations by which they are bound, in particular ethical rules in force. The Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs considers that this requirement shall be more stringent in respect of the Presidency of the Parliamentary Assembly and other high elective offices. 

“In order to ensure the democratic functioning of the Assembly, the holders of elective offices, i.e. the Presidency of the Parliamentary Assembly, the vice-presidencies of the Assembly, as well as the chairmanships and vice-chairmanships of committees, shall account for their actions to those who have elected them to those offices.

The committee wishes to reiterate the importance of the principle of accountability, which includes a duty of transparency and an obligation to account for one’s acts, without which the Assembly cannot have any confidence in those it has elected to office.

In order to ensure that this principle is given full recognition, the committee invites the Assembly to complete its regulatory framework by creating a procedure to bring into play the institutional accountability of holders of elective offices within the Assembly and the possibility to dismiss them during their term of office,” reads part of the resolution.

To note, the debates on the resolution were rather heated, with MPs expressing two-fold views. In her speech, Hermine Naghdalyan, member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE, suggested involving rapporteurs in the list of responsible offices. Another MP Tin Cox announced that there would be no need for the mentioned amendments if the current PACE President were wise enough to submit resignation.