PACE amends rules resulting in Ukraine’s reduced influence

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) Bureau amended its rules on Jan. 21 on forming its committees to prevent
more than two members from representing a single member-state, the
eurointegration.com.ua news site reported that day, citing Ukrainian PACE MP
Volodymyr Ariev. As a result, Ukraine has lost two out of its four seats on the
rules committee that is scheduled to consider the removal of sanctions from
Russia and its delegations return. The committee will have to be reformed with
only two representatives maximum from Ukraine, he said. The amendment has also
caused Ukraine to lose two out of its four current members on the committee to
select judges for the European Human Rights Court. “This is petty revenge for
the principled position of Ukrainians on changes to the rules in favor of the
Russian Federation,” Ariev said.

Council of Europe Secretary General Thornbjorn Jagland
told the parliamentary assembly the next day that he is officially initiating
work to amend Council of Europe statutes to relax or remove sanctions from
Russia, enabling its return to the parliament’s activity and the renewal of its
activity in the Council of Europe, including its membership dues. The idea had
been floated of forbidding imposing sanctions on any PACE member-state, the
eurointegration.com.ua news site reported. “We need to gather the committee of
ministers and PACE and clarify the rules and distribution of authority between
these bodies,” he said. “That can open the path to overcoming this crisis … I
very much hope that two statutory bodies will meet and do this together. This
will be a large gift for us if it happens.” Russia’s departure from PACE “will
be very, very, very bad for Europe,” he said, as reported by the news site.
“Something unknown can begin.”

Zenon Zawada: The Russian lobby in Strasbourg is working hard and effectively, and
it helps to have Jagland as an ally. These events fall in line with Russian
plans of exhausting both the Ukrainians and Europeans with its hybrid war
against the Ukrainian state. Although PACE’s authority is limited in having its
resolutions implemented, its resolutions carry significant symbolic influence
that often serve as a harbinger for events and sentiments in the European
Parliament. The political tide in Europe is in Russia’s favor.