TheSecretaryGeneraloftheIPUdiddeemsuchasuggestioncontradictorytooneofthe essential tasks of the
organisation: to
gather all kinds
of Parliaments. However, the
amendmentmentionedameresuspensionprocess,ratherthanexclusion.Furthermore,the decisionwouldbeuptotheGoverning CouncilratherthantheExecutiveCommitteeorthe
Secretariat.Evenif implementingtheprocesscouldcauseproblems,theIPUhadadutynot
to turnablindeyetothecrimestargetedbythe amendment.
MrFrançois-Xavier
deDonnea(Belgium)agreedwiththeobjectiveoftheauthorsofthe amendment.But draftedassuch,he fearedthatitwouldapplyto
manyAfricanStates,suchas
Mali
or the Democratic Republic
of Congo, which were
unable to
prevent the abuse committedon theirterritoriesbecausetheyweretooweakor
theirarmyinefficient.Therefore,
hesuggestedthat"deliberately"beaddedafter "stop".
Firstly,
suspension could
only be decided after
the representatives of the
Parliament
concerned
hadbeenheard.WhentheSyriandelegateshadbeenheardby
theExecutive Committee,theyhadactuallyremainedespeciallyvagueonmanypointsthatcouldnotbe clarified.
Ms.MichèleAndré(France)thoughtthatsomeParliamentswereentirely fictitious.The NorthKorean Parliament,forinstance,gatheredameredayayearandwasthereforenotable to
control the
Government, which nonetheless
committed serious crimes
against
its population. AsforSyria,ithadanactiveParliament thatbelongedintheIPU.AndSyrian
Parliamentarians
werecurrentlyexpectedtoexpresstheirviewsonthesituationintheir
country.
TheChair warnedagainstapotential misinterpretationofthedebate: theamendmentdidnot inanywaylooktosetupaprocedureonjudgingthedemocraticqualityofacountryor Parliament,
or to redefine
the conditions established
by the
Statutes for
membership eligibility. Ifitdid, manyParliamentswouldbetargeted andtheamendmentwouldbesure
to causeanoutcry,especiallyasitwouldchallengetheprincipleofuniversalityoftheIPU.
MrJosefWinkler(Germany)agreed.Heactuallythoughtthattheproposedarrangement
wasnotentirely
new,sinceitmerelyspecifiedtheexistingruleaccording towhichany
Parliamentthat had
stoppedfunctioningas
such
– such as those not tryingto prevent
especially
seriouscrimes–couldhaveitsMembershipsuspended.However,itwouldbe
difficulttohavetheamendment approved,sincemanyIPUMemberscouldfeeltargeted.Its phrasingcouldthereforebesoftenedevenfurther.
Furthermore,someMembersriskedbeingsuspendedsimplywhenchallengedbyanother
Parliament: the
Azerbaijani
delegation,
for instance,
could
request a procedure against
ArmeniaaboutNagorno-Karabakh;GeorgiacoulddothesameagainstRussiaaboutSouth
Ossetia.
WhenaMemberoftheParliamentaryAssemblyoftheFrancophoniestoppedfunctioning,its
Membership
wassuspended.Forinstance,theParliamentofMauritaniahadalready
been
suspendedduringvarious coups inthecountry.Thisdidnotpreventofficialstokeepintouch orthedelegationconcernedtocomeback
assoon astherequestedconditionsweremetagain. Such a methodemphasised
the needto respect certain democratic principles and
parliamentarypracticesatalltimes.
MrKristerÖrnfjäder(Sweden)remindedthatattheAssembly
inBern,severalIPU
MembershadmettheSyriandelegationtodrawitsattentiontotheworseningsituationof
theircountry.TheheadoftheSyriandelegation
haddeniedthefacts,eveninviting other delegations–whohadobviouslydeclined–togotoSyriawhenmunicipalelectionswereto
takeplacethefollowing month.Thatbeingsaid,itwasessentialthatthemeeting couldhave beenheld,evenifithadnotbeenmade publicthen.Inthatsense,
itwould beperfectly possibletohaveapublicmeeting inasimilarcaseinordertoshowinternational
public opinionthattheIPUwasnotinactive.
Mr Josef Winkler (Germany) supported the
pending reform,
but was surprised
by "informal"
meetingsbeingmentionedinanofficialdocument:theyshouldnotcauseany
problemaslongastheydidnotleadtoadditionalcosts.
The Chair
deemed
it unnecessary
to include formal whips' meetings
in the
Annual
Assemblies.However,anygroupwasobviouslyallowedtogettogether.
MrPierre-FrançoisVeillon(Switzerland)remindedthatthereshouldalsobeadiscussion on the
much
needed improvementand professionalizationof
the StandingCommittees.
Severalmeasureshadthusbeenproposed:tostrengthentheroleoftheBureau,tocommit Membersforseveralyears,toimprovesupportgivenbytheGeneralSecretariat, similarto whatwasbeingdonewithinnationalParliaments.Unfortunately,itdidnotseemthatthe propositions discussed inQuitowouldmovethecaseforward.TheExecutive Committee wouldnonethelesshavetodealwiththematterlateron.
Mr Pierre-François
Veillon
(Switzerland) said
that
potential
surpluses
should not necessarilybeallocatedtocurrentexpensesinthefollowingfinancialyear:provisionsmight
wellbeneeded.
MrKristerÖrnfjäder(Sweden)notedthattheJapaneseParliamentarianshadbeeninvited
todiscuss those financial issues,buthadnotreplied.HethoughtthattheIPUwasdoing its best,andthatitwasnowuptothemtoact.
ThePresidentremindedthatheoncehadbattledwithintheExecutive Committee togeta
reduction of IPU
expenses.
They had to carry
on like that, otherwise
some countries, includingFrance,wouldnolongerbeabletopaytheircontributionsorwouldhaveto
decreasethem.TheIPUhadtoomanyactivitiesoutsideitsscopeofaction.Forinstance,it
hadbeendecideditwouldnolongerattendWTOmeetings–seeminglyin
vain.
MrKristerÖrnfjäder(Sweden)said that in2013, 85% oftheIPU budgetwasfundedbyits
Members'contributions.
TheChairconcludedthat
whichevermeanswereused,
the contributionsneededto be reduced–whichmeantreducingtheIPUbudget.Austria,JapanandtheNetherlands, among
others,wishedtoreducetheamountoftheircontributions.TheIPUmighthavedefineda
strategyfor2012-2017,butextraordinarysituationscalledforextraordinarydecisions:it
wouldhavetoreduceitsbudget.
5.Preparationof
the128thAssemblyinQuito
TheChairinformedhiscolleaguesthatthegeneraldiscussionofthe128thAssembly would
be entitled: "From
unrelenting growth to
purposeful development; Buen
vivir:
New approaches,newsolutions".
TheChairsaidthattheParliamentofBhutanhadappliedforMembership andtworequests
forreaffiliation hadbeensenttotheSecretariat,
onefromtheParliamentofSomaliaandthe
otherfromtheParliamentofLiberia.Furthermore,
itseemedthatmanyMembersoftheUS CongressinfavouroftheUnitedStatescomingbacktotheIPUhadbeenbeatenordecided
nottostandforre-election, whichmadeitevenlesslikely thattheUnitedStateswouldre-
enter the
organisation. Finally, the Global Organization of Parliamentarians against
Corruptionhadsentarequestforanobserver'sstatus.
Mr Josef Winkler (Germany)
was very much in
favour of Bhutan
being granted
Membership.Hehadrecentlybeentothecountry.
Moreover,he saidthathis
term asMemberof
theExecutiveCommitteewouldendin
October 2013andthatMrTrulsWickholm,fromtheNorwegiandelegation,mightsucceedhim.
MrPierre-François Veillon(Switzerland)remindedthatfurthertodiscussionsontheIPU
logoanditsnewcommunicationpolicy,asmallmajority hadeventuallydecidedtokeepthe currentlogo.During thelastmeetingoftheExecutiveCommittee,MrJohnssonhadsaidthat
modernising
thelogowouldstillbepursued.Theagency"developingthevisualidentity"of
theIPUhadcarriedoutasecondonlinesurveyofitsMembers.ApparentlytheSecretariat wishedtomakeadecisionduringatelephoneconference, whichseemedinappropriate. The
matterwouldthereforebeontheAgendainQuito.However,wasitabsolutely necessary to
changethelogo?NeithertheUNnorUNESCOdidit.
Furthermore,Azerbaijanhadapparently proposedtohosttheIPUAssembly in2014,which again
raisedthequestionofwhich criteriashouldbeused toacceptacountry'sinvitation.The
system
currently worked on a "first come,
first served"
basis,
with an effort
towards
geographicrotationandimportancegiventotheorganisational qualityoftheAssembly.No politicalcriteriahadbeenconsideredatanytime.Aseriousdiscussiononthismattershould beheldattheExecutiveCommittee.Onecouldnotturnablindeyetothereportsofthe CouncilofEuropeonthesituationinAzerbaijan.MembersoftheExecutive Committee and
theTwelvePlusGroupshouldmakeadecisiononthismatter.
MrKristerÖrnfjäder(Sweden)saidthattheSwedishdelegation
didnotwishtogoto Azerbaijanif therewasan alternative.Shouldthe invitationbe confirmed,couldtheynot
hold theGenevaMeetinginthespring,andaskParliamentstohosttheAutumnAssembly?
Mr Robert Walter (United
Kingdom)
noted that the
Parliament of Azerbaijan's
MembershiprequesttotheTwelvePlusGrouphadbeenvotedforbyasimplemajority–but
notbytherequiredtwo-thirdmajority–attheAssemblyinQuebecCity.TheAzerbaijani invitationwasnowonthetable. In
January,theCouncilof
Europehaddiscussedthe reporton
Azerbaijanby the
MonitoringCommittee.The countrydid
not fully meet
Membership
criteria,butneitherdidmanyothercountries,includingsomeTwelvePlusMembersandother
States thathadhostedIPUAssemblies–suchasCuba.Oneshould thereforeapply caution to
the"categorisation"ofStates.Azerbaijanorganisedelectionsonapluralisticbasis. Now, how democraticwasMongolia?Andwas Chinareally
apluralisticdemocracy?Furthermore,there seemedtobeaconcertedcampaigntotryandunderminethedemocraticcredibility of Azerbaijan.
Thecountryhadsubstantialgasandoilresourceswhichwouldsoonfuelthe European market.ShouldtheNabuccopipeline–whichwentacrossTurkeyandAustria–be completed,itwouldchallengeGazprom'ssupremacyonthemarket.Itmightbefar-fetchedto seeGazpromasplayingarolehere,butRussiawasdefinitelynotbeingverycooperative.
MrFrançois-XavierdeDonnea(Belgium)agreedthatthedemocraticqualityofmanyIPU
Memberscouldbechallenged.However,theconflictbetweenAzerbaijanandArmeniawas an
issue–and an
objectivefactor.WasitwisetoholdtheIPUAssemblyin
a Statethatwasin
anopen–andviolent–conflictwithitsneighbour?Therefore,
thebestsolutionwouldbeto convinceColumbia–whichhadproposedtohosttheAutumn2014Assembly –tomoveits invitationforward.Azerbaijancouldthenbepassedoverwithouttoomuchexplaining todo, whichwouldnotbethecaseifitwasdecidedtoholdtheAssemblyinGeneva.
The Chairremindedthat theExecutiveCommitteehadnotyetreceivedanofficialinvitation, whichwouldprobablybe
addressedinQuito.
TheChairsaidthattheGroupwouldhavetomakeadecision–asithaddoneinQuebecCity
forAzerbaijan–ontheUkrainianParliament'sMembershiprequest.Legislativeelectionshad
been held thereon28thOctober2012. The Grouphadactuallypostponeditsvote soasto take intoaccounthowtheyhadbeenorganised,whichit consideredasacriterion– amongothers–
tohelpwithitsdecision.AsithadbeenremindedforAzerbaijan,Membership
approval
requiredatwo-thirdmajority.