Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution stressing the need to preserve Russia’s membership in the organization and urging Moscow to appoint its delegation and pay membership fees.
During the session of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary arm, broadcast live on the PACE website, a total of 105 lawmakers voted in favor of the resolution, 30 voted against and 16 abstained.
The resolution, headlined “Role and mission of the Parliamentary Assembly: main challenges for the future,” says that PACE sanctions on the Russian delegation for the country’s reunification with Crimea in 2014 and Russia’s subsequent decision to stop participating in the activities of the Assembly, have “led to a rift within the Organisation.”
“As of June 2017, the Russian Government’s decision, in reaction to this situation, to suspend payment of its contribution to the budget of the Organisation has led to a major budgetary crisis threatening the Council of Europe’s key activities,” the resolution reads.
Therefore, the assembly “calls on the Russian Federation, in accordance with its statutory obligations, to appoint a delegation to the Assembly and to resume obligatory payment of its contribution to the Organisation’s budget, failure of which may lead to the suspension of its representation rights in both statutory organs.”