PACE Cannot Represent Plurality of European Views Without Russia

The suspension of Russia prevents the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from contributing to the creation of a "unifying agenda" for Europe, the PACE Bureau said.

STRASBOURG (Sputnik) — The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is not able to represent the plurality of European views without the Russian delegation, the PACE Bureau said in a declaration Friday.

"The fact that, for two consecutive years, parliamentarians from one of the Organization’s member States, the Russian Federation, have not participated in the Assembly’s work limits the capacity of the Assembly to represent the rich plurality of views from across Europe," the declaration reads.

The suspension of Russia also prevents the assembly from contributing to the creation of a "unifying agenda" for Europe, the bureau said.

In order to reaffirm its role as a pan-European forum for inter-parliamentary cooperation, the assembly must find ways to keep open channels of communication with the Russian parliament and "explore all possibilities for dialogue offered by parliamentary diplomacy."

The Russian delegation was deprived of its voting rights in April 2014 following Crimea's reunification with Russia. Russian lawmakers were barred from participating in PACE's three key bodies — its bureau, presidential committee and standing committee.