THEY DO NOT WANT TO ISOLATE ARMENIA

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At the opening of its winter session in Strasbourg, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) reelected Luís Maria de Puig (Spain, SOC) as its new President, according to the PACE Communication Unit.

Nineteen out of 20 of the PACE vice presidents were also elected. The head of the Azerbaijani Parliament Delegation, David Harutyunyan, the head of the Armenian delegation to PACE was elected Vice-President. According to the charter, PACE deputy chairmen can be elected twice for a one-year term.

Note that the Monitoring Committee is scheduled to consider Armenia’s implementation of Assembly’s Resolutions 1609 and 1620 at 2:00 (local time). In his addressing speech Mr. Puig voiced hope that “Armenia will successfully pass the exam.” He noted that the PACE steps aim to integrate Armenia into the system of values Armenia has chosen on the way to CoE membership, rather than to isolate the country.

Before the beginning of the session, Luís Maria de Puig hoped Armenia’s voting right would be suspended. Besides, he noted that during the recent visit of PACE co-rapporteurs Prescott and Colombier to Armenia an agreement was reached on establishing a new working group to investigate the issue of “political prisoners.”

Karine Asatryan

Strasbourg