CO-RAPPORTEURS TO PRESENT THE FINAL CONCLUSION ON JUNE 23
armradio.am
19.06.2008 16:35
As it is known co-raporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe (PACE) John Prescott and Georges Colombier visited
Armenia recently in order to assess the implementation of PACE
Resolution 1609 (2008) on the functioning of democratic institutions
in Armenia.
In the framework of the visit the rapporteurs met with RA President
Serzh Sargsyan, Speaker of the National Assembly Tigran Torosyan,
representatives of the ruling coalition and the non-parliamentary
opposition, including Levon Ter-Petrosyan. They also met members of
the working group established to coordinate the implementation of PACE
Resolution, the parliamentary working group addressing the amendment
of the Electoral Code, advocates of the arrested opposition members
and representatives of Non-governmental organizations.
If the co-rapporteurs conclude that insufficient progress has been
made, the Assembly may hold a debate under urgent procedure on 25 June,
at its summer session, on the functioning of democratic institutions
Armenia.
Following the visit to Armenia, Georges Colombier noted that they had
an opportunity to study the information they periodically received
before their arrival in Armenia. The co-rapporteur noted that the
meetings with both authorities and the opposition were successful
and yielded good results.
According to the European diplomat, they had the task to clarify a
number of issues connected with the events of March 1, as well as
to find out what concrete steps have been undertaken to fulfill the
demands of the Resolution 1609.
Asked when the final conclusion will be publicized, Georges Collombier
said his colleague John Prescott is going to present their final
conclusion during PACE summer session to kick off on Monday.
The rapporteur assures that they want to help and not only
criticize. He hopes that transparent, independent and fair discussions
will take place at the monitoring Committee will. "I wish the PACE to
be able to give correct recommendations, which will manage to bring
Armenia out of the situation established after the events of March
1 through continuation of democratic processes," Colombier said.
The rapporteur is confident that all the political forces in Armenia
will be able to fully implement all the recommendations. He said
certain work has been done and it is positive, but it’s necessary to
go further, till the end for the expectations to be justified both
inside the country and within international organizations."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
