Editorial
| DOI | 10.1177/092405199601400101 |
| Published date | 01 March 1996 |
| Date | 01 March 1996 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
Editorial
During the Council
of
Europe summit at Vienna in October 1993, one
of
the points
discussed were the implications
of
the geographical enlargement
of
the Council
of
Europe,
as a result
of
the political changes which had taken place in Central and Eastern Europe as
from 1989. On that occasion, the Heads
of
State and Government
of
the Member States
of
the Council
of
Europe stated that the Council was the pre-eminent political institution
welcoming, on an equal footing and in permanent structures, the democracies
of
Europe
freed from communist oppression. For that reason the accession of these countries to the
Council
of
Europe was seen as a central factor in the process
of
European construction
based on the Organisation's values. Such an accession presupposes that the applicant
country has brought its institutions and legal system into line with the basic principles
of
democracy, the rule
of
law and respect of human rights. In this respect, the Committee
of
Ministers has stated repeatedly that the opening up to the Central and Eastern European
countries cannot take place at the cost of lowering the norms and standards
of
human rights
protection established by the Council of Europe. Notwithstanding
th~e
firm statements, the
question remains, if these principles are also followed in practice.
Since the end
of
1990, fifteen States
of
Central and Eastern Europe have joined the
Council
of
Europe. In respect
of
all those countries, their requests for membership have
been accepted, notwithstanding the fact that occasionally, some Member States expressed
doubts about the ability
of
the new Member States to meet the standards
of
the Council
of
Europe. And also when in January 1995 the decision on the Russian Federation's accession
to the Council
of
Europe was taken, only the political considerations received emphasis. At
that time a special committee formed by members
of
the European Court and the European
Commission
of
Human Rights, which had examined the conformity
of
the legal order
of
the Russian Federation with the Council
of
Europe standards, had issued a negative opinion
about Russia's ability to meet these standards (see the editorial
ofNQHR,
1994, Vol. 12,
No.4,
p. 368). This opinion was, however, not decisive for the Parliamentary Assembly to
suspend the procedure
of
Russia's accession in February 1995 by Resolution 1055(1995).
In this Resolution, the Assembly condemned the indiscriminate and disproportionate use
of
force by the Russian military, in particular against the civilian population in Chechnya. It
considered that the means employed violated Russia's international obligations. Notwithstan-
ding the fact that one year later the problems in Chechnya had not been solved and despite
the heavy criticism of Russia's crackdown in this region, on 25 January 1996, the
Parliamentary Assembly voted by 164 to 35 votes in favour
of
the Russian membership
of
the Council
of
Europe. The formal decision on the accession has to be taken by the
Committee
of
Ministers, which will meet in March of this year.
In our opinion this decision must be regretted and leads to no other conclusion that the
requirements for membership
ofthe
Council
of
Europe seem to have been met, once a State
has stated that it is willing to accede, irrespective
of
the question if it is also able to fulfil
the requirements for membership. It is too easy to argue that the Parliament had no other
choice and that a negative decision would be detrimental towards the democratic forces in
the Russian Federation. One
of
these democratic forces, the special advisor on human rights
to President Jeltsin, Mr Sergej Kovaljov, resigned a few days before the discussions in
Strasbourg on Russia's accession took place. Kovaljov had criticised the Russian invasion
in Chechnya from the very beginning. He stated that hewas not willing to support president
Jeltsin in the elections in June 1996, even if a choice has to be made between the
communist Zjoegnov or the populist Zjirinovski. He called upon the Council
of
Europe to
accept the Russian Federation's request for membership only under very strict conditions.
It seems to us that the Council
of
Europe has changed its strategy and has slowly been
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