Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
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The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which held its first session in Strasbourg on 10 August 1949, can be considered the oldest international parliamentary assembly with a pluralistic composition of democratically elected members of parliament established on the basis of an intergovernmental treaty. The Assembly is one of the two statutory organs of the Council of Europe, which is composed of the Committee of Ministers (the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, meeting usually at the level of their deputies) and the Assembly representing the political forces (majority and opposition) in its member states.
Functions
Unlike the European Parliament (an institution of the European Union), which had been created after the model of the PACE and also meets in Strasbourg for its plenary sessions, its powers extend only to the ability to investigate, recommend and advise. Even so, its recommendations on issues such as human rights have significant weight in the European political context. The European Parliament and other European Union institutions often refer to the work of PACE, especially in the field of human rights, legal co-operation and cultural co-operation.
Important statutory functions of the PACE are the election of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the judges of the European Court of Human Rights and the members of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture.
Members
It has a total of 626 members – 313 principal members and 313 substitutes – who are representatives of each Member State. There are also 18 observers of the Canadian, Israeli and Mexican delegations. The size of each country determines its number of representatives and number of votes.
Each State member selects its method of designating its representatives to the parliamentary assembly; however, they must be chosen from among the members of the respective Parliaments. Moreover, the political composition of each national delegation must reflect the representation of the different parties within the respective parliaments.
Some notable members of PACE include:
- Dick Marty (Switzerland), appointed in late 2005 as rapporteur to investigate the CIA extraordinary renditions scandal.
Groups
The Assembly is divided into political groups based on alliances between national parties of similar ideological viewpoints. The groups are:
- Socialist Group (SOC), which also includes members of other centre left parties (such as members of the European Green Party)
- Group of the European People's Party (EPP)
- Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)
- European Democrat Group (EDG)
- Group of the Unified European Left (UEL)
- representatives not belonging to a political group of the Assembly ("NR")