New CoE SG must fil Legitimity Gap by New Balance with Parliamentarians says Top MEP before key vote

Whoever might become CoE's new Secretary General tomorrow, he will have to fight hard to succeed to fill a serious "Legitimity gap" and to convince Europe's People that principles of pluralist Democracy and Human rights will be really respected inside Strasbourg's panEuropean Organisation, as CoE asks from its 47 member States, said in substance the President CoE Assembly's largest Group, ChristianDemocrat/EPP, Belgian Senator and former Head of Government of Flandres' federated State, Luc Van den Brande, speaking to Journalists including "EuroFora" at the eve of a crucial vote tomorrow for the election to CoE's top job.

After last Sunday's larger than expected win of chancellor Merkel's ChristianDemocrats at one of Europe's biggest countries : Germany, it became an obvious paradox, that, despite EU Citizens' large vote, throughout most of EU's 27 Member Countries, in favor of ChristianDemocrat/EPP parties who won the latest June 2009 EU Elections, on the contrary, CoE's next SG will have to be a Socialist, whether MEPs like it, or not...

- "We have a problem" : It's not so democratic to be obliged to chose only among 2 Socialists, as we wouldn't also accept to be obliged to chose only among 2 christiandemocrats , earlier admitted even the President of CoE's Socialist Group, Swiss MEP Andreas Gross, as MEPs reminded now.

This is due to a more than 6 Months insistance of a majority in CoE's Committee of Ministers' Deputies (Ambassadors) to change the rules of CoE SG's election without previously consulting CoE's Assembly which elects him, and to exclude, for the 1st time in CoE's 60 years History, all Parliamentarian candidates, even if they were experienced heads of strong political Groups at a pan-European level.

The Ambassadorial committee claimed that it preferred, this time, to have candidates with a "higher standing", as f.ex. a former Prime Minister, even of only 1 or 2 years experience, hoping to get more publicity in the Press and have a more persuasive diplomacy than in the Past. (Regardless of the existence, or not, of a long enough experience into handling Multilateral European affairs, and without taking into account the fact that a simple Swiss MEP, Dick Marty, recently succeeded to win an unprecedended, world-wide headline news' publicity at the biggest Mass Media, from CNN to BBC, EuroNews and New York Times, etc, simply with original Investigations and a Report denouncing controversial practices of "secret detention centers" and CIA's "reddition flights" as excessive abuses against Human Rights in the necessary fight against terrorism.

But it was not yet explained why it's only after initially admitting 4 candidacies, and even "hearing" all 4 candidates, suddenly it was only at the end of March 2009 that the ambassadorial Committee was suddenly pushed to make an "U-turn" and find out that 2 of them would not meet its new formal criteria of admissibility.

The main problem is that, by doing so, a majority in CoE's Ambassadorial Committe hindered CoE's Parliamentary Assembly to use the elementary Democratic right to be free to chose among various politicall candidates, since it excluded the ChristanDemocrat/EPP and the Liberal candidate, obliging MEPs to vote only on the two remaining candidates, both Socialists.

Moreover, they succeed an outgoing CoE SG, Terry Davis, who was also Socialist, (as even the President of CoE's Assembly, Luis de Puig, is).  - "That obviously makes too much Socialists !", several CoE officials observed.1

A fact contrary to CoE's own principles of "Pluralist Democracy", as CoE's Assembly oficially denounced in a Resolution adopted quasi-unanimously on April 2009. This was followed by a majority ...refusal to vote for an election in such conditions on June 2009. (See previous "EuroFora" publications). And strong protests at this September 2009 session, shared by most MEPs, as CoE Assembly's President, Spanish Socialist MEP Luis de Puig reiterated also this week in Strasbourg.

But, after various "pressures" reportedly exerted on several MEPs, and in view of the fact thet the organization remained without a SG from September 1st, (even if the currently acting CoE SG Mrs Maud de Boer Buqquichio succeeeded to keep Strasbourg's house going), this time, a small number of 25 or 30 among CoE Assembly's 318 MEPs changed stance, and accepted to proceed to an election, even knowing that it was done in unsatisfactory conditions.

However, with MEPs divided between only 130 accepting to go for an election, while more than 72 stil refused or abstained, whoever might be elected risks to never gather more than a small Minority among CoE Assembly's 318 MEPs...

A surprising fact is that this unprecedented Crisis at CoE's top, between its MEPs and its Ambassadors, divided two parts which normally belong to one and same political trend : Since the Governments, which appoint and control the Ambassadors, are themselves elected, in each Member Country, by the same political majority of MEPs who stand in CoE's Parliamentary Assembly !  Unlile EU Parliament, where EuroMPs are chosen in differend, independent EU Elections, which may varry politically from the color of their National Government, on the contrary, at CoE's PanEuropean Assembly, MEPs come from the same political majority which elected their national Governments. Thus, it's certainly not a clear political opposition between opposite parties at CoE's level which might explain this strange clash.

The move comes shortly before CoE's Ministerial Committee starts to be chaired in 2010 by Turkey : one of CoE's most criticized Member States for exceptionaly grave violations of Human Rights (such as : Killings, enforced "disappearances", Torture, oppression of Freedom of Speech, destruction of Family Homes, arbitrary deprivation of Liberty, brutal aggressions,  Impunity of Criminals, etc). This fits with attempts to restrict CoE's Assembly's, ECHR's, and/or SG's independency.

- But, on the contrary, CoE, whose role was recently diminished, needs now a real and strong Parliamentary Assembly, "equal" to its Committee of Ministers, and not a mere "Consultative" Assembly, which is an out-dated remnant of 1949, Van den Brande stressed, launching a call to "change" a currently unsatisfactory situation by strengthening PACE in the "Future".

As for the largest Group : EPP's stance on tomorrow'rs vote about the remaining 2 candidates, Thorbjorn Yagland of Norway and Wlodzimierz Cimoscewicz of Poland, after making several observations on various favorable concrete points at each of them, Van den Brande announced that the ChristianDemocrats, after hesitating on whether they should abstain, finally decided, on the contrary, to "actively" intervene, in order to "influence" the votes on CoE's "future". But, even if he promissed a surprise on the "outcome" of the vote, he didn't open up his cards on EPP's final choice..

- Cimoscewicz was nominated by a Government from the center-right (as EPP), and, as a Polish, might facilitate CoE Assembly's closer cooperation with EU Parliament, whose new President is also Polish MEP Jerzy Buzek, while also working more on the "Eastern and Western Europe" he pointed out. 

On the other side, Yagland has also experience, and with his "Northern dimension", f.ex. he might keep Russia close to the rest of Europe, while also seeing where it needs to change, Van den Brande added.

This made an indirect but obvious hint to a motion for the refusal of Russian Delegation's credentials, signed by most Polish MEPs : - "I don't believe in radical sanctions", he clarified. But Cimoscewicz too, could handle correctly the Russian issue : I remember, when as Minister-President of Flanders' federated State  visited Walesha, (the Historic "Solidarnosc" activist and Polish Politician), he had told me that we must cooperate with Russia, but not at any price.

Whoever among them might be elected, at any case, one thing is certain : CoE cannot respect its own principles, regain and develop its recently diminished influence, without creating a "New Balance" in Strasbourg, betwen its Ministers and its Parliamentarians, Van den Brande concluded in reply to an "EuroFora" question.   

And he anounced a very "active" PACE, eager to fully play its role into forging CoE's "Future", to give it "a Perspective for the next 15 to 20 Years".