/pub/history/military/a-weu/documents File: 1391crpp.fer Document 1391 8th November 1993 Revision and interpretation of the Rules of Procedure: enlargement of WEU II. Accession of Greece ______ REPORT (1) submitted on behalf of the Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges (2) by Mr. Ferrarini, Vice-Chairman and Rapporteur ______ TABLE OF CONTENTS ================= DRAFT DECISION on the revision of Rules 1, 9, 15 and 40 of the Rules of Procedure EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM submitted by Mr. Ferrarini, Vice-Chairman and Rapporteur 1. General 2. Changes to be made to the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly ______ Draft Decision ============== on the revision of Rules 1, 9, 15 and 40 of the Rules of Procedure The Assembly, DECIDES I. To revise Rules 1, 9, 15 and 40 of the Rules of Procedure as follows: 1. Rule 1 In paragraph 2, after "Germany: 18", insert "Greece: 7". 2. Rule 9 In paragraph 1, leave out "eight" and insert "nine". 3. Rule 15 In paragraph 2, after "Belgium", insert "Greece". 4. Rule 40 In paragraph 2, - after "The first and second of the permanent committees shall be composed of", leave out "thirty-four" and insert "thirty-seven"; - after "Germany 5", insert "Greece 3"; - after "The third, fourth, fifth and sixth permanent committees shall be composed of", leave out "twenty-six" and insert "twenty-eight"; - after "Germany 4", insert "Greece 2". II. To include the changes in paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the present decision in the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly the day the accession of the Hellenic Republic comes into force. ______ Explanatory Memorandum ====================== (submitted by Mr. Ferrarini, Vice-Chairman and Rapporteur) 1. General According to Article IX of the modified Brussels Treaty: "The Council of Western European Union shall make an annual report on its activities and in particular concerning the control of armaments to an Assembly composed of representatives of the Brussels Treaty powers to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe." This provision implies that, as soon as the protocol of accession comes into force, i.e. once the last notification of ratification has been received, Greece's parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe will takes its rightful place in the WEU Assembly. Consequently, the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly have to be revised to allow members of that delegation, when the time comes, to benefit fully from all the prerogatives of members of the Assembly. The protocol of accession of the Hellenic Republic to WEU was signed at the meeting of the Council held in Rome on 20th November 1992. Following the signing of the Maastricht Treaty on 10th December 1991, on 30th June 1992 the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, then Chairman-in- Office of the WEU Council, sent an invitation to the Hellenic Republic to hold negotiations to determine the conditions for its possible accession to the modified Brussels Treaty. These negotiations, which conformed with Article XI of the constituent act of WEU, led to a positive conclusion resulting in the signing of the protocol of accession in Rome on 20th November 1992. According to Article XII of the treaty, the said protocol comes into force on the date of the deposit with the Belgian Government of the last notification of ratification by signatory states to the protocol in accordance with appropriate national procedure. The signing of the protocol of accession of the Hellenic Republic to WEU leads to signatory governments starting the procedure for ratifying the said protocol. The accession of Greece and its date depend on a decision by the constitutionally competent bodies of the countries concerned. Consequently, although it is not at present possible to foresee the exact date of the accession of the Hellenic Republic to WEU, the Assembly must provide for it to take place. When Greece becomes a full member of WEU, it will have the same rights and obligations as the other modified Brussels Treaty powers. This fact determines the changes to be made to the Rules of Procedure of the WEU Assembly. The members of the Greek Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will be the representatives of the Greek Parliament to the Assembly; as such, they will have the same rights as the representatives of other modified Brussels Treaty powers in accordance with Article IX of the Treaty, the Charter and the Rules of Procedure of our Assembly. The Greek language will become the eighth official language of the WEU Assembly. The question whether the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly should be revised to limit the number of official languages is not linked with the accession of Greece. The Assembly may have to raise the matter when it believes this useful, but the case of the Greek language must not be dealt with differently from that of the official languages of other member countries. The seven members and seven substitutes forming Greece's Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will take their seats in the chamber on the same basis as the the representatives of the other modified Brussels Treaty powers. They will be able to participate fully in the work of the Assembly and its committees, where it will be possible for them to be elected as chairmen or rapporteurs. The changes to be made to the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly therefore rule out any point of discussion or interpretation. They stem directly from the protocol of accession of Greece to the modified Brussels Treaty and the Rules of Procedure of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. They are of the same nature as those made to the Rules of Procedure of the WEU Assembly when Portugal and Spain acceded to the modified Brussels Treaty. 2. Changes to be made to the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly Rule 1 of the Rules of Procedure will therefore be revised by the insertion of "Greece: 7", this being the number of Greek representatives to the Assembly of the Council of Europe. The change in the composition of the Assembly will necessarily mean a change in the composition of its Bureau and committees. The spirit underlying the provisions of Rule 9 concerning the Bureau of the Assembly is to allow each member country to designate a candidate for the Bureau. Hence Rule 9, paragraph 1, necessarily has to be revised to read: "The Bureau of the Assembly shall consist of the President and nine Vice-Presidents." Similarly, the provisions of Rule 40 concerning the appointment of committees have to be changed to allow the new delegation to be represented in each of the six standing committees in proportion to the number of its members. The provisions of Rule 15 concerning the Standing Committee have to be changed in accordance with the same principle. Since Greece has the same number of representatives as Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal, it will therefore have three seats in the first and second permanent committees and two in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth. ______ (1)1. Adopted unanimously by the committee. (2)2. Members of the committee: Mr. Thompson (Chairman); MM. Amaral, Ferrarini (Vice-Chairmen); Mrs. Aguiar, MM. Battistuzzi, Bolinaga (Alternate: Grau I Buldu), Mrs. Brasseur, MM. Couveinhes, Cuco, Deniau, Dicks, Lord Finsberg (Alternate: Godman), MM. Hughes, Junghanns, Le Jeune, van der Maelen, Mignon, Ottenbourgh, Sainz Garcia (Alternate: Mrs. Sanchez de Miguel), Scheer, von Schmude, Mrs. Soutendijk van Appeldoorn, Mr. Stoffelen, Mrs. Terborg, MM. Trabacchini, Visibelli. ------- A French version of this report may be obtained upon request. For information, please contact: Yves ROBINS, Press Counsellor _/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/ _/ | ASSEMBLY OF WESTERN EUROPEAN UNION _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ | 43, avenue du President Wilson _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ | F-75775 Paris cedex 16 France _/_/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ | Tel 331-47235432; Fax 331-47204543 _/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/_/_/ | E-mail: 100315.240@Compuserve.com