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se to be a member from that same day after 26 years as a member state in the months since the assembly has on several occasions debated the consequences of russia s aggression against ukraine including the legal consequences and the practical support it can give to ukraine in october 2022 for example it adopted a resolution declaring the russian regime a terrorist one 26 while in january 2023 it unanimously demanded the setting up of an international criminal tribunal in the hague to prosecute russian and belarusian political and military leaders who planned prepared initiated or executed the war in june 2023 as the international olympic committee signalled it was considering allowing russian and belarusian athletes to take part in the paris 2024 olympics as neutral individuals the assembly urged the continuation of a total ban in 2025 a platform for dialogue with russian democratic forces was formed with russian opposition members named in january 2026 27 the platform met in strasbourg for its first session in january 2026 28 controversies edit corruption scandals edit see also azerbaijani laundromat caviar diplomacy and qatar corruption scandal at the european parliament the european parliament has had criticism over its prodigality and for being too complacent with conflicts of interest 29 30 31 its refusal to become full member of the greco like all its member states is also a matter of criticism 30 in 2013 the new york times reported that some council members notably central asian states and russia have tried to influence the organisation s parliamentary assembly with lavish gifts and trips 32 according to the report said member states also hire lobbyists to fend off criticism of their human rights records 33 pace members have been implicated in corruption scandals relating to the qatari and azerbaijani governments qatargate is an ongoing scandal involving allegations that pace officials lobbyists and their families have been influenced by the governments of qatar morocco and mauritania engaging in corruption money laundering and organized crime 34 multiple pace officials have been implicated in a money laundering scheme organized by the azerbaijani government 35 36 37 in exchange for a whitewashing azerbaijan s poor human rights record and b lobbying for azerbaijan in the nagorno karabakh conflict european politicians were paid off and received lavish gifts and paid trips 38 39 40 41 42 in 2018 an independent investigation found strong suspicions of corruptive conduct involving members of the assembly and named a multiple members as having breached the assembly s code of conduct 43 37 following a series of hearings it sanctioned many of the members or former members mentioned in the investigative body s report either by depriving them of certain rights 44 or by excluding them from the assembly s premises for life 45 following the flight of nagorno karabakh armenians in 2023 pace adopted a motion which stated that it regrets the fact that members of the european parliament have accepted and failed to declare trips to azerbaijan visits to the nagorno karabakh region and luxury hotel stays that were organised and paid for by azerbaijani officials 46 resolution on children s right to physical integrity edit see also circumcision controversies intersex medical interventions and female genital mutilation in october 2013 following a motion by the committee on social affairs health and sustainable development a year prior the assembly passed a resolution and an accompanying recommendation on children s right to physical integrity 47 48 49 these documents argued that while pace had addressed forms of child abuse such as sexual violence and domestic violence it was also necessary to address what they called non medically justified violations of children s physical integrity which may have a long lasting impact on their lives they called for a ban on the most harmful practices such as female genital mutilation while also calling for increased dialogue on other procedures they viewed as harmful such as infant male circumcision intersex medical interventions and body piercings while none of the above documents called for an outright ban on male circumcision they did call for the procedure to be regulated and debated and an accompanying report referred to the practice as a human rights violation 50 this condemnation received criticism from religious groups and figures such as shimon peres the president of israel at the time as well as the anti defamation league which argued that circumcision was an accepted medical procedure and that the resolution interfered with religious freedom and was anti semitic 51 52 53 in response to these criticisms liliane maury pasquier of the committee on social affairs health and sustainable development wrote an op ed in the washington post arguing that medical evidence against circumcision was presented in the assembly s hearings and that the child s right to physical integrity overrode the parents right to religious freedom 54 this op ed was further criticized by the anti defamation league 55 in 2015 pace passed a resolution on religious freedom and tolerance that referenced its previous resolution on circumcision and reiterated its view that the procedure should only be performed under appropriate medical conditions 56 though some outlets reported that pace had retracted its anti circumcision stance 57 pace clarified that it had neither cancelled nor replaced the old resolution and that they had never called for infant circumcision to be banned in the first place 58 cultural divisions edit although the council of europe is a human rights watchdog and a guardian against discrimination it is widely regarded as becoming increasingly divided on moral issues because its membership includes mainly muslim countries turkey and azerbaijan as well as eastern european countries among them russia where social conservatism is strong 59 in 2007 this became evident when the parliamentary assembly voted on a report compiled by anne brasseur of the alliance of liberals and democrats for europe party on the rise of christian creationism bolstered by right wing and populist parties in eastern europe 59 historic speeches edit in 2018 an online archive of all speeches made to the parliamentary assembly by heads of state or government since its creation in 1949 appeared on the assembly s website the fruit of the two year project entitled voices of europe 60 at the time of its launch the archive comprised 263 speeches delivered over a 70 year period by some 216 presidents prime ministers monarchs and religious leaders from 45 countries but it continues to expand as new speeches are added every few months some very early speeches by individuals considered to be founding figures of the european institutions even if they were not heads of state or government at the time are also included such as those by winston churchill and robert schuman addresses by eight monarchs appear in the list such as king juan carlos i of spain king albert ii of belgium and grand duke henri of luxembourg as well as the speeches given by religious figures such as pope john paul ii and several leaders from countries in the middle east and north africa such as shimon peres yasser arafat hosni mubarak léopold sédar senghor or king hussein of jordan the full text of the speeches is given in both english and french 61 regardless of the original language used the archive is searchable by country by name and chronologically languages edit the official languages of the council of europe are english and french but the assembly also uses german and italian as working languages 62 each parliamentarian has separate earphones and a desk on which they are able to select the language which they would like to listen to when foreign guests wish to address the assembly in languages other than its working languages they are invited to bring their own interpreters participants edit the assembly has a total of 612 members in total 306 principal members and 306 substitutes 63 who are appointed or elected by the parliaments of each member state delegations must reflect the balance in the national parliament so contain members of both ruling parties and oppositions the population of each country determines its number of representatives and number of votes this is in contrast to the committee of ministers the council of europe s executive body where each country has one vote while not full members the parliaments of kyrgyzstan jordan morocco and palestine hold partner for democracy status with the assembly which allows their delegations to take part in the assembly s work but without the right to vote and there are also observer delegates from the canadian israeli and mexican parliaments the costs of participation in the assembly mainly travel and accommodation expenses are borne by the national parliament of the delegation concerned the few members who are appointed as rapporteurs when they are carrying out work for the assembly have their costs covered by the council of europe some notable former members of pace include former heads of state or government such as britain s wartime leader sir winston churchill former german chancellor helmut kohl former italian prime minister silvio berlusconi former turkish president abdullah gül former cypriot president glafcos clerides former finnish president tarja halonen former georgian president mikhail saakashvili former albanian president sali berisha and many others 64 dick marty switzerland appointed in late 2005 as rapporteur to investigate the cia extraordinary renditions scandal and organ theft in kosovo by the kosovo liberation army from the kosovo war in 1998 2001 65 a number of leading british political personalities including former deputy prime minister john prescott former liberal democrat leader charles kennedy former labour leader jeremy corbyn and former scottish first minister alex salmond 66 marcello dell utri italy convicted for complicity in conspiracy with the mafia italian concorso in associazione mafiosa a crime for which he was found guilty on appeal and sentenced to 7 years in 2010 67 the scottish soldier adventurer writer and mp sir fitzroy maclean united kingdom author of the autobiographical memoir and travelogue eastern approaches who was a member of pace on two separate occasions in 1951 1952 and 1972 1973 composition by parliamentary delegation edit delegation seats accession albania 4 1995 andorra 2 1994 armenia 4 2001 austria 6 1956 azerbaijan 6 2001 belgium 7 1949 bosnia and herzegovina 5 2002 bulgaria 6 1992 croatia 5 1996 cyprus 3 1961 1964 1984 czech republic 7 1991 a denmark 5 1949 estonia 3 1993 finland 5 1989 france 18 1949 germany 18 1951 greece 7 1949 1969 1974 b hungary 7 1990 iceland 3 1959 ireland 4 1949 italy 18 1949 latvia 3 1995 liechtenstein 2 1978 lithuania 4 1993 luxembourg 3 1949 malta 3 1965 moldova 5 1995 monaco 2 2004 montenegro 3 2007 c netherlands 7 1949 north macedonia 3 1995 norway 5 1949 poland 12 1991 portugal 7 1976 romania 10 1993 san marino 2 1988 serbia 7 2003 slovakia 5 1993 d slovenia 3 1993 spain 12 1977 sweden 6 1949 switzerland 6 1963 turkey 18 1949 ukraine 12 1995 united kingdom 18 1949 notes edit previously part of czechoslovakia 1991 1993 due to the greek case as part of serbia and montenegro until 2003 previously part of czechoslovakia 1991 1993 the special guest status of the national assembly of belarus was suspended on 13 january 1997 the russian federation ceased to be a member of the council of europe on 16 march 2022 68 in january 2024 the parliamentary assembly of the council of europe resolved to not ratify the credentials of the azerbaijani delegation thereby preventing the azerbaijani delegates from participating in the work of the assembly 69 on 30 january 2025 georgia s delegation to the parliamentary assembly of the council of europe has announced the immediate cessation of its participation in the assembly after the plenary voted to impose strict conditions for the ratification of the delegation s credentials 70 parliaments with partner for democracy status edit parliaments with partner for democracy status pledge to work towards certain basic values of the council of europe and agree to occasional assessments of their progress in return they are able to send delegations to take part in the work of the assembly and its committees but without the right to vote delegation seats population population per member year partner for democracy status granted jordan 3 10 954 200 3 651 400 2016 71 kyrgyzstan 3 6 586 600 1 097 767 2014 72 morocco 6 36 261 700 6 043 617 2011 palestine 3 5 227 193 73 1 742 398 2011 74 parliaments with observer status edit delegation seats population population per member year observer status granted canada 6 35 151 728 75 5 858 621 1996 76 israel 3 9 350 580 77 3 116 860 1957 78 mexico 6 126 014 024 79 21 002 337 1999 other delegations edit the assembly of kosovo has been invited to designate a delegation to take part in the work of the assembly and its committees as observers without the right to vote on 24 april 2023 the committee of ministers of the council of europe approved kosovo s application for membership allowing the application to progress to the parliamentary assembly 80 81 on 16 april 2024 the parliamentary assembly voted in favour of kosovo s membership with 131 votes in favour 29 against and 11 abstentions 82 delegation seats population population per member year invited kosovo 3 83 1 806 279 84 602 093 2016 85 invited representatives edit two representatives of the turkish cypriot community have been invited to participate in the deliberations of the assembly as observers without the right to vote participants seats population population per member year invited turkish cypriot community 86 2 382 836 87 191 418 2004 88 89 90 91 composition by political group edit the assembly has six political groups 92 group chairman seats socialists democrats and greens group soc frank schwabe germany 159 575 group of the european people s party epp cd pablo hispán spain 136 575 european conservatives patriots affiliates ecpa zsolt németh hungary 115 575 alliance of liberals and democrats for europe alde iulian bulai romania 86 575 group of the unified european left uel laura castel spain andrej hunko germany 37 575 members not belonging to a political group nr 42 575 presidents edit the presidents of the parliamentary assembly of the council of europe have been period name country political affiliation 1949 édouard herriot interim france radical party 1949 1951 paul henri spaak belgium socialist party 1952 1954 françois de menthon france popular republican movement 1954 1956 guy mollet france socialist party 1956 1959 fernand dehousse belgium socialist party 1959 john edwards united kingdom labour party 1960 1963 per federspiel denmark venstre 1963 1966 pierre pflimlin france popular republican movement 1966 19...