Today
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a
resolution on "The crisis of democracy and the role of government in
modern Europe" based on the report from the Swiss deputy, Andreas Gross.
The author believes that the economic crisis in Europe has exacerbated
public distrust of democracy. "In a broad sense, this was due to serious
shortcomings in the functioning of democratic institutions, which have
not been able to prevent, quickly and adequately respond to new
challenges," Gross said. In his view, the basic idea of democracy is the
control of society over the power and promise of a fair distribution of
life chances.
The
report noted that a number of CE member countries are still under the
monitoring of its obligations: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan.
The
report highlighted the role of independent media in ensuring democracy,
an important institution, which provides control over actions of the
government. It points to the inadmissibility of the monopolies in the
media that take place in several countries of the Council of Europe.
Among
the recommendations to the report, was the widespread use of direct
democracy and referendums. Moreover, holding it to the initiative of
2-3% of the population is enough.
Another
recommended option is "electronic democracy", in particular, the use of
social networks in the transmission the population initiatives to
parliaments and other government agencies.
During the debate, the deputy from Armenia, Naira Zohrabyan stuck to
attacks on Azerbaijan, rather than Ilham Aliyev. Condemning extremism in
Europe, Zohrabian called the speech by the President of Azerbaijan at
the PA "Euronest" session in Baku on April 2," a masterpiece of racism
and xenophobia."
She also
accused the government of Azerbaijan and the press "in the cultivation
of tolerance to the Armenians." Zohrabyan also proposed to investigate
books on Azerbaijan, where "the Armenians are presented as the killers."
The
deputy from Azerbaijan, Rovshan Rzayev, noted that the unresolved
Karabakh conflict impedes the development of the country. He called on
the Council of Europe to promote conflict resolution. "We do not want
war in the Caucasus. If we could solve the Karabakh conflict and return
the millions of refugees to their homes, we have not heard those
criticisms that we hear in this room," Rzayev said.
British
deputy Paul Flynn said that it is impossible to justify the violation of
democracy by the unresolved Karabakh conflict. He said that if the
problems of human rights and political prisoners are not solved in
Azerbaijan, the country should be excluded from the Council of Europe.
Flynn thanked Gross for his assistance in solving the problems of human
rights, including Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani deputy Rafael Huseynov noted the Council of Europe does not
react to, Armenian defenders claims of human rights abuses in that
country and Armenia's occupation of territories.
After
Huseynov’s speech, Jean-Claude Mignon called on deputies from Azerbaijan
and Armenia to cease mutual recriminations and respect members of the
Assembly.
He said
that previously he had net with the heads of the delegations of
Azerbaijan and Armenia, urging the parties to show restraint. "We will
not be able to solve the conflict this way," Mignon said, adding that
the restraint is important in the light of the forthcoming six-month
presidency of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Committee of Ministers of
the Council of Europe in 2013-2014.
Then the
Azerbaijani deputy Aydin Abbasov was to speak, but he was not in the
room and could not express his attitude to Mignon’s words. Another
Azerbaijani parliamentarian, Sevinj Fataliyeva, also was absent at that
moment.
During
the debate, a number of deputies, mainly from Russia, tried to cast
doubt on the effectiveness of Western democratic values. Thus, the logic
of the deputy Alexander Sidyakin, is that democracy is fun for the
well-fed.
No comments:
Post a Comment