This week, the Council of Europe made some important decisions, including reinstating Russia’s voting rights and electing new leadership. The Moldovan delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) casted the majority of their votes for the decision.

The Moldovan delegation to PACE was split between 2 votes for and 1 against the reinstatement of Russia’s voting rights. The Republic of Moldova has 5 representatives listed on the PACE website, including Adrian Candu. Representatives of the Moldovan Parliament to PACE, deputies Andrei Nastase (PPDA) and Vlad Batrincea (PSRM) voted for the draft resolution and publicly motivated their vote here and here. Deputy Mihail Popsoi (PAS) voted against the resolution.

PDM deputy and Parliament Vice President Monica Babuc came with the initiative to invite the Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Nicu Popescu for testimony in parliament. However, President of the Parliament Zinaida Greceanii did not call the initiative to vote. Minister Popescu, however, stated publicly that he is open for questions from the deputies. in a parliamentary republic where the principle of separation of powers works, it is not the role of the executive branch to make recommendations to the deputies at PACE, elected by the people, said Popescu.

Romania’s USR deputy Iulian Bulai posted a motivation for his vote against Russia’s return and condemned Romania’s PSD deputy vote for the PACE decision. After the break taken at 22:00 in the assembly debates that went into the night, only 2 of the delegates of a 10-member Romanian delegation  listed on the PACE website remained to express a vote. 

The overwhelming majority of parliamentarians from the European community were for a change in relation to Russia: the number of votes for the decision was double those against it, with Italy, France, and Germany leading by number of votes. PACE members voted for the return of Russia’s right to vote with 118 votes in favor, 62 votes against, and 10 abstaining. Many representatives were not present at the vote altogether. 

All the while, 7 Eastern and Central European countries stood in opposition and signed a joint declaration. Ukraine walked out of the PACE session alltogether. Among those voting against the decision, the UK had the biggest number of delegates against (13). 

According to a Bloomberg editorial, the importance of the PACE decision is that it sets a precedent for lifting sanctions imposed on Russia for the 2014 annexation of Crimea. Regional publication JAMnews finds “worrisome” France and Germany’s readiness to return to a normalization of relations to Russia.

In 2014, Russia lost voting rights in PACE after its annexation of Crimea and after supporting military separatists in eastern Ukraine. Russia responded in 2016 by boycotting the Assembly and in 2017, it refused to pay its annual contribution of 33 million Euros, about 7% of the Council’s budget.

Among other important things that changed at PACE this week was the election of new Secretary General to start a 5-year term this fall: Vice Prime Minister, Foreign Minister of Croatia Marija Pejcinovic Buric.

In the heat of the political crisis, on June 12, the Moldovan Parliament approved the new members of the Moldovan delegation to PACE and their substitutions. Each of the four parliamentary factions received one member in the delegation. 

At PACE’s last session in January 2019, ZDG reporters wrote that the presence of Moldovan parliamentary deputies lacked transparency and was affected by the demands of the electoral campaign before February 24 parliamentary elections. This time, delegates from Moldova engaged in important foreign relations tasks.