It took the Europeans an hour to get acquainted with the formation of the Public Chamber and its activities. In the photo: "Rules of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation"
Photo: Alexander Miridonov
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PACE Meets the Public Chamber
Experts from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly got acquainted with the Russian Public Chamber yesterday in order to monitor Russia's fulfillment of its obligations before the CE. Co-rapporteurs Luc van den Brande and Theodoros Pangalos arrived in Moscow April 20 and visited the Prosecutor General's Office, Interior Ministry and State Duma before coming to the Public Chamber.
“The co-rapporteurs seemed to have a rather prejudiced attitude toward the Public Chamber created by the foreign press,” Chamber member Alexander Sokolov told Kommersant. “The Europeans doubted that an organization, a third of whose members are appointed by the president, is democratic. The entire process of the formation of the Public Chamber had to be explained and, it seems, we convinced them.”
The European observers were interested in the effectiveness of public examination of legislation and the Public Chamber's real ability to stand up for civil society. The PACE had received several complaints from noncommercial public organizations in Russian regions about difficulties receiving registration and the bureaucratic procedures involved. The co-rapporteurs were told about the Public Chamber's involvement in distributing government grants to NGOs.
The Europeans will publish their report in January 2009 and preferred not to comment on its contents in advance. Van den Brande did say, however, that “Much disturbs me in Russia.” He said that he would not petition to have Russia removed from the list of the ten member states (out of 47) that are subject to monitoring. The co-rapporteurs will return to Russia in September, when they will visit the North Caucasus.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 24, 2008
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