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RIA Novosti
Chairman of the state Duma Vyacheslav Volodin congratulated Pedro Agramunt on his reelection as speaker of the parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and expressed hope that under his chairmanship, the PACE will confirm its pan-European status. This was reported on the official website of the state Duma.
“We hope that under your leadership, the Assembly of all 47 member States of the Council of Europe will be able to confirm its special status as the most wide-ranging parliamentary organizations in Europe,” – said in greeting.
The re-election of Agramunt occurred on January 23. Spanish politician was the only candidate for the post of President of the Assembly. His nomination caused no objections.
Pedro Agramunt was first elected PACE President in January 2016, replacing Anne Brasseur. The PACE Chairman is elected for a term of one year, renewable on re-annual period.
The first in the 2017 session of the PACE opened in Strasbourg on 23 January, again without the participation of the Russian delegation. She was stripped of powers to the Assembly in April 2014 due to events in Ukraine and Crimea.
In 2015, the PACE has twice considered the question of the restoration of the Russian delegation of its rights, but the sanctions remained in force: Russia deprived of voting rights and participation in decision-making bodies of the Assembly and its monitoring missions to observe elections in the space of the COE. In response, Russia said it would suspend its involvement in PACE activity until the end of 2015. She was not involved in the work of the Assembly in 2016.