Resolution 2534 (2024)1Provisional version

The progress of the Assembly's monitoring procedure (January-December 2023)

Parliamentary Assembly

1. The Parliamentary Assembly recognises the work carried out by the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee) in fulfilling its mandate as defined in Resolution 1115 (1997) (modified) “Setting up of an Assembly Committee on the honouring of obligations and commitments by member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee)”. In particular, it welcomes the committee’s work in accompanying the 11 countries under a full monitoring procedure (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Hungary, the Republic of Moldova, Poland, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine) and the 3 countries engaged in a post-monitoring dialogue (Bulgaria, Montenegro and North Macedonia) in their efforts to comply fully with the obligations and commitments they entered into upon accession to the Council of Europe, as well as the countries subject to periodic monitoring of their membership obligations, which was completed in 2023 in respect of France and San Marino and is currently carried out for the Netherlands.

2. The Assembly welcomes the fact-finding visits made in 2023 by the respective rapporteurs to Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Georgia, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia and Türkiye; and takes note of the findings of the rapporteurs expressed in the reports of these visits.

3. The Assembly welcomes the positive developments and progress made during the reporting period in the countries under a full monitoring procedure or engaged in a post-monitoring dialogue; it expresses its concern about some negative developments and remaining shortcomings and urges all these countries to step up their efforts to fully honour their membership obligations and accession commitments to the Council of Europe, while it stands ready and committed to co-operate and assist member States in this respect.

4. Regarding the countries under a full monitoring procedure:

4.1. with respect to Albania: the Assembly welcomes the continued progress in honouring its obligations and commitments to the Council of Europe especially with regard to the reform of the justice system, including the vetting of all judges and prosecutors, with a view to ensuring its independence and efficacity. With regard to fighting the persistent corruption and influence of organised crime in the country, the Assembly welcomes the tangible results achieved by the Specialised Structure for Anti-Corruption and Organised Crime including with regard to high level cases. It is now important that these first tangible results become a non-reversible trend. The removal of Albania from the so-called grey list of the Financial Action Task Force is a significant development in this regard. The Assembly regrets that, despite some improvement, the political environment in Albania is still very polarised and fragmented, which undermines parliamentary oversight and the proper functioning of the system of checks and balances in the country. While recognising Albania’s multicultural society and history of inter-religious dialogue and tolerance, the Assembly is concerned that more than five years after the adoption of the Albanian Law on the Protection of Minorities, three essential by-laws have not yet been adopted, which impedes the implementation of this law, and weakens the protection of minorities in the

1. Assembly debate on 26 January 2024 (7th sitting) (see Doc. 15893, report of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee), rapporteur: Mr Piero Fassino). Text adopted by the Assembly on 26 January 2024 (7th sitting).

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