President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Pedro Agramunt announced his resignation today via Twitter.
"Today, for personal reasons, I have decided to no longer chair the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe," Agramunt wrote.
The PACE Bureau, at a meeting of the Assembly’s spring session, resolved that it "has no confidence" in Agramunt following his recent "unauthorized" visit to Syria and meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Most members of the Assembly demanded his early resignation.
On June 27, the PACE adopted the report “Recognition and implementation of the principle of accountability in the Parliamentary Assembly” (154 in favor, 30 against, 13 abstentions) which introduces the long overdue legal rules of procedure that allow PACE to hold persons in elected offices accountable and – as an ultima ratio – to dismiss them if needed.
After adoption of this report, Agramunt’s dismissal was expected.
