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Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution 2186 on the need to reaffirm European unity and to defend and promote democratic security in Europe. The resolution is published on the PACE official website.

“The Parliamentary Assembly is concerned that, at present, momentous political challenges, both within and outside Europe’s borders, are threatening the continent and its unity: the daily risk of terrorist attacks, the rise of Euroscepticism, nationalism, populism and xenophobia, the persistence of frozen and open conflicts, the annexation or occupation of a neighbour’s territories, the prolongation of state of emergency measures and the re-emergence of divisions. Wars at the doors of Europe threaten the security of the continent and have caused massive refugee and migratory flows, reads the resolution.

It also says that there is currently an inconsistency in the composition of the two statutory organs: following the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and the application, on these grounds, by the Assembly of sanctions to the Russian parliamentary delegation, for three consecutive years one of the Council of Europe member States, the Russian Federation, has participated in the activities and been represented in the bodies of only one of the two statutory organs of the Organisation, namely the Committee of Ministers, but not of the Assembly. The Assembly regrets that, as a reaction to this situation, the Russian Federation announced, on 30 June 2017, its decision to suspend payment of its contribution to the budget of the Council of Europe for 2017 until full and unconditional restoration of the credentials of the delegation of its Federal Assembly in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

At that, alongside the European Union, whose far-reaching integration project will never cover the whole continent, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which also covers non-European States, the Council of Europe, composed of 47 European States, remains the only pan-European organization capable of promoting and guaranteeing democratic security throughout the continent.

Ukrainian outlet “European pravda” writes that this resolution may lead to may lead to lifting all sanctions against the Russian Federation. The internet outlet reminds that PACE was the only institution to introduce the sanctions.

As we reported earlier, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko held a speech at the session of PACE in Strasbourg on Wednesday, October 11. He came there with the working visit for clearing things about Ukraine's controversial education law and other essential topics.

"The return of Russia to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is possible only if Russia will show the progress in the fulfillment of undertaken commitments," Poroshenko said in his speech.