At yesterday’s session of the Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe, held as part of the regular session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, Sabina Cudic was appointed to the position of rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for Georgia.
This is the first time in 23 years of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) membership in the Council of Europe that a delegate from BiH has been elected to the position of rapporteur for a member state.
This significant position involves Cudic, in her role as rapporteur, overseeing the situation in the member state with the support of the Council of Europe secretariat, through regular visits aimed at fact-finding in areas such as election processes, the state of the judiciary, the rule of law, and the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Rapporteurs ultimately propose a report and resolution to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
“This position is sought-after and extremely important for several reasons – the current crisis in Georgia, partly driven by Russian influence, as well as the Georgian authorities’ decision to pause negotiations with the European Union (EU), requires sensitive diplomatic steps. At the same time, the issue of Russian influence on sovereign countries is not unfamiliar to BiH and the Western Balkans, and it is important that someone from BiH can speak on this topic from a position of authority,” stated Cudic.
She added that it is an honor for her, in less than two years as a representative of BiH in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, to have been elected first as vice president of the European Liberals in the Council of Europe and now as a rapporteur.
“In this very important, multi-year mission of monitoring Georgia’s fulfillment of obligations, as the first person from BiH in such a position, it is clear that in this mandate in Strasbourg, we are pursuing a more proactive and dynamic policy,” Cudic added.
She expressed gratitude to her colleagues for the nomination and the broad support she received yesterday with her official election to this position.
“Of course, my focus is and remains my work in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH (PABiH) and the processes I have initiated there, while the position of the rapporteur is simply another European platform from which I can influence European and regional processes,” concluded Cudic, Klix.ba writes.
