Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Roger Gale will become its acting president, PACE said on Friday.
“Following his [PACE President Pedro Agramunt’s] resignation, the most senior Vice-President of the Assembly, Sir Roger Gale, automatically becomes Acting President,” PACE said in a statement posted on its website. “In line with the PACE Rules, he shall act until the election of a new President at the following part-session of the Assembly.”
The assembly noted, “In a letter, Pedro Agramunt today announced his resignation as President” of PACE.
On April 28, the PACE Bureau resolved it “has no confidence” in its president after Agramunt’s visit to Syria. However, the assembly’s regulations currently contain no mechanisms for dismissing PACE officials, including its president (except for cases of their voluntary resignation).
A delegation of Russian State Duma (lower house) lawmakers along with representatives from PACE and its President Pedro Agramunt visited Syria on March 20-21 at the invitation of Syrian parliament speaker, Khadiya Abbas. Over their stay in Syria, the lawmakers met with Syrian President Bashar Assad and had talks at a joint meeting of the foreign affairs committees of Russian and Syrian parliaments.