The absence of Azerbaijan's delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) winter session has sparked questions about the country’s participation in the European institution. According to sources in Azerbaijan's parliament, PACE did not send an official invitation to Azerbaijan, as participation requires such an invitation to be issued.
Frank Schwabe, a German PACE deputy and a key advocate for suspending Azerbaijan's voting rights in the Council of Europe, commented on social media platform X: "Azerbaijan acknowledges that it cannot have a delegation in PACE due to its fundamental disregard for the values and rules of the Council of Europe and is therefore not sending a delegation to Strasbourg for accreditation."
Elman Fattah, co-founder of the Platform III Republic, explained on the program "Difficult Question" that Azerbaijan refrained from sending its delegation because it anticipated its mandate would not be approved.
"Throughout the summer, officials from the presidential administration and diplomats with extensive PACE experience worked to resolve the issue. However, they approached it without making any concessions to PACE. Their stance essentially boiled down to telling PACE, 'You made a mistake by revoking our mandate, so fix it. We will not take further action,'" Fattah said.
PACE, however, stood firm, emphasizing its principles and citing unresolved human rights concerns in Azerbaijan. This resulted in no invitation being issued, according to Fattah.
Fattah noted that this is an unprecedented situation in PACE's history, raising numerous legal and procedural questions. Under PACE regulations, national parliaments must approve delegation mandates within six months following their election. Azerbaijan's current deadline is March, meaning the delegation must be confirmed before the April session.
"If Azerbaijan fails to send a delegation by then, PACE will be unable to address the approval or rejection of its mandate. This creates a legal vacuum," Fattah explained.
Experts warn that resolving this impasse may require Azerbaijan to hold new parliamentary elections to send a delegation with a fresh mandate. Failure to do so could force PACE to reconsider Azerbaijan's membership status in the Council of Europe, potentially escalating the political stand-off.
Azerbaijan has not yet commented on the absence of its delegation or outlined any plans to address the issue ahead of the April session.
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