Joseph Debono Grech

A Maltese politician. He is currently a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives of Malta. Former co-rapporteur of the PACE Monitoring Committee on Azerbaijan.

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PACE Monitoring Committee to appoint new co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan

Next week, the name of the new co-rapporteur of the PACE Monitoring Committee on Azerbaijan will become known. The former co-rapporteur Joseph Debono Grech (Malta) told Trend on Thursday.

According to him, the name of the candidate will be known within the framework of the PACE winter session, which will be held January 26-30 in Strasbourg.

A rapporteur on Azerbaijan will be appointed within the winter sessions of the PACE. Co-rapporteur Pedro Agramunt (Spain) will continue his work in the new year.

The powers of Joseph Debono Grech, who worked for five years in this position, came to an end in November last year.

Source: trend.az

 J. Grech: “If they bring Aliyev down, Azerbaijan will turn into Libya”

A deputy of the Maltese parliament from the local Labor Party and a member of the delegation of this country in the PACE Joseph Debono Grech spoke on Tuesday in defense of Azerbaijan. However, he did it quite peculiarly, reports haqqin.az.

It should be noted that Debono Grech is a member of the PACE Monitoring Committee and until January of this year he was also a co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan.

During the debate in the framework of the PACE on the new report on the situation of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan, Debono Grech complained that Azerbaijan is constantly on the agenda of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. In this regard, he warned that an oil-rich and gas-rich republic could go by way of Libya or Iraq if President Ilham Aliyev was removed.

“I have been a member of the Parliamentary Assembly for the past nine years, and the theme of Azerbaijan has been constantly discussed. Whatever happens, Azerbaijan is always discussing. Most of the countries that were part of the Soviet Union were not even mentioned here. Only Azerbaijan! I’m not saying that everything is perfect in Azerbaijan. As most of us know, no country is perfect, not even the countries of Western Europe.
We have a problem in Ukraine, where chaos reigns. I come from the Mediterranean, and I do not support dictators. Everyone wanted to get rid of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. Well, we got rid of Gaddafi and Hussein. And what do we have now? Chaos!” said Debono Grech, not mentioning, does he consider Ilham Aliyev a dictator as Gaddafi or Hussein.

“Do we want chaos in Azerbaijan? When I was first appointed a co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan, my colleague, Mr. Agramunt, and I went there, met with representatives of the opposition and NGOs. The only thing they wanted was for us to remove their government. I said that we can not do this. The Council of Europe does not dismiss governments; this is not our job. Our task is to help these countries become more democratic. ”

Debono Grech also said that one can not expect from the former Soviet republic, which had joined the Council of Europe less than 15 years ago, to be on a par with the West in terms of democratization.
“I hope,” said the PACE deputy, “that with the help of the Council of Europe, Azerbaijan will become fully democratic.”

Source: haqqin.az