ADDRESS BY LLUÍS MARIA DE PUIG,

PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE,

ON THE OCCASION OF THE 30TH PLENARY SESSION

OF THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES

(ST. Petersburg, 3 April 2008)

Mr President, Excellencies, Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is for the first time that I have the honour to address you in my capacity as President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Taking the floor in this impressive Duma Hall, full of history, is a very important moment for me because I am historian by profession and my vision of Europe is heavily influenced by historical events.

Part of the history of our countries is indeed tragic, with bloody wars, imperialism, fascism, ultra-nationalism, genocide, dictatorship and totalitarism. Some of these tragic events took place long time ago, others are still fresh in our memories. This must be remembered, but we must be inspired by the other part of our history, history of progress under the flag of freedom, human rights and democracy.

As President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the largest European Assembly, I am proud of the contribution of our Organisation to building this positive part of history, to building Europe as a value community.

I believe in the Council of Europe committed to building a human Europe, a Europe:

- where the fundamental human rights are respected;

- where social values are respected and strengthened;

- where violence against women and children are a thing of the past;

- that fights resolutely against the trafficking in human beings;

- that sees its minorities as a true asset;

- which combats with determination all forms of corruption;

- which takes proper care of its environment and promotes sustainable development;

- which acts on climate change;

- which sees immigration as a chance for the future, rather than as a danger;

- which gives education its proper, prominent place in society;

- and finally, which fights strongly against racism, xenophobia and intolerance.

The Council of Europe was created in 1949 to defend and promote these values. Until the end of the Cold War, it consisted only of Western European countries. Today we have 47 member states – many of them members also of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

I am persuaded that the European democratic model based on the Council of Europe’s fundamental values continues to exercise its power of attraction well beyond Europe. A number of non-European countries seek closer relations with our Organisation and a closer involvement in our activities.

I am in favour of building on this interest to broaden our circle of partners with a view of promoting the Council of Europe’s basic principles, because Europe must not become a fortress. We must work closely with our neighbours including those in Central Asia and think about pragmatic methods enabling us to develop an institutional dialogue in specific fields of co-operation.

In order to implement this policy, our Assembly decided last year that we should:

- review the functioning of observer status with the Council of Europe in order to make it more effective;

- consider the establishment of a new status for non-member states that wish to co-operate with the Council of Europe, but that are not yet in a position to guarantee full compliance with its principles;

- open some of the Council of Europe’s instruments to certain non-member states.

For me, relations with neighbouring countries are one of the priorities of my mandate and I hope that also with your support, we will made progress in building these relations.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This process of opening and cooperation has already started and our two Assemblies have contributed significantly to it. Last year, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Cooperation Agreement between the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the CIS Inter-parliamentary Assembly and our contacts are now quite intensive.

We have organised several joint conferences, the next one – on migrations – will take place tomorrow. Furthermore, joint work of our committees have been developed.

This parliamentary cooperation is very important, because today’s challenges are so complex that governments simply cannot handle them alone and parliamentary diplomacy can pave the way for compromises and agreements. I see our Assemblies as valuable instruments of the parliamentary diplomacy and I am, therefore, looking forward to further developing our cooperation.

I wish you every success in your deliberations and thank you for your attention.