Speech by PACE President Lluis Maria de Puig
at the opening of the Standing Committee
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(Lljubljana, 29 May 2009)

Provisional version

Mr Speaker, Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to begin by warmly thanking the Parliamentary Speaker for hosting our meetings yesterday and today. I would also like to thank the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Justice, who are with us today to discuss the priorities of the Slovenian chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers and the future of our Organisation, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

The Council of Europe, with its 47 member states, is the largest European forum enabling countries that share the same values - democracy, human rights and the rule of law - to get together on an equal footing. The fact that they are united in support of these principles is very important in enabling the Organisation to fulfil its remit. It is also important for the purposes of leadership, for only two countries have the opportunity to chair the Organisation each year, for a period of six months. Each country seeks to take advantage of this opportunity - which I would say is an exceptional one, given that it does not come round again for over 20 years - to advance the Council of Europe's common cause as much as possible and, at the same time, leave its mark on the Organisation.

In the context of the Slovenian chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, the Prime Minister, Mr Pahor, will address the Assembly at its June part-session. He is as familiar with the Assembly as we are, having been a member of it for nine years. The President of the Republic, Mr Turk, will address the Assembly and attend the Organisation's 60^th anniversary celebrations on 1 October.

It can therefore be said that the year in which we are celebrating the Council of Europe's 60th anniversary is to a large extent a Slovenian year. I see this as a happy coincidence. Slovenia symbolises to perfection Europe's transformation, its turbulent history and its future as we would like to imagine it and indeed as we see it. One need only look at how far Slovenia has come in less than half a century, from a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to part of a Kingdom, and then of a Socialist federation, to an independent country, a member of the Council of Europe, a member of the European Union and a country that runs European affairs, as it did first by taking on the presidency the Council of the European Union in January 2008 and is now doing by chairing the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

Slovenia is also proof that a country's contribution to European integration can be gauged not just by its size and GDP (gross domestic product), but also by the political will of its leader, the scale of the ambitions of its people and their determination.

We could use the same method to assess the Council of Europe's contribution to European integration. This is particularly apparent in these times of economic crisis. If Europe is to be more prosperous, we do, of course, need appropriate financial resources and sound, competitive economic productivity. But if prosperity is to be accompanied by peace and stability, justice and human rights must prosper too. A flourishing society cannot be built at the expense of the fundamental values and freedoms which its citizens deserve to enjoy. That is where the key task of the Council of Europe lies: in ensuring that our society is a civic society built for citizens.

The priorities of the Slovenian chairmanship - promoting common values everywhere in Europe, strengthening the security of citizens and building a more humane and inclusive Europe - fully underpin this ambition.

Furthermore, Slovenia is particularly well placed to co-ordinate the objectives of the European Union and the Council of Europe. We can only welcome the fact that one of the priorities of your chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe is co-operation with other European and international institutions. All the major issues you addressed during your presidency of the European Union are also central to the concerns of the Council of Europe, and we are relying greatly on your experience in the areas concerned.

I should like, first, to mention stability in Europe and the ongoing integration of European countries on the basis of shared values. We hope that Slovenia will draw on its wealth of experience in the western Balkans to help other regions where the Council of Europe is highly active and which are just as essential to peace and stability throughout our continent, such as Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.

Measures to combat climate change, European strategies for growth and employment and intercultural dialogue are other key features of the Slovenian presidency of the European Union that can now be put to good use for the benefit of the Council of Europe.

All these objectives are obvious in the light of current political developments, but what is far from obvious is what solutions we should propose. In an increasingly interconnected world, it is virtually impossible to come up with answers in isolation, without taking account of the global context. This means that a capacity for openness, dialogue and co-operation among all the parties concerned is now just as important an asset for the purposes of human progress as financial and energy resources.

The Council of Europe is an organisation with very modest financial resources. Its real asset is precisely this capacity for dialogue and co-operation. This is essential, first and foremost, to enable us to operate effectively ourselves and ensure that all the Organisation's components, in particular its two pillars, the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly, act in harmony. I would urge the Slovenian chairmanship to keep a careful watch over this valuable resource.

At the moment, we are facing some problems, a certain distance between the two. The Parliamentary Assembly is willing to overcome these difficulties through dialogue, cooperation and consultation. The Slovenian Chairmanship can be assured that we will do everything that is needed to resolve these problems together and move forward.

Thank you.