WELCOME BY MR LLUĺS MARIA DE PUIG,

PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY,

TO PRESIDENT DANILO TURK

(Strasbourg, Thursday 1 October 2009, 12h00, Hemicycle)

It is with great pleasure that I welcome to our Assembly President Danilo Türk of Slovenia.

Mr. President, we have passed the half-way mark for Slovenia’s term as Chair of the Council of Europe. During these months, the Committee of Ministers has had to deal with delicate, challenging internal matters. Those were political issues that our Organisation had never faced before.

The Slovenian Chairmanship’s approach to these challenges was positive, constructive and flexible. Your government’s commitment was evident and no effort was spared to find suitable solutions. We all appreciated the skills of your Foreign Minister, Mr. Zbogar and your diplomats in Strasbourg. One might think that holding the Chairmanship of the European Union for a semester last year was a good training for Slovenia!

Mr. President, you have been a friend of the Council of Europe for a long time. Several years ago you contributed by your expertise and your knowledge to the work on minority rights in our Organisation.

Your involvement in Human Rights has been consistent throughout your career, whether you collaborated with Amnesty International, represented your country as Ambassador to the United Nations, or now as Head of State.

A few months ago you were invited to the opening of the Council of Europe’s Summer University for Democracy, in this very Chamber but before a different audience. On that occasion you said, among other things, that “democracy comes from within. […] It cannot be imposed from abroad and cannot be reduced to a particular set of prescriptions”.

I share your opinion and I am particularly pleased to welcome you to the Parliamentary Assembly, where the representatives of 47 European states nurture dialogue and democratic debate .

Mr. President, you have the floor.