WELCOME BY MR VAN DER LINDEN,
PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
TO MR MIHAI-RAZVAN UNGUREANU,
MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF ROMANIA
AND CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS
(Strasbourg, Chamber, 12 April 2006, 12.00 noon)

 

May I now welcome Mr. Mihai-Răzvan UNGUREANU, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Romania and Chairman of the Committee of Ministers.

Mr. Minister, it is a pleasure to welcome you again amongst us.

Yesterday, alongside your Prime Minister, Prime Minister Juncker of Luxembourg and Chancellor Schüssel of Austria, you assisted and witnessed a historic debate on the relationship between the Council of Europe and the European Union.

Your Prime Minster made very constructive and forward looking proposals, in particular regarding the follow-up to Prime Minster Juncker’s report.

The statement by your Prime Minister contained real concrete proposals and lived up to the expectations of the Assembly.

On behalf of the Assembly, I would like to thank the Romanian Chair for this very positive spirit of cooperation.

Mr Juncker provided us with an excellent report and concrete recommendations.

Political leaders of the two institutions demonstrated their political support.

They recognized the important role of the parliamentary dimension in negotiating a future agreement of cooperation between our two organistions.

We hope that the absence of the Assembly in the last quadripartite meetings, will not be repeated in the future.

The Assembly deserves its central role in this cooperation.

Not least because it initiated the third summit of our organisation.

Not least because it contributed substantially to the summit through the report of Mr Kosachev.

Not least because it was the Assembly that proposed Mr Juncker as rapporteur on the future relation between the two organizations.

Our common challenge now is to successfully implement the concrete proposals put forward by Prime Minister Juncker in his report.

Let us rise together to this challenge.

Mr Minister,

You have the floor.

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