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Resolution 1836 (2011) Final version
The impact of the Lisbon Treaty on the Council of Europe
1. The Parliamentary Assembly welcomes
the fact that, with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December
2009, the values on which the Council of Europe is based and which
it shares with the European Union, namely respect for human rights,
democracy and the rule of law, have been placed at the forefront
of European Union policies. The treaty aims to bring Europe closer
to its people and create an open and secure space for all. For this
purpose, it has in particular:
1.1. created
an obligation for the European Union to accede to the European Convention
on Human Rights (ETS No. 5, “the Convention”); allowed for European
Union accession to other international human rights legal instruments,
such as the United Nations Convention on Persons with Disabilities,
to which the European Union acceded in 2010; and gave the European
Union a legally binding bill of rights of its own, namely the Charter
of Fundamental Rights;
1.2. introduced the European Citizens’ Initiative; extended
the mandate of the European Ombudsman; substantially strengthened
the role and powers of the European Parliament; and enhanced the
role of the national parliaments in the European Union decision-making
process.
2. Having acquired legal personality, the European Union has
also acquired a new status and voice within international and regional
organisations, including in the United Nations. The European Union’s
role has, moreover, been increased in the traditional areas of activity
of the Council of Europe such as justice, freedom and security.
This has, inter alia, affected
the interaction between the European Union and its member states when
participating in Council of Europe steering committees and when
negotiating new Council of Europe conventions on matters falling
within these areas.
3. The Assembly welcomes the fact that, in line with the Lisbon
Treaty, “The Stockholm Programme – An open and secure Europe serving
and protecting citizens”, while emphasising the need for evaluation
of the implementation of European Union policies in these areas,
provided that “duplication with other evaluation mechanisms should
be avoided, but synergies and co-operation should be sought, in
particular with the work of the Council of Europe”.
4. The Assembly therefore notes that the entry into force of
the Lisbon Treaty has opened up new opportunities for a reinforced
partnership between the Council of Europe and the European Union,
based on each other’s acquis and
comparative advantages. In the Assembly’s view, such a partnership
should aim to ensure coherence between, on the one hand, the pan-European
project promoted by the Council of Europe and, on the other, the
integration process initiated by the European Union. It should ultimately
lead to a common space for human rights protection across the continent
in the interest of all people in Europe.
5. While welcoming the steps already taken in the right direction,
the Assembly expects that the role of the Council of Europe, defined
in the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding as “the benchmark for human
rights, rule of law and democracy in Europe”, will be further enhanced,
fully reaffirmed and effectively recognised by all European Union
institutions. Building on this memorandum between the two organisations,
the Lisbon Treaty and the perspectives opened up by the ongoing
reform of the Council of Europe, the recently reinforced partnership
between the two organisations should be further consolidated and
regular policy co-ordination should be further developed at all
levels.
6. Referring to its previous resolutions and recommendations,
which for some thirty years have called for European Union accession
to the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular Resolution
1610 and Recommendation 1834 (2008) on the accession of the European
Union/European Community to the European Convention on Human Rights,
the Assembly:
6.1. reiterates that
accession will not only offer a unique opportunity to achieve a
coherent system of human rights protection across Europe, but also
afford its people protection against the European Union’s action
similar to the one they already enjoy against action by all its
member states, in particular now that the Lisbon Treaty has led
to a substantial transfer of powers from the European Union member states
to the European Union;
6.2. welcomes the Resolution of the European Parliament of
19 May 2010 on the institutional aspects of the accession of the
European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights, which
advocated European Union accession to the Convention as “an essential
first step”, to be completed by European Union accession to other
Council of Europe conventions;
6.3. notes with satisfaction that, at expert level, informal
negotiations on an agreement on accession of the European Union
to the European Convention on Human Rights, opened in July 2010,
were conducted smoothly and led to the elaboration of a draft accession
agreement at the end of June 2011; they were facilitated by a Joint
Communication, issued in January 2011, by the Presidents of the European
Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union;
6.4. welcomes the constructive spirit in which its representatives
and those of the European Parliament reached agreement within a
Joint Informal Body, in June 2011, on arrangements related to the
participation of European Parliament representatives in the sittings
of the Assembly and its relevant bodies when the latter exercise
their functions related to the election of judges to the European
Court of Human Rights; these will have to be approved by the Assembly
and the European Parliament in due course;
6.5. welcomes the fact that representatives of civil society
have been consulted throughout the informal accession negotiations
and invites them to ensure public awareness and actively promote European
Union accession to the European Convention on Human Rights in their
dealings with national parliaments and governments, as well as with
European Union institutions.
7. In order to complete the process, there is now a need for
the active support of all European governments and parliaments,
which will have to renew the political commitment they undertook
when ratifying the Lisbon Treaty and/or Protocol No. 14 to the European
Convention on Human Rights (CETS No. 194). Therefore, the Assembly
urges the parliaments and governments of member states of the Council
of Europe, as well as all European Union institutions, to:
7.1. take all measures within their
areas of competence to enable rapid conclusion of the agreement on
the accession of the European Union to the Convention, its endorsement
and its entry into force, guided by the principle that such accession
aims to increase human rights protection;
7.2. ensure that accession modalities are kept as simple as
possible and that the Convention system is preserved as it stands,
with a minimum of adjustments necessary to take into account the
specificities of the European Union as a non-state party with a
particular legal and institutional system;
7.3. ensure that civil society will be consulted also in the
context of negotiation of the relevant European Union internal rules;
7.4. raise awareness among people about the enhanced protection
of their rights following European Union accession to the Convention
and relevant procedures.
8. With a view to pursuing further the building of a common space
for human rights protection at pan-European level and ensuring coherence
of standards and of the monitoring of their implementation in areas falling
within the remit of both organisations, thereby avoiding duplication
and monitoring fatigue, in particular at a time of economic crisis,
the Assembly invites the European Union to:
8.1. accede to key Council of Europe conventions tackling major
challenges of today’s European society, such as: the European Convention
for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment (ETS No. 126); the Council of Europe Convention on
Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS No. 197); the Council
of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual
Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (CETS No. 201); the Council of Europe
Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and
Domestic Violence (CETS No. 210); the Convention for the Protection
of Individuals with Regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data
(ETS No. 108); the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention
of Terrorism (CETS No. 196); the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption
(ETS No. 173); the Civil Law Convention on Corruption (ETS No. 174); the
Convention on Cybercrime (ETS No. 185), the Council of Europe Convention
on Access to Official Documents (CETS No. 205), the Convention for
the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with
regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on
Human Rights and Biomedicine (ETS No. 164), the Anti-Doping Convention
(ETS No. 135), as well as to the revised European Social Charter
(ETS No. 163);
8.2. join Council of Europe monitoring mechanisms and bodies,
irrespective of whether or not they are convention based, such as
the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the European Committee
for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment (CPT), the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking
in Human Beings (GRETA), the European Commission against Racism
and Intolerance (ECRI), the European Commission for the Efficiency
of Justice (CEPEJ) or the European Commission for Democracy through
Law (Venice Commission) and, pending that, enhance its participation
in their work;
8.3. co-ordinate action with the Council of Europe in the areas
of trafficking in human beings, violence against women, migration
and asylum and ensure appropriate follow-up to the high-level meeting
on Roma issues organised by the Council of Europe in October 2010;
8.4. promote accession to key Council of Europe conventions
and to monitoring mechanisms and bodies among its member states
and in the context of its enlargement and neighbourhood policies,
as appropriate;
8.5. ensure systematic and open consultations with the relevant
bodies of the Council of Europe, throughout the European Union legislative
process, in particular in the areas of freedom, security and justice,
so as to allow for an adequate assessment of European Union activities
against the human rights benchmarks set by the Council of Europe;
8.6. enhance consultations with the Council of Europe Commissioner
for Human Rights, especially as regards the implementation of human
rights standards by European Union member states.
9. Moreover, the Assembly:
9.1. calls
for coherence of the normative activities within the two organisations,
which should be ensured in particular through prior consultations
at as early a stage as possible and at high political level, in
addition to inter-secretariat information sharing at operational
level;
9.2. notes with interest the manner in which the European Court
of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union ensure
coherence in their case law with respect to human rights standards;
9.3. urges the creation of appropriate synergies between Council
of Europe monitoring mechanisms and any new evaluation mechanisms
to be set up by the European Union;
9.4. welcomes the fact that, pending full European Union accession
to GRECO and evaluation of European Union institutions by the latter,
negotiations will soon start on an enhanced European Union participation
in GRECO which should allow for synergies to be developed with the
proposed European Union Anti-Corruption report. Negotiations should
soon start also on European Union accession to the Council of Europe
Convention for the Protection of Individuals with Regard to Automatic
Processing of Personal Data, and European Union accession to the
Convention on Cybercrime is also being considered;
9.5. supports the ongoing convention review within the Council
of Europe, which should identify ways of facilitating European Union
accession to key Council of Europe conventions, while ensuring that
each convention system is preserved as it stands with only minor
adjustments;
9.6. notes that arrangements agreed in the context of European
Union accession to the European Convention on Human Rights regarding
the participation of the European Union and its voting rights within
the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers might serve as a precedent
for future European Union accession to other Council of Europe conventions;
9.7. invites the Secretary General of the Council of Europe
to present a list of concrete implications and advantages of European
Union accession to relevant Council of Europe conventions or monitoring mechanisms,
as well as partial agreements, thus helping the European Union to
form a long-term vision on synergies with the Council of Europe,
building also on the position already taken in this respect by the
European Parliament.
10. The Assembly further notes that the Lisbon Treaty has put
emphasis on issues related to human rights, the rule of law and
democracy in the European Union’s co-operation with neighbouring
countries, thus allowing for enhanced co-operation with the Council
of Europe also in this respect. Recent events throughout the southern
Mediterranean have created new opportunities for co-operation in
the context of a revised European Union European Neighbourhood Policy
and a new Council of Europe policy towards neighbouring regions,
of which an important element is the partnership for democracy status
created by the Assembly for parliaments in these regions. The Assembly
therefore calls on the European Union to:
10.1. make better use of the Council of Europe’s benchmarking
and advisory role and expertise in the context of its enlargement
and neighbourhood policies, in particular to the extent that these
policies apply to countries which are either full Council of Europe
member states, and thus benefit from the Organisation’s monitoring
procedures, or belong to its neighbourhood and have thus joined
or may join open Council of Europe conventions or partial agreements,
such as the Venice Commission and the European Centre for Global
Interdependence and Solidarity (North-South Centre), and whose parliaments
have been or may be granted partnership for democracy status with
the Assembly;
10.2. further develop joint actions and joint programmes with
the Council of Europe in the latter’s member states or in countries
in its neighbouring regions, with a view to supporting the reform
agenda in these countries, including through a more stable financial
partnership with the Council of Europe, which would allow for increased
strategic co-operation and joint long-term planning.
11. As regards relations between the European Ombudsman and the
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the Assembly welcomes
their ongoing informal co-operation, including for the purpose of
co-ordinating activities among European ombudspersons, and calls
for this co-operation to be further developed on all matters related
to individuals’ rights.
12. Welcoming the informal contacts established between the Council
of Europe and the European Data Protection Supervisor of the European
Union, the Assembly invites the Council of Europe’s Data Protection Commissioner
and the European Data Protection Supervisor to reinforce their mutual
co-operation.
13. For its part, the Assembly welcomes improved co-operation
with the European Parliament following the entry into force of the
Lisbon Treaty, under which the latter has become co-legislator,
together with the European Union Council, in a number of key policy
areas falling within the Council of Europe’s remit, including those
relating to freedom, security and justice. Building on the Agreement
on the strengthening of co-operation between the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament of 28 November 2007,
the Assembly resolves to further enhance its relations with the
European Parliament, in particular by:
13.1. reinforcing the practice of regular meetings between,
on the one hand, the respective presidents and, on the other hand,
between its Presidential Committee and the Conference of Presidents
of the European Parliament on an agenda-driven basis;
13.2. pursuing the work of their Joint Informal Body, created
on the initiative of the European Parliament to improve information
sharing between the two bodies and which initially met within the context
of European Union accession to the European Convention on Human
Rights, with a view to discussing other topical issues of common
interest, in a variable composition, as appropriate;
13.3. further pursuing exchanges of views, joint activities
and information exchange between members of the Assembly and of
the European Parliament at committee level, and establishing regular
meetings of chairpersons of relevant committees from the two bodies;
13.4. considering ways to contribute to the effective strengthening
of relations between the European Parliament and the national parliaments
of European Union member states, as a body bringing together members
of all these parliaments;
13.5. organising jointly with the European Parliament interparliamentary
conferences on specific topics of common interest;
13.6. enhancing co-operation in joint electoral observation
missions.
14. The Assembly calls on the governments and parliaments of Council
of Europe member states, as well as the European Union, to promote
the visibility of the reinforced partnership between the two organisations, in
the present post-Lisbon-Treaty period and raise public awareness
about the need to further consolidate such a partnership in the
interest of all people in Europe. It particularly calls upon parliaments
of European Union member states to do so through regular debates
on issues related to the relations between the two organisations,
including those between the Assembly and the European Parliament,
as well as through parliamentary questions to governments.
15. The Assembly believes that the entry into force of the Lisbon
Treaty, with all its legal and political consequences and the ensuing
reshaping of the European architecture, gives fresh topicality to
the perspective of European Union accession to the Council of Europe
Statute (ETS No. 1) and considers that the time is now ripe to give
serious consideration to this perspective.