1. Introduction
1. Building upon the Strategic
Framework for the Council of Europe adopted at the 131st Session
of the Committee of Ministers (Hamburg, 21 May 2021), the Committee
of Ministers adopted the Council of Europe Programme and Budget
for the period 2022-2025.
2. On 16 March 2022, by unanimous decision and building upon
an unanimously adopted statutory Opinion of the Parliamentary Assembly,
the Committee of Ministers decided to expel the Russian Federation
from the Organisation on the ground of serious violation of the
Statute of the Council of Europe (ETS No. 1), in particular its
Article 3.
3. The war of aggression against Ukraine and its consequences
(including the expulsion of the Russian Federation) are affecting
the Council of Europe and the context in which it operates.
4. The preparation of the present report thus takes place when
the Organisation is called upon to bring new focus to its priorities
and activities, notably to provide support to Ukraine in the face
of the Russian Federation’s war of aggression, to support member
States in addressing the consequences of the war, and to reshape
the Council of Europe’s place in the new and rapidly evolving European
and global multilateral architecture.
5. The 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council
Europe, attended at the highest level by virtually every member
State, demonstrated the will of our political leaders to give further
priority and direction to the Council Europe’s work. For this reason,
I shall focus on the priorities and measures contained in the Reykjavik
Declaration and its Appendices, which, in my view, must now serve
as a guiding line for the development of the Organisation’s activities
during the next quadrennial programme and budget cycle 2024-2027.
2. Programmatic and budgetary response
to the Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine
6. In response to the war of aggression
by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the subsequent expulsion
of the Russian Federation, the Committee of Ministers and the Secretary
General, in close interaction with the Assembly, took a number of
decisions and measures of a budgetary, financial and programmatic nature
to adapt to the unprecedented situation.
7. Firstly, at its 132nd Session (Turin, Italy, 20 May 2022),
the Committee of Ministers adopted the “Priority adjustments to
the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2022”, aimed
at assisting Ukraine and its people to face the challenges and consequences
of the war of aggression of the Russian Federation. A new Council
of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction”
2023-2026 was adopted in December 2022.
8. Secondly, the Committee of Ministers decided collectively
to ensure the financial resources to fill the gap in the 2022 Budget,
left by the expulsion of the Russian Federation. The expulsion generated
direct cost savings (some €600 000), while leaving at the same time
a gap amounting to €27.4 million; the shortfall was shared among
member States resulting in an increase in their contributions.
At
the same time, the Committee of Ministers looked at the situation
for 2023 to adopt the necessary adaptations to the budget. Thus,
the required budgetary decisions and resolutions were adopted on
16 November 2022. This approach allowed to preserve Council of Europe’s
planned activities, while strengthening them further in key areas
(especially, providing support to Ukraine and to addressing the
consequences of the war).
9. Thirdly, the Committee of Ministers agreed to take a longer-term
perspective on the role of the Council of Europe faced with the
new reality, and to reflect this in a new programme for 2024 onwards.
The aim is to establish the long-term strategic role of the Organisation
for 2024 and beyond and to refocus its activities in the fundamentally
changed geopolitical landscape.
10. In this context, the Committee of Ministers’ decision to hold
the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government is significant.
As will be seen below, the Reykjavik Declaration gives further priority
and direction to the Council of Europe’s work, which will now find
expression in its programmatic and budgetary priorities.
3. The
Council of Europe 2022-2025 programme and budget, as adjusted in
2023
11. The 2022-2025 Programme and
Budget of the Council of Europe, as adjusted in 2023, amounts to €479 million.
This overall amount includes the Council of Europe’s ordinary budget
(€264 million) as well as the budgets of Partial agreements, voluntary
contribution and joint programmes funding covering co-operation activities.
12. The expulsion of the Russian Federation and the subsequent
cessation of membership had a direct effect on the 2022-2025 Programme
and Budget. Among the direct financial consequences, I would highlight the
reduction of membership in the Assembly and in the Congress (one
delegation less) as well as in inter-governmental committees (on
less member in each committee), the suppression of Russian as a
working language, the cancellation of all planned co-operation activities
in the Russian Federation as well as the closure of the Council
of Europe co-operation office in Moscow. The budgets of the Council
of Europe’s partial agreements in which the Russian Federation was
member were also reduced accordingly.
13. It is important to note that, while addressing the immediate
consequences of the cessation of Russian Federation’s membership,
the Council of Europe stepped in to provide every support within
its remit to Ukraine. The Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2022 was
adjusted to the new priority needs. At the same time, a new Action Plan
2023-2026 was developed to cover new needs in terms of addressing
the consequences of the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine.
14. I would add that the Council of Europe Secretary General provided
rapid practical support to the staff members of the Council of Europe
Office in Kyiv in the immediate aftermath of the attack, by assisting
those and their family members who wished to leave the country.
Many were temporarily relocated to Budapest and Strasbourg, with
initial accommodation provided in the European Youth Centres. All
these measures helped maintain the continuity of the Council of
Europe’s support and co-operation with Ukraine.
4. The
4th Summit of Heads of State and Government
15. Already in 2017, in
Recommendation 2113 (2017), the Assembly called on the Committee of Ministers to
convene a 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council
of Europe. In the face of the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine,
the need for a 4th Summit became self-evident. In
Recommendation 2245 (2023) “The Reykjavik Summit of the Council of Europe – United
around values in the face of extraordinary challenges”, the Assembly
outlined its own vision for the outcomes of the Summit and concrete
proposals.
16. I commend the respective presidencies of the Committee of
Ministers which showed leadership and facilitated the convening
of the Summit and its preparations. At the same time, I highlight
the role of Secretary General of the Council of Europe in paving
the way for the Summit, notably through the High-level reflection group
whose input fed into the Assembly’s own report on the 4th Summit
prepared by Fiona O’Loughlin.
5. The
Reykjavik Declaration
17. The Reykjavik Declaration was
unanimously adopted by Heads of State and Government participating in
the 4th Summit, which demonstrates the political commitment of the
leadership of the Council of Europe’s 46 member States, to reconfirm
their unity around the fundamental values for which the Council
of Europe stands and their wish to give a new focus and political
direction to our Organisation to play a strong role in the multilateral
architecture of today’s geopolitical landscape.
18. In my view, the Assembly can join this impetus and by endorsing
the Reykjavik Declaration and its Appendices, which outline priorities
and concrete measures to shape the Organisation’s activities for
the next programme and budget cycle.
19. The elements contained in the Declaration and its Appendices
correspond to the Assembly’s vision of the priorities of the Organisation
and I am convinced that our work has been a motor in shaping these outcomes.
20. In particular, the Assembly may welcome the establishment
of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the Register of Damage, representing
the first concrete international legal mechanism to address the
legal consequences of the war of aggression. It should call on all
member and observer States, as well as any other States that are
eligible according to the Register’s Statute, to join the Register
as a Participant or Associate Member. It should also support the
Council of Europe’s efforts to provide targeted support to Ukraine
through the Action Plan “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction”
2023-2026.
21. The Assembly will certainly endorse the Summit’s focus on
the full and timely implementation of judgments of the European
Court on Human Rights, which after all is a binding and unconditional
obligation of member States under international law. In this context,
the Assembly can further strengthen its work to ensure the parliamentary
dimension of the implementation of judgments, in particular through
high-level political dialogue and its regular thematic reports.
22. Initiatives to strengthen and protect democracy and good governance
at all levels, with the imperative of counteracting backsliding,
are to be among the top-level priorities of the Council of Europe
during the next quadrennial programme and budget cycle. This is
not only Council of Europe “core business” but also a means to provide
early warning and rapid reaction, so as to pick up on and counteract
authoritarian trends and prevent conflictual situations. The Assembly
can therefore endorse the initiatives of member States to deliver
on the Reykjavik Principles of Democracy. In particular, the strengthening
of Council of Europe institutions contributing to upholding democracy,
human rights and the rule of law, notably, the Human Rights Commissioner
and the Venice Commission, must be given every priority.
23. Engagement with civil society and democracy actors will further
strengthen and complement activities to uphold democracy and counteract
democratic backsliding. In this context, it is important to find
ways of maintaining contacts and providing support to civil society,
human rights defenders, democratic opposition and free media in
Belarus and in the Russian Federation, respecting the values and
principles of the Organisation, including the territorial integrity
of sovereign member States. The Assembly already has a good foundation
in this respect.
24. The strengthening of the youth perspective in Council of Europe
activities is particularly important and should be a priority during
the 2024-2027 programme and budget cycle, to revitalise democracy
and encourage young people’s participation in democratic and political
processes.
25. I welcome the Reykjavik Declaration’s emphasis on the Council
of Europe pioneering role in addressing new and emerging human rights
challenges.
26. The Assembly has been a leader in calling to asserting and
upholding the right to a clean, safe, healthy and sustainable environment.
In this field, the Assembly can today welcome the commitment to
revise and strengthen the existing legal framework, and can contribute
to this process, in particular through the work of its parliamentary
network on this topic.
27. As regards the legal and human rights aspects of use of artificial
intelligence and emerging digital technologies, the Assembly can
welcome the Summit’s call to finalise, as a priority, the Council
of Europe’s Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence. For
its part, the Assembly should follow this work, building upon its
relevant resolutions and recommendations relating to various aspects
and dimensions of the use of artificial intelligence which could
provide guidance and input into the intergovernmental work.
28. Combating inequalities and discrimination, as well as upholding
gender equality, including combating violence against women, should
continue to be in the focus of the Council of Europe action during
the 2024-2027 programme and budget cycle. The Assembly should welcome
the renewed commitment to strengthening work in this field, and
can continue its own pioneering approach on this topic, both in
its activities and in ensuring that its own internal Rules of Procedure,
structures and working methods pay due respect to gender equality
best practice.
29. As regards the place of the Council of Europe in Europe’s
multilateral architecture and global governance, the new geopolitical
situation calls for even closer ties. The Assembly can thus encourage
the Organisation’s enhanced co-operation with global and regional
partner international organisations, including the United Nations,
especially in the field of the implementation of the Sustainable
Development Goals, which should be mainstreamed in all Council of
Europe activities. Such co-operation with other international bodies at
the regional and global levels, with focus on the parliamentary
dimension, can be further strengthened by the Assembly’s own activities.
30. Partnership with the European Union should be further enhanced
and strengthened, in terms of political dialogue as well as co-operation,
in particular through joint programmes. In this context, the Assembly
calls for a speedy completion of the process of accession of the
European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No.
5).
31. All of the above convinces me that the Reykjavik Declaration
and its Appendices represent a strong political pathway for the
Organisation, as well as a firm basis for the specific measures
and activities which should shape the Organisation’s agenda for
the next quadrennial period.
32. That being said, building upon the Assembly’s own vision of
the outcomes of the 4th Summit, I believe it is important to highlight
a few additional elements that will complement and strengthen the
“Reykjavik agenda”.
33. Firstly, in line with the Assembly’s clear and repeated position,
I believe that more international efforts are required to prevent
impunity for the crime of aggression, as well as war crimes, crimes
against humanity and grave human rights violations committed by
the Russian leadership and those under its command during the war
of aggression against Ukraine. In this context I reiterate that
the establishment of an international
ad hoc tribunal,
as recommended
inter alia in
Resolution 2482 (2023), should remain on our agenda, and that the Council of
Europe should contribute to this process, including by providing
political support, as well as legal and human rights expertise.
34. Secondly, it is my belief that the Council of Europe should
be ambitious in working for the new generation of rights, or rather
the rights for a new generation, as was said at the Standing Committee
in Reykjavik. In particular we must not lose time in the environmental
emergency. Let me recall the series of Assembly’s reports, resolutions
and recommendations in this field which contain a wealth of ideas
and proposals to strengthen the existing legal framework and improve
policy measures. The implementation of these could further strengthen
Council of Europe’s action in this field.
35. Thirdly, as regards counteracting democratic backsliding,
we need to invest in identifying rapid reaction and early warning
mechanisms, so as to anticipate crisis situations and hopefully
head off conflicts through political dialogue and targeted co-operation.
Parliamentary diplomacy could certainly be a useful tool to achieve
this, and the Assembly can therefore complement and support member
States’ efforts in this area through inter-parliamentary co-operation.
6. The
way forward: implementing the “Reykjavik agenda”
36. By unanimously adopting the
Reykjavik Declaration, with participation in the Summit at the very
highest level, the leaders of our member States have given our Organisation
new impetus and a focused agenda for its political priorities. This
dynamic must now be taken to the next logical stage, by ensuring
that the necessary resources are allocated and by consolidating
and further strengthening the financial sustainability of the Organisation.
37. It is true that all our member States and our citizens are
facing a difficult situation and economic constraints. At the same
time, only solid investment in our democratic security and in our
core values will enable Europe to weather this crisis in the medium
and long term. I believe that member States have acknowledged the
importance of such investment in the Reykjavik Declaration, and
that this must now be followed up in the discussions on the Programme
and Budget. In my view, a zero real growth budgetary perspective
is the minimum requirement; the Organisation’s financial stability
and viability, and the good implementation of the ambition of Reykjavik,
call for more.
38. Sustainability calls for prioritisation, best-use of resources,
and investment. I believe that the first two imperatives are well-underway,
through the Reykjavik process and through the various reforms which
have been put in place over the last decade. The third, investment,
is now the challenge of the programme and budget process.
39. I commend the fact that, since the outbreak of the war of
aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, member States
have already stepped up their financial effort towards the Organisation,
in particular by filling the gap in the Council of Europe 2022 and
2023 budget following the expulsion of the Russian Federation. Their
commitment to providing targeted support to Ukraine, including through
the 2023-2026 Action Plan is also to be praised.
40. Now let us take the next steps.
41. A more ambitious, more reactive and more impactful, a more
resilient and sustainable Council of Europe, including in the face
of the Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine, will
require the investment of additional resources by member States.
42. I am convinced that, in the course of the 2024-2027 programme
and budget process, the Committee of Ministers will show their wisdom
in ensuring that the Organisation’s resources are at the level of
the member States’ commitment as demonstrated at the 4th Summit.
The events of the past years have served to remind us that human
rights, democracy and the rule of law cannot be taken for granted
and that we must invest in them for democratic stability on our
continent and beyond.
43. I believe that the Organisation’s reform efforts, led by the
Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General, should be complemented
and continued during the 2024-2027 programme and budget cycle.
44. Thus, I welcome the introduction of the Result-based Management
Strategy in the Council of Europe which should enable the Organisation
to implement a more integrated programme and budget approach, focusing
on outcomes and impact and ensuring efficient and effective use
of resources for achieving the targets set.
45. Equally, I welcome the implementation of the new People Strategy
which will provide the Organisation with the required management
flexibility, while allowing to recruit and retain competent and
motivated staff.
46. I welcome the approval by the Committee of Ministers of the
Capital Master Plan which, inter alia provides
for the refurbishment and modernisation of the Assembly Chamber
through 2023-2024. This is an important investment project, which
has been delayed for too long, including because of the Covid pandemic. Works
have started in February 2023 and the completion of the project
is expected before the April 2024 part-session of the Assembly.
The renovation works are expected to modernise the Chamber’s equipment (including
IT, multimedia and voting systems) as well as to upgrade safety,
security and accessibility standards, in accordance with the requirements
of the relevant domestic legislation of the host State.
47. Finally, let me recall the Assembly’s own reform and modernisation
efforts. Since 2021, the Assembly has launched a project to upgrade
its procedures and working methods, notably through the pace-apps
online application, with a view to attain the objective of “paper-less”
operation. The use of new online tools makes Assembly procedures
and documents more easily-accessible to members. It has also generated
budgetary savings, including by reducing the expenditure on printing
and document production, thus reducing the Assembly’s – and the
Council of Europe’s – carbon footprint in an overall effort to address
the environmental challenge.
48. The good practices thus developed by the Assembly Secretariat
could be shared with other sectors of the Council of Europe Secretariat
in an effort to pool expertise and know-how together, in order to
continue efforts to build a more modern and efficient Council of
Europe, corresponding to the member States’ political ambition and
up to the challenges that human rights, democracy and the rule of
law have to face in today’s Europe.
49. I trust that the Committee of Ministers will give due consideration
to the proposals contained in the present Opinion and explanatory
memorandum. After the adoption of the present draft Opinion by the Assembly,
in accordance with the established practice, I look forward to exchanging
views with the Ministers’ Deputies’ Group of Rapporteurs on Programme
and Budget, providing additional explanations about the Assembly’s
vision of the Council of Europe programme and budget priorities
for the period 2024-2027.