27.10.2010 - REVISED
Embargo until delivery
SPEECH BY MR MEVLÜT ÇAVUŞOĞLU,
PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY,
AT THE 19TH SESSION OF THE CONGRESS OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE
(Strasbourg, Wednesday 27 October 2010, around noon)
President, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
May I start by congratulating the Congress on the fresh start that it marks today: new President and Bureau, new Presidents of its Chamber of Local Authorities and Chamber of Regions; new structures and working methods.
To all of you, I wish to convey my warmest wishes for success in this difficult but challenging task which we all face together - to continue to uphold the principles and values of our Organisation, and to contribute to the constant strengthening of democracy, human rights and rule of law in a fast changing Europe and a fast changing world.
Mr Whitmore, you are very familiar with our Assembly, a genuine friend of it. Congratulations on your election; we look forward to continuing our cooperation.
At the same time, I wish to congratulate Mr Yavuz Mildon, the outgoing President of the Congress, and Mr Ian Micallef, the outgoing acting President of the Congress, for doing an excellent job in leading the work of the Congress in these past couple of years, which were extremely challenging for the Congress and for the Organisation as a whole.
At your session, you are proceeding with some bold reforms and we do hope that the new structure and working methods that you are adopting will contribute in a qualitative way to the overall reform process of the Council of Europe. Our Organisation needs to become more pro-active, more relevant and closer to the needs and aspirations of our fellow Europeans. For all of us, it is not just a duty, but also a political responsibility to make this process as meaningful and far-reaching as possible.
Despite the reduction of the number of permanent committees to three, we hope that the Congress will continue to work on matters such as environment and good governance. Environmental matters are very important at local level, especially when it comes to their implementation. That is also the case for protection of minorities, the fight against discrimination, integration, cultural and religious dialogue, social rights and sustainable development.
The Parliamentary Assembly is also undergoing a reform process. An ad hoc committee on reform was recently set up and its first conclusions will be presented during the next part-session in January.
In this context, may I recall that the Assembly and the Congress have always enjoyed excellent cooperation and I am confident that it will be pursued, particularly at committee level.
One recent example that I wish to highlight is the event jointly organised by the Assembly, the Congress and the INGOs on the occasion of Biodiversity Day (28 April 2010). Cross-frontier co-operation is another issue that the Assembly supports, as we believe that it should be high on the political agenda of European states. Such co-operation is very important for regional socio-economic stability and to help unite neighbouring populations and encourage intercultural learning.
Dear friends,
One of the primary tasks, both of the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress, is to support our member states in building pluralistic democratic societies, upholding the principles of the rule of law as well as protecting and promoting human rights. This is why, as part of its parliamentary diplomacy role, the Assembly pays particular attention to member states presenting delicate political and institutional situations.
In the Western Balkans, for instance, we have been working hard to encourage the opposition to return to Parliament in Albania, whilst in Bosnia and Herzegovina, following the elections, we need to set up a serious institutionalised process which will allow much needed constitutional amendments to be finally adopted. We shall also start inviting representatives of the political forces elected to the Kosovo Assembly to meetings of the Committees of the Assembly whenever issues which concern Kosovo are discussed – all this, of course, taking into account the legitimate interests and concerns of Serbia and the UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
Concerning Russia, during my recent visits I have felt that the current climate with the Council of Europe is positive. We need to work as partners, with mutual respect and without double standards, in order to settle questions on which our opinions differ and assist Russia in fulfilling its outstanding commitments.
This brings us to a difficult subject, the war between Georgia and Russia. Our Assembly fully supports the territorial integrity of Georgia. Since the political negotiations are being held in Geneva, we have concentrated on humanitarian issues, where we could make a practical contribution.
In Ukraine we have to make sure that the country takes the unique chance to carry out urgently needed reforms after years of political instability, by associating the different political forces in the country. In this respect, local elections on 31 October 2010 which your Congress will observe, will be an important test for Ukraine’s democracy. Concerning Moldova, the Assembly will observe the forthcoming elections and we shall then pursue our mediating efforts between the different political forces in order to help resolve the present political and constitutional deadlock.
In the South-Caucasus region we have also been encouraging positive moves aiming at bringing a solution to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Here again, we do not interfere with the OSCE Minsk Group but we try to encourage confidence-building measures, in particular among the parliamentary delegations of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Both in Armenia and Azerbaijan we still need to do a lot of work to improve public confidence and consolidate the democratic process.
A word regarding my own country, Turkey. The positive result of the referendum on constitutional change showed how strongly the Turkish people are attached to their democratic rights and freedoms and to a future in Europe. This is a powerful signal on the eve of Turkey’s chairmanship of the Council of Europe.
Unfortunately the Assembly has put on hold its activities involving high-level contacts with Belarus until a progress is seen towards the fulfilment of the one non-negotiable condition for de-freezing our relations – the death penalty. But we are trying not to cut all contacts, also in the light of how the forthcoming presidential elections will be held.
Finally, we have also pursued our strategy of bringing non-member states closer to our standards, particularly through the adoption of a new special status, called “Partnership for Democracy”, for Parliaments of neighbouring non-member states. We received official requests for this status from the Parliaments of Morocco and Palestine and the Parliament of Kazakhstan is currently considering making a request.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
Our work is not only confined to specific member states facing specific challenges. We must also use the fact of being together in order to find a common response to the most important challenges that our democracies have to face.
One of the strongest concerns of the Assembly at present is the fact that, in a context of economic crisis and rising unemployment, public security discourse is increasingly used in conjunction with discriminatory language. It tends to link insecurity with ethnic communities, including migrants, using them as scapegoats, as has been the case recently with Roma.
We held an urgent debate on this topic earlier this month and we condemned the use of such language as unacceptable in a democracy. We urged member states to strongly endorse in their national law the Council of Europe instruments, standards and policies prohibiting and preventing hate speech and discrimination. We should equally work together to make sure that the governments of the Council of Europe member states respect their political commitment expressed in the “Strasbourg declaration” that was adopted last week at the high-level meeting on Roma in Strasbourg.
Another worrying trend which presents a direct challenge to democracy is the upsurge of racism, xenophobia and all sorts of manifestations of intolerance against people of different religious beliefs. These manifestations can be flagrant or subtle, but the result is the same: discrimination, social alienation and exclusion, tension between communities and fomentation of political extremism.
There are no universal recipes for fighting against extremism, but our first and foremost task is to address its root causes. Resolute action against discrimination, emphasis on civic education and inter-cultural as well as inter-religious dialogue, involvement of civil society and non-governmental organisations – especially those representing segments of society which are excluded from ordinary channels – in consultation or decision-making processes are key instruments in reducing the potential attraction of extremist groups and movements.
The Parliamentary Assembly intends to make its own contribution by holding in April 2011 a major debate on the religious dimension of inter-cultural dialogue.
Dear colleagues,
Finally, I would like to share with you a few words about one of the most important challenges that lie ahead of us, the accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights. Several important aspects of this process involve directly our Assembly: in particular, the modalities under which the European Parliament will participate in the process of electing judges to the European Court of Human Rights. We have initiated a political dialogue with the European Parliament on this issue.
Dear friends,
Let me express again my best wishes to all of you. I am sure that we shall pursue our close co-operation. It would be useful to organise more joint meetings to work on matters of common interest, which would increase our efficiency and also help us avoid any duplication of work.
Thank you for your attention.