Statement by Bruno Haller,
Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(1st Ordinary Part-session of 2006
Monday 23 January 2006)
Mr President,
1. Thank you most sincerely for allowing me to address the Assembly before my departure. First of all, my warmest congratulations on your re-election and I wish you every success in your important duties.
Secondly, I would like to thank you and Vice-President Bernard Schreiner for your kind and extremely complimentary words which mean a great deal to me.
2. Mr President, members of the Assembly,
After thirty-three years working in the Council of Europe, fifteen of which have been spent in the Assembly, there is a great deal that I have to say. It is, however, impossible for me to present an activity report. In view of the time at my disposal, I would have just a few seconds for each year. So I would just like to pass on a few thoughts on what I have personally experienced here in the Council.
3. When I joined the Council of Europe in 1972, it was not I who had carried away Europa, daughter of Phoenix. I had neither the strength nor the ability of Zeus to transform myself into a bull. Rather it was Europe herself that swept me off my feet and has captivated me all this time, now forsaking me for another. But rest assured, I shall nonetheless remain faithful to Europe.
4. It will be clear to you all that I am taking this opportunity to speak about Europe and the Organisation which embodies this idea here in Strasbourg, on the banks of the Rhine, near the Cathedral. For me there is no doubt, if the Council of Europe did not exist, we would have to invent it.
5. I am well aware of the criticisms made in some quarters about its lack of real power and practical action. We must heed such criticism so that we can further develop what we do on the ground – which, by the way, is what we are doing more and more – and increase our influence in the process of European construction, a goal pursued with great determination by this Assembly.
However, these criticisms should not lead us to doubt our role which is one related to values, ethics, thought and the very purpose of living in society.
6. In 1949, having emerged from the tragedy of the Second World War, the founding states and those who subsequently joined them, had no hesitation in investing in the Council of Europe, and they were right. As a result, the Council patiently built up an extensive political area of peace, stability and co-operation, and an incomparable standard-setting edifice on the pillar of the European Convention on Human Rights. This seems to me to be something very concrete and worthwhile.
7. In 1989, it was this political and standard-setting fraternity, firmly based on a set of noble values that appeared so attractive to the countries of central and eastern Europe, seeking freedom, dignity and democracy. And the Council of Europe did not disappoint them. It welcomed them in without keeping them waiting too long at the door, setting up appropriate procedures and mechanisms, thereby making a decisive contribution to unification of the continent. That too was a very concrete and worthwhile achievement, and was acknowledged as such by the Vienna and Strasbourg summits in 1993 and 1997 respectively.
8. Now that it falls to us to implement the decisions taken at last May’s Warsaw Summit, we must indeed develop our action and programmes on the ground in order to consolidate what has been done so far and ensure that the values proclaimed become a reality for everyone. We also need to address the new challenges arising from changes in our multicultural and interdependent societies.
As the work gets under way to prepare the 2007 budget, I hope that our member states will once again understand that it is in their interests to invest in the Council of Europe, which has a particularly good cost-effectiveness ratio. Seneca once said “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable”. So far, the Council has certainly helped its member states know the port they should be heading towards together. Let us ensure it has a favourable wind on which to sail.
9. Mr President, I hope I have enough time left to pay tribute to this Assembly that I have served for 15 years and which, as a legal specialist and a sociologist, I have experienced from the inside.
I have just written a book about the Assembly covering the period between 1949 and 1989, which will be published this week in French. I hope that the English version will be ready by June. Writing about this period and my own personal experiences leave me with a profound sense of admiration, confirming for me what has often been said – that the Assembly is the driving force behind the Council of Europe, providing it with political impetus and vision. Perhaps I shall follow this up with a second book covering the period from 1990 to the present.
10. What the Assembly has achieved is extraordinary. With effect from its very first session in the lecture hall of the University of Strasbourg in August 1949, it began work on the Council of Europe’s three major conventions – the European Convention on Human Rights, the Social Charter and the Cultural Convention. Thereafter, it made every effort to ensure that the Council continued to be the general political framework for all subsequent initiatives to set up small integrated communities in specific sectors. From the beginning of the 1960s it focused on the pan-European purpose of the Council. It was therefore not by chance that in early 1989 it created the status of special guests for the parliaments of the new democracies, that it played host to President Gorbachev, and that it started the process of enlargement, the road map of which it itself drew up. What would the Council of Europe be without its Assembly? I hope that in the discussion you will be having with the Committee of Ministers on the institutional balance within the Organisation, the Assembly’s achievements and commitment will be justly appreciated.
11. For me, the Assembly has been like a living being, with its enthusiasm and doubts, its waves of generosity and its moments of introspection, but always with the necessary drive to take up its work as pioneer, ethical trailblazer and political visionary. The sociologist in me has been won over by the alchemy at work in this unique body between the various national and partisan positions, personal convictions and different temperaments, origins, outlooks and such diverse experiences.
What keeps everything standing is the cement of fundamental values. But I became aware that it is also the procedure and the rules that help channel energies, deal with and smooth out conflicts before they ever become personal. Lastly, it is by means of the vote that a matter is settled, with decisions being reached by the majority. It has been fascinating to watch and be part of this genuinely democratic process and group dynamics.
12. At this point, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to all members of the Assembly for their excellent collaboration. I would like to mention in particular the successive Presidents with whom I have worked directly and who showed me their trust: Anders Björck, the late Lord Finsberg, Miguel Angel Martínez, Leni Fischer, Lord Russel Johnson, Peter Schieder and René van der Linden, not forgetting Louis Jung with whom I had already worked before joining the Assembly.
I will also mention the Chairs of the political groups, the Chairs of national delegations and the chairs and Rapporteurs of the committees who, throughout my time here, have carried out these important Assembly tasks. I cannot forget the Secretaries of the political groups and national delegations with whom we have built up an extremely effective and amicable network of co-operation.
13. Of course, the Assembly could not function as well as it does without the support and contribution of other Council of Europe sectors, headed up by Secretary General Terry Davis and Deputy Secretary General Maud de Boer-Bucquichio. I thank them most sincerely and think too of their predecessors, with whom I had the privilege to cooperate during my career. Interaction with the Committee of Ministers is also essential and the excellent co-operation in recent years with the successive Chairmanships has given much more substance to the dialogue between the two bodies. This must continue if we want to achieve a true partnership. I would also like to thank the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the Venice Commission, the Court of Human Rights, the Commissioner for Human Rights and so many other bodies and people for their support.
14. I shall be meeting my team at the end of the Session and shall tell them then how wonderful I think they are. Nonetheless, I would like to say publicly that this team is magnificent, loyal, motivated and dedicated to the defence and promotion of the values of the Organisation. I have been very happy to be their leader and to have been given their support and commitment during the demanding period of transformation in the Council and of changes in its tasks. I would also like to thank all the temporary staff who assist our team during the sessions. Unfortunately, our relations with them are more intermittent but without them, we could not keep the Assembly up and running.
In a few days time, I shall be handing over this wonderful team to Mateo Sorinas who has been helping me be in charge for several years. I wish him much success in his new duties.