Parliamentary Assembly contribution to the 2nd Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe

3 April 1997 Doc. 7786

ADOC7786

REPORT1

on the Parliamentary Assembly contribution

to the Second Summit of Heads of State and Government

of the Council of Europe

(Rapporteurs: Mr Miguel Ángel MARTÍNEZ,

Spain, Socialist Group

and Mr Jean SEITLINGER,

France, Group of the European People's Party)

_____

Summary

The second Summit of Heads of State and Government will be held in Strasbourg on 10 and 11 October 1997. This will be the opportunity to affirm the Council of Europe's specific role in the new institutional architecture of Europe - notably for democratic security, human rights and social cohesion - and to respond with practical measures to the new challenges facing the Organisation. For this, the Committee of Ministers must make full use of the Council of Europe as a pan-European political forum, continue to strengthen its structures, and take up other challenges confronting European society such as the progress of science and technology and the emerging world economy.

I. Draft recommendation

1. The Assembly notes with satisfaction the Committee of Ministers' decision, pursuant to Assembly Recommendation 1303 of 7 November 1996, to hold the second Summit of Heads of State and Government in Strasbourg on 10 and 11 October 1997 at the invitation of the French Government.

2. Strengthening peace and stability in Europe is the prerequisite for consolidating the process of building Europe across the entire continent, which should thus become a broad area of democratic security and social and economic prosperity based on shared values and forming a common European legal area.

3. The second Summit should be an opportunity to assert the Council of Europe's specific role in the new institutional architecture of Europe, in view of its new geographical scope, its achievements and expertise and current developments in the European Union and NATO. A decision should be taken in particular to make full use of the Council of Europe, whose member states now include almost all European countries, as the principal forum for political dialogue and consultation on a pan-European scale.

4. The Summit should also be an opportunity to meet the most urgent needs of the new member countries in central and eastern Europe and take up the new challenges confronting all European societies.

5. Like the 1993 Vienna Summit, the 1997 Strasbourg Summit should take practical decisions and specify the timetable for implementing them. It should also include firm commitments on the funding of the activities that will thus be assigned to and performed by the Council of Europe as its own specific tasks.

6. The recent political crises in several new member states illustrate the difficulties besetting democratic and economic transition, which undermine the cohesion of our societies and stability in Europe. The assistance provided so far by the international community has proved inadequate and practical programmes should be launched at the Summit; they should be targeted on activities relating to democratic security and the Council of Europe should be given the responsibility of carrying them through.

7. To ensure compliance with the Council of Europe's standards, the commitments and obligations entered into must be honoured by all member states, which demands a firm commitment at the highest political level to co-operate with the monitoring procedures of both the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly.

8. The growth of organised crime, corruption and illicit trafficking, particularly in drugs, generates a climate of insecurity and seriously threatens to destabilise the rule of law and democracy. Full use should be made of the Council of Europe's existing legal instruments and work should be started on further instruments if necessary.

9. Advances in medicine and genetics challenge ethical rules and call for suitable responses which should apply throughout the continent and will safeguard the values underpinning the European idea.

10. The media must be able to function freely and independently in all the member states, which means adopting common standards on the guarantees required in a democratic state. At the same time, the growing impact of the media on people's views and behaviour makes it essential to look closely at the responsibilities attendant on the exercise of freedom of expression and information.

11. The insufficient participation of women in political and institutional affairs is a serious shortcoming of the democratic system in Europe, as elsewhere. Putting an end to this situation must be one of the Council of Europe's strategic aims.

12. The Europe being constructed, which is rooted in the values of solidarity, cannot be cut off from the rest of the world. It must on the contrary develop ties of friendship and co-ordination with states elsewhere that share the same universal values of freedom, democracy, respect for human rights and social justice. Europe as represented by the Council of Europe does not want to defend its freedom and prosperity as privileges, sometimes even at the expense of other peoples' freedom and prosperity. On the contrary, to be consistent with its own idea of the future, Europe should make every effort to help bridge the unacceptable gulf between North and South through co-operation and sustained action commensurate with this historic challenge now confronting us.

13. The Assembly further recommends that the Committee of Ministers prepare and include the following decisions in the draft final declaration of the Summit, which should:

Reinforce existing machinery:

i. proclaim the establishment of the single Court of Human Rights, a reform decided at the Vienna Summit in October 1993. The few ratifications of Protocol No.11 still needed before the reform can come into force should be secured as soon as possible;

ii. solemnly declare its support for the monitoring of commitments and obligations of member states, at both intergovernmental and Parliamentary Assembly level, and express members' commitment to full co-operation in this sphere;

iii. decide to draw up a protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights introducing a general clause on equal rights. A provision of this kind would extend the guarantee of non-discrimination under Article 14 of the Convention, which is currently confined to the rights specifically protected by the Convention itself;

iv. urge members to ratify the existing conventions on crime control, especially the Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime, and develop systematic pooling of experience in a key area of democratic security, together with any special programmes that may prove necessary;

v. call for ratification of the 1995 Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the 1992 European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which have still not come into force;

vi. implement the Vienna Summit's decision to draw up a protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights protecting the cultural rights of persons belonging to national minorities;

vii. call for ratification of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which is the ideal instrument for developing and guaranteeing the conditions for effective local democracy, without which no democracy can be stable and complete;

Take up the new challenges:

viii. take action on the proposal from the Finnish Chairmanship to appoint a human rights commissioner. Setting up this institution, which would have no judicial authority, would be a means of dealing with infringements of human dignity and giving a higher profile to the Council of Europe's work on human rights;

ix. decide to draw up a European convention on the protection and rights of refugees and asylum seekers;

x. decide to draw up a protocol to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine on cloning, to strengthen protection against gene manipulation;

xi. decide to draw up a convention on new communication technologies, guaranteeing that the network is used in accordance with the Council of Europe's principles and standards;

xii. decide on an action plan to improve equality between men and women, addressing rights and their practical expression in daily life, not only in the policy-making process but also in all areas of social and economic life;

xiii. decide to start work on a European public service charter setting standards that will ensure equal access for all to basic public services, notably in health and education, in each member state. The charter would also lay down rules on training and professional ethics, making sure that the public service is competent and politically neutral in all member states;

Strengthen social cohesion:

xiv. reassert the Council of Europe's social dimension by setting up special assistance programmes designed to keep society together, a further factor for democratic security. The Summit should also promote the general ratification of the Social Charter, whose flexible nature takes account of the changes in the economy, the new working conditions and the situation in the new Council of Europe member states;

xv. decide to finalise the Council of Europe project on human dignity and social exclusion aimed at defining practical principles for government action against poverty and social exclusion, which deny people their fundamental rights and are a threat to democracy;

xvi. under the European Cultural Convention, launch a programme of education for citizenship, tolerance, democracy, solidarity and responsibility which could usefully be included in the member countries' school curricula;

xvii. define the principles governing the Council of Europe's external relations to lend greater weight in the international arena to the values that distinguish our idea of the future and to those who share them with us. In particular, serious discussion and consistent action should be undertaken to develop in our societies, especially among young Europeans, an awareness that every effort must be made to overcome the widening gap between North and South;

Decide to update the organisation's structures:

xviii. decide on a reform of the Committee of Ministers' procedures to make better use of its potential as a political organ;

xix. implement the reform of the 1949 Statute, decided at the Vienna Summit.

II. Explanatory memorandum

by the rapporteurs

I. INTRODUCTION

1. The proposal to hold a second Council of Europe summit, following up the Vienna Summit of October 1993, was made by Ms Leni Fischer, following her election as President of the Parliamentary Assembly. The Assembly espoused this idea in Recommendation 1303, adopted on 25 September 1996.

2. The formal decision to hold the summit was taken by the Committee of Ministers at their Strasbourg meeting on 7 November 1996.

3. The Final Communiqué actually states that:

"The Ministers noted that the plan to hold a second summit, raised at their previous Session, had aroused wide support and that the Parliamentary Assembly had unanimously taken a position in its favour, recommending that it be held in the second half of 1997. Its holding could help to foster the sense of a common European identity on the basis of shared values and promote the cohesion of the continent as a whole. In this context the Ministers welcomed the statement by the French delegation that France would be happy to organise the second summit during the French chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. They instructed their Deputies to report to their 100th Session on the state of preparations."

4. The summit will take place in Strasbourg on 10 and 11 October 1997, and the Committee of Ministers will make the necessary arrangements at its Session of 5 and 6 May 1997.

5. Discussions have continued both in the Parliamentary Assembly and its ad hoc committee and in the Committee of Ministers, in order to decide on the main themes of the summit and to define the new activities which could be set in motion by the heads of state and government.

II. THE MAIN EUROPEAN ENTERPRISES: cohesion and shared values

6. There is a greater need than ever for Europe, now reunited around shared values, to give hope to its peoples and even, further afield, to the whole world community.

7. A strengthening of European peace and stability is an essential precondition to the progress of European construction encompassing the whole of Europe, which must be a huge area of democratic security, based upon a common European legal area.

8. The safeguarding of human rights, particularly the protection of the rights of members of national minorities, the fight against racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance and the strengthening of pluralist democracy and the rule of law are all vital to European stability.

9. The Council of Europe, which is on the way to completing its enlargement and now has among its member states almost all the countries of central and eastern Europe, is a political forum for dialogue and consultation at pan-European level of which full use must be made, in conjunction with the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).

10. Recent events in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and in Albania have highlighted the need to set up a common structure for political management of European crises in which the Council of Europe, European Union and OSCE work closely together.

11. The Strasbourg Summit should provide an opportunity clearly to define the role and place of the Council of Europe in the new institutional architecture which will result from the enlargement processes under way, particularly within the European Union and Nato.

12. In order to guarantee the status of the Council of Europe's standards, the commitments and obligations entered into must be respected by all member states, which implies a strengthening of the monitoring procedures.

13. In order to help the countries of central and eastern Europe successfully to complete the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law and to make the brave reforms they have undertaken last, the Council of Europe must develop its support and assistance programmes. It must also continue its efforts to strengthen its partnership with the European Union in this field.

14. Specific programmes of support for the reforms, particularly in the social and training spheres, must be prepared for the new member states, based upon an evaluation of the most urgent needs of the countries of central and eastern Europe.

15. The new member states should be strongly encouraged to subscribe to the fundamental rights laid down in the Council of Europe's European Social Charter.

16. The building of a stable, tolerant and prosperous Europe for the next millennium requires the new challenges facing our continent to be taken up:

a. the globalisation of exchanges, accelerated by the extremely rapid progress of communications and information technologies, is leading to far-reaching changes jeopardising social cohesion.

b. in the new worldwide communications area, the development of "information superhighways" is bringing great changes in lifestyles and working methods, but requires measures to be taken rapidly in order to prevent this new means of communication from being deflected from its purpose. The increasing influence of the mass media in our societies means rethinking the conditions for the exercise of freedom of expression, so as to guarantee the efficient operation of the rule of law in the new conditions arising as a result.

c. the development of organised crime, corruption and unlawful trafficking, particularly of drugs, is creating a climate of insecurity and poses a major threat of destabilisation of the rule of law and democracy.

d. continuing terrorism, against which stronger measures need to be taken, particularly within the framework of the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism.

e. the progress of medicine and genetics calls into question ethical rules and requires appropriate responses enabling the values on which our civilisation is based to be safeguarded.

17. Europe must affirm its identity and promote its values, the hallmarks of its project, particularly among young people, for whom programmes should be created based on education for citizenship, democracy and responsibility. The Council of Europe's European Cultural Convention provides a valuable framework for embarking on new activities.

18. The deficit in women's participation in political and institutional life is a fundamental shortcoming of the democratic system in Europe, as elsewhere. Putting an end to this situation must be one of the Council of Europe's strategic aims as part of its contribution to European construction. With this in mind, the Council of Europe should propose new standards enabling equality to be guaranteed between women and men, in respect of their rights and the practical translation of these into everyday life, not only in the political decision-making process, but also at every level of economic and social life.

19. The Council of Europe, at the initiative of the Parliamentary Assembly in fact, was the first organisation to grasp the importance of local democracy and the role that its full implementation can play in European construction. Any properly planned democracy must start from the grass roots and reach the top, for a true democracy can only be designed on the basis of the introduction and implementation of local, or neighbourhood, democracy, enabling the citizen to be more directly represented and to play a role in, and have more direct influence over, the taking of decisions.

20. Moreover, it is inspired by this conviction that the Council of Europe — its Assembly and its Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe — wished to give binding legal form to the principles of local self-government henceforth enshrined in the European Charter of Local Self-Government (to date signed by thirty-two member states and ratified by twenty-three of them), which is an excellent instrument for developing and guaranteeing the conditions for true local democracy.

21. Basing itself in particular on experience acquired in the field of transfrontier co-operation, the Council of Europe must promote the development of regional co-operation in the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean and central European areas.

22. The Council of Europe must develop its friendship links with the non-member states which share the same values. In this context the Assembly welcomes the granting by the Committee of Ministers of observer status to the United States, Canada and Japan. The Europe now being built, based on the values of solidarity, cannot be isolated from the rest of the world, but should instead help to eliminate the unacceptable gulf now growing between North and South, through co-operation and sustained efforts appropriate to the historic challenge we face.

23. The effectiveness of the activities recommended will be all the greater if co-operation is strengthened between the Council of Europe and the other institutions, particularly the European Union and OSCE, in an effort to rationalise and co-ordinate efforts.

24. All the European institutions must, each according to its own specific competence and experience, make their contribution to our shared objective: cohesion of a Europe united round the values of democracy, human rights, solidarity and social justice, which will be central to the 50th anniversary of the Council of Europe in 1999.

25. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe calls on national parliaments, from which it emanates, to make sure that, when debates are held on the ratification of the new treaties relating to the European Union and its enlargement, the social and human dimension of European construction, which is our shared project, is properly taken into account.

III. PROPOSALS FOR THE SUMMIT

26. These proposals focus on three main themes: the strengthening of democracy and the rule of law through the development of the European legal area, social cohesion and the affirmation of European identity.

Reinforcing existing machinery:

27. The Council of Europe, particularly in the human rights sphere, possesses instruments which have stood the test of time but which need adapting in the light of the new situation created by the Organisation's enlargement and of the need to meet the new challenges, affirming the rights and responsibilities of the citizen in a democratic society.

28. The summit could afford an opportunity to consecrate the single Court, the reform of which was decided at the Vienna Summit in October 1993. With this in mind, the Parliamentary Assembly should invite the Committee of Ministers to do everything possible to obtain in time the ratifications of Protocol No. 11 still needed before the reform can come into force.

29. The summit should also solemnly affirm its support for the machinery for monitoring the commitments and obligations of member states, both at intergovernmental level and in the framework of the Parliamentary Assembly, and express members' commitment to full co-operation in this sphere.

30. The European Convention on Human Rights could usefully have added to it a protocol introducing a general clause on equal rights. A provision of this kind would extend the application of Article 14 of the ECHR, currently limited to the rights specifically protected by the Convention itself.

31. The monitoring procedure for the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) should also be strengthened.

32. Where the protection of national minorities is concerned, the Vienna Summit's decision to draw up a protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights protecting the cultural rights of persons belonging to national minorities should be implemented. The summit should be the occasion to call for ratification of the 1995 Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the 1992 European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which have still not come into force.

33. The proposal from the Finnish Chair for the post of human rights commissioner to be created should be studied in detail, so as to determine the practical conditions for the introduction and operation of this new office. Were the post of human rights commissioner, who would have no judicial authority, to be created, the Council of Europe's activity in the human rights field would be able to be made more visible.

Taking up the new challenges:

34. As new risks and non-military threats increase, states must have appropriate legal instruments available and make the best possible use of existing Council of Europe conventions (Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism and Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime). Additional measures to be taken could usefully draw on the proposals put forward at the G7 meeting in Lyon, in which Russia participated.

35. Efforts to combat the trafficking and use of drugs must be stepped up. The summit could decide to give new impetus to the activities of the Pompidou Group.

36. Faster technological progress in various fields brings an urgent need for rules and standards to be drawn up enabling fundamental ethical values to be safeguarded.

37. In the medical field, the Council of Europe's Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine represents a major breakthrough. It will also require a protocol on cloning in order to strengthen protection against genetic manipulation.

38. Where the development of new communications technologies is concerned, the summit could decide to start work on a convention guaranteeing that the new network is used in accordance with legal, ethical and democratic principles.

Strengthening social cohesion:

39. The summit should reaffirm the social dimension of the Council of Europe and the relevance of the fundamental principles of the European Social Charter, the flexible nature of which enables account to be taken of changes in the economy and of new working conditions, as well as of the situation in the new Council of Europe member states.

40. The summit could also decide to flesh out the Council of Europe project on human dignity and social exclusion, the aim of which is to define practical principles for governmental action against poverty and social exclusion, which deny people their fundamental human rights and are a threat to democracy.

41. Lastly, work could begin on a European public service charter setting standards enabling equal access for all to basic public services, particularly in the health and education spheres, to be guaranteed in every member state.

42. This charter would also lay down rules on training and professional ethics, making sure that the public service is both competent and politically neutral in all member states.

43. In order to affirm its identity, Europe must highlight the achievements of its civilisation and its heritage. The Council of Europe should draw on its new pan-European dimension to set in motion new educational and cultural projects within the framework of the European Cultural Convention.

44. Education for citizenship, tolerance, democracy and responsibility could usefully be included on member states' school curricula. These arrangements should be supplemented by appropriate teacher training. The summit could also decide to start research and publication projects covering European civilisation and history and involving research workers from the various disciplines from every member state.

Updating the organisation's structures:

45. In order to place the Council of Europe in a position to promote its new activities, the Assembly points out the need:

—fo r the reform of the 1949 Statute decided on at the Vienna Summit, and in respect of which the Assembly made proposals in Recommendation 1212 (1993), to be implemented;—

—fo r the Council of Europe to be given additional budget funds enabling it to face up to the new responsibilities stemming from its enlargement.46

46. The second summit should provide an opportunity to reaffirm the Council of Europe's purpose, defined at the Vienna Summit, as being responsible for democratic security in Europe.

ANNEX 1

RECOMMENDATION 1303 (1996)2

on the proposal for a second summit

of heads of state and government of the Council of Europe

_____

1. The Assembly recalls the major developments which have taken place since the Vienna Summit (8-9 October 1993): expanded membership of the Council of Europe to cover the entire continent, including Russia; ever more rapid globalisation of exchanges through the spread of telecommunications, to the point of placing strains on the cohesion of European societies; revision of the institutions of the European Union.

2. The Council of Europe faces great challenges today which require fresh thinking on resources and long-term goals for the role it should play in promoting a model of society for Europe in the twenty-first century.

3. Summit meetings of heads of state and government are the sole means of renewing the political impetus of international institutions.

4. The Assembly requests that a second Council of Europe summit be held in Strasbourg in the second half of 1997.

5. The Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers include the following items in the draft Declaration for consideration by heads of state and government:

i. clear definition and decision at the highest political level of the place and role of the Council of Europe in Europe's institutional landscape;

ii. review of actions undertaken since the Vienna Summit: protection of the rights of persons belonging to national minorities; plan of action against racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance; reform of the European Court of Human Rights; political dialogue;

iii. a stronger political role for the Council of Europe, in particular

a. through increased emphasis on political monitoring of obligations and commitments;

b. through reform of the 1949 Statute to give a stronger role to the Committee of Ministers (to be renamed "Council of Ministers") and to the Secretary General, and to guarantee the budgetary autonomy of the Parliamentary Assembly, and

c. stronger co-operation between the Council of Europe and the European Union on the basis of proposals already made by the Parliamentary Assembly;

iv. development of "partnership for democracy" by expanding co-operation and assistance programmes;

v. ever firmer establishment of a European "legal area", for drawing up minimum standards for civil society, for drafting new instruments to respond to progress in information technology and medical science, and for harmonising environmental standards throughout Europe;

vi. new initiatives to promote a model for European society:

a. encouragement of the ratification of the European Social Charter and its protocols as well as of the revised European Social Charter and of the implementation of the social rights in particular in the fields of employment, guaranteeing of social welfare systems, struggle against poverty and exclusion, and professional training for young people;

b. incentives to partnership between the state and the various economic and social agents;

c. drawing-up of legal instruments to address the challenges arising from new developments in information technology, such as the Internet, as well as from the increased influence and responsibility of the electronic media;

d. drawing up of a European public service charter with standards for equal and free access to basic public services: education, health, transport, telecommunications;

e. drawing-up of a European convention on the civil service, with standards relating to ethics and job security;

f. setting-up, in liaison with the European Union, of a special programme for youth training in Europe, designed to enhance the adaptability of education systems;

g. expansion of support programmes for democratic reform, notably by providing expert advice in the institutional, educational and social fields;

h. strengthening of the Organisation's analytical and predictive role ("fonction prospective") in the field of legal norms and social trends, prompted by and with the participation of the Parliamentary Assembly, and with contributions from qualified personalities — economists, philosophers and sociologists renowned for their work on the new patterns of social life likely to emerge in the next century;

i. new budgetary means permitting the Council of Europe to address these goals in the new context set by its expanded membership, so that heads of state and government at summit meetings recognise that proposals for policies and programmes, especially those which affect the role of the Parliamentary Assembly, are only of symbolic value unless additional finance is made available.

ANNEX 2

21 January 1997 Doc. 7732

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS

Reply to Recommendation 1303 (1996)

on the proposal for a second summit

of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe

(adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 15 January 1997

at the 581st meeting of the Ministers' Deputies)

_____

1. The Committee of Ministers has taken note with great interest of Recommendation 1303 (1996) "on the proposal for a second summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe". It wishes the Assembly to know that it brought this Recommendation to the attention of the governments and, after having included it in the file of the Deputies' Ad Hoc Working Party on the proposal for a second summit, resumed consideration of this question when that Working Party (whose mandate expired with the adoption of its final report by the Deputies at their 575 bis meeting on 22 October 1996) had concluded its work, and in the light of the conclusions of the Committee of Ministers' 99th Session.

2. The penultimate paragraph of the final communiqué of the 99th Session reads: "The Ministers noted that the plan to hold a second summit, raised at their previous Session, had aroused wide support and that the Parliamentary Assembly had unanimously taken a position in its favour, recommending that it be held in the second half of 1997. Its holding could help to foster the sense of a common European identity, on the basis of shared values, and promote the cohesion of the continent as a whole. In this context, the Ministers welcomed the statement by the French delegation that France would be happy to organise the second summit during the French chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. They instructed their Deputies to report to their 100th Session on the state of preparations."

3. In response to the political impetus provided by the Ministers, the French authorities have confirmed that France intends to convene the second Summit of Council of Europe Heads of State and Government in Strasbourg on 10 and 11 October 1997. The Committee of Ministers expresses its satisfaction and its gratitude to the President of the French Republic for this invitation, which meets the Assembly's request in paragraph 4 of Recommendation 1303.

4. Concerning paragraphs 1 to 3, the Committee of Ministers agrees with the Assembly that the major developments which have taken place since the Vienna Summit and the new challenges which the Council of Europe faces today mean that the Organisation now needs a political impetus on the highest level. In this connection, the Committee of Ministers notes that the Strasbourg Summit will take place after the summit of OSCE Heads of State and Government (Lisbon, 2-3 December 1996), the end of the European Union's Inter-governmental Conference and the NATO Summit (Madrid, 8-9 July 1997).

5. Concerning paragraph 5, the Committee of Ministers has taken note with great interest of the Assembly's proposals on items for inclusion in the draft declaration which is to be submitted to the Heads of State and Government. It is unable, at present, to reply to these proposals in detail, since preparatory work for the Summit has just begun. It none the less wishes to bring the following points to the Assembly's attention:

a. The second Summit should focus on the central aims laid down for the Council of Europe in its Statute, which remain those of the enlarged Council (pluralist democracy, the rule of law, respect for and promotion of human rights), and consider how further action in areas where the Organisation has acknowledged expertise or a specific contribution to make, can help to promote democratic security in Europe. The Committee considers that the Summit's success will depend on avoiding fragmentation in the preparatory work and focusing on essentials;

b. Reviewing the implementation of the Vienna Summit Declaration is a continuing concern for the Council of Europe and should therefore not be made a specific topic for the Summit. In this connection, the Committee of Ministers wishes the Assembly to know that, in response to the appeal issued on this question by the Ministers at their 99th Session, the Deputies decided, at their 578th meeting (18-20 November 1996), to include on the agenda for all their Human Rights meetings an item dealing with progress made concerning ratification of:

- the European Convention on Human Rights by States which have not yet done so (these states being required to ratify both the Convention and Protocol No. 11);

- Protocol No. 11 to the European Convention on Human Rights by States party to the Convention which have not yet ratified this Protocol;

c. Similarly, institutional questions could be examined in the perspective of the follow-up to the Summit, in the light of the decisions taken at it and of the enlarged Council of Europe's place and role in the new Europe;

d. Given the international context in which the second Summit is being held, special attention should be paid to co-operation between the Council of Europe and the other organisations on the European institutional scene, particularly the OSCE and the European Union. Concerning the latter, the Committee of Ministers is happy to inform the Assembly that relations between the Council and the European Union have recently progressed significantly, in particular with the signing, on 5 November 1996, of a new exchange of letters between the President of the Commission and the Secretary General of the Council, and the specific mention of the Council of Europe's role contained in the conclusions of the Presidency at the European Council in Dublin (13-14 December 1996): "The European Council believes that the Council of Europe has a crucial role in upholding human rights standards and supporting pluralist democracy. It sees advantage in using to the fullest, in cooperation with other international institutions, the expertise and mechanisms of the Council of Europe to advance these objectives. The summit meeting of the Organisation, in 1997, will provide a significant opportunity to review the progress made in these areas."

6. Concerning, finally, the current phase of preparation of the Summit, the Committee of Ministers welcomes the setting-up of an Ad Hoc Committee on the second Summit by the Assembly's Bureau. The Ministers' Deputies will work out with the Assembly and its Ad Hoc Committee how dialogue between both sides can be most useful. In accordance with the terms of reference given to them at the Committee of Ministers' 99th Session, the Deputies will report to the 100th Session (5-6 May 1997) on progress made with preparation of the Summit, so that the Ministers can determine its theme and agenda at that session.

7. The Committee of Ministers has decided to include Recommendation 1303 and the present reply among the reference documents for preparation of the Summit.

* *

Reporting Committee: Political Affairs Committee.

Budgetary implications for the Assembly: none

Reference to committee: Recommendation 1303 and Doc. 7763, Reference No. 2170 of 19 March 1997

Draft recommendation adopted unanimously by the committee on 2 April 1997.

Members of the committee: Mr Bársony (Chairman), Sir Anthony Durant (Vice-Chairman) (Alternate: Mr Atkinson), Mr van der Linden (Vice-Chairman), Mrs Ojuland (Vice-Chairperson), MM Aloglu, Antretter, Bakke, Baumel, Mrs Belohorska, MM Belyaev, Bergqvist, Bernardini, Björck, Bloetzer, Bokov, Büchel, Bühler, Cem, Cerqueda Pascuet, Chircop (Alternate: Mr de Marco), Chornovil, Deasy, Diacov, Domljan (Alternate: Mr Meštrovic), Eörsi, Evangelisti, Galanos, Gjellerod (Alternate: Mr Severinsen), Gotzev, Hardy, Irmer, Iwinski, Kalus, Kaspereit, Kautto, Kuzmickas, Mrs Lentz-Cornette, MM Lopez Henares, Lupu, van der Maelen, Maginas, Martínez, Masseret, Medeiros Ferreira, Melescanu, Mota Amaral, Mühlemann, Oliynik, Pahor, Popovski, Prusak, Mrs Ragnarsdottir, MM Risari, Schieder (Alternate: Mr. Fuhrmann), Schwimmer, Selva, Sinka, Sir Dudley Smith, Mr Spahia, Mrs Štěpová, Mrs Suchocka, MM Urbain, Vrettos, Woltjer, Ziuganov (Alternate: Mr. Zhebrovsky).

N.B. The names of those members who took part in the meeting are printed in italics.

Secretaries of the committee : Mr Hartland, Mr Kleijssen, Mr Gruden.

1 ¹ By the Political Affairs Committee

2 ²Assembly debate on 24 September 1996 (26th Sitting). See Doc. 7637, report by the Political Affairs Committee (rapporteurs: MM. Martínez and Seitlinger). Text adopted by the Assembly on 24 September 1996 (26th Sitting).