Reply to Recommendations 1324 et 1342 - Parliamentary Assembly contribution to the 2nd Summit of Heads of State and Governement of the Council of Europe

Doc. 7988 revised

20 January 1998

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

Reply to Recommendations 1324 (1997) and 1342 (1997)

from the Committee of Ministers

adopted on 14 January 1998 at the 614^th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies

1. The Committee of Ministers noted with great interest the proposals contained in Recommendations 1324 (1997) and 1342 (1997) on the Parliamentary Assembly contribution to the Second Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe.

2. The Committee of Ministers considers that these proposals constitute an important contribution to current reflection on the definition of the essential tasks of the Council of Europe in 21st century Europe and of its role in the new European architecture and its relations with the other organisations which are helping to shape the continent's future. In this connection, 1997 was marked by a series of top-level political meetings, each of which represented a major advance in the gradual construction of this new European architecture:

- the OSCE Summit in Lisbon on 2-3 December 1996,

- the European Council in Amsterdam on 15-16 June,

- the NATO Summit in Madrid on 7-8 July 1997,

- the two European Councils in Luxembourg (21 November and 12-13 December 1997.

The Council of Europe took its share in this series of European summit meetings by organising, following an initiative by the Parliamentary Assembly, its Second Summit of Heads of State and Government, held on 10 and 11 October 1997 in Strasbourg at the invitation of the President of the French Republic.

3. After the Vienna Summit (8-9 October 1993), which confirmed the Council of Europe's role as "the pre-eminent European political institution capable of welcoming, on an equal footing and in permanent structures, the democracies of Europe freed from communist oppression", the Strasbourg Summit marked, eight years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and fifty years after the division of Europe into two blocs, our continent's recovered unity, bringing together 46 Heads of State and Government representing nearly all the states of Europe.

4. In adopting the Final Declaration, the Heads of State and Government:

- solemnly founded that European unity on the fundamental principles of the Council of Europe - pluralist democracy, respect for human rights, the rule of law - and reaffirmed their determination to ensure that all member states of the Council complied fully with the requirements and responsibilities of membership;

- gave the Council of Europe their full support, with a view to intensifying its contribution to cohesion, stability and security in Europe, and stressed the importance of developing its co-operation with the other European and transatlantic organisations, particularly the European Union and the OSCE.

5. Supplementing this Final Declaration with an Action Plan, the Heads of State and Government defined four priority fields of action for the Council of Europe - democracy and human rights, social cohesion, citizen security, democratic values and cultural diversity - and launched a process for structural reform of the Organisation, looking ahead to its 50th anniversary in 1999.

6. The Final Declaration and the Action Plan of the Strasbourg Summit, which appear in Appendix I, form a coherent set of guidelines and decisions, the great majority of which were wholly or partly based on the proposals contained in Parliamentary Assembly Recommendations 1324 and 1342. The Committee of Ministers welcomes these concerted efforts between the intergovernmental and the parliamentary organs of the Council of Europe. In the light of the results obtained during the preparation of the Summit (especially thanks to the quality of the working relations established between the ad hoc Working Party of Ministers Deputies to prepare the Second Summit (GT-SOM2) and the corresponding ad hoc Committee set up by the Assembly Bureau), the Committee regards this close collaboration as one of the Organisation's comparative advantages which therefore deserves to be continuously developed, in particular as part of the follow-up process to the Second Summit and the preparation of the 50th anniversary.

7. At their 101st Session (6 November 1997), the Ministers stressed the importance of rapidly implementing all the decisions taken by the Heads of State and Government on 11 October. They have accordingly decided:

- to create a committee on follow-up action to the Second Summit, in the form of an ad hoc Working Party of Deputies (GT-SUIVI), to report on follow-up action to the Final Declaration and implementation of the Action Plan at each of their sessions until the 104th (May 1999), when the 50th anniversary of the Council of Europe will be celebrated. The Parliamentary Assembly will be associated with the work of the GT-SUIVI after the pattern adopted for the activities of the GT-SOM2, since it functioned to the satisfaction of both parties;

- to set up a Committee of Wise Persons with the specific task of drafting proposals for structural reform. The terms of reference, membership and chair of the Committee of Wise Persons were the subject of a decision by the Deputies taken at their 613th meeting (23 December 1997), as reproduced in Appendix II; the President of the Parliamentary Assembly, Ms. Leni Fischer, will be fully involved in the Committee's activities as well as the President of the Venice Commission (Mr. Antonio La Pergola), and representatives of the European Union Presidency (Ms. Audrey Glover), the OSCE Chairman-in-Office (Ms. Hanna Suchocka) and the host country's authorities (Ms. Joëlle Timsit).

8. The Committee of Ministers continues to bear in mind the proposals set out in Recommendations 1324 and 1342 not included in the Final Declaration or Action Plan, in particular those concerning the strengthening of political dialogue and the reform of procedures in the Committee of Ministers, the strengthening of the financial means made available to the Council of Europe and the reform of the 1949 Statute. The examination of these proposals will be continued, within the competent bodies, looking forward to the future reform of the structures, activities, means and working methods of the Organisation due to be completed for its 50th anniversary. During this examination, the Committee of Ministers will bear in mind Recommendations 1212 (1993) and 1267 (1995) concerning respectively the adoption of a Revised Statute and the general policy of the Council of Europe, with a view to adopting final replies.

Appendix I

Appendix II

613^th meeting – 18, 19 & 23 December 1997

Item 1.4

COMMITTEE OF WISE PERSONS

COMPOSITION, CHAIRMANSHIP AND TERMS OF REFERENCE

(CM/Del/Dec(97)609bis/1.4, GT-SUIVI(97)2 and 3 rev.)

Decisions

The Deputies

bearing in mind the Final Declaration of the Second Summit of the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 10-11 October 1997), and in particular the conviction expressed by the Heads of State and Government that the far-reaching changes in Europe and the great challenges to our societies require intensified co-operation between all European democracies,

taking account of the instructions given to the Committee of Ministers by the Heads of State and Government in paragraphs V.1 (Structural reform) and V.2 (Implementation of the action plan) of the Action Plan adopted at the Strasbourg Summit,

in conformity with the decision taken by the Ministers at their 101st Session (Strasbourg, 6 November 1997) to set up a Committee of Wise Persons with a limited membership reflecting a geographical balance of the member States, to be chaired by an eminent political figure, responsible for drawing up proposals for structural reform, and reporting back to the 103^rd Session of the Committee of Ministers;

1. confirmed that the Committee of Wise Persons will comprise the following personalities:

- Mario Soares, Chairman (former President of the Republic, Portugal),

- Gret Haller (Ombudsperson for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland),

- Tarja Halonen (Minister for Foreign Affairs, Finland),

- Laszlo Kovacs (Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hungary),

- Vladimir Schustov (Ambassador at large, Federation of Russia).

The following authorities and representatives will also be fully involved in the activities of the Committee of Wise Persons:

- the President of the Parliamentary Assembly,

- the President of the Venice Commission,

- a representative of the European Union Presidency,

- a representative of the OSCE Chairmanship-in-office,

- a representative of the host country’s authorities,

2. noted that the Committee of Wise Persons may wish to seek advice from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and any other appropriate institution, such as the Social Development Fund, within or outside the Council of Europe, and that member governments may provide expert advice to the Committee;

3. adopted the following terms of reference for the Committee of Wise Persons:

a) The Committee, bearing in mind the Organisation's statutory aims, will review the Council of Europe's activities, means and working methods and elaborate proposals for reforming its structures, with a view to:

- adapting the Organisation to its new tasks and its enlarged membership, taking into account its role in, and specific contribution to, the European architecture;

- improving its decision-making process.

b) The Committee is invited, in its work, to give particular attention to the following:

(i) strengthening the Council of Europe's action in its fields of excellence;

(ii) reorganising the activities and programmes of the Organisation, taking into account the new priorities as defined by the Second Summit;

(iii) reviewing the scope of the other activities;

(iv) developing co-operation with other European and transatlantic organisations, in particular the European Union and the OSCE, and making it more effective, by making the best use of available resources;

(v) enhancing the profile and visibility of the Council of Europe;

(vi) improving the Organisation's working methods and the synergy between its various bodies: the Committee of Ministers (including its subsidiary bodies), the Parliamentary Assembly and the CLRAE;

(vii) reviewing the existing system of Conventions and Partial Agreements with a view to rationalising it and to reinforcing its coherence and homogeneity;

(viii) reviewing the structures of the Secretariat, the budget procedure, the problems of staff recruitment and careers, with a view to making the best possible use of human and financial resources available to the Council of Europe;

4. invited the Secretary General, who is at the Committee’s disposal for any advice, to provide it with the appropriate assistance and to supply background information about proposals made in the framework of the preparation of the above terms of reference, including the setting up of a judiciary body with a view to ensuring coherence and homogeneity of the Council of Europe’s conventional system;

5. invited the Committee of Wise Persons to hold its first meeting in Strasbourg at the end of January, to submit an interim report on its work to the 102^nd Session of the Committee of Ministers (5 May 1998) and to finalise its proposals for the 103^rd Session (November 1998).

The above decisions will come into effect on 5 January 1998.