|
|
Doc. 8639
28 January 2000
European architecture of the 21st century
Motion for a resolution
presented by Mr Atkinson, van der Linden and others
This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it |
1. On 26 January 1999 the Assembly adopted Resolution 1177 (1999) on Building greater Europe without dividing lines which calls for a clear definition of its priorities and a thorough reorganisation of its structures and working methods, in response to the report of the Committee of Wise Persons.
2. However, the Committee of Wise Persons did not come forward with a vision - an ideal - to recommend to Governments of Member States which would truly reflect a "greater Europe without dividing lines" : that is, a Europe with fewer pan-continental institutions than at present, although the Rapporteur (Mr Scheider) emphasised that the European Union should be recognised as the natural partner of the Council of Europe.
3. At present there exist six such institutions established since 1945, many of which overlap in duplicating aims, activity and membership. Five of them were established as a result of the experience of the last war, or in response to the Cold War.
4. These are, in order of age:
• Council of Europe (41 member states) to promote and uphold the principles of parliamentary democracy, rule of law and human rights as defined by its Convention, defended by its Court and monitored by its Assembly.
• NATO (19 member states) a transatlantic defence alliance based on COE principles.
• WEU (10 member states) the 'European pillar' in defence of COE principles.
• EU (15 member states) to pursue economic integration based on COE principles.
• OSCE (54 participating states) to pursue the "3 baskets" of the Helsinki Final Act and the principles of the 1990 Charter of Paris, which reflects COE principles.
• CIS (12 member states) to encourage mutual co-operation between the republics of the former Soviet Union, including its own Convention on Human Rights.
5. Each of these institutions are either entirely composed of COE member states, or are composed of a majority of states which might have applied for membership of the COE. The remaining states would not quality for COE membership because they are not European.
6. Each of these institutions are either totally committed to, or are broadly committed to, the promotion and pursuit of COE principles and some of them exist to secure and defend these principles by force.
7. Each of these institutions are served by their own parliamentary assemblies composed, except in the case of the directly elected European Parliament, of delegations from the national parliaments of member states.
8. At the turn of the 21st century, it is unlikely that the existence of these six institutions will continue indefinitely. Indeed, there are current proposals to merge much of the WEU with the EU and NATO; growing recognition that the COE and OSCE pursue similar aims; and that the EU is committed to enlargement to include more COE member states.
9. In response to these trends, on 26 January 1999 the Assembly also adopted Recommendation 1394 on Europe: a continental design, (Rapporteur: Mr Staes) which emphasised the pre-eminent role of the Council of Europe and recommended that it provides the most appropriate political framework as the pan-European forum for the Third Millennium.
10. And it adopted Resolution 1178 European political project (Rapporteur: Mrs Ojuland) which stressed the importance of the parliamentary dimension in the increasing co-operation and integration between European states in which the Council of Europe and the European Union are the main institutions. It called for the Bureau to consider how the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe could remedy the 'democratic deficit' that exists in the work of the European Parliament.
11. In the light of Resolution 1177, Resolution 1178 and Recommendation 1394 it is essential that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, through the work of its Bureau, should keep these issues under permanent consideration.
12. If the Council of Europe is not clear as to the vision it has for the future architecture of Europe providing for fewer institutions, and does not take a lead in forging it with its own image, based on its own values, then it risks having imposed the solution of others with a different "vision".
13. The forthcoming inter-governmental conference of the European Union now makes this a matter of urgency.
14. Thus, the Assembly emphasises that the institutions of Europe should be based on the Council of Europe and its inalienable principles of parliamentary democracy, rule of law and human rights, its monitoring procedures, and its Court.
15. The Assembly considers it important to work through the Committee of Ministers to persuade the Governments of member states of the pre-eminence of the Council of Europe in the future architecture of Europe.
16. The Assembly would support its President in initiating a process of consultation with his counterparts of all six of the institutions' assemblies to seek to agree a plan of action for "building a greater Europe without dividing lines", to recommend to governments.
Signed : 1
Atkinson, United Kingdom, EDG
van der Linden, Netherlands, EPP/CD
Aguiar, Portugal, EPP/CD
Akgönenç, Turkey, EDG
Bartos, Czech Republic, EDG
Baumel, France, EDG
Billing, Sweden, EDG
Briane, France, EPP/CD
Demetriou, Cyprus, EPP/CD
Dromberg, Finland, EDG
Hoeffel, France, EPP/CD
Hoegh, Norway, EDG
Kalkan, Turkey, EDG
Leers, Netherlands, EPP/CD
Libicki, Poland, EDG
Lopez Henares, Spain, EPP/CD
Naslund, Sweden, EPP/CD
Ouzky, Czech Republic, EDG
Pollazhani, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia",EDG
Ragnarsdóttir, Iceland, EDG
Saakashvili, Georgia, EDG
Schreiner, France, EDG
Sinka, Latvia, EDG
Steolea, Romania, EDG
Toshev, Bulgaria, EPP/CD
Valleix, France, EDG
Wittbrodt, Poland, EPP/CD
Yemets, Ukraine, EDG
1 SOC: Socialist Group
EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party
EDG: European Democratic Group
LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group
UEL: Group of the Unified European Left
NR: not registered in a group