Honouring of obligations and commitments of Ukraine

Doc. 9214

21 September 2001

Honouring of obligations and commitments of Ukraine Recommendation 1513 (2001)

Reply from the Committee of Ministers

adopted at the 765^th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (19 September 2001)

1. The Committee of Ministers recalls its Interim Reply to Recommendation 1513 (2001) on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Ukraine (adopted at its 758^th meeting, 21-25 June 2001, item 2.6) and wishes to inform the Assembly that the Secretariat assistance and information mission to Ukraine, referred to therein, took place from 26 to 29 August 2001. The Secretariat mission report (doc. SG/Inf(2001)27, available on the Council of Europe Internet site : www.coe.int/sg) contains a general evaluation of the honouring of every commitments undertaken by Ukraine when joining the Council of Europe, as well as specific proposals for future action in the framework of Council of Europe co-operation programmes. The Committee of Ministers took note in particular of the general conclusions and specific proposals for future action listed in paragraph 15 of the Secretariat Report in which the significant progress made by Ukraine in fulfilling its formal commitments is acknowledged. It also stressed the necessity to secure proper implementation at all levels of the new democratic regulations and institutions.

2. The Committee of Ministers instructed the Secretariat to take into account the various recommendations in the preparation of future co-operation programmes of the Council of Europe with Ukraine (in particular the proposed European Commission/Council of Europe Joint Programme).

3. As regards, more specifically, sub-paragraph 10 (iii) of Assembly Recommendation 1513 (2001), information on the state of progress regarding implementation of the Action Plan on the Media – proposed by the Secretariat in reply to Assembly Recommendation 1497 (2001) on freedom of expression and functioning of parliamentary democracy in Ukraine – is also included in the report of the Secretariat’s assistance and information mission to Ukraine (SG/Inf (2001) 27, see in particular Appendix IV). Regarding financial resources necessary for this initiative, it is worth pointing out that, following an appeal by the Secretary General for voluntary contributions, a sum of € 318,587 (out of a total provisional budget of € 438,000) has been already obtained or pledged by several member states¹. Moreover, as the Committee of Ministers indicated in its Interim Reply to Recommendation 1513 (2001), part of the Action Plan relating to training of judges (for which there is a budget of approximately € 100,000 has been included in the proposed Joint Programme with the European Commission for Ukraine.

4. The Committee of Ministers will continue to follow the situation in Ukraine as regards honouring of its commitments and implementation of on-going and proposed co-operation activities with the Council of Europe.

¹ Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.