Council of Europe’s new role
Written by Administrator

Euro Reporters/Belgium
Tuesday, 17 May 2005

The European Union may be on everybody’s lips when they think of
Europe. But the Council of Europe, founded in May 1949, is Europe’s
most geographically representative organization with members from 46
of the 47 countries in the continent. “The Council of Europe is one
of the core institutions in the community of European nations. It
is an institution firmly attached to individual liberties, social
responsibility and the peaceful resolution of conflicts,” said Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili.

The 56-year-old organization includes all of Western Europe but also
countries like Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and the Ukraine. That’s
everybody apart from Belarus, considered by many as Europe’s last
dictatorship. At the Summit, European leaders stressed the need to
bring Belarus back into the European family.

“One European country, a neighbor of both my own country, Latvia,
and of this host country, Poland, is strikingly absent from our
meeting today. That is, of course, Belarus,” said Latvian president
Vaira Vike Freiberga. “I have no doubt that we all feel a particular
sense of empathy with the Belarus people, who deserve far better than
the authoritarian rule that they are now experiencing under the last
dictator in Europe. I hope that the Council of Europe will increase
the scope of its efforts to strengthen the civil society in Belarus,
and that one day Belarus will join our community of democracies.”

Since 1989, the organization has shifted the emphasis to promoting
democracy and human rights throughout Europe. But with an enlarged
European Union, with 25 members, and NATO now including many former
Soviet republics, the Council of Europe must define its role ever
more clearly. There is also an increasingly dynamic Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE, which too aims at
promoting democracy and fair elections.

“We welcome the decision of the Council of Europe to cooperate with
other European institutions. We should guarantee that the Council
of Europe’s role within the new European and global environment is
reinforced. Moreover, cooperation and synergy with the EU and OSCE
are inevitable.”

Maintaining relevance for the Council of Europe means taking account
of the enlarged European Union. “The Commission and the Council of
Europe have also a long history of cooperation on education,” said
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European external relations commissioner. “I
attach particular importance to human rights education. The European
Commission and the Council of Europe should increase their cooperation
in this area. In this context let me just remind you that for many
years the European Commission has been calling for accession to the
European Convention on Human Rights,” she said.

As an example of its forward-focus, the Council of Europe’s Committee
of Ministers adopted three conventions against terrorism and human
trafficking. The three treaties are now open for signature by member
states.

This Summit, which ends on Tuesday, has proved the importance of
the Council of Europe, especially in a wider European perspective.
Tuesday sees major speeches by Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the
European Union, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and a range of
other European leaders.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress