A single ambition

“Axes of collaboration” to reinforce democracy “from below”, protection of human rights, active involvement of citizens and civil society, intercultural and interfaith dialogue, educational projects, territorial and regional bodies and “euroregions” (Mediterranean, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Balkans): just some of the ideas proposed by JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER , prime minister of Luxembourg, in the memorandum commissioned from him on the relation between European Union and Council of Europe. Juncker did not disappoint expectations. The analysis he presented during the parliamentary assembly of the COE, held in the Council’s headquarters in Strasbourg between 10 and 13 April, met with a favourable reception, especially by opening new ways to bring the two continental organizations closer together. HUMAN RIGHTS IN FIRST PLACE. “It is of fundamental importance for cooperation between the COE and the EU to become systematic”, declared RENÉ VAN DER LINDEN , Dutch President of the COE’s parliamentary assembly in summing up the four-day debate in the Palais de l’Europe, largely focused on Juncker’s address. The parliamentary assembly of the “46” welcomed his memorandum with the title “Council of Europe-European Union: a single ambition for the continent”, which recognises the “essential role of the COE as defender and guarantor of human rights”. According to Juncker, “the member states of the EU ought to support the Union’s endorsement of the European Convention of Human Rights”. Moreover, “it would be desirable if the EU were to become a member of the Council of Europe by 2010”. INTER-REGIONAL COOPERATIONE. The Luxembourg premier made many practical recommendations: “The COE’s Commission for Human Rights ought to become an institution to which the EU should defer for problems in this field that are insoluble through its own mechanisms”. Moreover, “the two organizations ought to form a common platform for the evaluation of juridical and judicial parameters and, where appropriate, adopt each other’s parameters”. Alert to practical problems, Juncker declared that the 25 “ought to ensure that the COE, in its role as principal partner of the European Union, be given the resources it needs”. Discussion in the chamber also focused on the new Agency for the Fundamental Rights of the EU and the setting up of a Centre for inter-regional and cross-border cooperation, which Juncker would like to see located in St. Petersburg, “city-lighthouse of Europe”. POSITIVE COMMENTS FROM THE COE. COE general secretary, the Englishman TERRY DAVIS , recognises “the importance of Juncker’s proposal that the EU should become a member of the Council of Europe”. In fact, “all the recommendations of Prime Minister Juncker spring from the general principle according to which the European Union has the obligation to respect human rights while the Council of Europe has the mandate to protect them”. Davis adds: “The proposals are clear, pragmatic and useful”. Juncker’s memorandum was also welcomed by the Italian GIOVANNI DI STASI , president of the Congress of local authorities, that represents the regional institutions of the continent at Strasbourg: “This report opens a new chapter in cooperation between the EU and the Council of Europe”. Di Stasi appreciated “in particular the emphasis given to the positive role of the territorial authorities in reinforcing democracy in Europe”. CÃLIN POPESCU-TÃRICEANU , Romanian prime minister, representative of the Presidency of the COE Council of Ministers, pointed out that “the process of enlargement of the EU is inseparable from the concurrent and cooperative consolidation of the role of the Council of Europe”. JOINT RESPONSES TO COMMON PROBLEMS. “I am convinced – declared WOLFGANG SCHÜSSEL , Austrian Chancellor and current President of the European Council, who participated in the debate – that we need to pay particular attention to the way in which the EU and its member states could use, in an appropriate way, the instruments and institutions of the COE”. JOSÉ MANUEL BARROSO , head of the Commission in Brussels, stressed that “the Council of Europe and the EU must tackle the same challenges: a free and peaceful Europe and a Europe that is stronger vis-à-vis the rest of the world”, and that the two institutions “must respond in a joint manner, seeking the synergies and complementarities between them”. It was left to MIHAI RAZVAN UNGUREANU , Romanian Foreign Minister, current President of the COE Council of Ministers, to sum up the debate and express the hope that it would have a political follow up: “I fully share the vision expressed by Juncker”, he declared, and “hope to be able to conclude the negotiations on the memorandum in agreement with the EU by the end of the Romanian Presidency, on the occasion of the next session of the Committee of Ministers on 18-19 May”.