A White Paper on intercultural dialogue is one of the objectives set by the Council of Europe, the international organization of which 46 states of the continent are members. An audition on the question is planned in the Council’s headquarters in Strasbourg, to coincide both with the autumn session of its Parliamentary Assembly (2-6 October) and with the conference of international non-governmental organizations (which opens on Friday, 6th October). The Council of Europe Assembly is discussing at its session the “Community future” of the Balkans. In his address to the Assembly, the Croatian prime minister, Ivo Sanader, commenting on the efforts being made in his country to join the EU, declared: “We must remember our European history, characterised by conflicts, if we do not wish this to be repeated in future. For us integration is the only alternative” to the wars and tensions with neighbouring countries. For his part, the President of the Assembly, the Dutch René van der Linden, commenting on the imminent entry of Bucharest and Sofia into the EU, declared: “My one regret is that we were not severe enough in controlling Romania and Bulgaria. This would have helped these countries to solve problems such as the reform of their judiciary and the crackdown on corruption”.
