” “The Chair of the Committee of the Ministers, the main political body of the Council of Europe, will be handed over from Russia to San Marino. On Wednesday November 15th, the chair is to be handed over by Moscow to the oldest republic in the world, at a special meeting of the ministers’ delegates from the 46 member states. "The first part of the meeting explains a note from the CoE will be chaired by Alexander Grushko, deputy minister of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation, who will review the six months’ mandate of the outgoing chair". "Then, Fiorenzo Stolfi, secretary of State for foreign affairs of San Marino, will take the chair and will present the priorities of his country for the next six months". The committee of the ministers "is the decision-making venue" of the CoE. Along with this body, the Council of Europe has set up a Parliamentary assembly, a congress of local and regional powers and a general secretariat. One of the first initiatives after the ceremony of Wednesday evening will be the conference on "Corruption and democracy", due on November 20th and 21st at the Palais de l’Europe. "Before the many challenges that the democracies have to face in Europe, the conference will aim at defining the risks associated with corruption for the future of democracy in Europe" and "at sharing experiences to prevent corruption undermining the stability of democracy".” “
