Brussels, 25/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 25 July, the Council of the EU, acting on a proposal from EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, appointed Stavros Lambrinidis as the EU's first Special Representative for Human Rights. He will take up his post on 1 September and his term of office will run until 30 June 2014.
The former Greek foreign minister and former European Parliament vice-president (Socialist and Democrat), Lambrinidis, will be charged with improving the effectiveness and visibility of European human rights policy in all EU foreign policy areas. He will have “a broad, flexible mandate to allow him to adapt to circumstances” and will work with the European External Action Service (EEAS) which will give him full support, the EEAS says.
Lambrinidis said that, even before officially taking up his post, he would have meetings with the EEAS team and certainly also with leading figures in the Council, the European Parliament and NGOs and companies active on the ground. It was about working as a team, everyone pulling together, said the new Representative, and “I hope I am the one who can bring this about”. “I hope that in a few months or years, we will look back and be able to say what we have done to make a difference”, he added.
Lambrinidis “is a natural choice for the role because of his mix of high level political experience, commitment and expertise with human rights from a legal, diplomatic and political perspective”, Ashton said, adding that she is “looking forward to working closely with him in putting the protection and promotion of human rights and democracy at the heart of EU external action, and enhancing the coherence, effectiveness and visibility of our work in this field”. The high representative pointed out that human rights are one of her top priorities and “a silver thread that runs through everything that we do in external relations”. It is, therefore, “a key portfolio for the European Union and for me personally”, Ashton said.
The appointment of the special representative follows on from the adoption, on 25 June, of the strategic framework and the action plan on human rights and democracy. (CG/transl.rt)