Strasbourg, 20/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - “The European Union says Europe when it refers to itself, but one of the houses of Europe has 28 rooms and the other one has 47”, said Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CoE) on Tuesday 19 April (our translation throughout). He took pains to stress the complementary natures of the two institutions at a time when “the European project is facing a global crisis”.
Juncker has personally studied the ins and outs of these complementary natures as, in 2005, following the summit of the Council of the Europe in Warsaw, he was tasked with writing a report on the relationship between the European Union and the CoE. Several of the recommendations he made at the time have been put into practice, he said, paying tribute to “cooperation which is getting better and better”, as seen, for instance, through the funding granted by the EU to projects launched by the CoE in the framework of its neighbourhood policy. “It's a good thing that democracy is taking root everywhere”, the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg noted.
Referring to the refugee crisis, the President of the Commission thanked the CoE “for its support”, “with nuances at times, obviously”, and stressed that the agreement concluded between the EU and Turkey is “just part of the European approach” aiming to “put an end to the dreadful model of smugglers”. “And it's already showing its first results, as the flows are lesser”, Juncker observed (see EUROPE 11535). He stressed that the “money made available by the EU is not for the Turkish government, but for hosting refugees”. “Additionally, aid of €50 million has been signed off this morning to respond to the immediate needs of the Syrian refugees”, he added. When asked by certain members about the “Turkish blackmail”, he said that on the issue of visa liberalisation for Turkish nationals “the criteria will not be watered down”.
“When it comes to fighting terrorism, the CoE is one of our most important partners”, Juncker went on to stress, referring to the 'Riga Protocol' to the anti-terrorism convention signed by 17 member states and the EU in late October 2015. This text is, he said, “the first legal instrument to criminalise the first stages, such as training in conflict zones”.
Towards EU accession to European Convention of Human Rights
“We need the vision of the CoE to strike a balance between public security and public freedom”, said the President of the Commission, who argues that the European Convention on Human Rights is vital. He has made it his personal commitment to ensure that the EU accedes to it during his term in office.
As regards the malaise which has crept into European public opinion, and which has been reflected in such things as a rise in nationalism and increasing numbers of referendums being held on European issues, Juncker acknowledged that the “European project has lost some of its attractiveness”. There are many reasons for this, he said: too much legislative interference from the EU in the daily lives of citizens “under-development of social construction”, etc. But, he warned, today it is “easier to champion national values, but the day will come when we will be reaping the consequences of this attitude”.
“Facing the major problems which are currently emerging, Europe, which will represent just 4% of the global population by the end of the century, whereas it represented 20% at the end of the last, will be strong and influential only if it argues in favour of the principles which are in fact its own”, the political leader said. He concluded by saying that “the ideals of the CoE and of the EU are the same, even if the resources used are not identical. We must make the most of our common points to give our societies more stability. Our institutions have the strength of the respect we give them. This will call for even more efforts, but our liberty depends on it”. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)
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