As the Italian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe comes to an end, the foreign ministers of the 46 member States met in Turin on Friday 20 May for their annual conference.
Marked by the war in Ukraine, this high-level meeting examined, among other things, the financial consequences suffered by the Council of Europe after it excluded the Russian Federation on 16 March.
By excluding Russia, the Council of Europe has been deprived of a significant part of its overall budget, which is mainly financed by contributions from its member States. As a “major contributor”, Moscow contributed 7%, which for 2022 represents almost €34 million out of a total of €477 million.
It was essential that the inter-ministerial conference maintain the solidarity between member States expressed after the outbreak of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
It was feared that it would not happen, but it did after a final agreement was given by Liz Truss, the UK government’s Foreign Secretary, on Thursday afternoon.
All 46 member States, without exception, will increase their contribution, which will continue to be calculated according to their respective GDP, with Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom participating to a greater extent as “major contributors”.
For 2022, in any case, the Council of Europe will not be affected financially by the exclusion of Russia, which is fundamental in the face of the enormous challenges ahead.
“Supporting Ukraine is a top priority”, the Secretary General said at the opening of the conference, before announcing a revision of the “Action Plan in line with the realities on the ground” and the reopening of the Council of Europe office in Kyiv.
But we need to go further, she added, recalling that for several years the Council of Europe and its values “have been under constant attack by populists and extreme nationalists”, with a “direct line” being drawn between “this ideology and the terrible things we have seen in recent weeks in Bucha, Karkhiv and Mariupol”.
Marija Pejčinović Burić believes that it is time to react by organising a fourth summit of heads of State and government of the Council of Europe in order to give “substance” back to the organisation and its work.
“We have to be clear about this”, Tiny Kox, President of the Parliamentary Assembly, told EUROPE. “The Council of Europe, the European Union and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have all failed in their founding missions: to prevent war, to keep the peace in Europe and to build an ever closer union among its citizens. This does not detract from the full responsibility of the Russian Federation for the outbreak of the war in Ukraine”.
“As international organisations, we have a responsibility to ensure that the atrocities being perpetrated in Ukraine today are not repeated on our continent and we will have a duty to stand by Ukraine when it comes to rebuilding, which will cost a fortune and take years. The 46 member States of the Council of Europe must find the means to be equal to the titanic task before us. If we fail to strengthen the European architecture, peace and unity on our continent will be in great danger”.
For him too, the organisation of a Summit is an “emergency”.
Since its foundation in 1949, the Council of Europe has held three such meetings: the Vienna meeting in 1993, which launched its policy of enlargement to the emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall; the Strasbourg meeting in 1997, which aimed to give new impetus to the defence of human rights; and the Warsaw meeting in 2005, which focused on redefining the Council of Europe’s priorities.
Although it did not formally express itself in favour of such a meeting at the highest level, the Committee of Ministers of Foreign Affairs did announce the setting up of a working group to examine the feasibility of such an event, with its conclusions to be submitted by 9 November at the latest, the date of the end of the Irish Presidency which began on 20 May.
Present in Turin, Simon Coveney, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, has already announced the main priorities of this initiative: strengthening human rights and the protection of civilians in Europe, promoting participatory democracy and the commitment of young people, and promoting a Europe of welcome, inclusion and diversity. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)