Norway’s Ingjerd Schou (EPP) was clear in presenting her report “Council of Europe Budgets and Priorities 2024/2027” to the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly on Wednesday 21 June: “To deliver effectively on the Reykjavik agenda, Member States must invest additional resources”.
The budgetary gap created by Russia’s exclusion in March 2022 (more than 27 million in 2022 and more than 35 million in 2023) has been covered by the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, the rapporteur pointed out, “but this is not enough”, because implementing the priorities identified in the Icelandic capital at the 4th Council of Europe Summit “calls for investment”.
Among these priorities, the Opinion defended by Ms Schou and adopted by the Assembly (91 votes in favour, 5 against and 1 abstention) mentions the structural reinforcement of the European Court of Human Rights and of the mechanism for monitoring the execution of its judgments by the Member States, that of the Council of Europe’s advisory and monitoring bodies and that of the expert bodies responsible for what are known as “new generation” rights, linked to climate change and artificial intelligence.
The fight against inequality and discrimination and the defence of gender equality must remain at the heart of the Council of Europe’s agenda, he added.
These are all issues that cannot be ignored if we are to achieve the stronger democratic security called for in the Reykjavik Declaration adopted by the Heads of State and Government last May, according to the Assembly.
It therefore sends a clear message to the Committee of Foreign Ministers, the Council of Europe’s executive body: live up to your commitments and match your financial resources to your ambitions.
Adopting a budgetary perspective of zero real growth will not be enough.
The parliamentarians also reaffirmed their support for the “Register of Damage” caused by Russia’s armed aggression in Ukraine and for the “Resilience, recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine” action plan set up for the Council of Europe.
They emphasised the attention to be paid to deported Ukrainian children, pledged support for the Ukrainian Rada and called for additional resources for the Parliamentary Assembly itself.
An assembly whose budget represents 1% of that of the European Parliament, pointed out Belgian MEP Rik Daems (ALDE) during the debates.
Link to Opinion: https://aeur.eu/f/7ng (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)