Brussels, 12/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - On the eve of the Summit of the Council of Europe on 16-17 May in Warsaw, former Director General of the European Commission Jacques-René Rabier wrote to the Secretary General of the pan-European organisation asking him whether Heads of State and government were going to mention ratification of the European Social Charter. This is an important consideration, given the quality of this instrument completing fundamental rights in the social field, protected by the European Convention on Human Rights. Although the Charter is not on the summit agenda, it, nevertheless, confirms, that social cohesion will remain one of the pillars of the organisation in the future. Adopted in 1961, the Social Charter was revised in 1996. In total, 37 countries out of the 46 included in the Council of Europe are linked by one or other of these two texts. 18 have ratified the 1961 text and 19 of them, the revised 1996 version. The nine “recalcitrant pupils” are in three different groups: 1) Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Saint-Marin, who do not intend to ratify the text (Switzerland will not even allow their parliament to study the issue); 2) the three most recent members: Monaco, Serbia-Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina; 3) three countries which have not yet take a position: Russia, Ukraine and Georgia. All European Union Member States are lined by one of the two texts. Although the United Kingdom was one of the first countries to ratify the 1961 text, Sweden was the first to ratify the 1996 text, followed closely by Finland and Norway. Some at the top of the class include France, Italy and Portugal. Some countries, notably form Central Europe ratified the 19961 Charter when they joined and, like Poland, are still hesitating about relaunching a ratification process for the revised version, whereas many of the components introduced in 1996 also nourished the text of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the European Union. Some countries consider that their will therefore be linked de facto by the revised version. The United Kingdom, which fought to prevent the Charter of Fundamental Rights applying to anything other than the Union institutions, appears to believe the contrary. In the long term, legal experts are afraid, however, that the countries linked by the 1961 Charter will encounter real problems of compatibility in the field of application in the law of the different Member States, which has to respect rights that figure both in the 1996 revised version and in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.