Warsaw, 17/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - After two days of meetings in the Polish capital, the Heads of State and Government of the forty-six Member States of the Council of Europe adopted the Warsaw Declaration on 17 May, in which they renew their credo in favour of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Pointing out that since the Summits of Vienna (1993) and Strasbourg (1997), the Council of Europe has expanded to encompass almost the entire continent, the Forty-Six are “waiting for the day Belarus will be ready to join the Council of Europe”. “This Summit gives us the opportunity to renew our commitment to the common values and principles which are rooted in Europe's cultural, religious and humanistic heritage”, reads the final declaration, which goes on to state that “The Council of Europe shall pursue its core objective of preserving and promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law. All its activities must contribute to this fundamental objective. We commit ourselves to developing those principles, with a view to ensuring their effective implementation by all member states (…). We are also determined to strengthen and streamline the Council of Europe's activities, structures and working methods still further, and to enhance transparency and efficiency, thus ensuring that it plays its due role in a changing Europe”.
The Declaration also stresses the role of the European Court of Human Rights and the need swiftly to ratify Protocol 14 to help alleviate the Court's work load. It announces the creation of a “group of the wise”, with the task of drawing up an overall strategy to ensure the efficiency of the system in the long term. Greater involvement of the citizens is another objective subscribed to by the Council of Europe, with the creation of a “Forum on the Future of Democracy”. The Council of Europe is called upon to continue its actions in many other fields, from the fight against terrorism to the “challenges attendant on scientific and technical progress” (see other article on the action plan). The Heads of State and Government “strongly condemn all forms of intolerance and discrimination, in particular those based on sex, race and religion, including antisemitism and islamophobia” (which makes its first ever appearance in a declaration of this kind: Ed).
The Declaration finishes with the words: “We call on Europeans everywhere to share the values which lie at the heart of the Council of Europe's mission - human rights, democracy and the rule of law - and to join us in turning Europe into a creative community, open to knowledge and to diverse cultures, a civic and cohesive community”.
During his address to the session, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Terry Davies, said that his organisation's most important job was to “develop and disseminate democracy, defend and extend human rights, advocate and encourage the rule of law”, but also to “do more to campaign against the new evil of terrorism and the old evil of racism”. Although the British Labour member opined that “the Europe of the future is a united Europe- a unity based on the values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law”, “unity is not the priority” in the view of Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who said on Monday morning that “values, based on freedom, rule of law and the market economy represent a true priority for all of us”. This did not prevent the other Heads of State and Government from welcoming the unity of the continent, with the exception of Belarus, which is called upon to make the necessary efforts to join the European family. This appeal was echoed by many of them, following the lead of the Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, who described the fact that European values had not yet found their way in this country as a joint failure. The Finnish President Tarja Halonen and the Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker stressed that currently, there are 78,000 cases before the European Court of Human Rights, and pleaded with others for a swift ratification of Protocol 14. The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, welcomed the fact that islamophobia had been added to the list of racist and xenophobic phenomena against which the Council of Europe pledges to fight in the future. The French foreign minister spoke in justification of the creation of a think tank on the future of democracy and the appeal sent out by the Declaration to all Europeans, saying: “the commitment of the States, which is needed more than it has ever been, no longer seems to be enough. It strikes me that the Council of Europe's interests should be opened up to civil society more than today”. Michel Barnier added: “We must not make the mistake of making the Europe of values for the citizens, but without them”. In his opening speech, the Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski paid tribute to John Paul II, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, Mikhail Gorbachev, Helmut Kohl and all those who had fought for democracy and human rights. “Like John Paul II, I trust the structures of the united Europe. I trust the Council of Europe- essentially a community of free nations- not only to do all in their power not to deprive the nations of their spiritual heritage, but also to guard the common heritage as a foundation of unity of the integrated Europe”, said the Polish President. Before the final appeal, the Warsaw Declaration reads: “As we conclude this Summit in Poland, we pay tribute to the memory of Pope John Paul II”.