Strasbourg, 27/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - In an address to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, meeting in Strasbourg last week for a plenary session, the Portuguese Foreign Minister spoke about the work set in train at the Warsaw Summit of 16 and 17 May. Referring to the reinforcement of the partnership between the Council of Europe and other organisations, Diego Freitas do Amaral, who chairs the Committee of Ministers, said that "drawing up the memorandum of agreement to be proposed for signature by the Council of Europe and the European Union will be one of our main priorities". "Once again, your Assembly will have a first-line role to play in bringing Strasbourg and Brussels closer together, via, in particular, its contacts with the European Parliament, but also by its own reflection, such as the one which it decided to set up on the implications of the Unions neighbourhood policy for the Council of Europe". The Minister said that the group of the wise, which is to propose an overall strategy to guarantee the long-term efficiency of the protection system set up by the European Convention on Human Rights, may be in place by September on the basis of the proposals of the Member States. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe is to be part of this. The Portuguese Presidency will prepare for the creation of the Forum for the future of democracy. Lastly, as the Minister pointed out, another important step in implementing the new institutional architecture at European level will, of course, be the report on relations between the Council of Europe and the EU which the Summit commissioned of Jean-Claude Juncker.