Brussels, 20/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - The atmosphere at the 22nd quadripartite meting between the Council of Europe and the European Union, which took place in Strasbourg on 15 March, was a little warmer than usual, due in part to the fact that the Presidency of the EU Council was represented by Austrian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Hans Winkler, a former Austrian permanent representative to the Council of Europe. In the concluding statement published after the meeting, participants, including European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis and Romanian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Anton Niculescu, Chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, expressed “their determination” to “cooperate better in order to provide a stronger response to the new challenges and threats which citizens in Europe and the two organisations are confronted with in the XXIst century”.
Beyond this expression of consensus, participants committed themselves to: - continuing negotiations on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two organisations, taking note “with interest … of the contributions from Council of Europe member States that are not members of the European Union”; - taking account of the Juncker report in drawing up the MoU (there has been great pressure brought on this point, including at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: see EUROPE 9140); - without prejudging the results of the above-mentioned exercises (that is on the effect the Juncker report will have on relations between the two organisations), envisaging “specific initiatives and programmes in fields within the Council of Europe's and the EU's remit which concern the human dimension of European integration and directly affect European citizens, such as human rights, democracy, the rule of law, youth, education and culture”; - devising a joint approach to European neighbourhood Policy, in which the EU hopes to involve the Council of Europe from 2007.
With regard to the future EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, which could potentially cause some confusion or even weaken the mechanisms already existing within the Council of Europe, Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner reiterated the European Commission's willingness to work with the Council of Europe on a bilateral agreement to guarantee the synergy and complementarity between the Agency and the Council of Europe. All the participants supported the need for the two organisations to conclude rapidly a mutually satisfactory agreement as soon as the text of the draft regulation is finalised by the services of Commissioner Franco Frattini.
Halfway through the day on Friday, Jean-Claude Juncker presented the broad thrust of his report on relations between the Council of Europe and the EU to members of the permanent committee of the Parliamentary Assembly. The Luxemburg Prime Minister assured them that he wished to retain the specificities of the Council of Europe. Pointing out that he had been called on in a personal capacity to prepare this report, the outlines of which he had sketched, Mr Juncker stressed the need to avoid duplication between the two organisations, which meant that the EU had not to try to re-invent what the Council of Europe was already doing. Speaking of the thorny dossier on the future Fundamental Rights Agency, Mr Juncker considered that its competence should be clearly limited to monitoring respect for fundamental rights in the application of Community law. Questioned by MEPs on the chances of increasing the resources of the Council of Europe, whose annual budget is less than 200 million euro, Mr Juncker, who is also a Finance Minister, told them that any attempt to obtain more money for this purpose was destined for failure.
The report will be made public on Tuesday 11 April in Strasbourg at the Parliamentary plenary session. It will be presented to MEPs by Jean-Claude Juncker. On the same day, the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso is due to address the plenary session.