23/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - René van der Linden from the Netherlands was unanimously re-elected as president of the Parliamentary Committee of the Council of Europe for a one year mandate. In a press release, van der Linden announced that he wanted to strengthen cooperation with the European Parliament. He said that in this connection the EU Agency of Fundamental Rights had to avoid, “any unnecessary overlapping of tasks of the Council of Europe”. He added that, “the States that caused the most difficulty with the 2007 budget (of the Council of Europe) are also those that agreed to setting up an Agency (of the EU), which risks partly duplicating the activities of the Council of Europe, and which would cost an astronomic €10 million a year”. (hb)