Raad van Europa en EU nemen stappen voor verbetering onderlinge samenwerking (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Raad van Europa (RvE) i, gepubliceerd op donderdag 17 maart 2005.

 

Strasbourg, 17.03.2005 - High-level representatives from the Council of Europe and the European Union have expressed their support for a number of concrete measures aimed at boosting co-operation between the two organisations.

The participants at the 21st Council of Europe/EU Quadripartite meeting in Brussels yesterday(*) underlined the key role of multilateral organisations in tackling modern-day problems, and expressed their hope that the forthcoming Council of Europe Summit of Heads of State and Government (Warsaw, 16-17 May 2005) should lay the foundations for a new institutional set-up in Europe.

In particular, the participants:

  • agreed to begin work, as soon as possible, on the arrangements for the EU's accession to the European Convention on Human Rights;
    • stated their willingness to strengthen coherence between the Council of Europe's conventions and the EU's legal acquis;
    • backed an EU proposal for a review of consultation and co-operation mechanisms at all levels;
    • expressed their support for a memorandum of understanding setting out arrangements for enhanced co-operation and political dialogue in concrete terms;
    • welcomed the recent appointment of a European Commission representative to the Council of Europe.

New joint projects in the South Caucasus, Ukraine and South-East Europe were also discussed, as were a number of topical issues including the recent elections in Moldova and forthcoming votes in Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The full text of the concluding statement can be found at www.coe.int

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(*) The Council of Europe representatives at the Quadripartite meeting were Secretary General Terry Davis and Jan Truszczyński, Secretary of State at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representing the Chairmanship of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers. The EU was represented by Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, representing the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the High Representative for the CFSP and Secretary General of the Council, Javier Solana, and External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.                     

 

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