Fuente: © Council of Europe
http://www.coe.int/

COE: Stocktaking of the Slovak Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers

/noticias.info/ Strasbourg, 07.05.2008 - The Chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers will be transferred from Slovakia to Sweden at the 118th Session of the Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg on 7 May 2008. On this day, Mr. Ján Kubiš, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic will take stock of the Slovak Chairmanship and will hand over the Chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s decision-making body to Mr. Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden.

During its six-month mandate, Slovakia built on the work of the previous Chairmanships with a view to furthering the implementation of the priorities decided by the Heads of States and Governments (Warsaw, 2005) to the extent possible. Its full support for the core values of the Council of Europe – democracy, rule of law and human rights resulted in the following priorities:

· Promoting a citizens´ Europe

· Transparent and Efficient Council of Europe

· Respect for and Promotion of Core Values: human rights, democracy and rule of law

A Seminar for national non-governmental organisations organised by the Conference of INGOs, the Council of Europe Secretariat in partnership with the Slovak NGO partner and in co-operation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic signified a visible contribution by the Slovak Chairmanship to the promotion of the role of civil society and the strengthening of citizens’ participation. During the seminar, issues of democracy, active citizenship and participation were also discussed.

In the context of the priorities, the Slovak Chairmanship extended its full support to continued cooperation and dialogue between the Council of Europe and the UN, the OSCE and the EU. In his capacity as Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Mr. Ján Kubiš addressed the High Level Segment of the Human Rights Council in Geneva emphasizing the fields of existing and possible future cooperation between both organisations. Further development of intensified dialogue, efforts to promote synergy and cooperation between the Council of Europe and the OSCE were characteristic for the six months period. With regard to cooperation with the European Union, the term of the Slovak Chairmanship was marked by the first year of existence of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Europe and the European Union and, at the same time, by intensive discussions on possible implementation of recommendations contained in the Juncker report. The 26th Quadripartite meeting between the Council of Europe and the EU, held on 10 March 2008 at the invitation of the Slovak Chairmanship, provided for another opportunity to discuss at the highest political level some topical issues of common interest. Under the Slovak Chairmanship, a significant breakthrough was achieved in developing further dialogue with EU institutions by organising an exchange of views on intercultural dialogue with the member of the European Commission, Commissioner Ján Figeľ.

Supporting the human rights protection mechanism created by the European Convention on Human Rights as well as promoting activities of the European Court of Human Rights were of crucial importance for the Slovak Chairmanship. A Seminar on the role of governmental agents in ensuring effective human rights protection was held in Bratislava in March 2008. It provided valuable suggestions with regard to strengthening the active contribution of agents in ensuring compatibility of legislation and practice with the Council of Europe. During the Slovak Chairmanship, the attempts to draw up a comprehensive strategy in order to secure the effectiveness of the Council of Europe’s human rights protection system have reached an important stage.

The intention of the Slovak Chairmanship was to encourage a constructive dialogue between the Council of Europe and Belarus. With the active contribution of the Slovak Chairmanship, a meeting of experts, organised in cooperation by the Constitutional Court of Belarus, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus and the Venice Commission, was held in Minsk. This event was regarded by both the Constitutional Court of Belarus and the Venice Commission, as a contribution to the re-establishment of working contacts between them. Another project of the Slovak Chairmanship was aimed at the establishment of the Council of Europe Information Point in Minsk as a publicly accessible structure housed within the Belarus State University, Faculty of Journalism. An agreement between the Council of Europe and the Belarus State University on the establishment of the Information Point is expected to be signed in the coming days.

The Slovak Chairmanship paid constant attention to actual developments in Council of Europe member states. The Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, Minister Ján Kubiš paid several visits to member states. When meeting with state authorities, representatives of political parties and NGOs, Minister Kubiš reported on the evaluation by the Council of Europe on the country situation and encouraged to continue in democratic reforms.

The Chairman of the Committee of Ministers issued numerous statements marking important dates linked to Council of Europe fields of interest (International Human Rights Day, Holocaust Remembrance Day, 10th anniversary of Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, International Roma Day, etc.).

Within the framework of the Slovak Chairmanship several events took place, among them the 8th Conference of European Ministers of Health (Bratislava, 22-23 November 2007), the Conference “Education and Training of Roma Children and Youth: the way forward” (Bratislava, 8–9 April 2008), the Conference ”Improving governance at local level: tools and strategy“ (Piešťany, 16–18 April 2008), the Conference “Education through Sport” (Bratislava, 17-18 April 2008), the 7th meeting of the Workshops for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention (Piešťany, 24-25 April 2008). A meeting of the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe took place in Bratislava on 23 November 2007. notas_de_prensa_archivo