article-Council of Europe
September 2nd, 2009 Posted in ARTIKLICouncil of europe-european union
relations…
a sole ambition for the european continent
Report by Jean Claude Juncker
‘A divided europe leads to war, oppression and hardship, a united europe leads to peace and prosperity’
We must not allow democracy to dwindle into a mere empty ritual. Doing so puts it at risk. We must resist the trend towards alientation of politicians and state structures from the general public. Democracy is a living thing, it must constantly adapt itself and be nurtured to prepare it to respond to the new political demands of our fellow citizens.
Pan european cooperation is a key issue. Both the coe and the eu ,using their own instruments and pursuing their own goals, have developed distinctive cooperation models.
It is unfortunate that the two organisations remain a shaky team. They have borrowed from each other but never managed to make themselves perfectly complimentary. Hence the commissioning of this report
The shared aim of the two entities, that of having a europe without dividing lines,can be emphasised by increasing the number of joint projects. Particularly youth questions, education, culture and inter cultural dialogue. The last is becoming increasingly important in societal debate in a radically changing europe. Junker makes modest proposals in this respect but it would be wrong to ignore the snowball effects of this kind of cooperation.
The council of europe has not lost its raison d’etre, nor should it be viewed as being a mere waiting room for access to the eu. Indeed the eu builds many of its policies, especially those related to enlargement on the foundations laid by the council.
The eu should accede to the council of europe’s convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. This to ensure maximum consistency of human rights protection in europe.
The council of europe’s monitoring machinery cannot answer every question related to human rights thus this entity, together with the eu, will have to rely on the expertise of the commissioner for human rights. The commissioner’s terms of reference allow him to act more freely in specific cases than other supervisory bodies.the commissioner’s office must be given the resources to carry out the tasks assigned to him
The european commission has shown interest in the coe becoming even more active in promoting democracy. Cooperation between the two in this respect might focus on constitutional problems, citizen participation on all levels of the political process, gender equality, citizenship and identity, sustainable communities, local and regional government as a place for the exercise of democracy, participation in politics by immigrant communities and inter cultural dialogue. All of these are central to the council’s work.
Cooperation between the eu and the european commission for democracy through law (the venice commission) has a long history. The commission has played a vital part in helping the countries which opted for democracy after 1989 to adopt constitutions consistent with the standards embodied in europe’s constitutional heritage. The european commission actively participates in its sessions but cooperation should be formalised by the eu acceeding to the venice commission.
The council of europe has done an immense amount of work on fundamental rights and on legal cooperation and internal matters. On the eu side enlargement , the establishment of the schengen area and the framing of policies in the field of justice and internal affaers have led eu policy makers and legal experts to incorporate treaties ,directives and framework decisionsclauses taken from thirty of the council’s 200 conventions.
In the field of criminal law the eu regards the following council conventions as vital in the fight against organised crime: the european conventions on extradition, on suppression of terrorism, mutual assistance in criminal matters, laundering, search , seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime, on illiciit traffic by sea, on narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Its rules on transfer of prisoners are already applied in 70 countries. Similar action will shortly be taken on the problem of counterfeit medicines.
In other fields such as transfer of proceedings, execution of penalties, protection of victims, the fight against terrorism, trafficking in human beings, protection of the environment, and computer crime the eu and the coe have attempted to harmonise clauses in accordance with their respective fields of competence.
Family law, the fight against corruption, movement of persons, the powers of local authorities in respect of transfrontier cooperation, participation of foreigners, and also action to curb spectator violence and misbehaviour at sports events, and doping-all these would seem to be areas where coe and eu texts can ealily be aligned more closely.
Due importance must be given to the two organisations joint programmes in the coe’s areas of excellence: democratic institutions, human rights promotion and the independence of the judiciary.
In 2005 eu-council of europe joint programmes cost a total of 47 million euros.
The most significant include: modernisation of the judicial system and criminal law reform in turkey, establishment of an independent ,reliable and operational judicial system in the western balkans, and the setting up of police forces capable of combating crime in the countries of south eastern europe.
The eu’s financial contribution to these programmes exceeded 90% of total cost, evidence of the confidence the eu has in the coe’s implementing potential.
The joint programmes covered, among other things
Support for the construction of social sectors
Media law riform and action to promote a free press
Political training for leaders
Rehabilitation of the architectural and archaeological heritage of the balkans
It follows logically from the complementary relationship between the council of europe and the eu and from the increased cooperation necessary between the two bodies necessary for the democratic security of people in our continent that a further step in the relationship should be envisaged. Once the eu has acquired legal personality there should be eu membership of the council by 2010.
By then the debate on changes in the eu treaties will hopefully have moved ahead.
Its acceding will have just one purpose: to help european organisations to develop in the interest of europeans and so facilitate progress towards a europe without dividing lines in which the liberties, dignity and secutity of its citizens are fully guaranteed.
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