Information policy of the Council of Europe
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 3 October 1975 (13th Sitting) (seeDoc. 3647, report of the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations). Text adopted by the Assembly on 3 October 1975 (13th Sitting).
The Assembly,
1. Recalling its
Resolution 581 (1975), on the Round Table with Speakers (Presidents) of national parliaments, in which it declared its intention, inter alia, "to contribute to the elaboration of an effective public relations policy for the Council of Europe" ;
2. Bearing in mind its
Recommendation 767, on the information policy of the Council of Europe, and the report (
Doc. 3647) presented by its Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations, as well as Order No. 353 (1975), on improving the effectiveness of Assembly recommendations ;
3. Aware that its authority and prestige as the world's widest forum of freely-elected parliamentarians will suffer if its voice is not clearly heard in all member countries ;
4. Considering that the public is often confused because other European assemblies, and notably the European Parliament, deal with similar matters, but welcoming the spirit of co-operation which exists between the Bureaux of the two parliamentary assemblies which should among other things ensure that overlapping of activities is avoided ;
5. Convinced that, without prejudice to its freedom to discuss any question of topical interest, its own order of business should reflect the Council of Europe's predominant concern for certain questions, such as the defence of democracy and human rights, and that some voluntary limitation in the range of subjects dealt with in its debates would facilitate a more constructive dialogue with the Committee of Ministers, which in turn would be likely to lead to more concrete results, and hence to the projection of a more positive and distinct image of the organisation as a whole,
6. Instructs :
a its Bureau, when referring motions to committees and when drawing up the Assembly's order of business, to take these considerations into account, as well as the practical requirements of the press, with a view to facilitating satisfactory coverage of Assembly sessions ;
b the other committees of the Assembly to facilitate and complement the task of its Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations and the Directorate of Press and Information by adopting their reports, especially those of a technical nature, at least one month before sessions, to permit their circulation, in the appropriate language, to the media and other interested circles well before they are to be debated ;
7. Invites :
a national delegations :
to appoint a spokesman, who might appropriately be their Chairman or a member of the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations, to be responsible for briefing the press in the national capital before sessions ;
to institute the practice, where this does not already exist, of presenting a report to their national parliaments either annually or after each part-session ;
b political groups to appoint spokesmen who could, before major political debates, brief the press attending the sessions in Strasbourg on the group's position ;
c all members of the Assembly to take advantage of their privileged position as public figures to publicise the work of the Council of Europe (radio and TV interviews, articles in the national and local press etc.), drawing for this purpose on texts and recordings of speeches and photographic material available in the Directorate of Press and Information.
