Institutional role of the Council of Europe in a continent aspiring to greater unity

Recommendation 1139 (1991)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 29 January 1991 (20th Sitting) (see Doc. 6365, report of the Political Affairs Committee, Rapporteur : Mr Soares Costa). Text adopted by the Assembly on 29 January 1991 (20th Sitting).

Thesaurus

1. The Assembly welcomes the adoption by the CSCE Summit (Paris, 19-21 November 1990) of the ‘‘Charter of Paris for a new Europe'', which sets the seal on ending the period of confrontation between blocs and opens a new era of democracy, peace and unity for our continent, while expressing its satisfaction at German unification and the signing of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE).

2. The Assembly notes with satisfaction that the Council of Europe was granted the status of autonomous participant at the Paris Summit, which was addressed by the Secretary General.

3. It further welcomes the fact that the thirty-four heads of state and government mandated the Council of Europe to contribute to the CSCE expert meetings in 1991 on :

3.1 the cultural heritage (Cracow, May-June) ;

3.2 national minorities (Geneva, July;

3.3 strengthening democratic institutions (Oslo, November).

4. The Assembly takes note of the summit's call ‘‘for greater parliamentary involvement in the CSCE, particularly through the creation of a CSCE parliamentary assembly involving members of parliament from all participating states'', a decision which is in line with Recommendations 1124, 1126 and 1129 (1990).

5. The Assembly underlines its readiness to contribute in a constructive spirit to the conference to be convened by the Spanish Parliament in Madrid in April 1991, in order to consider the ‘‘field of activities, working methods and rules of procedure of a CSCE parliamentary structure, drawing on existing experience and work already undertaken in this field''.

6. The Assembly notes that the heads of state and government also welcomed ‘‘the readiness of the Council of Europe to make its experience available to the CSCE'', but have not yet fully implemented the decision, contained in the concluding document of the 2nd CSCE Conference on the Human Dimension (Copenhagen, June 1990), to consider ‘‘further ways and means to enable the Council of Europe to make a contribution to the human dimension of the CSCE'', nor studied in detail the nature of that contribution

7. It considers that the present human rights situation in the Soviet Baltic republics presents the CSCE with a flagrant violation of human rights and a major challenge also in the context of preparations for the 3rd Conference on the Human Dimension (Moscow, September-October 1991), and furthermore must be regarded as a serious violation of Principle VII of the Helsinki Final Act and the Copenhagen document dealing with the human dimension

8. The Assembly also calls upon governments and parliaments of member states to continue to pursue, with all the parties concerned, the proposal to envisage a conference on security and co-operation in the Mediterranean (CSCM) put forward at the CSCE meeting in Palma de Mallorca (September-October 1990) which was supported by the CSCE Summit.

9. It considers that the institutionalisation initiated at the Paris Summit, as well as the intergovernmental conferences of the twelve European Community states, which opened in Rome on 15 December 1990, offer Europe a unique opportunity to bring greater coherence to continent-wide co-operation.

10. The Assembly reaffirms its previous position that new institutions should be created only when this is strictly necessary, and therefore welcomes the cautious attitude taken on this question by the CSCE Summit in Paris.

11. The Assembly supports the proposals already contained in the European Parliament's resolution of 11 July 1990 (on the intergovernmental conference in the context of the European Parliament's strategy for European union), which recommends that the European Community as such should accede to the Council of Europe. It recalls that this proposal was already contained in the 1986 report of the Colombo Commission of Eminent European Personalities, while noting with concern that the Colombo report on European union, debated (and resolution adopted) by the European Parliament on 12 December 1990, makes no reference to the Council of Europe. Similarly, the Assembly reiterates its proposal, supported by the European Parliament and the Commission, that the European Community as such should accede to the European Convention on Human Rights and the Social Charter of the Council of Europe.

12. The Assembly therefore recommends that the Committee of Ministers consider urgently in 1991 (that is to say during the chairmanship of Spain and Sweden), together with the Parliamentary Assembly, all steps necessary, including the revision of the 1949 Statute, to ensure that the Council of Europe will be in a position to assume fully its responsibilities in the institutional framework emerging on the European continent.