General policy of the Council of Europe
Recommendation 1267
(1995)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 26 April 1995 (13th Sitting) (see Doc. 7280, report of the Political Affairs Committee, rapporteur: Mr Masseret). Text adopted by the Assembly on 26 April 1995 (13th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
1. The various European institutions are currently facing the same problem of welcoming new member states. This necessarily carries implications for their respective fields of action. This, in turn, raises the question of their mutual inter-relations.
2. For the Council of Europe and the European Union, continued enlargement presents a particular challenge.
3. For its part, the Council of Europe seeks to develop - in addition to its existing mechanisms (the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Social Charter and the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment) - regular and effective monitoring of commitments and obligations undertaken by all member states, both of long standing and new. The Committee of Ministers should frame a monitoring and verification procedure of its own, in parallel with and along the lines of the mechanism established by the Assembly.
4. In order to best meet the problems identified during accession and monitoring procedures, the Council of Europe's assistance and co-operation programmes should be extended.
5. In order to play its role to the full, the Assembly - which contributes already to the identification of these problems - intends to hold regular debates to assess the implementation of programmes of assistance and co-operation.
6. The acceptance of these programmes by candidate states will continue to be an element in the opinions of the Assembly on their requests for membership.
7. The Intergovernmental Conference of 1996, which concerns the European Union, as well the next OSCE "summit", will be of real importance for the future of the whole of Europe. The Council of Europe is bound to be affected by what is proposed. Accordingly, the Assembly must make known its position and proposals as soon as possible.
8. As a general rule, the Assembly requests henceforth to be associated with all the co-ordination meetings to be held regularly between the Council of Europe and other international organisations.
9. Accordingly, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
9.1 establish an effective procedure for monitoring commitments and obligations on the basis of its declaration of 10 November 1994;
9.2 transmit to the Assembly, for opinion, proposals concerning its programmes of assistance and cooperation, together (and in due course) with an assessment of their results;
9.3 substantially reinforce these programmes and aim them more specifically at the democratic reforms which are (depending on the country concerned) the most necessary and the most relevant for the protection of human rights;
9.4 start preparing immediately, in close co-operation with the Assembly, proposals for the Council of Europe's contribution to the Intergovernmental Conference of 1996;
9.5 recognise the absolute and permanent requirement of associating the Assembly with all coordination meetings between the Council of Europe and the European Union, the OSCE and the United Nations.
