European institutions and human rights in Europe
Reply to Recommendation
| Doc. 13917
| 09 November 2015
- Author(s):
- Committee of Ministers
- Origin
- Adopted
at the 1239th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (4 November 2015). 2016 - First part-session
- Reply to Recommendation
- : Recommendation 2065
(2015)
1. The Committee of
Ministers has carefully examined Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 2065 (2015)
on “European institutions and human rights in Europe” and has forwarded
it, together with the resolution mentioned therein, to the relevant
committees and bodies for information and comments.
Note
2. With regard to the negotiations on European Union accession
to the European Convention on Human Rights (paragraph 1.1 of the
recommendation), the Committee of Ministers recalls its reply to
Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 2060 (2015) on “The implementation
of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Europe
and the European Union”, in which it reaffirms the importance it
attaches to accession by the European Union to the Convention and
reiterates its political support for this. It expresses the hope
that the process will be finalised at the earliest opportunity.
Since the European Union Court of Justice’s opinion on this issue,
formal and informal contacts between both parties have intensified
and will continue with a view to overcoming the remaining obstacles.
3. The Committee of Ministers concurs with the Assembly on the
importance to “streamline and structure co-operation and dialogue
with European Union institutions and agencies, at all levels, so
that such co-operation and dialogue is conducted on a regular basis
by relevant bodies of the Council of Europe” (paragraph 1.2 of the
recommendation). In this respect, it would reiterate a number of
elements which appear in the above-mentioned reply to Assembly Recommendation
2060 (2015). In particular, it would recall that at its 125th Session
(Brussels, 19 May 2015), the Committee of Ministers took note with
satisfaction of the increase in co-operation between the Council
of Europe and the European Union. It would also recall that there
has been an increase in structure and political nature of the dialogue
and underlines the importance of maintaining regular institutionalised
dialogue. The development of appropriate synergies between Council
of Europe monitoring mechanisms and bodies and any new mechanisms
set up by the European Union is also considered crucial to the Committee
of Ministers.
4. As far as Recommendation 2065 (2015) makes reference to the
European Commission’s proposal for “a new EU Framework to strengthen
the rule of law” (paragraph 1.3 of the Assembly recommendation),
the Committee of Ministers again refers to its previous reply and
in particular to the valuable input that the Council of Europe can
provide to the European Union’s new Framework in view of its long
experience in this field. It will follow developments concerning
the European Union initiative and underlines the importance of taking
account of the Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations
in order to avoid duplications and ensure added value.
5. Finally, with regard to paragraph 2 of the recommendation,
the Committee of Ministers has taken note of the proposal for an
“expert study to prepare a catalogue of “criteria for the imposition
of austerity measures””. It would, however, inform the Assembly
that a feasibility study on the impact of the economic crisis on
human rights in Europe is currently being prepared by the relevant
intergovernmental committee. It considers that it would therefore
be preferable to examine any recommendations resulting from that
study, also having regard where appropriate to the key findings
of the “Turin Process” for the European Social Charter, before deciding on
possible future work in this field.
