In response to the specific proposals put forward by the Parliamentary
Assembly in paragraph 2 of
i With regard to
greater involvement of the Parliamentary Assembly
in the budgetary process, especially the determination
of the ceiling of the Council of Europe’s overall budget, the Committee
of Ministers recalls that a procedure for consulting the Parliamentary
Assembly has already been established, in accordance with the recommendations
of the Committee of Wise Persons.
- The
draft budgetary calendar is set so as to enable the Assembly’s opinion
to be taken fully into account.
- An exchange of views based on the Secretary General’s
proposals for priorities for the following year and their budgetary
implications takes place with the Assembly before a decision is
taken by the Deputies on the priorities and the level of member
states’ contributions.
- The Assembly enjoys considerable budgetary freedom within
its own financial package.
The Committee of Ministers believes that legitimate concerns
of the Assembly in this area are thereby met.
ii With regard to the establishment of a co-decision-making process for the adoption
of draft treaties, the Committee of Ministers draws attention
to the stand it took in connection with follow-up to the final report
of the Committee of Wise Persons, which is to consult the Assembly
on all draft treaties, save in exceptional cases where, for purely
technical reasons, such consultation is not necessary. It observes that
this principle has been strictly observed for over three years,
and that in practice the Ministers' Deputies made an effort to take
account of the positions adopted by the Assembly during the consultation
process, before finally adopting conventions. In view of its positive
assessment of this practice, which has been applied since May 1999,
the Committee of Ministers intends to continue with it, without
going so far as introducing a formal co-decision-making process
as envisaged by the Assembly.
iii With regard to the proposal that the
President of the Assembly should officially participate in Committee
of Ministers meetings, the Committee of Ministers is
pleased to inform the Assembly that, further to the invitations
to President Schieder to attend the 110th (Vilnius, 3 May 2002)
and 111th (Strasbourg, 7 November 2002) sessions, it has been agreed
that the President of the Parliamentary Assembly will in future
be systematically invited to attend formal Committee of Ministers
sessions. This will supplement and reinforce the Assembly President’s
participation in informal ministerial meetings held the day before
sessions at the Secretary General’s invitation, to which Presidents
Russell-Johnston and Schieder have been regularly invited since
November 1999.
iv With regard to the idea of reinforcing
the monitoring procedures, in particular by using comparative methods,
the Committee of Ministers would point out that monitoring of the
honouring of commitments entered into by member states remains an
essential activity that must be properly implemented, as Ms Lydie
Polfer, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg and then Chair
of the Committee of Ministers, recalled in Vilnius on 3 May 2002.
The Committee of Ministers is still convinced that the monitoring procedures
used by the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly,
although they are different in nature, are complementary and reinforce
each other, and it is willing to pursue recent efforts to exchange
information and engage in dialogue in this respect. It will be remembered,
in this connection, that the Committee of Ministers adopted, in
October 2002, two new themes for the procedure for monitoring the
honouring of undertakings, one concerning freedom of conscience
and religion and the other equal rights for women and men in member
states. These themes will be discussed by the Ministers' Deputies
in July and October 2003 respectively. Moreover, a comparative
study of freedom of expression and information in the 44 member
states is being prepared and should be discussed by the Ministers'
Deputies in April 2003.
v With regard to improving transparency
in the implementation of Assembly recommendations, the Committee
of Ministers would draw attention to the substantial efforts made
in this area since 1998, particularly with the introduction of a
nine-month deadline to be observed, as far as possible, for replying to
Assembly recommendations. The Committee of Ministers is aware that
this target has not always been attained, but would also like to
draw the Assembly’s attention to the many cases in which high priority
has been given to the adoption of a reply well within the nine-month
time limit, particularly in connection with the current political
issues that are most important to the Council of Europe, in connection
with which the Committee of Ministers usually communicates its views
to the Parliamentary Assembly in time for the next part-session.
In addition, information on the action the Committee of Ministers
has taken on Parliamentary Assembly recommendations is regularly
included in the written reports prepared by the chairmanship at
each session, and a comprehensive report on this action is forwarded
to the Assembly every year.
Against this background,
the Committee of Ministers is ready to commit itself to making an
additional effort so that replies can be adopted to Parliamentary
Assembly recommendations in principal in time for the second part-session
following that at which they were adopted, that is to say within
a time-limit of less than six months (the nine-month time limit
becoming a maximum for exceptional cases). It further considers
that priority should go to giving more impetus to the already made
efforts described above so that they can have their full impact in
strengthening dialogue and communication between the Committee of
Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly, while being open to additional
specific proposals for improvements.
