01/10/2009 Session
The Assembly today called on European political leaders “to show political will in order to ensure unwavering support for the Council of Europe in the performance of its statutory functions”.
Aware that the Organisation’s activities must constantly be subjected to objective critical analysis, the parliamentarians asked member States to show “political courage” in censuring behaviour that is inconsistent with the Council of Europe’s principles and values. “It is necessary to resist the temptation to exploit and relativise, according to the political opportunity.
Following the proposals of the rapporteur (Jean Claude Mignon, France, EPP/CD), the parliamentarians called on the Committee of Ministers, the organisation’s executive body, to strengthen the political scope of its ministerial sessions, so that “each session becomes a major political event at which substantive political decisions are taken”. The Assembly is convinced that the Council of Europe cannot function properly unless there is “genuine, substantive and ongoing dialogue” between its two statutory organs. The channels of dialogue and consultation between the Assembly and the Committee of Ministers “must be revitalised”.
The Council of Europe’s budgetary strategy, they concluded, should be revised in order to provide it with the resources it needs to carry out its tasks.