20/10/2010 President
Speaking at the High-level meeting on Roma in Strasbourg today, the PACE President declared that in the Assembly’s view “there should be no shirking of responsibility: education, employment, social inclusion, health services and housing are almost entirely national responsibilities”.
The role of the Council of Europe was to facilitate co-ordination of national and international measures and initiatives, to ensure that duplication of effort was avoided and synergies were created whenever possible, he stressed. “The organisation should also support member states by providing them with concrete tools and examples of best practice, based on Council of Europe standards and experience, in order to develop and implement integrated national policies, tailored to the national, regional and local particularities,” he concluded.