07/03/2012 President
Strasbourg, 07.03.2012 – “The activities of the Council of Europe and the European Union are complementary: they pursue the common goal of creating a space for human rights protection throughout Europe, in the interests of all European citizens,” said the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Jean-Claude Mignon, at the end of a two-day visit to Brussels, which included a series of high-level talks with various representatives of the European institutions.
“We must avoid duplication of the Council’s and EU activities, while attempting to set up new synergies,” he added. “Such co-operation may concern countries subject to monitoring or involved in the post-monitoring dialogue implemented by PACE, but it would be particularly useful for countries in difficult political and institutional situations such as Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, or to deal with ‘frozen’ conflicts.”
Jean-Claude Mignon also stressed that joint action was possible in countries adjacent to the Council of Europe area, in the Southern Mediterranean and Central Asia, in order to support the necessary reforms and consolidate parliamentary democracy.
Moreover, he also discussed the state of progress in EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights with his dialogue partners, stressing that it was now vital to finalise the negotiations at the political level.
During his visit, the PACE President spoke with Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament, Elmar Brok, the Chairperson of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee, Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services; Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Home Affairs; Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy; and Pierre Vimont, Executive Secretary General of the European External Action Service.
He also met with Wilfried Martens, President of the European People’s Party, Nicolas Beger, Director of the Amnesty International Office with the EU, and Antoine Madelin, Director of IGO Activities, Worldwide Human Rights Movement.