23/03/2012 President
Following his official visit to Monaco, PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon praised Monaco’s efforts to modernise its institutions and encouraged the authorities to adopt the most modern international standards to address the current challenges of international co-operation. These include the four most recent Council of Europe conventions on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, the counterfeiting of medical products, preventing and combating violence against women, and cybercrime.
In 2014, Monaco will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of its accession to the Council of Europe. The President believes this is a major event for the Principality “which is pursuing a policy of openness on the European and international scene”, and an opportunity to make its contribution to the activities of the Council of Europe even more visible and relevant. In this context, he assured the Monaco authorities of the Assembly’s full support.
“Monaco is already a strong partner of the Council of Europe, actively supporting the Organisation’s major projects, such as its Strategy for Children’s Rights,” he said.
“As the Assembly’s experience has shown, the current post-monitoring dialogue is a practical and effective way of further strengthening our co-operation. In the Council of Europe, we are all different and all equal, we share the same values and the same standards while respecting our specificities," Mr Mignon said, adding that he hoped that the Monitoring Committee’s next report would take stock of the progress achieved and enable headway to be made in areas where further effort was still necessary.
During his visit, the Assembly President met the Speaker of Monaco’s National Council, Jean-Francois Robillon, the heads of the political groups in the Council, and Minister of State Michel Roger. He was also received by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco.