20/05/2010 President
Strasbourg, 20.05.2010 – The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Mevlüt Çavusoglu has congratulated the authorities of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” on the programme for the Macedonian Chairmanship of the Council of Europe.
Meeting Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski today in Skopje, ahead of the Assembly’s meetings on 20-21 May, the President said the programme “largely coincides with the activities of PACE and also with the priorities of my Presidency, in particular as regards strengthening human rights protection and reinforcing intercultural and inter-religious dialogue”. Mr Çavusoglu added that he intended to personally take part in several activities organised during the six-month Chairmanship period.
The PACE President also congratulated the Prime Minister on the democratic achievements of his country, and expressed support for the country’s efforts to join the European Union as soon as possible. The Assembly closed its monitoring procedure in recognition of this progress, he pointed out, but said the legal guarantees which have been put in place must now be reinforced through greater dialogue and confidence building measures in society. He encouraged the authorities to finalise their work on the latest judiciary and administrative reforms as soon as possible.
At a separate meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio Milososki, the President expressed his confidence that the very positive co-operation between the Committee of Ministers and the Assembly, developed during previous Chairmanships, would be further strengthened. “There is no reason why we should not speak with one voice on issues on which we have the same opinion, as was the case for the recent joint statement by PACE and the Committee of Ministers on the death sentences in Belarus,” Mr Çavusoglu said.