16/05/2013 President
Strasbourg, 16.05.2013 - In his address to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe at its 123rd session, PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon today called for reinforcement of Council of Europe action in the fields of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
Fulfilment of this mission requires that we guarantee the effective application of our standards Europe-wide, he recalled, stressing that the European Union’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights was an historic step towards the creation of a pan-European legal area protecting fundamental rights. “It is essential to ensure that the Council of Europe and the European Union speak with one voice when it comes to compliance with our standards,” he emphasised.
Welcoming the adoption of Protocol No. 15 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which will help to increase the effectiveness of the Court, he nevertheless pointed out that the Court’s case-load remained considerable and that multiple structural and systemic problems still remained to be settled in some member countries, so that petitions to Strasbourg would become the exception.
“As regards the efficiency of the Council of Europe supervision machinery, emphasis should be placed on implementing the recommendations of the monitoring bodies and on the targeted support that we can deliver to the member states”, said Jean-Claude Mignon, while informing the Committee of Ministers that he had also initiated an examination of the Assembly’s monitoring procedure with the aim of making it an effective and fitting tool of political dialogue, founded on the conclusions of independent and impartial thematic review bodies.
Referring to what are called the “frozen” conflicts in Europe, the PACE President pointed out that their consequences for the populations affected represented a real challenge to the Organisation. “I am convinced that the Armenian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, together with the Azerbaijani Chairmanship which will succeed it 12 months from now, will afford a unique opportunity to make advances in seeking a solution to the conflict that still divides these two states today,” he said in conclusion.