Recommendation 1935 (2010) Final version

Need to avoid duplication of the work of the Council of Europe by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

Author(s): Parliamentary Assembly

Origin - Assembly debate on 5 October 2010 (31st Sitting) (see Doc. 12272, report of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, rapporteur: Mr Cilevičs). Text adopted by the Assembly on 5 October 2010 (31st Sitting).

1. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Recommendation 1744 (2006) and Resolution 1427 (2005), as well as Resolution 1756 (2010) on the need to avoid duplication of the work of the Council of Europe by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (the Agency), since the establishment of the latter in 2007.

2. The Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

2.1. draw the attention of the European Union to the continuing need to avoid unnecessary duplication with the Council of Europe mechanisms operating in the human rights field;

2.2. in order to reach the above objective:

2.2.1. hold regular exchanges of views with the Agency’s senior representatives;

2.2.2. ensure that the Council of Europe’s acquis in the area of human rights protection is always used as the main point of reference in the Agency’s work;

2.2.3. ensure that there is a mutual exchange of relevant data between the Agency and the Council of Europe bodies, in particular the latter’s monitoring bodies, in the areas in which both the Council of Europe and the Agency conduct activities, and that, to this end, staff members of both institutions work in close contact;

2.2.4. ensure that the Agency’s representatives are invited to meetings of the relevant Council of Europe intergovernmental committees and to the meetings of its other bodies which conduct activities on subjects of common interest;

2.2.5. enhance co-operation between the Council of Europe and the Agency, inter alia through exchanges of staff, and joint conferences, publications and statements on issues of common interest;

2.2.6. continue to ensure that the independent person appointed on behalf of the Council of Europe on the Agency’s management and executive boards – as envisaged in the 2008 Agreement between the European Community and the Council of Europe on co-operation between the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and the Council of Europe – is of the highest calibre.