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Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 12886 | 20 March 2012
The role of parliaments in the consolidation and development of social rights in Europe
1. The Committee of Ministers has given
careful consideration to Recommendation
1976 (2011) on "The role of parliaments in the consolidation
and development of social rights in Europe", which it has brought
to the attention of the governments of member States and sent to
the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH), the European Committee
for Social Cohesion (CDCS), to the European Committee of Social
Rights (ECSR) and to the Governmental Committee of the European
Social Charter.
2. The Committee of Ministers fully agrees with the Assembly
that national parliaments can play an important role in consolidating
and developing social rights. It stresses the importance for parliaments
to take steps to ensure full implementation of the standards provided
for in international agreements, including in the field of social
rights, when designing policy measures.
3. With specific regard to paragraph 1 of the recommendation,
the Committee of Ministers would refer to its reply to Recommendation 1958 (2011) in
which it informed the Assembly of the various initiatives taken
on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the European Social Charter
with a view to guaranteeing and promoting social rights on our continent.
It would reiterate its call on all those member States that have
not yet ratified the revised European Social Charter or have not
accepted the collective complaints mechanism, to consider doing so.
4. Paragraph 2 of the recommendation calls on the Committee of
Ministers to draft a new protocol to the revised European Social
Charter on the right to health, including the right to a healthy
environment. In this respect, the Committee of Ministers confirms
the importance of guaranteeing the right to health according to Article
11 of the European Social Charter. It would draw attention, in this
regard, to the numerous decisions and conclusions related to the
application of this Article, together with Articles 7, 12 and 13,
in matters concerning patients' rights, bioethics, social coverage
of long, expensive treatment at different times of life, and emergency
care. The Committee of Ministers would also signal the updated manual
on Human Rights and the Environment prepared by the Steering Committee
for Human Rights, which aims to increase the understanding of the
relationship between the protection of human rights and the environment
and thereby to contribute to strengthening environmental protection
at the national level. To this end, the manual provides information about
the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and highlights
the impact and relevant interpretations of the European Social Charter
by the European Committee of Social Rights. In the light of these elements,
the Committee of Ministers does not consider it necessary at this
stage to prepare such a new protocol.
5. In line with paragraph 3 of Recommendation 1976 (2011), the
Committee of Ministers reaffirms its own commitment to respecting
a reasonable timeframe for consultation with the Parliamentary Assembly
on new draft Council of Europe treaties with a view to allowing
it to give its opinion without undue haste. It remains committed
to continuing the involvement of the Assembly in the process of
drafting new conventions by ensuring that representatives of the
Assembly are invited to participate in the meetings of expert committees entrusted
with such tasks, as well as in ministerial conferences and other
high-level events organised by the Council of Europe. In this respect,
the Committee of Ministers would urge the Assembly to fully exploit
these opportunities to allow its position, comments or suggestions
to be taken into account throughout the drafting process of texts.
6. With reference to the possibility of introducing co-decision
making on draft legal instruments, and in underlining the possibilities
open to the Assembly to participate in the preparatory work of such
texts, the Committee of Ministers would inform the Assembly that
its position expressed in its reply to Recommendation 1763 (2006) remains
unchanged in that the institutional balance at the Council of Europe
does not require a reapportionment of responsibilities.
7. Finally the Committee of Ministers would inform the Assembly
that in the context of the reform process, it was decided that intergovernmental
activities in the areas of social cohesion and in certain dimensions
of public health policies will continue, notably through the work
of the European Committee on Social Cohesion. Given the transversal
nature of both these themes, it would also underline the relevance
of the work carried out in other fields such as Roma, migration,
children, persons with disabilities, bioethics, the European Pharmacopoeia
(EDQM), and the various monitoring mechanisms, with a view to strengthening
social cohesion and the protection of health in member States.