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Recommendation 2114 (2017)
Defending the acquis of the Council of Europe: preserving 65 years of successful intergovernmental co-operation
1. The raison d’être of the Council of
Europe is “to achieve a greater unity between its members for the purpose
of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are
their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social
progress” (Article 1 of the 1949 Statute of the Council of Europe,
ETS No. 1), focusing on the three major pillars of human rights,
the rule of law and democracy.
2. To that end, the Statute established the principle of intergovernmental
co-operation, which has since been central to the Council of Europe’s
operations. This co-operation between member States focuses on the development
of common standards, through conventions and their effective implementation,
in member States in order to ensure continuity in the achievement
of the objective set out in the Statute.
3. For almost seventy years, this convention-based system has
substantially helped to improve the functioning of democratic institutions
in Europe, to develop the rule of law throughout Europe and to protect and
promote the rights of all European citizens and inhabitants. These
conventions are the main source of the Council of Europe acquis. They have a direct impact
on the lives of European citizens and the legal framework of member
States.
4. This unique common heritage must be recognised, asserted,
defended and, as necessary, further developed, to the benefit of
all European citizens and inhabitants – and others to whom these
conventions are or could be applied.
5. Any initiative to draft a new treaty has to be formally approved
by the Committee of Ministers, the Council of Europe’s executive
body. The Committee of Ministers may ask the Parliamentary Assembly
for an opinion on any draft treaty (Statute, Article 23.a). Since 1998, it has consulted
the Assembly on all draft treaties. Article 15.a of the Statute states that conventions
and agreements shall be considered by the Committee of Ministers on
recommendation of the Assembly, or on the Committee’s own initiative.
A large number of these treaties have been drawn up at the instigation
of the Assembly, often referred to as the Council of Europe’s political engine.
6. The Assembly and the Committee of Ministers therefore bear
– together with the member States – the responsibility for the creation,
protection, implementation and further development of the convention-based system
in Europe.
7. At the 3rd Summit of Heads of State and Government of the
Council of Europe, in 2005 in Warsaw, the need to strengthen the
effectiveness of the convention-based system was underlined and
measures to achieve this goal were stipulated. Many steps have been
taken since then and improvements have been made, such as a radical
reform of the Organisation’s activities, as well as a substantial
reform of the functioning of the European Court of Human Rights
(the Court) and a review of conventions.
8. Despite these reforms, significant gaps remain between what
the member States and the Organisation want to achieve and what
is actually accomplished. The ratification of conventions is too
often delayed, preventing their entry into force; implementation
of conventions into domestic law is often slow and inaccurate and
domestic legal frameworks are too often dysfunctional.
9. Throughout Europe, democracy, the rule of law and human rights
are under pressure and in dire need of revitalisation. In order
to help counter these developments and to continue to do what is
agreed in Article 1 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, the
instruments and institutions of the Organisation need to be modernised
and made more effective. The next summit of heads of State and government,
which is now in preparation, should therefore, on the basis of a
thorough evaluation, discuss – among other issues – how to improve
and reinforce the convention-based system of the Council of Europe.
10. The Assembly therefore calls on the Committee of Ministers
and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to:
10.1. add the Council of Europe convention-based
system and its future to the agenda of the next summit of heads
of State and government;
10.2. adequately prepare, in due time before the summit:
10.2.1. an in-depth evaluation of the
effectiveness of the existing conventions and their monitoring mechanisms,
and proposals to substantially strengthen the convention-based system, according
to the goal stipulated in Article 1 of the Statute of the Council
of Europe;
10.2.2. an evaluation of the effectiveness of the assistance programmes
for the implementation of the standards set out in the conventions
and an assessment of improvements needed;
10.2.3. proposals on how to strengthen the effectiveness of the
European Court of Human Rights, by improving domestic judicial procedures
to enable citizens to seek justice, promoting effective implementation
of Court judgments in all member States, and appropriate funding
of the Court, in line with the decisions taken at the 3rd Summit
in Warsaw;
10.2.4. proposals on how to broaden the scope of application of
the revised European Social Charter (ETS No. 163) to all member
States by having them ratify it as soon as possible, how to expand
its strong built-in monitoring mechanism (collective complaints
system) to all member States, how to make the European Social Charter
the main reference and common social rights benchmark for the European
Pillar of Social Rights of the European Union and open it for signature
by third Parties which are not member States of the Council of Europe;
10.2.5. a general evaluation of relations between the Council
of Europe and the other main European organisations (European Union,
Eurasian Economic Union, Nordic Council, Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development) with regard to the convention-based system;
10.2.6. an analysis of the desirability of a European Union–Council
of Europe memorandum of understanding on the participation of the
European Union in Council of Europe conventions which could provide
for general operating rules (such as voting rights, speaking rights,
reporting and financial arrangements);
10.2.7. a road map for European Union accession to the European
Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5), in line with the obligation
formulated in the Treaty of Lisbon;
10.2.8. proposals on how to reach out to citizens and let them
participate more in the decision-making processes of the Council
of Europe;
10.3. ensure that sufficient financial and human resources are
allocated to convention-based and intergovernmental activities in
which all member States should be able to participate on an equal
footing;
10.4. involve the Assembly in the preparatory activities of
these evaluations and (re)considerations, in accordance with Article
15.a of the Statute;
10.5. involve the Assembly in an appropriate way in the next
summit of heads of State and government;
10.6. invite the heads of State and government, at the next
summit, to recognise, assert, defend and, as necessary, further
develop and properly fund the Council of Europe’s convention-based
system, to the benefit of all European citizens and inhabitants
– and all others to whom these conventions are or could be applied.
11. The prospect of a 4th summit of heads of State and government
of the Council of Europe should be an opportunity for the Committee
of Ministers to undertake proper reflection on our Organisation’s
future, bearing in mind that defending the Council of Europe’s acquis depends on preserving its
unique system of co-operation which enables all member States to
agree on common positions and co-operate on an equal footing for
the benefit of all. In this context, the Assembly calls on all Council
of Europe member States to abstain from any voluntary actions which
would result in the weakening of the intergovernmental co-operation
which has contributed so much for many decades to effectively uniting
the European continent.