Speech by the President of the Assembly,
Opening of the First Part-Session

Strasbourg, 27 January 2003)


Dear colleagues and guests,

First of all, I should like to thank you for re-electing me as President of this Assembly. We have had a challenging year, and perhaps this is the right moment to recall what I promised in my inaugural speech last January and to take stock of what has been done, and what remains to be done.

I said that we must refresh our attitudes, and our image, but also our commitment to the values we were set up to defend. None of this can be achieved through rhetoric. If we want concrete results, we must engage in concrete actions.

What has been done about our attitudes?

We are doing everything we can to strengthen the parliamentary character of our Assembly and make it a place for genuine political debate. All the heads of state and government, for example, who are invited to speak to the Assembly - and that includes the crowned heads of State - are now expected to answer questions from the floor. There are several prominent guests here this week, and I hope that during our next session in April we shall welcome the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, who accepted my invitation to come to our Assembly during my meeting with him at the end of November in Moscow.

Internally, we have invested a lot of effort in consolidating our procedures, making them more transparent, more efficient and more reliable. An Assembly which wants to play a prominent role within and outside the Council of Europe cannot afford to be run like a debating club! We adopted measures aimed at clearing the backlog of overdue and outdated reports, allowing the committees to deal with the rapidly-evolving challenges of today, in a quick and politically relevant manner.

We also decided to adapt our functioning to the new circumstances resulting from enlarging our membership to 44 countries. Again, just as an illustration, we adapted our calendar by taking into account, as far as possible, the religious holidays of all main faiths practised in our member states. This may seem as a minor detail, but it is a part of the recognition that our Europe is not only Catholic or Protestant, but also Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish.

Within the Council of Europe, we tried to give the Assembly a bigger role and a stronger voice in the running of the Organisation. Although the Assembly has the right to be represented on many of the Council of Europe's bodies, this potential for co-operation and influence has so far been either neglected, or used only sporadically. This is no longer the case.

The most important result of this is our increased dialogue with the Committee of Ministers, which invited me to speak at its meeting in November last year. I received assurances that this participation would become an established practice. The Assembly's role and influence in the discussions on the Third Summit of the Council of Europe is just the most recent example of our growing weight within the Organisation. But we should also be aware that this honour does not come without responsibilities.

The Assembly has also been active on the European and the world stage. Its debates on pressing world issues, from the crisis in the Middle East to the question of the International Criminal Court and the situation in Iraq, have attracted considerable attention and provoked reactions from those concerned.

Today, the world is on the brink of war. Not a small local spat that can quickly be dealt with but a conflict which may have long-term global repercussions. Some may ask what the Assembly and its decisions may change in the game played by the big and mighty. They may even dismiss it outright as unimportant and irrelevant. They are wrong! We should all bear in mind that the Assembly brings together parliamentarians from 44 European countries, representing 800 million Europeans. Our members are of all political persuasions, representing not only parties in power, but also those in opposition. It would be difficult to find a body which would be able to represent the opinion of Europe's citizens with more authority and legitimacy. Those who choose to ignore what is being said here in Strasbourg are doing so at their own risk. There is no "new" and "old" Europe in this chamber and in September last year, we said clearly that everything should be done to avoid a new war in Iraq and to find a solution to the Iraqi problem in accordance with the United Nations' principles and through its mechanisms. I do not think that it is only President Chirac, Chancellor Schroeder and Foreign Ministers Fischer and De Villepin who think that more should be done to find a peaceful solution to this crisis. Our debate on Thursday will certainly provide another indication on where Europe stands on this issue.

But we should not only be listened to on issues of war and peace. Let us look at the issue of maritime pollution, for example. In September 2000, we had a debate on the environmental disaster provoked by the sinking of Erika along the Brittany coast. This week, two and a half years and another catastrophe later, we are likely to hold an urgent procedure debate simply to repeat what has already been said before. If we had been listened to the first time, the tragedy of Prestige could have been avoided.

We made strong and clear demands on the need to protect human rights and civil liberties in the fight against terrorism. We recognize the threat, and give full support to our countries' efforts to combat terrorism. But in doing so, we should not throw away the very values the terrorist are set to destroy. This was also the message which our Assembly and the European Parliament adopted on the occasion of the first joint session of the two bodies last September here in this chamber.

During this last year, the Assembly has continued to play its essential role in the enlargement of our Organisation. Our pressure helped to bring about the recent agreement on the Constitutional Charter on relations between Serbia and Montenegro, which should pave the way for the accession of the country to the Council of Europe. Once it becomes a member, the monitoring procedure will be put in place to ensure all of the obligations and commitments entered upon are respected to the letter.

A year ago I also said we should refresh and change the Assembly's image. Part of this is the matter of better communication and public relations. In this respect we have made some progress, but we must do more if we want to be heard, understood and taken seriously by the media, by the public and, consequently, by politicians in our member states.

I also said that women should be better represented in our Assembly. This is a part of our image too, but it is also an indicator of whether we are serious about upholding ourselves the principles and values we preach to others. In this particular respect, we failed badly. In September I criticised some large delegations for the virtual absence of women. The situation today, when we are about to approve the credentials of all 44 delegations, including several new ones, is hardly any better. I criticised before, and I will continue to criticise, but if things do not improve, I am ready to propose concrete steps to achieve progress in this respect.

During my speech last year I also said that our citizens will not accept our contribution to their well-being at face value and that we need to provide them with clear evidence of the concrete and substantial impact that our work has on their lives.

Have we succeeded in doing so? The answer is yes, but only to a certain extent.

When it comes to the important questions we are debating here, there is one thing we must always bear in mind. What we do and decide here in Strasbourg is just the beginning. Our responsibilities as members of the Assembly do not end when we board the plane to return home. Do not forget that, just as you represent your parliaments in the Council of Europe, you also represent the Council of Europe, and its values, in your national parliaments. If what we decide here is not given any follow-up at home - if you do not present, promote and defend our positions in relevant political debates in your countries - we are wasting our time and taxpayers' money! I apologise for being as blunt as this, but there is no way around this truth.

I will not say very much about the week ahead. We have many important reports, we have several requests for urgent debates and we have many prominent guests. The only thing we lack is time. We shall not be able to get through the order of business in any meaningful manner without some discipline, particularly when it comes to respect for speaking time, and respect for the Assembly's rules.

Our first guest speaker is an old friend, but the reasons why he is here go beyond either sentiment or protocol. Abdullah Gül, the Prime Minister of Turkey, can speak with authority on many of the issues we are likely to debate this week, from the situation in Iraq to the consequences of European Union enlargement and others.

Mr Prime Minister, we are happy, privileged, and honoured to have you here.