Excellences,
Secretary General,
Ladies and Gentlemen,


Under this item let me present our achievements during the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. I would like to draw your attention to the written report we have prepared about the activities during the six months of the Chairmanship contained in the document CM/Inf(2010)40, which is also available to you.

Now, it is not my intention to go through all the achievements. Instead I will focus on some, to my mind most important achievements, wanting at the same time to share with you some new ideas.

As you know very well, we took over the Chairmanship at the 120th Session of the Committee of Ministers last May. At that time the themes dominating the work of the Committee of Ministers were the follow-up to the High-level Conference on the future of the European Court of Human Rights, the reform process of the Organisation, launched by the Secretary General, the relations between the Council of Europe and the European Union, the actions taken by the Council of Europe following the conflict in Georgia and the strategic role and responsibility of the Organisation in respect of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Having had such an important agenda of the Committee of Ministers before us, we approached the Chairmanship with a sense of great responsibility. Our aim was to continue on a steady path towards the accomplishment of the goals set forth by the Organisation and to implement the Chairmanship priorities, which complement and build upon the activities done by our predecessors.

So what has been achieved so far after six months in Chairmanship? I will highlight few tangible results: the progress made regarding the actions under the Interlaken process, strengthening the pan-European cooperation on protection of Roma rights, the furthering of the intercultural and inter-religious dialogue through the media, the promotion of the “Skopje Agenda” which encompasses activities that are to assist the monitoring of regional projects of the Council of Europe, implemented in the sphere of cultural heritage and the launching of the Ohrid process which is founded on principles that promote youth participation at the local, national and regional levels in the SEE.

As the Interlaken process is based on consolidated action taken at different levels – by member-states, by the Committee of Ministers and by the Court, it is important to note that there are developments in the right direction at all these levels. I welcome today’s adoption of the Resolution on the establishment of an Advisory Panel of Experts on Candidates for Election as a Judge to the European Court. I am also glad that the Committee of Ministers is progressing well in the reform of its working methods for supervision of the execution of Court’s judgments.

Having in mind that the long-term effectiveness of the control system of the European Convention on Human Rights can be secured first and foremost at the national level, the Macedonian Chairmanship organized the Conference dedicated to the principle of subsidiarity, entitled “Strengthening subsidiarity: integrating the Court’s case-law into national laws and judicial practice”
The three interdependent themes of this Conference- the interpretative authority of the Court’s judgments, the need for effective legal remedies and prompt execution of the Court’s judgments enabled the participants to consider the principle of subsidiarity from all these aspect. These topics provided an opportunity to elaborate upon the implementation of the relevant recommendations adopted by the Committee of Ministers and to discuss the progress on measures States Parties have taken so far in fulfilling obligations under the Interlaken Action Plan. The conclusions of this Conference will be presented at next High Level Conference dedicated to the Future of the Court, which is to be held in April 2011, in Izmir, during the Turkish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers.

All member states of the Council of Europe, to a larger or lesser degree, have been affected by economic hardship. In such difficult times the most marginalised groups in society, such as the Roma, suffer the most. With a view to alleviating problems confronted by Roma and enabling their better access to education, social and health protection, employment and housing, the Council of Europe High Level Meeting on Roma was convened, at the initiative of the Secretary General. The Chairmanship was engaged in preparing this meeting and negotiating with the member States the text of the “Strasbourg Declaration” and I am glad that we were able to adopt it. The Minister without Portfolio in the Macedonian Government, Mr. Nezdet Mustafa addressed this Conference, stressing our good practice in including the Roma when solving their problems, referring as well to the Roma participation in our country’s political and public life. I believe I can rightfully say that we were the only member-State of the Council of Europe presented through a Roma Minister at this Conference. In connection to the Roma, there is another area where we hold primacy. We have been the first Member State to translate and publish the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue in the Romani language.
The multicultural and multi-religious dialogue is a necessity in today’s Europe and the media can really play a crucial role in this regard. They can be promoters of tolerance and mutual understanding. These issues were discussed at the 2010 Council of Europe Exchange on the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue, which took place in Ohrid, on 13 and 14 September.

The Macedonian Chairmanship addressed the aspect of cultural heritage as an integrating factor, which strengthens the cohesion of our societies at a Conference of Ministers of Culture organised in Skopje, on 24 and 25 September 2010. The Conference entitled “Promoting Social Values of Cultural Heritage in Europe”, promoted the “Skopje Agenda” as a tangible result, which consists of activities that should assist the monitoring of regional projects of the Council of Europe, implemented in the sphere of cultural heritage. The Faro Convention treats the cultural heritage in a broader social context and promotes it as a generator of economic development and stability. The “Skopje Agenda” effectuates the provisions of the Faro Convention through an integrative approach which was also promoted by the Chairmanship. It also provides for continuity with the Ljubljana process.

One of the main priorities of the Macedonian Chairmanship was the promotion of youth participation in democratic processes and in decision-making processes in the region of South East Europe. The SEE Youth Gathering held in Ohrid, on 10 and 11 September launched the Ohrid Process. The principles it consists of are complementary to the standards promoted by the Council of Europe. These standards are relevant, modern, and progressive and inspired by the time we live in. They promote initiatives at the local level, as a grass root level. The principles refer to organisation of youth information centres, organisation of thematic youth counselling, to development of relations with the private sector and the business community, and to evaluation of achieved results by developing indicators and evaluation criteria. All of this is meant to prompt youth participation and establish co-management structures where youth councils and government representatives meet, discuss and create policies that affect the youth. As youth of today is the driving force of the societies of tomorrow we have to take on board youth in reforming our societies and shaping our future.
As a country coming from the region of SEE it is understandable that we invest efforts in promoting our Region. That was the reason to follow carefully the developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In my capacity as the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers I visited Bosnia and Herzegovina on 2 November and had meetings with the Presidency, the leaders of the main political parties and the representatives of the international community. The main aim was to exchange views on the progress of reforms in removing the incompatibilities between the country’s Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights, following the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Sejdic and Finci vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the same time it was a good opportunity to reassure the authorities once again of the support of the Council of Europe in this endeavour and to offer the necessary assistance by the Organisation, notably of the Venice Commission. Among the issues discussed were the perspectives for the adoption of the population census law and the speedy appointment of Bosnia and Herzegovina representatives to Council of Europe bodies, such as the Venice Commission, CPT, ECRI, GRETA and the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. I underlined that the representation in these bodies had a twofold meaning- to bring their national experiences to these bodies and to take from them the accumulated experience and knowledge back home. I hope that this can contribute to re-brand the image of Bosnia and Herzegovina Europe-wide.

As a friendly country we wish Bosnia and Herzegovina all the success and we stand ready to assist them in every possible way. The message I delivered during the meetings with the representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina was that certain changes cannot be imposed from the outside, but must come from the country itself, as a guarantee for their sustainability. As regards the reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I believe that the most satisfactory results can be achieved with a step by step approach supported by a consistent and sustained international engagement.

Secretary General Jagland and I visited Georgia from 1 to 4 July 2010 for talks with the President of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Grigol Vashadze, the Deputy Prime Minister, Temur Yakobashvili, and the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Dimitri Bakradze. The cooperation between the Council of Europe and Georgia were the focus of discussion, in particular the possibility to enhance the Council of Europe action for the protection and promotion of human rights in the areas affected by the August 2008 conflict. As a result of this visit, the Committee of Ministers asked the Secretary General to undertake activities along the lines of those suggested in his consolidated report.

Before closing my statement, let me refer to the reform process of the Organisation. I congratulate the Secretary General for the progress made so far and would like to assure him of our support in this complex task. We all want to have more relevant Organisation that can cope with the ever growing challenges. In order to achieve this we believe that certain reforms are necessary in the Committee of Ministers too, more precisely in the way and the period of conducting the Chairmanship. Our views are elaborated in the “Food for Thought” paper which has been distributed to all the delegations thanks to the Secretariat.

If we want to increase the political influence of the Organisation and of its decision-making body, certain modifications and modernisation are required regarding the chairing of the Committee of Ministers. Thus, three options are presented in the “Food for Thought” paper regarding the period of Chairmanship: introducing the trio model of chairmanship, similar to the EU, prolonging the period from 6 to 8 months and introducing the OSCE model of chairmanship. There you may find arguments for each of the proposals. So far, I have shared this idea with my colleagues from Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey, as countries in the Bureau of the Committee of Ministers.

At this stage I do not expect some substantial debate on this proposal, since all of you have to consult your capitals. But, let me say that we are ready to consider this issue further and in due course we would like to hear your views and positions. I hope you will find the proposals interesting and worth elaborating further.

In conclusion, I would like to offer our great appreciation to Secretary General Jagland and his staff for all the support during the Chairmanship and, especially to the Secretariat of the Committee of Ministers. These six months have been very intensive and memorable. I wish every success to Turkey as the next Chair. I am confident that they will defend the values of our Organisation and will promote further the most valuable mechanisms of the Council of Europe, emphasizing their comparative advantages. Minister Davutoğlu, you and your country may rely on our full support.

Thank you.