News

On November 20, the 17th quadripartite meeting between the Council of Europe (the CoE) and the European Union (the EU) was held in Brussels. The Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the CoE Antanas Valionis and Secretary General of the CoE Walter Schwimmer on behalf of the CoE, the Belgian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Annemie Neyts, as a representative of the European Council Presidency, and Commissioner for External Relations Christopher Patten, on behalf of the EU, participated in the meeting. The parties discussed the coordination of international actions against terrorism, the European enlargement process regarding both - the EU and the CoE as well as the other issues concerning the organizations. The parties confirmed that the EU and the CoE would closely cooperate in combating terrorism and intensifying the strategy of International Action against terrorism based on the rule of law. The participants discussed the EU enlargement and positively evaluated the European Commission’s Annual Report. They noted that the evaluation of the states’ progress in accordance to the political criteria, fixed by the Copenhagen meeting of the EU Heads of states, is of great importance for the EU States Candidates. The EU and CoE representatives estimated the progress made by Bosnia and Herzegovina and were positive of that country having a chance to become a member of the CoE during the chairmanship of Lithuania. The obligation for the government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to speed up reforms was also discussed at the meeting hoping that Yugoslavia would fulfill the requirements for the CoE accession in near future. The leaders of the EU and the CoE welcomed adoption of the Constitution supplements by the Parliament of Macedonia expressing their hope that Macedonia would speed up the implementation of the Agreement on Peace Accord adopted in August this year. The parties agreed upon the need of a close cooperation between the EU and the CoE to resolve the Macedonian issue. The CoE Secretary General Walter Schwimmer and the Commissioner suggested the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the CoE Antanas Valionis during his visit to Macedonia to deliver its government the EU and CoE’s position towards the implementation of the Peace Accord. Discussing the Belarus issue the parties confirmed the EU and CoE’s negative attitude towards the isolation of this country, which was not of the best interest of the Belarus people. They also urged the Belarus authorities to take practical steps to the democratization of the state: to extend the functions of the Parliament, to adhere to the principles of free press and declare a moratorium for capital punishment. The Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the CoE, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antanas Valionis, invited Commissioner Patten to participate the session of the Committee of Ministers in Vilnius, May 2002.