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Montenegro | Council of Europe

Speech by H.E. Mr. Milan Roćen, Montenegrin Minister for Foreign Affairs

See online: CoE :: Council of Europe.

Following is the text of H.E. Mr. Milan Roćen’s address at the ceremony marking the accession of Montenegro as 47th Member State of the Council of Europe [1], in Strasbourg, France, May 11:

MR. SECRETARY GENERAL,
MR. VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY,
MR. CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS,
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PARLIAMENT OF MONTENEGRO,
EXCELLENCIES,
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

I have a historical honour to greet you on behalf of citizens and leadership of Montenegro. This is a great day for us. A day when we become full-fledged member of the Council of Europe, the oldest, distinguished pan-European organization. Milan Roćen

I would like to thank to all who supported the admission of Montenegro to Council of Europe. Especially to the Secretary General, President and members of the Parliamentary Assembly, members and chairman of the Committee of Ministers. We owe special gratitude to San Marino for its efforts.

May 21, 2006 will remain carved in golden letters in Montenegro’s modern history. On this day our citizens decided to restore statehood on a democratic referendum, in partnership with the EU, Council of Europe and the OSCE. We are proud not only because Montenegro, an old European state, provided itself the privilege of being the youngest state in Europe and the world today. But also because of the way we did this, in civilized, democratic manner, in accordance with highest European standards. It happened for the first time in long Balkan history. The new Montenegro was born in values founded by modern Europe, values that the Council of Europe promotes. That is why Montenegro is a European success story.

Membership in Council of Europe will strengthen the foundations of our democracy and contribute to more efficient protection of human rights. On this road, we expect further assistance and support of the Council of Europe. I assure you we will be a worthy member of the Council of Europe. A member who accepts its values, standards and principles. Montenegro flag-raising ceremony

This is yet another success we made in this year on our road to European and Euro Atlantic integration. We expect to sign in the first half of this year Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU. As well as the Interim Agreement, and Agreement on visa facilitation and readmission. We also hope for further progress in Euro Atlantic integration, since we became a member of the Partnership for Peace. With members of the Venice Commission, we are promptly working on new Constitution of the independent Montenegro. This document will lastingly confirm our strategic European and Euro Atlantic orientation.

We are aware that we open the doors to the EU and NATO in Montenegro and the Region, not in Brussels. That is why we are fully committed to fulfilling all obligations stemming from Council of Europe membership and contractual relations with the EU. We have managed to be the only republic that preserved peace and multiethnic harmony in the war storm. That is why I am sure that in this new ambience, we will be able to make tremendous progress in strengthening democratic institutions, respect for human rights and liberties and the rule of law. In such way, we will uphold Montenegro as an oasis of multiethnic and multicultural harmony, in accordance with the European formula.

Let the Montenegrin flag that we raise today before this respectable institution be the symbol of the new, happier, European future of Montenegro, and of our Region as well, which we believe has the same destiny.

Thank you for attention.
Strasbourg, France, May 11, 2007.

[1] The COUNCIL OF EUROPE is the continent’s oldest political organisation, founded in 1949. It has its headquarters in Strasbourg, in North-Eastern France. The Council was set up to:
• defend human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law,
• develop continent-wide agreements to standardise member countries’ social and legal practices,
• promote awareness of a European identity based on shared values and cutting across different cultures.
Since 1989, its main job has become:
• acting as a political anchor and human rights watchdog for Europe’s post-communist democracies,
• assisting the countries of central and eastern Europe in carrying out and consolidating political, legal and constitutional reform in parallel with economic reform,
• providing know-how in areas such as human rights, local democracy, education, culture and the environment. Today, the Organisation continues to grow while at the same time increasing its monitoring to ensure that all its members respect the obligations and commitments they entered into when they joined. The main component parts of the Council of Europe are:
• the Committee of Ministers, composed of Foreign ministers or their Strasbourg-based deputies (ambassadors/permanent representatives), which is the Organisation’s decision-making body.
• the Parliamentary Assembly, grouping members (representatives and substitutes) from the national parliaments.
• the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, composed of a Chamber of Local Authorities and a Chamber of Regions.
• the 1800-strong secretariat. Since November 1990, the accession of countries of Central and Eastern Europe has given the Council of Europe a genuine pan-European dimension, so that it is now the organisation that represents Greater Europe.

With special thanks to Mr. Francesc Ferrer, Communication Unit of the Parliamentary Assembly, and Mrs. Eliza Pieter, Deputy Secretary of the Political Affairs Committee, Strasbourg, France.
Photograph credits: © CoE Council of Europe 2007.