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Montenegro | Council of Europe

Speech by Mr. Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

See online: CoE :: Council of Europe.

Following is the text of Mr. Terry Davis’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:

MINISTER STOLFI,
MINISTER ROCEN,
MINISTERS,
DEAR COLLEAGUES,

Mr. Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe I should like to use this opportunity to wholeheartedly welcome Montenegro as a member of the Council of Europe — once again.

This historic event comes only weeks after another important appearance of Montenegro on the international stage — the first ever victory of their national football team, 2 to 1 against Hungary. I am told that the game was a friendly fixture, but so is the accession of Montenegro to the Council of Europe. I hope that the Montenegrin public will welcome today’s historic event with the same, if not even greater enthusiasm and satisfaction.

I think that I have taken the analogy between football and Council of Europe membership as far as I safely can, but allow me to add one last thought. You know very well that, unlike football, at the Council of Europe we are all on the same team. We play with, not against each other. We have already had the opportunity to know and work with our Montenegrin friends, and I am certain that our good relationship will continue. With Montenegro, the Council of Europe team has grown bigger, better and stronger than before.

Now the real work starts. Being the most recent member also brings opportunities and responsibilities. To start with, I urge Montenegro to set an example to some longstanding members of the Council of Europe by acceding to the Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism, the Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and the Financing of Terrorism — then, of course, move on to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

MINISTER ROCEN,

Because of the — how shall I put it — specific circumstances of your country’s involvement with the Council of Europe in recent years, we are no strangers to each other. Montenegro knows the Council of Europe and the Council of Europe knows, and likes, Montenegro and its people. This is why I will conclude by paraphrasing Humphrey Bogart in one of my favourite films — Casablanca.

Montenegro — I believe this is the continuation of a beautiful friendship.

Thank you very much.
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.