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Council of Europe Maltese Presidency sets out its priorities

Strasbourg, 07.11.2002 - Maltese Foreign Minister Joseph Borg today set out the priorities of the Council of Europe Maltese presidency for the next six months.
It will focus on two basic objectives :

1. to continue the process of unification of Greater Europe on the basis of the cooperation structures offered by the Council of Europe

- continuation and completion of enlargement,
- post-accession strategies,
- monitoring of commitments,
and on interaction with its main partners on the European stage
- 3rd Summit,
- political dialogue with the European Union,
- ratification of Protocol N°13 to the European Convention of Human Rights,
- the fight against terrorism and money laundering,

2. to strengthen the social and cultural dimensions of European integration on a continent-wide scale
- concrete access to social rights, in particular for vulnerable categories such as the Roma,
- management of migration flows,
- trafficking in human beings,
- multicultural and inter-religious dialogue,
- follow-up to the Johannesburg summit,
- cultural routes and landscapes.

Malta will also publish a European children's anthology of artwork and poetry.

The Maltese Presidency will do its utmost to strengthen cooperation between the Committee of Ministers and its institutional partners - the Parliamentary Assembly, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the European Court of Human Rights, the Commissioner for Human Rights - as well as with its partner organisations (European Union, OSCE, United Nations and others).

The Presidency will organise a Conference on Access to Social Rights in Malta on 14 and 15 November. It proposes holding a round table conference early in 2003 on migration policies for Mediterranean countries - north and south - aimed at discussing the migration management strategy recommended by the Council of Europe.

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