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Secretary General’s bilateral meetings at the Summit

On the occasion of the Summit, Terry Davis had bilateral meetings with Foreign Minister of Liechtenstein Rita Kieber-Beck, Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker, President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin, Foreign Minister of Sweden Leila Freivalds, President of Romania Traian Basescu, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, and President of Cyprus Tassos Papadopoulos.

The Secretary General and the Foreign Minister of Liechtenstein discussed the problems faced by the European Court of Human Rights and the country’s possible contribution to implementing the Action Plan, in particular concerning the Court’s reforms.

Discussions with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg and Chairman-in-Office of the EU Council focused on the interrelationship between the EU law and Council of Europe conventions, the future role of the Council of Europe in standard-setting, as well as modalities of EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights. The issues concerning the mandate of the future EU Fundamental Rights Agency and its relations with the Council of Europe, and the Council of Europe’s role in cooperating with the countries involved in the EU Neighbourhood Policy, were also raised. They also agreed that the issue of future relations between the Council of Europe and the European Union should be maintained on the political agenda and deserve continued involvement of European political leaders.

The Secretary General had a private meeting with the President of Georgia, as a follow-up to his visit to the country in April this year.

Discussions during the meeting with the President of Moldova dealt with the situation in the country after the parliamentary elections in March, the Council of Europe contribution to developing democratic institutions and culture in Moldova and the situation around Transnistria, in particular following recent initiatives launched at the GUUAM meeting.

Terry Davis and the Swedish Foreign Minister talked about the future of the Human Rights Court and possible remedies to deal with the backlog of outstanding cases, as well as about new initiatives in the field of democratic development, such as the creation of the Council of Europe Forum for the Future of Democracy.

Discussions with the President of Azerbaijan focused on the preparations of parliamentary elections, to be held in the autumn this year, and possible Council of Europe contribution. Meeting with the President of Romania, the Secretary General inquired about the priorities for Romania’s Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers (November 2005 – May 2006). The situation in Cyprus and prospects of the comprehensive settlement of the problem were at the centre of discussions with the President of Cyprus.