ORIGIN AND CREATION OF THE NORTH-SOUTH CENTRE Background: the Lisbon Declaration The North-South Centre was the outcome of a process started in 1984, when the Portuguese Parliament hosted a conference held by the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly on “North-South: Europe’s role”. The Lisbon Declaration adopted at the end of the conference broached the idea of a European public campaign on North-South interdependence and solidarity. The campaign was launched in 1988 with the support of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament. It ended with a European conference of parliamentarians and non-governmental organisations (Madrid, 1-3 June 1988), which issued the Madrid Appeal. The Madrid Appeal laid the foundations for a dynamic dialogue between North and South in a spirit of respect for democracy and human dignity. It pointed out that the fate of the countries of the South was closely bound up with the future of those in the North, that all nations depended on one another (the concept of interdependence) and that North-South co-operation and solidarity therefore had to be stepped up to allow all the world’s inhabitants to enjoy fair, balanced and sustainable development. The signatories of the Madrid Appeal called on the Council of Europe member states to give priority to these policies. They recommended that European governments promote development education to bring home to the general public the fact of interdependence and the need for solidarity, and urged parliamentarians, governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to work together to devise joint strategies. The Portuguese government then proposed setting up a European Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity, a proposal supported by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly in a recommendation adopted in January 1989. Basis: Resolution (89)14 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe All these recommendations provided a natural springboard for setting up the North-South Centre to monitor the campaign and ensure the pursuit of this unprecedented co-operation between NGOs, parliamentarians, governments and international organisations. As a result, on the basis of Resolution (89)14 adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 16 November 1989, the European Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity opened in Lisbon in 1990. Its existence was confirmed by Resolution (93)51 of 21 October 1993.