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Speech by Thorbjørn Jagland Council of Europe Secretary General New realities Reform of the Council of Europe on the occasion of Ministers’ Deputies meeting
Sixty years ago, Europe had come to a crossroads. The lesson learned from the past was that a lasting peace must be based on more than military stability. By establishing norms and standards on democracy, human rights and the rule of law applicable to all and binding for all, the concept of soft security was invented. It was seen as a precondition for sustainable peace after the two awful wars we had in Europe. The Council of Europe was founded to take care of this dimension of security. Later the Helsinki Conference was convened and the OSCE established, setting up common rules for peaceful co-existence. Europe moved away from nationalism towards internationalism. The European Union has added tremendously to this dimension of soft security through economic and political integration of its member States. The Council of Europe standards on democracy, human rights and the rule of law, served as a basis for EU integration and EU enlargement. The concept of combining hard and soft security is still very relevant in the efforts to reinforce predictability and stability in Europe. Hard security cannot function without soft security, and the other way around. We should always keep in mind what Willy Brandt once formulated: “Security in Europe is indivisible – it is for all or for none”. The Council of Europe is an integral part of a wider European security concept, creating a space of collective democratic security and stability. We can call it deep security. The Council of Europe is therefore an indispensable partner in promoting this concept of deep security, and in developing it further. Now what are the particularities which legitimise our role in a Europe that is rapidly changing? First of all, the Council of Europe’s work on defending common European values is not bound by economic, military and geo-strategic considerations and therefore enjoys a high level of trust and gives legitimacy to our monitoring activities. This non-political and expert-oriented role must be further exploited, for example, when it comes to frozen conflicts on the European continent. Secondly, the Council of Europe is the only genuinely pan-European organisation covering the entire continent. The EU does not do that, even when extended to the candidate countries and associated countries. The OSCE includes non-European countries which may not have fully identical views on human rights and the functioning of democratic institutions. For instance, the United States is still pursuing the death penalty as one example. Thirdly, the Council of Europe is the only organisation which has the mandate and the necessary tools to effectively and comprehensively monitor the compliance with obligations related to the respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Court of Human Rights, as one, is a unique instrument never seen on any other continent at any time in history. Last but not least, the fact that the Council of Europe is reaching out to all European countries and the fact that the organisation has monitoring tools, presence in the field, parliamentarians from all countries, unique contacts with local and regional governments, a close co-operation with NGOs, makes the Council of Europe a unique institution with an exceptional access to knowledge and information. Properly put together and used, this information will enable the Council of Europe to anticipate – and help provide solutions for - major societal and political developments which fall within our mandate and which have to be properly dealt with before it is too late. It only takes a quick look at the problems which our societies are facing today to understand that social stability is not guaranteed. We are facing increased mistrust and intolerance with practically all our countries, with convergence of economical problems, social issues and migration. George F. Kennan once said that there is a little bit of totalitarian buried somewhere, way down deep, in each and everyone of us. The Council of Europe must confront any resurgence of such totalitarian tendencies. The Council of Europe must be the lighthouse of Europe, a house for early warning. I should also like to remind you of the words of the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr who said that man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. History teaches us that democracy cannot survive without social stability. Social rights cannot be achieved without democratic rights. The Council of Europe should therefore be a house where human rights and social rights are integral parts of the same struggle for peace and stability.
The reform has the following goals: · To revitalise the Council of Europe as a political body and an innovative organisation. · To concentrate our work on fewer projects, selected on the highest added value and comparative advantages. · To develop a flexible organisation which is also more visible and relevant for the citizens of Europe. To achieve this, the first stage of the reform has four interrelated pillars. The first pillar is Governance: On the top of this pillar is of course the Committee of Ministers as this organisation is an intergovernmental organisation. The Council of Europe is however an organisation of many entities. I will do my utmost to try and coordinate the activities of all these entities, and I hope that all of these entities will see the need for going through a reform process, having a discussion on their own role in this Organisation. I cannot initiate it, but I hope that all of them see a need for going through such a process and discussion. Now what I want to do is the following - to strengthen the Directorate General of Political Affairs by integrating advice, analysis and external relations, and creating a new Policy Planning Cell (“Cellule d’Analyse et prospective”), which will anticipate challenges and deliver forward-looking analysis. I think that this Organisation is too much inward-looking and too little forward-looking. For instance, what I discovered was that it was a big surprise that the Lisbon Treaty was entering into force in this house. We should of course have started analysing this two years ago – how it would affect Europe and also the Council of Europe. I believe also that we have a need for putting together all the information which I talked about earlier. This is a unique place for gathering information because of all the tools and mechanisms and all the entities which we have. The problem is that we are not able to use it properly because, as President Barack Obama said on the recent terrorist attack attempts, that the different intelligence agencies had all the information needed but they were not able to put it together. I think that we are more or less in the same situation. We should be able to put all this information together so that we can be a lighthouse for Europe – to have the radar on all the time and therefore I need to strengthen the Political Affairs Department with this new Policy Planning Cell but this is only a tool, it cannot do the job for us. We have to initiate what we need to do and what this Cell should do. Then we must undertake a complete review of communication. As a first step, I have initiated an audit of our various communication services and the resources allocated to them. To improve our budget tools we must have a budget which is transparent, user-friendly and presented in one single document. I have said to many that when I came to this house I tried to understand what the Council of Europe is doing, started to reading through documents – we have the Budget and the Programme of Activities but I can tell everybody that, please, do not do it. You will not understand anything! We need to have a new budget, combining the budget and the programme of activities but explaining clearly what we are doing also gives us an opportunity to have discussions and priorities in this room as well as in other rooms. In order to achieve this goal, I have the intention to create a new Budget and Programme service, under the authority of the Directorate General of Administration and Logistics, in order to ensure that activity planning and resources are directly linked. We have absolutely no time to lose on this important matter, it must be ready for the 2011 budget. We need to evaluate our work. To that end, we need a new quality control tool. This is why I want to establish an independent Internal Oversight-service, responsible for all aspects of quality control of our work, first and foremost, evaluation and performance audit. This new service will be headed by the Internal Auditor. This is not because I am complaining about the staff and about what they are doing. This is a tool also for them in order to evaluate what they can do better because it is always an advantage to work in an organisation which is always trying to do the work better and to focus more. We need new staff measures to ensure mobility, flexibility and control of costs. I will go into more detail when we present the draft priorities for 2011 this spring. The Second Pillar is the Operational Pillar: We need a comprehensive review of the Programme of Activities including the monitoring activities, and focus on impact and added-value and not whether the activity is a so-called “core activity” or enabling factors. What counts is the impact which the activities have. We must focus our activities on areas where we have real comparative advantages – to do what others cannot do. We should move in the direction of fewer, but more effective projects and programmes. In view of financial constraints, we also need to consider more use of Partial Agreements and voluntary contributions. We also need a complete review of our field presence, in order to be as visible and effective as possible. The objective is to create a network of Council of Europe offices which should no longer be regarded as an ad hoc appendix to the organisation, but as an integral part of the Council of Europe system. This will take place in the conditions of strict budget neutrality and without any duplication or competition with other organisations which have presence in the field. The third pillar is about Structures: As I have already touched upon, the Secretariat must be structured so as to achieve the Organisation’s political objectives, facilitate transversality and co-ordination, while keeping in mind the need to be cost-efficient. This is why I, first of all, want a reshaped Political Affairs-service, with a new Policy Planning Cell and External Relations reintegrated into this Department again and leaving the current operational activities of DG-DPA elsewhere. Protocol will become an independent service under my authority. The Directorate of Strategic Planning will be dissolved and its functions will be redeployed to the Directorate General of Administration and Logistics, Internal Oversight and Political Affairs. I should like to repeat again that the nature of the reform is to reinforce the political relevance and effectiveness of the Council of Europe. All administrative changes are driven by policy objectives, not the other way around. I will return to you regarding more detailed structural measures as soon as possible. The fourth pillar of reform concerns The European Convention on Human Rights: It is clear that we must look into the functioning of the Court. I will work with the President of the Court and the Registrar to try to address all essential questions regarding the future of the Court. Protocol 14 is of course very important but not at all sufficient, additional measures have to be taken in Interlaken and the ideas that Interlaken present must be followed up. This is an ongoing process as well. And let me make it clear, we cannot continue what we have done over the last five/six years to transfer money from the Programmes of Activity Budget to the Court there will soon be no money left for programmes or activities. We must look for other solutions. What I am presenting to you today is a package which contains both the organisational and procedural aspects of the reform. I believe it is more than a presentation of “initial ideas” which you asked for when the 2010 budget was adopted in late November last year. I have tried to be as clear and complete as I can at this stage about the work which needs to be done. Time is of the essence, and I already said that our objectives cannot be accomplished by words alone. Some parts of the reform have to be implemented immediately, others will take more time. A reform is a process, not an event. But the work has to start now. But I would like to emphasise that this is a process where everybody should be included, also the staff. This Organisation is an organisation of human beings, that is our main resource therefore I will stay in close contacts also with the staff. I have already started consultations in order also to get the staff onboard on these main objectives; namely to make the Organisation more mobile, more flexible and also more cost-efficient to control expenditure in this Organisation. Europe has once again come to a crossroads, so has the Council of Europe. It is a new time. The political landscape is changing. The Lisbon Treaty has entered into force which opens up for EU accession to our Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of European Rights. The Russian Federation approved ratification of Protocol 14 which means that the Russian Federation is reconfirming the importance of Council of Europe and the Court, the importance of Europe, as well as the necessary reform process in Russia. This is a historic moment for Europe. What we can achieve is the following: All nation states and also the European Union with its heavy economic and political weight can be under the same standards, rules and laws, and the same Court. EU-countries and non-EU countries are in the same boat, for a common future. A united Europe without dividing lines. And I will make it clear: The Council of Europe must play a crucial role to achieve that goal, but we cannot do it without being able to reform and modernise our own institutions. But there are other realities changing our societies from within. One is that we are becoming multicultural. And our continent is still a continent of minorities. The important question is how we are going to live together.
Let me be clear on this: If we do not take action on these challenges, new dividing lines will appear within our societies. The Council of Europe is an all-inclusive forum where these challenges can be addressed. The reason why I responded positively to be elected as Secretary General was that you decided to start a process of reforming and revitalising the Council of Europe. Now I call on all of us to rise to this moment of opportunity to renew our vision and our Organisation. To ensure a future for new generations based on democracy, human rights and the rule of law without new dividing lines between nations and within nations.
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