Strasbourg, 23 January 2012 - In his State of the Council of Europe speech to the Parliamentary Assembly today, Secretary General pointed to key achievements in 2011 and challenges facing the Organisation in 2012 and beyond. He said that reforms have made the Council of Europe flexible and reactive, able to offer assistance where and when it is needed, and that its convention based and non-politicised approach is the only way to help member states move forward.

Speaking about Hungary, Jagland said that he had received a positive reply from Foreign Minister Martonyi to his offer of dialogue with the Council of Europe, and he pointed to the close partnership that has been built with the EU.  With bilateral co-operation priorities in place with Morocco and Tunisia, consultations have begun with Jordan, and Jagland said he saw potential to use Council of Europe instruments to build confidence between Israel and Palestine.

The Secretary General said that member states are convinced that the Council of Europe is providing value for money. Their growing trust in the Organisation’s capacity to deliver had allowed it to maintain a zero-real growth budget despite budgetary constraints and severe cuts in public spending in member states. Indeed, voluntary contributions from member states in 2011, and total receipts from the EU had increased significantly. (more...)

Speech

Video of the speech

More information on voluntary contributions