At the beginning of their meeting on 14 December, the Ministers' Deputies held a minute of silence to express their sincere condolences to the families of the victims of the terrorist attacks which took place in Istanbul on 10 December and to the families of the victims of the freight train which derailed in Bulgaria on the same day. They also paid tribute to Mr Jean-Claude Frécon, former President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, who passed away at the week-end, and conveyed their deepest condolences to his family as well as to all members of the Congress.

The Deputies held an exchange of views with Mr Stavros Lambrinidis, European Union Special Representative for Human Rights, on co-operation between the Council of Europe and the European Union in the human rights field.

Finally, the Deputies adopted recommendations on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by Hungary, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

The other items examined by the Deputies appear in the Agenda and the decisions adopted are available in the meeting file.