Due to the evolving situation of the Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak in the Council of Europe’s host country France, in neighbouring and many other countries, the Secretary General has taken the decision to cancel or postpone - until further notice - all meetings or events in France which foresee external participants, as well as all events outside of France which involve international participants and Council of Europe staff from France.

As a consequence, as far as the EPAS programme of activities is concerned, the Executive Secretary has taken steps to cancel or postpone activities that were planned in March, April and May. Activities planned for June and beyond remain in our calendar, but may be cancelled or postponed in line with the changing circumstances. For the moment, the joint meeting of the Governing Board and the Consultative Committee due to take place on 9 and 10 June remains on course.

Likewise, all Sports Conventions activities planned for March, April and May are postponed or cancelled until further notice.

This decision is aimed at protecting the health and safety of the experts from member states, invited personalities, other participants and the secretariat, as well as preventing further propagation of the virus as recommended by the health authorities of the member states and the World Health Organization.

These exceptional circumstances will of course impact the running of our activities. We are working on an updated plan for those projects already underway, and we are looking at alternative working methods in order to keep in contact with our experts, without meetings or travelling. We would like to thank you in advance for your understanding and flexibility. We shall keep you posted with an update to the situation between now and 30 April.