Luxembourg's Prime Minister Juncker presents his report to the Council of Europe. Photo: Council of Europe
With a view to initiating political debate on how the Council of Europe and the European Union could better work together to build a democratic and secure Europe, the Council of Europe Summit in 2005 requested Luxembourg’s Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, to prepare – in a personal capacity – a report on the relationship between the two organisations. Juncker presented his report, A sole ambition for the European continent, in April 2006.
He writes that he “would like to see cooperation between the Council and the Union become more intense, indeed intimate. The Council and the Union are both necessary, different and unique bodies.”
Mr Juncker has taken a pragmatic approach, and has come up with 15 concrete recommendations for improved cooperation. One of the recommendations was that the Council of Europe changes its practise for appointing Secretaries General. “The Council of Europe should move, in electing its Secretaries General, towards choosing leading political figures, whose past work for democratic security has already given them a high and positive profile among their peers and the people of Europe. Ideally, and following the EU’s example, it should envisage electing someone who has already served as a head of state or government”, Juncker states.
The report was well received both by the Committee of Ministers and by the Parliamentary Assembly. The first step in following up Mr Juncker’s recommendations was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on increased cooperation between the European Union and the Council of Europe. In May 2007, the Committee of Ministers also changed the criteria for appointing Secretaries General, stating that it agrees “concerning the procedure for election of the Secretary General, that it will henceforth present to the Parliamentary Assembly candidates who enjoy a high level of recognition, are well-known among their peers and the people of Europe, and have previously served as Heads of State or Government, or held senior ministerial office or similar status relevant to the post, and asks the governments of member states to present candidates who match this profile.”
The reasoning is that many of the qualities required by Secretaries General are much the same as those required of Presidents of the European Commission or heads of state or government, and that such a candidate would “make it easier to move ahead more rapidly on the pan-European issues for which the Council is responsible.”
One year later in May 2008, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs recalled in their 118th session their commitment to present candidates to the post of Secretary General who match the profile described by Mr Juncker.
The next Secretary General, to be elected in June this year, will be the first to be elected according to these new criteria.