Tal Riksdagen 30 maj 2008
Cecilia Malmström, EU-minister

Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly, Council of Europe

Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour for me to address you and I take this occasion to welcome you to Stockholm, on behalf of the Swedish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. I regret very much that Foreign Minister Bildt is unable to be with you today because of the International Conference on Iraq. In his absence, I appreciate very much this opportunity to meet the Parliamentary assembly myself. I feel somehow very close to you, having spent several years as your "neighbour" in Strasbourg, as a Member of the European Parliament.
Like you, the work on human rights has been one of my very top priorities as an MEP and I was for seven years a member of the committee on human rights. I have always been of the conviction that those of us who are fortunate to live in democracies have an obligation to stand up for those who are less fortunate. I have several friends who know more than well what it means to live in a regime where you can not speak or think freely, where you have to live under constant fear and where your human dignity is constantly being stepped upon. Violation of human rights can never be accepted, wherever they occur.

At the 118th Ministerial Session held in Strasbourg on the 7th of May, Sweden took over the chairmanship. We will work these six months in close co-operation with the outgoing and incoming chairmanships of Slovakia and Spain. And we will strive to build upon the very open, fruitful and frank dialogue held with you, the members of the Parliamentary Assembly.

Sweden has four main objective for the coming six months. The first three objectives are to promote the realisation of the Council of Europe's core objectives human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

A fourth priority is to improve the cooperation with the European Union. As minister for EU Affairs I especially look forward to this. The Union has a lot to learn from the Council of Europe's extensive experience of protecting fundamental rights.

One of the greatest challenges that we face is the efficiency of the Convention system and reforms of the European Court.
Sweden will organise a colloquium on the 9th and 10th of June here in Stockholm on the theme "Towards stronger implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights at national level". It will focus both on improving domestic remedies, amplifying the effects of the Court's case-law as well as assisting Member States in implementing the Convention. The conclusions of the colloquy will be taken into account in the further reform work and in the follow-up to the report of the Group of Wise persons.

In this context, I must stress that the ratification of Protocol No. 14 by all member states, as soon as possible, is absolutely indispensable for the reform work. This would result in a considerable increase in efficiency and cost savings for the Court. When meeting in Strasbourg on 7 May, the Ministers reiterated the need for solidarity between all member states and their obligations as collective guarantors of the Convention. They also expressed their strongest hope that all those in a position to contribute to this goal would seize any opportunity to do so in earnest.

Further human rights work will focus on developing methods for more effective implementation of human rights standards. Through the promotion of tools such as national action plans, the Chairmanship will encourage the systematic work for implementation of human rights. A conference prepared in close co-operation with the Commissioner for Human Rights on this subject will be held in Stockholm on 6-7 November.

What Sweden concretely wants to do is to facilitate further progress by focusing on implementation of standards, rather than new ones. Within human rights we will give priority to a new strategy for the rights of the child. You do not need to be a parent to realise how important the respect of the rights of our children is. If we do not give our children a good start our societies will suffer for decades.

We will arrange a high-level conference about the rights of the child here in Stockholm. The conference will take stock of the progress achieved through the Programme "Building a Europe for and with Children", with a view to a continuation of the programme, in time for the handover of the Chairmanship from Sweden to Spain by mid-November. I know that this is a field in which the Assembly has taken a keen interest in the past.

Sweden now has 30 years experience of a law against corporal punishment of children. And the experience is very positive. Children who have been beaten are more likely to become violent themselves. And the opposite is also true, evidently. We would like, fully in line with the Assembly's call, to make Europe a zone free from corporal punishment.

Sweden will also hold a conference in the human rights field to strengthen the realisation of the rights of persons with disabilities. The Council of Europe and the Nordic Council of Ministers will arrange this conference jointly.

Human rights and democracy are clearly interrelated. One cannot exist without the other. We have one example very close to us in Belarus. That country is still far from meeting established European standards concerning democracy and human rights. Hopefully this last dictatorship of Europe will one day be able to become a member of both the Council of Europe and the European Union.

Last year we had a Forum for the Future of Democracy in Sweden. The interdependence of democracy and human rights was its theme. I would like to thank this Assembly for its excellent contribution on that occasion.

At their latest Session, the Ministers emphasised the importance of free and fair elections. They highlighted the valuable pre-electoral assistance provided by the Council of Europe to interested countries and called for increased attention to this area of co-operation with member states and with other organisations. During its mandate, the Swedish Chairmanship will closely follow the elections to be held in several member states, where respect for established European standards will be put to the test.

In this context, I would like to refer to the statement that the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, Minister Carl Bildt, made last week after the Parliamentary elections in Georgia. It is reassuring to note that the election environment has generally improved since the presidential elections. At the same time, however, the continued efforts should be made by the Georgian authorities to address properly the shortcomings that were identified and to ensure an accurate and transparent process for complaints and appeals. The Council of Europe stands fully prepared to provide further assistance in this work and called on all political forces in Georgia to enter into a constructive dialogue in order to further the course of democratic reforms in the country.

Another important area for us is the rule of law. Very important work is being done in this field. However, it should be possible to co-ordinate the activities better, and increase the focus on priority issues. The Swedish Chairmanship intends to start work on a strategy with this aim. In this way we could ensure that full use is made of the Council of Europe's potential, through its variety of tools for co-operation, standard-setting, monitoring, awareness-raising and assistance to member states.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Before concluding, I would like to come back to the important issue of strengthening relations with the European Union and other international organisations, in particular the United Nations and the OSCE.

At the Ministerial Session, the Ministers made a first evaluation of the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Europe and the European Union. They asked their Deputies to prepare an overall assessment of the relations between the organisations, including action taken on the Juncker Report, in time for the 119th Ministerial Session in May 2009. In order to steer this work, they asked their Deputies to identify the main priorities for future action by November 2008. The Swedish Chairmanship will follow this work closely.

We will also strive to further improve relations with the OSCE and our ambition is to organise high level meetings both with the European Union and the OSCE during our mandate.

Finally, with respect to the relations with the United Nations, the Swedish Chairmanship will facilitate the adoption of a resolution on the co-operation between the Council of Europe and the United Nations, by the UN General Assembly in the autumn. I know that your Assembly also attaches particular importance to this matter. We would welcome any support to our efforts.

These are, Ladies and Gentlemen, our main priorities for the coming months. They are ambitious but we believe that, with the help of all member states and the active contribution of all Council of Europe institutions, including your Assembly, we will be able to move a good step forward - making rights real. Sweden will certainly invest all its energy in this endeavour.

Dear friends, I hope you have fruitful discussions this afternoon. This evening you will enjoy the beautiful weather as you are going on a boat trip and will have dinner at Waxholm. There is an old legend that the Prussian field-marshal von Moltke laughed twice in his life-time. Once when he saw the fortress at Waxholm. The other time was when his mother in law died...

Being from the West Coast of Sweden myself, I have to admit that the Stockholm archipelago also has a certain charm. I hope that you will enjoy it. So let me conclude by wishing you a pleasant stay in Stockholm and a very nice evening. We are from the Swedish side looking very much forward to work with you the coming months. Thank you for your kind attention.