All clear for democracy monitor

By Martin Banks

Date: 12/05/05

A NEW watchdog body to monitor standards of democracy throughout Europe is expected to be set up at a Council of Europe summit next week.

The Council says that such a body would enable it to "keep an eye on the health of European democracy" among its 46 member states.

The proposal will be put to the Council's two-day summit at Warsaw Royal Castle on 16-17 May.

Briton Terry Davis, the Council's secretary-general, explained: "The idea would be to give each country key guidelines to refer and conform to, in such things as freedom of the media, the organisation of free elections, political pluralism and equal opportunities.

"Regular assessments would be made to identify any shortcomings and gauge the progress achieved."

He said the primary aim of such a body would be to ensure that standards of democracy were being applied at local and national level in all of its member states, which include 21 from Central and Eastern Europe.

"There remains much work to be done across Europe to consolidate democracy and I hope that we will be able to give more resources in the future to democracy.

"There is a need for more democracy in Europe and there is a wish by European citizens to have more and better democracy," said Davis.

"This applies throughout Europe and not just in one region or another."

A Council of Europe spokesman said the institution did not currently carry out any "structured" monitoring of democratic standards among its own members.

"There are monitoring mechanisms for human rights and the rule of law but there is no machinery for keeping an eye on the health of European democracy. This proposed new watchdog would be bringing something new to what we already do.

"Of course, our 46 members have different ideas of what democracy means. But it is important that all countries comply with certain standards of democracy."

The summit is only the third ever staged by the Council - the oldest of the post-war European political organisations - and the first to bring together all the countries of Europe (with the exception of Belarus).

Davis, a former UK Labour member of parliament, said he hoped the event, attended by heads of state and government, would also help "clarify" the Council's relationship with other European bodies.

"The purpose of the summit is to set priorities for the Council of Europe and reinforce its position. But people will not back the idea of European identity while there is still some confusion and duplication of activities with other organisations."

The EU has decided to bolster its own efforts in the field of democracy and human rights with the creation of a Human Rights Agency, to be developed from the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia in Vienna.

Davis said: "The Council's specific role, which distinguishes it from other organisations and which needs to be re-stated next week, is to defend fundamental values. Even today, it remains one of the most important co-operation organisations for the countries which are not yet members of the EU, some of which are not likely to become so in the near future."

Another summit priority, says Davis, is to help raise public awareness of the Council, which is often confused with the Brussels-based Council of Ministers.

He added that he would also be asking the Council to be more active on a number of issues "such as tackling racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia, and putting more resources into the prevention of torture".

"I also hope that we will be able to develop our work in culture. We should be enjoying the cultural diversity of Europe and there is nowhere better than the Council to do that."

Other matters on the summit agenda include trafficking in human beings, terrorism, money laundering and organised crime.

The Council of Europe

• Established in 1949, following the 1948 Congress of Europe, it is an intergovernmental consultative body;
• The Council makes recommendations and forms opinions but does not have any legislative power. Consensus decisions of its committee of ministers can lead to conventions to which states subscribe;
• The European Convention on Human Rights (1950) was a creation of the Council of Europe and in turn created the European Court of Human Rights;
• Other notable conventions include the cultural convention (1954), the Berne convention (1979) on rare and endangered plants and animals, and the convention on data protection (1981);
• Now has a membership of 46 countries extending from Portugal to Russia and from Iceland to Turkey.

Preview of the two-day summit of the Council of Europe at Warsaw Royal Castle on 16-17 May 2005. The Summit, being only the third ever of this kind and the first to bring together all the countries of Europe (with the exception of Belarus), was expected to decide on the setting up of a new watchdog body to monitor standards of democracy throughout Europe. The general aim of the summit was to set priorities for the Council of Europe and reinforce its position. Other items on the agenda included trafficking in human beings, terrorism, money laundering and organised crime.

Council of Europe: Warsaw Summit http://www.coe.int/t/dcr/summit/default_EN.asp

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