PM Jansa Says CoE Must Tap Into Resources of Europe

Warsaw, 16 May

The Council of Europe (CoE) must tap into the rich expertise, synergies and resources of Europe in facing modern-day challenges, Prime Minister Janez Jansa said as he addressed the CoE summit in Warsaw on Monday.

According to Jansa, the Council of Europe has "wide opportunities...for joint, complementary ventures with other global, regional and national organisations to tackle the challenges of vital concern for all of us".
Jansa made his comments as part of Monday's plenary debate examining the challenges facing European society.
Protecting human rights, democracy and the rule of law are the core activities of the CoE, Jansa said. Jansa believes this makes the reform of the European Court of Human Rights a priority.
Moreover, Jansa said Slovenia supported the guidelines on relations between the CoE and the EU as an "important step towards a coherent system of protecting human rights in Europe".
Moreover, Jansa stressed that globalisation was not only about the economy, but was also an important political and cultural process.
"There is a growing consensus that globalisation must now be reshaped to reflect values broader than simply the freedom of capital," he said.
According to him, Europe has to "work especially in the domains such as cross-cultural communication or fostering respect among different races, ethnic groups, religions etc.".
"Our common responses must be fully attuned to our values in spite of or, if you wish, precisely because of such threats as terrorism, corruption, organised crime and trafficking in human beings undermine our basic values."
He also said that Europe must reach out to its neighbours on the southern and eastern shores of Mediterranean in order to root out terrorism. "Our struggle is not directed against (the) noble religion of Islam, but against perpetrators of terrorist violence," Jansa said.
The Slovenian prime minister also spoke about the importance of the fight against human trafficking, stressing that human rights must be respected in dealing with this phenomenon.
The participants of the third CoE summit in the history of the 46-member organisation are searching for a vision for the organisation following the recent changes in Europe, particularly the enlargement of the EU.

PM Jansa Says CoE Must Tap Into Resources of Europe

More articles from this issue:

Archive