Ministers' Deputies
Notes on the Agenda



686 Meeting, 27 October 1999
1 General Questions

1.5 Committee of Ministers - Preparation of the 105^th Session (Strasbourg, 3-4 November 1999)

Notes(99)826 21 October 1999

Reference documents
CM/Del/Dec(99)682/1.5

CM/Del/Dec(99)684/1.5

CM(99)148 rev. 2
CM(99)OJ2 prov.

Action

In the light of their previous discussions on the subject, the Deputies are invited to resume consideration of the preparation of the 105^th Session of the Committee of Ministers.

1. At its meeting on 9 July 1999 the GT-SAGES pursued its discussion of Main Recommendation No.7 of the Committee of Wise Persons' final report, concerning meetings of the Committee of Ministers, in the light of the guidelines on this subject set out in the report prepared by the Deputies for the 104^th Session of the Committee of Ministers (CM(99)64) and of two documents, the first presented by the Chair of the GT-SAGES (GT-SAGES(99)23) and the second presented jointly by the Chair of the Deputies and the Chair of the GT-SAGES (GT-SAGES(99)23 Addendum).

2. The discussion on the subject firstly reflected the need to pursue the Deputies' consideration of the Committee of Wise Persons' recommendation that they review the frequency of the Committee of Ministers' meetings, the organisation of proceedings and the choice of themes on the agenda, and secondly responded to the invitation extended by the Chair of the Committee of Ministers, when the Icelandic Chair's priorities were presented by the Deputies, to "endeavour to find a new operational model in time for the meeting that Iceland would chair next November".

3. The content of the discussions held by the GT-SAGES, as regards both the reorganisation of ministerial sessions in general and the preparation of the 105^th Session in particular, is summarised in the synopsis of the meeting of 9 July 1999 (see GT-SAGES(99)CB11). The Deputies took note of it at their 677^th bis meeting (27-28 July 1999, A level, item 1.5) and called for appropriate follow-up.

4. The new lines of approach that it was thus agreed to adopt for the 105^th Session of the Committee of Ministers (subject to the room for manoeuvre that must be left to the Chair in the matter) include:

- establishing a link between the informal session held at the traditional dinner hosted by the Secretary General on the previous day and the formal session the next day: the link is given practical form by the choice of the same main theme for both sessions with a view to adopting a public statement by the Committee of Ministers;

- broadening the scope of the Committee of Ministers' discussions on the theme selected by inviting the President of the Parliamentary Assembly to take part in the informal session on the previous day and proposing that the Assembly devote a substantial part of the enlarged joint committee meeting to the same theme, which is chosen according to the political issues currently addressed by the Council of Europe ^{footnote 1}. This is in addition to the fact that the President of the Parliamentary Assembly has already been granted the possibility of submitting written contributions to all ministerial sessions;

- limiting the length of the formal session of the Committee of Ministers so as to leave the delegations an interval for bilateral meetings and/or the signing or ratification of conventions;

- giving a more political slant to the main message put across to the media and the public, drawing attention to the Committee of Ministers' statement on the chosen theme, which will be the subject of the session's press release. One of the traditional functions of ministerial session press releases is to summarise the Council of Europe's main achievements over the previous six months: this function will be assigned to the Chair, who will produce a summary along the lines of the "Conclusions from the Chair" issued in Budapest.

5. The press and the public will therefore be informed about the session in two ways:

- through the official Session press release, which will concern solely the main selected theme with an eye-catching heading such as "The Council of Europe rallies in support of Kosovo and South-eastern Europe"; ^{footnote 2}

- through a second, more general, text, which will be published under the responsibility of the Chair. ^{footnote 3}

6. During the discussions held at their 681^st (29-30 September 1999), 682^nd (6 October 1999), 684^th (13 October 1999) and 685^th (20 October 1999) meetings, the Deputies took a series of decisions (including the approval of the draft provisional annotated agenda which appears in document CM(99)OJ2 prov.) concerning the preparation of the 105^th Session. They agreed to continue its examination at their present meeting, which is the last before the Session.

7. A final "tour de table" will be organised concerning ministerial participation to the various events organised in the framework of the Session, as well as the intentions of member States on the opening for signature of the Civil Law Convention on Corruption. In the light of the results of this "tour de table", interested delegations will be able, if they so wish, to contact the Secretariat for the organisation of bilateral meeting between the Ministers.

7pm: Informal meeting, followed by the traditional dinner hosted by the Secretary General for the Ministers, in the presence of Mr Bodo HOMBACH, Special Co-ordinator for the Stability Pact for South-eastern Europe, and Mr Bernard KOUCHNER, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General in Kosovo .^{footnote 4}

Theme: "Implementation of the Kosovo settlement and the Stability Pact for South-eastern Europe".

1. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly has proposed, as a theme for the enlarged joint committee on 4 November, "The Council of Europe's contribution to the implementation of the Kosovo settlement and the Stability Pact for South-eastern Europe".

2. A draft press release will be prepared under the responsibility of a drafting group of the Ministers’ Deputies, whose first meeting is scheduled on 22 October; the successive preliminary drafts will be distributed to delegations following each meeting of the drafting group.

3. Draft "Conclusions by the Chair" appears in document CM(99)148 rev. 2.

4. The President of the Parliamentary Assembly, Lord Russell-Johnston, will also be invited to the dinner.

5. It is foreseen that the discussion between the Ministers and the Secretary General will last until 12.30.