Reden, Interviews

Rede von Bundeskanzler Wolfgang Schüssel vor der Parlamentarischen Versammlung des Europarates

Es gilt das gesprochene Wort!

Als österreichischer Bundeskanzler freue ich mich besonders, gerade heute zu Ihnen sprechen zu können. Österreich ist am 16. April 1956 dem Europarat beigetreten. Unsere Mitgliedschaft in dieser ersten gesamteuropäischen Organisation jährt sich also in wenigen Tagen zum fünfzigsten Male.

Dieses 50-Jahr-Jubiläum ist für uns natürlich ein Anlass, Bilanz zu ziehen. Eben haben wir Jean-Claude Junckers zur weiteren Gestaltung des Verhältnisses zwischen dem Europarat und der Europäischen Union gehört. Ich bin stolz darauf, dass das österreichische Engagement im und für den Europarat nach unserem EU-Beitritt ebenso hoch geblieben ist wie in den frühen Jahren unserer Mitgliedschaft. Dieses Engagement hat dankenswerter Weise auch immer wieder die Anerkennung unserer Partner gefunden. So durften wir in diesen fünfzig Jahren mit Lujo Toncic–Sorinj, mit Franz Karasek und Walter Schwimmer drei Generalsekretäre, mit Karl Czernetz und Peter Schieder zwei Präsidenten der Parlamentarischen Versammlung sowie mit Herwig Van Staa einen Präsidenten des Kongresses der Gemeinden und Regionen stellen.

Groß ist die Zahl jener österreichischen politischen Persönlichkeiten, die im Rahmen des Europarates am europäischen Einigungsprozess mitgewirkt haben. Am Beginn stand Leopold Figl, der als österreichischer Außenminister die Beitrittsurkunde unterschrieb und betonte, dass unser Land mit dem Beitritt zum Europarat die Zugehörigkeit zur demokratischen Staatengemeinschaft hervorheben will.

Ich möchte auch Peter Schieder dafür danken, was ihm als Präsident der Parlamentarischen Versammlung gelungen ist: unter seiner Präsidentschaft wurde, trotz verschiedener Widerstände die Aufnahme Serbiens und Montenegros in den Europarat erreicht, was einen Beitrag zur Stabilität der Region bedeutete. Auch die Mitwirkung des Europarates bei der Schaffung des „Panafrikanischen Parlaments“, Vorschläge zur Verlebendigung des Parlamentarismus und die Umsetzung demokratischer Standards in den neuen Mitgliedsländern gingen auf Initiativen von Peter Schieder zurück. Dazu gehörten auch Aktionen gegen die Todesstrafe und Maßnahmen zum Schutz von Minderheiten.

Das Engagement im Europarat hatte für Österreich somit seit Beginn eine besondere Bedeutung. Für das Heimatland von Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, des Begründers der Paneuropa-Idee, war es nahe liegend, gleich nach der Unterzeichnung des österreichischen Staatsvertrages, zusammen mit anderen demokratischen Staaten, aktiv am Prozess der politischen Einigung Europas teilzunehmen.

Es war daher kein Zufall, dass der erste ER-Gipfel 1993 in Wien stattfand. Dieser Gipfel befasste sich eingehend mit dem Schutz nationaler Minderheiten; mit dem Kampf gegen Intoleranz, Rassismus und Fremdenhass und vor allem damit, wie durch den Aufbau der Demokratie Sicherheit und Frieden auf unserem Kontinent verbessert werden können. Die Tatsache, dass seither weitere Länder Mittel-Osteuropas Mitglied wurden, hat diesen Postulaten Rechnung getragen.

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But I am also here today in my capacity as President of the European Council for the first half of this year. I would like to welcome the report of Prime Minister Juncker as a very positive contribution to the discussion on the multilateral architecture of Europe. This issue is all too rarely addressed in coherent fashion – for obvious reasons: there are many vested interests, institutional inertia and political reservations to overcome. Jean-Claude Juncker’s approach of presenting his very personal views is probably the only possibility of getting such a clear and concise paper on the table, as it would never have passed a committee in this form.

The European Union, the Council of Europe and the OSCE are all vital parts of the European architecture, each with its own vocation and its own particular comparative advantage. We should not shy away from the fact that this architecture is in need of some modernisation to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The huge changes in the international environment as well as the respective internal developments simply leave no room for duplication. In order to maximise the effectiveness of our actions we must maximise cooperation and coordination between our organisations.

I hope that a clear consensus will emerge as we continue our debates based on the Juncker report. The project outlined by Jean-Claude Juncker could move us in to the right direction. By focussing the work of the Council of Europe on its work on its core strengths – democracy, human rights and the rule of law – we can take a significant step towards a stronger and more effective European architecture. The work of Prime Minister Juncker will be extremely helpful in guiding our future efforts.

The Council of Europe and the European Union already have a history of close and successful cooperation in helping countries through their transition processes. This is an area we can and should develop further.

From the EU’s perspective, the Council of Europe (CoE) is and will remain an irreplaceable partner. We rely heavily on its excellent contributions for monitoring the compliance of candidate countries with the “political” criteria for accession. The CoE’s monitoring reports, the reports of the Human Rights Commissioner and specialised organs on important issues like racism, torture and corruption, are all tremendously important resources for us. We make use of them, when preparing the democracy and political sections of our own reports and for assessing the implementation of commitments. We should probably express our gratitude more often than we do for this very valuable input and expertise of the Council of Europe.

The Memorandum of Understanding between the European Union and the Council of Europe is a decisive question for all of us. As Jean-Claude Juncker has outlined, I believe that particular focus should be put on how the European Union and its member states could make better use of available Council of Europe instruments and Institutions. We all should benefit from closer links between the Council of Europe and the European Union.

The Memorandum of Understanding should deepen and extend the co-operation and political dialogue between the two organisations, building on existing agreements of 1987 and 2001. We should build on and around, the attachment of both organisations to the same values, our common commitments to the promotion of a pluralistic democracy, respect for and protection of human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law.

The Council of Europe has a paramount and well-established role in all these fields that is and continues to be indispensable and will remain so in the future.

Let me briefly mention, in accordance with the Juncker report, some of the principles that should guide the cooperation between the Council of Europe and the European Union:

• First, strengthening of relations in the fields of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the fight against all forms of discrimination, racism and xenophobia; the promotion of pluralistic democracy and the rule of law, but also political and legal co-operation, social cohesion and intercultural dialogue.
• Second, our cooperation should include the enhanced sharing of information, reinforced dialogue on strategy and policy issues, development of common views on priority areas and the organisation of joint events and programmes.
• Third, as Jean-Claude Juncker outlined, the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe should be encouraged to meet regularly and reinforce their co-operation.
• Fourth, civil society must be involved; something in which the Council of Europe has been strong over decades.
• Fifth, we must develop an increased co-operation in the countries participating in the European Union’s Neighbourhood Policy and the Stabilisation and Association processes.
• Sixth, legal co-operation should be further developed, for example by considering on a case-by-case basis, accession by the European Union to Council of Europe conventions.

I know that there is some concern about the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency. Now, let me say this very clearly. The European Union Fundamental Rights Agency is not a danger to the Council of Europe but it is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to further increase co-operation with the Council of Europe and contribute to greater coherence and enhanced complementarity. Co-operation between the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance and the European Union’s Monitoring Centre has already been excellent. Both bodies are working closely together, have developed clear methods of co-operation and have avoided duplication and created synergies. I believe that both the Council of Europe and the European Union through its Fundamental Rights Agency will increase the opportunities for co-operation. We are certainly not aiming at any duplication, let alone at replacing any of the excellent institutions or methods of the Council of Europe.

In this sense I think it is a great coincidence that we can celebrate Austria’s 50 years in the Council of Europe at the same time as the guiding lines, elaborated by Jean-Claude Juncker for a European architecture of the future.