A sole ambition for the European continent

"A divided Europe leads to war, oppression and hardship; a united Europe leads to peace and prosperity." Words which Europeans, through the sterling work of the European Union and its older, more inclusive but perhaps less visible partner, the Council of Europe, are doing well to heed.

We must not allow democracy to dwindle into a mere empty ritual; doing so puts it at risk. We must resist the trend of alienating politicians and state structures from the public. Democracy is a living thing; it must constantly adapt itself and be nurtured to prepare it to respond to the new political demands of our citizens.

Pan-European cooperation is a key issue. Both the CoE and the EU, using their own instruments and pursuing their own goals, have developed distinctive cooperation models.

It is unfortunate that the two organisations remain a shaky team. They have borrowed from each other but never managed to make themselves perfectly complementary. Hence the two entities commissioned a report that was drawn up by Jean Claude Juncker with the sole aim of exploring new avenues for synergistic action.

The shared aim of the two entities, that of having a Europe without dividing lines, can be emphasised by increasing the number of joint projects, particularly in the areas of youth issues, education, culture and inter cultural dialogue. The last issue is becoming increasingly important in societal debate in a radically-changing Europe. Mr Juncker makes modest proposals in this respect but it would be wrong to ignore the snowballing effects of this kind of cooperation.

The CoE has not lost its raison d'etre, nor should it be viewed as being a mere waiting room for access to the EU. Indeed, the EU builds many of its policies, especially those related to enlargement, on the foundations laid by the council.

The EU should accede to the CoE's convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Only by doing so can it ensure maximum consistency of human rights protection throughout Europe.

The CoE's monitoring machinery cannot answer every question related to human rights. Thus, this entity, together with the EU, will have to rely on the expertise of the Commissioner for Human Rights. The commissioner's terms of reference allow him to act more freely in specific cases than other supervisory bodies. The commissioner's office must be given the resources to carry out the tasks assigned to him

The European Commission has shown interest in the CoE becoming even more active in promoting democracy. Cooperation between the two in this respect could focus on constitutional problems, citizen participation in all levels of the political process, gender equality, citizenship and identity, sustainable communities, local and regional government as a place for the exercise of democracy and inter cultural dialogue. All of these are central to the council's work.

Cooperation between the EE and the European Commission for democracy through law (the Venice commission) has a long history. The commission has played a vital part in helping the countries which opted for democracy after 1989 to adopt constitutions consistent with the standards embodied in Europe's constitutional heritage. The European Commission actively participates in its sessions but cooperation should be formalised by the EU acceding to the Venice commission.

The CoE has done an immense amount of work on fundamental rights and on legal cooperation and internal matters. On the EU side, enlargement, the establishment of the Schengen area and the framing of policies in the areas of justice and internal affairs have led EU policy makers and legal experts to incorporate treaties, directives and framework decision clauses taken from 30 of the council's 200 conventions.

In the area of criminal law, the EU regards the following council conventions as vital in the fight against organised crime: the European conventions on extradition, on suppression of terrorism, mutual assistance in criminal matters, laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime, on illicit traffic by sea, on narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Its rules on transfer of prisoners are already applied in 70 countries. Similar action will shortly be taken on the problem of counterfeit medicines. On other issues, such as transfer of proceedings, execution of penalties, protection of victims, the fight against terrorism, trafficking in human beings, protection of the environment, and computer crime, the EU and the CoE have attempted to harmonise clauses in accordance with their respective areas of competence.

Family law, the fight against corruption, movement of persons, the powers of local authorities in respect of trans-frontier cooperation, and also action to curb spectator violence and misbehaviour at sports events, and doping - all these would seem to be areas where CoE and EU texts can easily be aligned more closely.

Due importance must be given to the two organisations' joint programmes in the CoE's areas of excellence: democratic institutions, human rights promotion and the independence of the judiciary.

In 2005, EU-CoE joint programmes cost a total of €47 million.

The most significant include: modernisation of the judicial system and criminal law reform in Turkey, establishment of an independent, reliable and operational judicial system in the western Balkans, and the setting up of police forces capable of combating crime in the countries of south eastern Europe.

The EU's financial contribution to these programmes exceeded 90 per cent of total cost, evidence of the confidence the EU has in the CoE's implementing potential.

The joint programmes covered, among other things: support for the construction of social sectors; media law reform and action to promote a free press; political training for leaders and rehabilitation of the architectural and archaeological heritage of the Balkans.

It follows logically from the complementary relationship between the CoE and the EU and from the increased cooperation between the two bodies necessary for the democratic security of people in our continent that a further step in the relationship should be envisaged. Once the EU has acquired legal personality there should be EU membership of the council by 2010. By then the debate on changes in the EU treaties will, hopefully, have moved ahead.

Its accession will have just one purpose: to help European organisations develop in the best interest of Europeans and so facilitate progress towards a Europe without dividing lines in which the liberties, dignity and security of its citizens are fully guaranteed.

Dr Pullicino Orlando has represented the government in the CoE's parliamentary assembly for the past eight years and has been head of the Maltese delegation for the past three years. He is an active member on various committees including those dealing with human rights, the environment, and economic affairs. He was nominated and served as the vice president of the assembly for two consecutive years.