Information Documents SG/Com(2019)1363 11 December 20191

———————————————— Dialogue with the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General at the 1363rd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (11 December 2019) ————————————————

DIALOGUE WITH THE SECRETARY GENERAL

1. Meetings in Strasbourg

Heads of the Council of Europe Offices, 19 November

Ms Sophie Cluzel, Minister of State for Disabled People, attached to the Prime Minister's office, France, 21 November

Representatives from the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), 21 November

Ms Gunn Marit Helgesen, President of the Chamber of Regions of the Congress, 27 November

Mr David Zalkaliani, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia, 27 November

Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly, 28 November

Ms Renata Deskoska, Minister for Justice of North Macedonia, 5 December

Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) Governing Board meeting, 6 December

Mr Boris Titov, Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs' Rights of the Russian Federation, 10 December

1 This document has been classified restricted at the date of issue; it will be declassified in accordance with Resolution Res(2001)6 on access to Council of Europe documents.

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2. Events in Strasbourg

Reception on the occasion of the First Meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAHAI), 19 November

Opening of the Octopus Conference on co-operation against Cybercrime, 20 November

Informal meeting between Permanent Representatives and Heads of Field Offices of the Council of Europe, 20 November

Reception given by Ambassador Albana Dautllari, Permanent Representative of Albania, on the occasion of the 107th Anniversary of the Independence Day and the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation Day of Albania, 21 November

In the framework of the transfer of the Committee of Ministers' Presidency, 27 November

- Inauguration of a Tram in the colours of the Georgian Presidency - Flag-raising ceremony

Illumination of the Palais de l’Europe in orange, to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 28 November

Ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the North-South Centre "The North-South Centre: A Council of Europe window to the world", 10 December

3. Events outside Strasbourg

25th Forum 2019, Lisbon (), 25 November

- Opening of the 25th Lisbon Forum - Mr Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of Portugal - Ms Ana Paula Zacarias, Secretary of State for European Affairs of Portugal - Mr Miguel Ángel Moratinos, High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC)

Meeting of the Ministers of Education of the States Parties to the European Cultural Convention, 'Citizenship education in the digital era', (France), 26 November

- Mr Jean-Michel Blanquer, Minister of National Education and Youth of France

Visit to Paris (France), 2 December

- Exchange of views with partners of the Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists in the margins of their meeting - Meeting with Mr Christophe Deloire, Secretary General of Reporters without Borders 3 SG/Com(2019)1363

Working visit to Istanbul (Turkey), 9 December

- H.E. Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Turkey - Mr Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister for Foreign Affairs - Mr Abdulhamit Gül, Minister of Justice - Launching Conference of the project “Supporting the Implementation and Reporting on the Action Plan on Human Rights”

DIALOGUE WITH THE DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL

1. Meetings in Strasbourg

Meeting with Mr Chitaru Shimizu, Director of International Safety and Security Co-operation Division, Foreign Policy Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 20 November

On 20 November, I met Mr Chitaru Shimizu, Director of the International Safety and Security Co-operation Division, Foreign Policy Bureau, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Japan, who was in Strasbourg for the Octopus Conference. It was a very interesting meeting as it allowed the receipt of detailed feedback from a State Party to the Convention and non-member state of the Council of Europe on how our Organisation’s normative work operates and is perceived in other continents.

Japan is a very active player in promoting the Budapest Convention, holding constant dialogue with its Asian neighbours, and for instance sharing with them, together with Sri Lanka and the Philippines, the experiences, benefits but also difficulties of being party to the Convention. In this context, Mr Shimizu stressed that, for many countries in Asia, joining the Budapest Convention would mean bringing changes to their criminal codes, which was a very unpopular measure and sometimes posed political problems. As an example, he mentioned that Indonesia had already been trying to change its criminal law for the last 50 years.

As Japan also actively promotes the Convention on Cybercrime in the Asian region, I appreciated the active role Japan is playing as an Observer, precisely in the field of the fight against cybercrime. I encouraged the country to be even more active by joining other conventions and participating in the relevant steering committees.

I also drew the attention of Mr Shimizu to our work in the field of artificial intelligence and the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAHAI) held on 18-20 November.

I thanked Japan for the voluntary contributions to our work in the field of cybercrime and intercultural cities, and informed Mr Shimizu that we will soon revert to four-year plans as it was important to plan our activities in advance.

Mr Shimizu recalled that on 20-27 April 2020 in Kyoto, Japan will host the 14th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (UN Crime Congress), SG/Com(2019)1363 4 focusing on the fight against crime, cybercrime and terrorism prevention. The Council of Europe has been invited to participate in this event.

Rencontre avec M. Fadei Nagacevschi, Ministre de la Justice de la République de Moldova, 25 novembre

J’ai rencontré le Ministre de la Justice, M. Nagacevschi, en ouverture d’une journée complète de réunions qu’il a eues au Conseil de l’Europe au sujet de la réforme de la justice en Moldova. J’ai salué cette démarche et le signal ainsi envoyé, quelques jours après sa prise de fonctions. Le Ministre pilotera personnellement la réforme et a fait part très clairement de sa volonté de coopérer étroitement avec le Conseil de l’Europe dans cette entreprise. Après notre entretien, il a rencontré le Président de la Commission de Venice et des représentants de la Direction des droits de l’homme, y inclus les services de la Justice et de l’exécution des arrêts, du CPT, du GRECO et de l’ODGP.

Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly, 28 November

Standing Committee meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly, 29 November

2. Events in Strasbourg

Closing of the Heads of Office meeting, 21 November

Ouverture des Journées nationales sur la mise en œuvre de la Convention européenne sur le paysage en France, 26 novembre

Le 26 novembre, j’ai ouvert les travaux sur la mise en œuvre de la Convention européenne du paysage en France : « Paysages d’ici et d’ailleurs : regards croisés sur quelques démarches paysagères à différentes échelles, de part et d’autre de frontière », organisées par le Conseil de l’Europe et le Ministère de la transition écologique et solidaire de la France, que je remercie de son grand intérêt pour les travaux menés en faveur de la mise en œuvre de ladite convention, à présent ratifiée par 39 Etats membres du Conseil de l’Europe. Cette rencontre a permis de connaître les politiques et les pratiques développées dans d’autres Etats, et de promouvoir la coopération internationale afin de favoriser des politiques publiques susceptibles de répondre aux aspirations et demandes des populations quant à des paysages de qualité.

10th Plenary meeting of the European Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG), 10 December

Yesterday, I opened the second day of the 10th plenary session of our intergovernmental committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG) together with Mr Michal Bagačka, State Secretary responsible for Public Administration of the Slovak Republic. I took this opportunity to congratulate the committee for its work and to note that over the past few years, the findings of many Council of Europe monitoring bodies have highlighted growing concerns as regards the good functioning of European democracies and citizens’ decreasing levels of trust in public institutions. The CDDG addresses these issues and tries to provide solutions by acting as a forum 5 SG/Com(2019)1363 for discussion where member states share their experience of ongoing reforms or by developing legal standards and soft law instruments such as the important topic of public ethics and e-democracy. I encouraged the CDDG to be ambitious in its work during the next biennium in light of the terms of reference decided by the Committee of Ministers. This work covers important emerging challenges, such as digital transformation and the impact of technology, including artificial intelligence and the work carried out by the Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAHAI), electoral processes, governance and democratic institutions.

30th Anniversary of the North-South Centre : “The North-South Centre: A Council of Europe window to the world” and Roundtable, 10 December

On 10 December, I participated in the Roundtable “A long path to solidarity in an interdependent globalised world. How far have we gone? Where are we heading to?” held on the occasion of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of our Centre. It was an excellent initiative of Ambassador Montobbio, in his capacity as Chair of the Executive Committee of the North-South Centre, to organise this event which provided an interesting reflection on the global challenges Europe was facing in 1989 when the North-South Centre was established. The “Vision Paper” on the origins of the Centre and its strategic future orientation drawn by Ambassador Montobbio provided a valuable background for this debate. I thank Ambassador Montobbio for his relentless efforts to put the North-South Centre, and its values and actions on our agenda, at a time when new divisions and threats appear in our societies such as extremism, radicalism, racism and xenophobia. Besides the testimony of Jos Lemmers, the first Executive Director of the Centre, on the reasons why 30 years ago the Council of Europe engaged in an assertive North-South dialogue, it was very rewarding to hear the statements of two laureates of the North-South Prize, the first one, in 1995, Ms Vera Duarte, a Chief Judge of Cape Verde, and Ms Lora Pappa, founder of METAdrasi, in 2015, on how the Prize influenced their engagement in the fight for human rights in their specific environment. By asking the question “But how effective were all these years of work? How far did we go in the path a global citizenship and solidarity?” the Roundtable further focused on the added value and main specificities of the Centre within the Council of Europe and its perspectives on its future - how can it better contribute to a vocation for solidarity, dialogue and partnership beyond Europe, positively contributing to the external dimension of our Organisation and action in the framework of the Neighbourhood Policy and beyond.

3. Events outside Strasbourg

Extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Lausanne (Switzerland), Monday 9 December

On 9 December, I participated in the extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that was held in Lausanne, Switzerland, to examine the recommendations made by its independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC) to declare the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) non- compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code for a period of four years. On this occasion, I presented the decisions of our Ad hoc European Committee for the World Anti- SG/Com(2019)1363 6

Doping Agency (CAHAMA) taken at its 49th extraordinary meeting held in Paris on 27 November.

The WADA Executive Committee unanimously endorsed the CRC proposals. The decisions taken in Lausanne are therefore in line with the position adopted by CAHAMA. The WADA Executive Committee decision will be final unless it is appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

From a Council of Europe perspective and as requested by CAHAMA, it is now important to ensure that harmonised standards and principles be applied by all sport federations in the process of granting the neutral status to the clean athletes to participate in competitions.

4. Voluntary Contributions

I would like to thank our donors for their support to our work and mention the recent voluntary contributions which I have had the pleasure to sign2.

France La France (Région Grand Est) a versé une contribution volontaire de 120 000 € pour soutenir le Forum mondial pour la démocratie 2019.

Georgia Georgia had made a voluntary contribution of €500,000 towards Council of Europe projects which support the priorities of the Georgian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers: human rights and environmental protection; citizen participation in decision-making; child-friendly justice - converging experience on restorative justice in Europe; and strengthening democracy through education, culture and youth engagement.

Germany The Government of Germany has made a voluntary contribution of €1,000,000 to support the implementation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2021.

Luxembourg Le Grand-Duché de Luxembourg a versé une contribution volontaire de 5 200 € pour soutenir l'Accord Partiel élargi sur les itinéraires culturels du Conseil de l'Europe.

Norway The Government of Norway has made a voluntary contribution of NOK 10,000,000 (approximately €990,000) to support the Council of Europe Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova 2017-2020, NOK 5,000,000 (approximately €491,915) to support the Council of Europe Action Plans for Georgia 2016-2019 and 2020-2023, NOK 5,000,000 (approximately €491,915) to support the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2021 and NOK 1,000,000 (approximately €98,266) to support the Priorities for co-operation between the Council of Europe and the Russian Federation.

2 Agreements signed from 13 November – 6 December 2019. Subsequent signatures will be communicated in the next monthly update. 7 SG/Com(2019)1363

Sweden The Government of Sweden has made a voluntary contribution of SEK 14,867,500 (approximately €1,385,600) to strengthen democratic citizenship education in Albania.

European Union The has made a voluntary contribution of €8,000,000 to the Joint Programme “Central Asia Rule of Law Programme”.

Comité national olympique et sportif français Le Comité national olympique et sportif français (CNOSF) a versé une contribution volontaire de 30 000 € pour soutenir le projet « Carton Rouge pour la Criminalité dans le sport - contre la manipulation de compétitions sportives 2018-2020 (KCOOS+) ».

Française des jeux La Française des jeux a versé une contribution volontaire de 30 000 € pour soutenir le projet « Carton Rouge pour la Criminalité dans le sport - contre la manipulation de compétitions sportives 2018-2020 (KCOOS+) ».

5. Signatures and Ratifications

Liechtenstein signed the Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions (CETS No. 215), 21 November

Switzerland ratified the Council of Europe Convention on an Integrated Safety, Security and Service Approach at Football Matches and Other Sports Events (CETS No. 218), ratified the Protocol amending the Additional Protocol to the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons (CETS No. 222) and signed the Protocol amending the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (CETS No. 223), 21 November

Serbia signed the Protocol amending the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (CETS No. 223), 22 November

Slovenia ratified the Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (CETS No. 217), 25 November

France signed the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs (CETS No. 216), 25 November

Bosnia and Herzegovina signed the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters as amended by the 2010 Protocol (ETS No. 127), 26 November

Cabo Verde signed the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters as amended by the 2010 Protocol (ETS No. 127), 26 November

Mongolia signed the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters as amended by the 2010 Protocol (ETS No. 127), 26 November Oman signed the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters as amended by the 2010 Protocol (ETS No. 127), 26 November SG/Com(2019)1363 8

Georgia signed and ratified the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority (CETS No. 207), 27 November

Benin signed the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters as amended by the 2010 Protocol (ETS No. 127), 27 November

North Macedonia signed the Protocol amending the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (CETS No. 223), 5 December