Information Documents

SG/Inf(2019)14 10 May 20191

———————————————— Speaking Notes of the Secretary General to the 1346th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (10 May 2019) ______

Item 1.3 Working visit to Paris, 6 May 13th Edition of the Carlos V European Prize Award Ceremony, Yuste (Spain), 9 May

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 CoE documents.

SG/Inf(2019)14 2

Working visit to Paris, 6 May

On Monday of this week, I travelled to Paris to be informed about the agenda of the incoming French Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, which will start on 17 May.

I had an excellent meeting with President Emmanuel Macron, alongside Ms Amélie de Montchalin, Minister for European Affairs.

We of course discussed the current challenges facing Europe and our Organisation. The key priorities of the French Chairmanship are:

- Preserving and consolidating the European system of human rights protection; - Promoting equality and living together with a special emphasis on the fight against violence against women; - And meeting the new challenges facing our continent.

I was very glad to see once again the strong interest and involvement of President Macron in the Council of Europe. We had a joint press appearance which was widely reported.

I would like to thank Ambassador Jean-Baptiste Mattéi for the excellent organisation of my visit.

13th Edition of the Carlos V European Prize Award Ceremony, Yuste (Spain), 9 May

Yesterday, on Europe Day, during a ceremony presided over by His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain at the Royal Monastery of Yuste, I accepted, on behalf of the Council of Europe, the Carlos V European Award for our Cultural Routes Programme.

Since 1995, this award has been given by the European and Ibero-American Academy of the Yuste Foundation to some of the great contemporary Europeans who contributed to the promotion of our common heritage, identity and integration. Among them, Mikhail Gorbachev, Simone Veil, and Spain’s Marcelino Oreja Aguirre, former Secretary General of the Council of Europe, who was present at the ceremony.

For the first time, this award has been given to an institution, in recognition of the work undertaken by our Programme which was launched with the Declaration of Santiago de Compostela in 1987.

The establishment of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe in 2010, of which Spain was a founding member, helped towards further strengthening our Programme’s impact.

The success of this project stems from the inherent demand from Europeans for a greater understanding of our common identity. As of today, there are a total of 38 certified Routes, crossing more than 50 countries in Europe and beyond.

I also had the occasion to meet Foreign Minister Josep Borrell Fontelles. We had an exchange on the state of preparations for the Helsinki Ministerial.

I would like to thank Ambassador Manuel Montobbio for the excellent organisation of my visit. * * * * Finally, after having heard that there will be a statement by the EU on the local elections in Turkey, I would like to refer to my communications on that subject.