Senior official Ciamba attending Council of Europe Committee of Ministers meeting

Secretary of State for Bilateral and Strategic Euro-Atlantic Affairs with Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) George Ciamba is attending a meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, held in Elsinore on Thursday and Friday, under the presidency of Denmark. 

According to a MAE press statement, the meeting will also mark the transfer of the presidency of the Committee of Ministers from Denmark to Croatia (May - November 2018). 

MAE says that in the run-up to this meeting, discussions started to launch a reform process on the future of the organisation to meet the new challenges faced by the Council of Europe. 

At the same time, the main subject of the ministerial agenda will be to strengthen democratic security in Europe. 

"Discussions will focus on building trust in European democracies - responding to the challenges of racism, xenophobia, social exclusion, extremism and populism, combating terrorism - strengthening the pan-European response, protecting victims of terrorism, migration, conflicts and crises in Europe," says MAE. 

According to MAE, special attention will be paid to the constant guarantee of the effectiveness of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Council of Europe policy towards neighbouring regions and co-operation between the Council of Europe and the European Union. 

Romania was invited to join the Council of Europe (CoE) under Resolution 37/1993 of the Committee of Ministers adopted on October 4, 1993. 

The Committee of Ministers consists of one representative of each of the 47 CoE member states. The MC Presidency is held for a period of six months by each member state of the Council of Europe in alphabetical order. Since 2004, ministerial sessions take place only once a year.