Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland and the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, met today in Brussels with EU Vice-President and High Representative Catherine Ashton.

The meeting focused on recent developments in the Southern Mediterranean, including Tunisia and Morocco. Minister Davutoğlu and the Secretary General, who recently  conducted a joint visit to Tunisia, underlined the need for increased coordination of the efforts made by the international community. “I very much welcome the new initiative taken by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, to take the lead in ensuring effective coordination of the international community’s response to recent developments in the Southern Mediterranean,” said Secretary General Jagland.

Ashton, Davutoğlu and Jagland also exchanged views on the current situation in Moldova, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo[1].

They underlined that the persistence of political and institutional instability and ethnic tensions in the Western Balkans clearly calls  for continuous and long term cooperation between the EU and CoE , in order to assist countries in the region to consolidate their democratic institutions and find solutions to all outstanding questions in line with European values and standards.

There was a general appreciation of the very positive developments in the contacts and co-operation between the Council of Europe and the European Union.

“We hope to continue the dialogue with High Representative Ashton at the CoE Ministerial in Istanbul on May 11,” concluded Foreign Minister Davutoğlu.

[1] All reference to Kosovo, whether the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.