Strasbourg 08.07.2004

Member countries of the Council of Europe today agreed to hold a Summit of Heads of State and Government on 16 and 17 May 2005 in Warsaw, at the invitation of the Polish government.

The Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Petersen, welcomes the decision to hold the Summit.

“Europe is changing – and the Council of Europe will have to adapt to the new circumstances. The third Summit should give guidance for the way ahead. The Council of Europe plays an important role in developing democracy, human rights and good governance for the whole of the continent. We must therefore prepare the Summit thoroughly to ensure positive results in order to strengthen this Organisation and the values and standards it represents,” he said.

The Summit will be the third to be organised by the Council of Europe. The first took place in Vienna in 1993, following the fall of communism and the development of new democracies in central and eastern Europe. The second Summit, held in Strasbourg in 1997, gave a new impetus to human rights protection, including the decision to set up a Human Rights Commissioner for Europe.

Since the first Summit in Vienna, the Council has doubled in size. It now has 45 member countries and covers a Europe of around 800 million citizens.