Plenary Conference 2005 of International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) of the Council of Europe
The new Rules of Order for the Plenary conference, for the Liaison Committee
and the Thematic Groupings that became indispensable due to the participatory
status within the Council of Europe acquired in the last year, was the
focus of the Plenary Conference of International NGOs within the Council
of Europe.
Various comments, in particular those submitted by the European Confederation
of Police (EUROCOP) and the International Lions-Club, were discussed in
the plenary session and partially incorporated in the new Rules of Procedure.
EUROCOP insisted in particular in the timely written transmission of the
respective documents in writing, such as the agenda and annual reports
of various bodies. Most remarks were integrated in the new Rules of Procedure,
allowing to approve of it in a comprehensive form. Due to the adoption
of the new Rules of Procedure the NGO General Meeting has become the 4th
Constitutive Agency of the Council of Europe, along with the Parliamentary
General Assembly, the Committee of Ministers and the Congress of Local
and Regional Authorities. In his welcoming address before the INGO Plenary
Conference the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr. Terry Davis,
underlined the importance of NGOs and assured them of his preparedness
for a more profound collaboration with them in the light of their new
status.
A number of informal meetings of FAFCE representatives, Mr. Georges Nothelfer
and Secretary General Kloiber, took place in the couloirs of the Plenary
Conference, such as with Msgr. Vito Rallo, special ambassador of the Holy
See at the Council of Europe, Mrs. Jutta Gützkow, head of the department
of NGOs and civil society, Mrs. Irena Kowalczyk-Kedziora of the General
Direction III-Department for social cohesion and social policy and Mrs.
Susi Morgan from the European Social Charter. The main issue of the FAFCE
representatives in the debate with Mrs. Kowalczyk-Kedziora and Ms. Gützkow
was the official participation of FAFCE at the expert committee "Children
and Family". However, according to the information of Mrs. Kowalczyk-Kedziora,
FAFCE will have to wait until 2006 when the Liaison Committee can envisage
appointing five new NGOs as representatives in this working group. In
spite of that Mrs. Kowalczyk-Kedziora would welcome a more intensive collaboration,
inviting FAFCE to contribute their expertise to the specific subjects.
The
meeting of the International Catholic organisations (OIC) at the eve of
the General Meeting was a good possibility to introduce the new representatives
of FAFCE at the Council of Europe (in the picture with Mr. Georges Nothelfer).
Jenny Schuler (28) is a religion teacher from Strasbourg who will represent
FAFCE during the future meetings of working groups in Strasbourg. Ms.
Schuler, a graduate of Law, was able to get well acquainted with the agencies
of the Council of Europe, the working groups in which FAFCE is active,
and with her future tasks, thanks to the assistance of Mr. Nothelfer.