Secretary General of the Council of Europe
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| Nationality | Secretary | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|---|
 Norway |
Thorbjørn Jagland | 1 October 2009 | |
 United Kingdom |
Terry Davis | 1 September 2004 | 31 August 2009 |
 Austria |
Walter Schwimmer | 1 September 1999 | 31 August 2004 |
 Sweden |
Daniel Tarschys | 1 June 1994 | 1 September 1999 |
 France |
Catherine Lalumière | 1 June 1989 | 31 May 1994 |
 Spain |
Marcelino Oreja Aguirre | 1 October 1984 | 1 June 1989 |
| Austria |
Franz Karasek | 1 October 1979 | 1 October 1984 |
 West Germany |
Georg Kahn-Ackermann | 17 September 1974 | 17 September 1979 |
| Austria |
Lujo Tončić-Sorinj | 16 September 1969 | 16 September 1974 |
| United Kingdom |
Peter Smithers | 16 March 1964 | 15 September 1969 |
 Italy |
Lodovico Benvenuti | 19 September 1957 | 15 March 1964 |
| France |
Léon Marchal | 21 September 1953 | 24 September 1956 |
| France |
Jacques Camille Paris | 11 August 1949 | 17 July 1953 |
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe is appointed by the Parliamentary Assembly on the recommendation of the Committee of Ministers for a period of five years. He or she is entrusted with the responsibility of meeting the aim for which the Council of Europe was set up in London on 5 May 1949, namely to achieve greater unity between its Member States for the purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress.
Although the Secretary General's powers are not clearly defined, in practice the holder has overall responsibility for the strategic management of the Council of Europe’s work programme and budget and oversees the day-to-day running of the Organisation and Secretariat.
[edit] Controversy around 2009 election
On May 12, 2009 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe informed that there would be only two candidates for the post of Secretary General: Thorbjørn Jagland (former Prime Minister of Norway) and Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (former Prime Minister of Poland), thus rejecting Belgian appeal to add two more people to the list of the candidates.[citation needed] That would be the first time for both Norway and Poland to have "its own" SG of the Council. Coincidently, both candidates were Prime Ministers at the same time (1996-1997) and both are social democrats.
On June 23, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly decided to postpone the election at least until its September session, thus leaving the chair empty from September 1.[1]
The Parliamentary Assembly was angered by the decision of the Committee of Ministers to delete from the shortlist two of the four candidates from the shortlist - Belgian senator Luc Van den Brande and Hungarian parliamentarian Matyas Eorsi, who are both members of the Parliamentary Assembly. According to diplomats, the Committee of Ministers had previously indicated that it would only accept high-profile candidates with experience of high political office. [2]
On 11 September 2009, reporting on the election controversy, Le Monde reported that the future Secretary General would inherit an institution that was in crisis. [3]
On September 30, 2009, Thorbjørn Jagland was elected as Secretary-General.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Judith Crosbie (June 23, 2009). "Council of Europe defers secretary-general vote". EuropeanVoice.com. http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2009/06/council-of-europe-defers-secretary-general-vote/65270.aspx. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
- ^ Smyth, Jamie (2009-05-12). "Council to battle Russia on Protocol 14". Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0512/1224246320584.html. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ Smolar, Piotr (2009-09-11). "Le futur secrétaire général du Conseil de l'Europe héritera d'une institution en crise". Le Monde. http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2009/09/11/le-futur-secretaire-general-du-conseil-de-l-europe-heritera-d-une-institution-en-crise_1239052_3214.html. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ "THORBJORN JAGLAND ELECTED SECRETARY GENERAL OF COUNCIL OF EUROPE". panorama.am. 2009-09-30. http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2009/09/30/yagland/. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
[edit] External links
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