The EU and the Council of Europe discuss their strategic partnership at senior officials’ level

Senior Officials reaffirmed their ambition to enhance the EU-CoE partnership to better promote and defend the common values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

The EU representatives underlined that the political dimension of the EU-COE partnership reached new highs this year. With regard to the outcomes of the Reykjavik Summit, they committed to continue their strong institutional support for the Register of Damage caused by the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the CoE’s efforts to extend its membership to non-European States. Both parties will keep exchanging information and coordinating actions.

They also stressed the need for further cooperation and regular exchanges between the EU and the Council of Europe, especially on the legal and policy frameworks that affect the Ukrainian children temporarily residing in EU Member States as well as Ukraine’s reform of its child protection and alternative care system.

Both institutions will continue to cooperate to ensure the successful completion of the negotiations on the Council of Europe Framework Convention on artificial intelligence and the subsequent promotion of the Convention among third-countries non-members of the Council of Europe.

The next EU-CoE Senior Officials meeting will take place in Strasbourg during the first semester 2024.