By Martin Banks - 25th June 2009
“It think it’s very important that there is a new secretary general
Mary McAleese
Irish president Mary McAleese says it is "a bit embarrassing" that no decision has yet been taken on a new secretary general at the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe.
A decision on the new appointee to replace Terry Davis was due to have taken place on Monday but has been postponed, probably until the autumn.
The delay has been caused by what most observers see as a spat between the council's committee of ministers and its parliamentary assembly.
The committee of ministers is the decision-making body of the council. The secretary general is usually drawn from the ranks of the 318-member parliamentary assembly, the deliberative body which includes eight Oireachtas representatives.
Four candidates were nominated by the governments of Norway, Poland, Hungary and Belgium for the position.
On 23 April a vote on candidates by the committee of ministers resulted in a short-list of two names: Thorbjørn Jagland of Norway and Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz of Poland. Both men are former prime ministers and are described as socialists.
Speaking in Strasbourg, the Irish president said, "I do think it's a bit embarrassment to everybody that they haven't been able to move beyond the impasse.
"I think it's very important that there is a new secretary general. I think it's very important that there is strong leadership here."
McAleese described the council as a very important body. "Forty-seven members sign up to this, much broader than the EU. It takes in a massive constituency. It has phenomenal reach. It's a miracle that it exists," she said. "And so leadership here is really very important. I know that they are working very hard."
McAleese also visited the European court of human rights in Strasbourg. The court has been coming under increasing pressure in recent years to improve its efficiency because of a sharp rise in its caseload.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.