By Martin Banks - 4th June 2009
The Council needs to improve its visibility and, if elected,I would hope to do that
Thorbjorn Jagland
A candidate for secretary general of the council of Europe says he wants to make the little-known organisation "more sexy".
Thorbjorn Jagland, currently president of the Norwegian parliament, said, "The council needs to improve its visibility and, if elected, I would hope to do that."
This year's selection process has been thrown into chaos in the wake of new criteria which means that only a former prime minister, head of government or foreign minister qualifies for the post.
To date, there are two candidates who meet the criteria: Jagland and Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, a former Polish premier.
However, the council's parliamentary assembly is unhappy with the new selection process which was put forward by the organisation's own committee of ministers - the foreign ministers from its 47 member states.
The new secretary general is due to be elected on 23 June but a council spokesman said, "This could well result in a delay in deciding who the secretary general will be."
Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday, Jagland said, "I accept that the council needs to become more 'visible' but this is a difficult task.
"For me the key word is 'relevance', that is, how relevant the council is to citizens."
Jagland, who was due to meet commission president Jos é Manuel Barroso as part of his 'charm' offensive, also said he hoped the EU could sign up to the European convention on human rights.
"This would represent a major step forward," he said.
The current secretary general of the Strasbourg-based council is Terry Davies, a former UK Labour MP who has held the post for the last five years.
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