Bildt on the challenges facing the Council of Europe

As Minister for Foreign Affairs, Carl Bildt is responsible for Sweden's chairmanship of the Council of Europe. We asked him what can be done about the Council of Europe member states that are not making substantial progress with regard to human rights.

All states in Europe except Belarus are members of the Council of Europe, 47 member states - that's not bad! How do you see the development of the Council of Europe from its establishment in the post-war era in 1949 to the present day?

Well, the big change came after the collapse of the Soviet empire and the efforts of all these countries to build democratic states governed by law. These days we're talking about an area with a population of about 800 million people. And needless to say, this means the task now is both more demanding and more important than was the case earlier in the long history of the Council of Europe.

Is the Council of Europe needed when we have an ever larger EU?

Definitely. They're two completely different organisations, with the Council of Europe of course focusing on issues such as the rule of law, democracy and civil rights and liberties, besides which it covers a considerably larger geographical area than the EU probably ever will.

States like Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia are members of the Council of Europe with all that this entails. And even if we mustn't forget that there are human rights challenges in all countries - last year the Court ruled against Sweden in four cases out of seven! - the task is obviously greater in countries like these.

The European Court of Human Rights is unique in that individuals can apply to it when they consider that their home country has failed to protect their human rights, and in that the decisions of the Court are binding.

But the European Court of Human Rights is already overburdened and its workload just keeps increasing, where's it going to end?

Yes, there's no doubt that this is a big and growing problem. Approximately 50 000 applications have been received in the last few years, and of course this means it takes an enormously long time to bring a case to a conclusion. Obviously this isn't a good thing - not for anyone.

One of the attempts to improve the situation is Protocol 14, which sets out numerous different measures to shorten queues and processing times. The Protocol has been signed by all member states but so far Russia has been unwilling to ratify it.

I've discussed this matter previously with Foreign Minister Lavrov, but it remains to be seen whether President Medvedev - who has particularly emphasised rule of law issues - can move this important issue forward. We have every reason to try to see whether any new opportunity is opening up.

In some Council of Europe countries the human rights situation and development of the rule of law is making slow progress or is even regressing. What can be done?

Yes, in the past few years we have seen signs of regressive tendencies. The Council of Europe is no universal solution to the problem, but obviously it becomes particularly important to continue to ensure that the Court can function fully in these countries. And then in these cases there is reason to put a little extra emphasis on the long-term work on various rule of law issues. In this area I do think it can be said that - despite everything - things are moving forward between the Council of Europe and Russia, for example.