Slovenia and the Council of Europe in 2009: a View from the Inside (Democracy, Political Reforms & Civil Society‪)‬

I am honoured to have been invited by my colleague and friend Antonio Milososki to share my experience in the Crossroads at the time when Macedonia is successfully chairing the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. As the title indicates, the article will focus on the period of Slovenia's Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, namely from 12 May 2009, when Slovenia took over the Chairmanship, to 18 of November 2009, when the Chairmanship was handed over to Switzerland. However, I will not go into detail about the preparations, as Macedonia is more than well aware of the characteristics of such preparations and because our two countries share such information at their regular consultations. We knew at the time that difficult tasks were ahead of us and that we would have to put all our energy into taking up various challenges during the Chairmanship. The Council of Europe (CoE) has seen many developments since the Slovenian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers in 2009. Having closely followed these developments, I must say that indeed much has occurred in a year in the Organisation which was not so long ago criticised for its inefficiency and obsolescence. The most evident change was the reform of the European Court of Human Rights and of the whole Organisation. My remark is reinforced by the fact that the Secretary General sees the two processes as a one, interlinked and inter-dependent process. From Slovenia's point of view, it seems that many goals we strove for during our Chairmanship are now being realised. If this was a speech, this would be a perfect place to thank all those who contributed to this end, including Macedonia.