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The Secretary General of the Council of Europe (french: Secrétaire général du Conseil de l'Europe, links=no) is appointed by the Parliamentary Assembly on the recommendation of the Committee of Ministers for a period of five years. The secretary general is entrusted with the responsibility of meeting the aim for which the Council of Europe was set up in London on 5 May 1949, namely to achieve greater unity between its Member States for the purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress. Although the Secretary General's powers are not clearly defined, in practice the holder has overall responsibility for the strategic management of the Council of Europe's work programme and budget and oversees the day-to-day running of the Organisation and Secretariat.


Secretaries General


Controversy around 2009 election

On 12 May 2009 the Committee of Ministers informed the Parliamentary Assembly that there would be only two candidates for the post of Secretary General: Thorbjørn Jagland (former
prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
of Norway) and Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (former Prime Minister of Poland), thus rejecting a Belgian appeal to add two more people to the list of the candidates. Coincidentally, both candidates were Prime Ministers at the same time (1996–1997) and both are
social democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...
s. On 23 June the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly decided to postpone the election at least until its September session, thus leaving the chair empty from 1 September 2009. The Parliamentary Assembly was angered by the decision of the Committee of Ministers to remove two of the four candidates from the shortlist: Belgian senator
Luc Van den Brande Luc Van den Brande (born 13 October 1945) is a Flemish politician, member of the CD&V and was Minister-president of Flanders from 21 January 1992 until 13 July 1999. He took the initiative to create the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology ( ...
and Hungarian parliamentarian Mátyás Eörsi, who are both members of the Parliamentary Assembly. On 11 September 2009, reporting on the election controversy, ''
Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'' reported that the future Secretary General would inherit an institution that was in crisis. On 30 September 2009 Thorbjørn Jagland was elected as secretary-general. On 24 June 2014 he was re-elected to a second, five-year term to start on 1 October 2014.


2019 election

Four member states proposed candidates by 10 January 2019, who were then considered by the Committee of Ministers. Among them, the two who were selected to progress to be voted on by the Parliamentary Assembly were Belgium's foreign minister
Didier Reynders Didier Reynders (; born 6 August 1958) is a Belgian politician and a member of the Mouvement Réformateur (MR) serving as European Commissioner for Justice since 2019. He held various positions in public institutions before becoming a member of ...
and Croatia's foreign minister
Marija Pejčinović Burić Marija Pejčinović Burić (; born 9 April 1963) is a Croatian politician of the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union party who served as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and First Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia from 2017 to 2019. Sh ...
. Pejčinvoić Burić was elected by a margin of 54 votes and will take office on 15 October 2019. Nominated for consideration by the Committee of Ministers: *
Didier Reynders Didier Reynders (; born 6 August 1958) is a Belgian politician and a member of the Mouvement Réformateur (MR) serving as European Commissioner for Justice since 2019. He held various positions in public institutions before becoming a member of ...
(Belgium) *
Andrius Kubilius Andrius Kubilius (born 8 December 1956) is a Lithuanian politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019. He served as Prime Minister of Lithuania from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012.LR Vyriausio ...
(Lithuania) *
Dora Bakoyannis Theodora "Dora" Bakoyanni ( el, Θεοδώρα "Ντόρα" Μπακογιάννη; ; ''née'' Mitsotakis; el, Μητσοτάκη, links=no; born May 6, 1954) is a Greek politician. From 2006 to 2009 she was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece ...
(Greece) *
Marija Pejčinović Burić Marija Pejčinović Burić (; born 9 April 1963) is a Croatian politician of the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union party who served as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and First Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia from 2017 to 2019. Sh ...
(Croatia) Selected by the Committee to be voted on by the Parliamentary Assembly: The Parliamentary Assembly voted on the candidates on 26 June 2019 *
Marija Pejčinović Burić Marija Pejčinović Burić (; born 9 April 1963) is a Croatian politician of the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union party who served as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and First Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia from 2017 to 2019. Sh ...
: 159 votes *
Didier Reynders Didier Reynders (; born 6 August 1958) is a Belgian politician and a member of the Mouvement Réformateur (MR) serving as European Commissioner for Justice since 2019. He held various positions in public institutions before becoming a member of ...
: 105 votes


References


External links


The Council of Europe Secretary General
{{DEFAULTSORT:Secretary General Of The Council Of Europe Council of Europe