site.bta Bulgaria Takes Over Chairmanship of Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers

Bulgaria Takes Over Chairmanship of Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers

Brussels/Strasbourg, November 10 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Bulgaria took over on Tuesday the Chairmanship of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers from Bosnia and Hercegovina. This took place at a meeting at the Organisation's Strasbourg headquarters in the presence of representatives of its 47 member States.

The new Committee Chair, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov, outlined the priorities of the Bulgarian chairmanship which will run for six months as of today.

Bulgaria has been a member of the Council of Europe since 1982 and will chair the Committee of Ministers until May 2016. The Bulgarian Chairmanship will uphold the European values for unity and cooperation, democracy and the rule of law. Bulgaria outlines among its tasks strengthening the protection of children's rights, access of the young to culture, protection of the media from external influence and protecting vulnerable groups.

Among Bulgaria's aims are the adoption of the Additional Protocol to the Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism and facilitation of the co-operation between member States in the fight against violent extremism and the radicalization leading to terrorism.

The calendar of events during the Bulgarian Chairmanship includes a high-level conference on "Democratic Stability - Our Shared Responsibility for the Future of Europe", an international round table on "The Council of Europe's norms in the practices and activities of the authorities for equality of all member States - Towards the creation of a social and just community", a high-level international conference on "The Independence and Efficiency of the Judiciary as a Premise for Rule of Law" and many other forums, all of them to be held in Sofia.