Меморандумът за разбирателство между Съвета на Европа и Европейския съюз от 11/23 май 2007 г. Правни и политически аспекти
The Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Europe and the European Union of 11/23 May 2007: Legal and Political Implications

Summary/Abstract: The Council of Europe (CoE)-EU Memorandum of Understanding signed in Strasbourg by representatives of both organizations respectively on May 11 and 23,2007, is yet another important step in the development of the political and legal framework for cooperation between these two sister-institutions. The article argues that the Memorandum is the most advanced and detailed document adopted so far, which is supposed to govern the interaction between the oldest European inter-governmental organization and its much more powerful supra-national counterpart, in areas of common concern and interest. After a review of preceding bilateral arrangements between the CoE and EU since the early years of their co-existence it is found that the main objective of the newly-adopted instrument, in comparison to that of its antecedents, remains unchanged: pursuit of synergy of actions and avoidance of an unnecessary duplication of efforts and waste of resources by member States. However the Memorandum fine-tunes existing and introduces a set of new procedural tools and mechanisms in order to facilitate the achievement of this goal in a changed global and European context; it also contains the most authoritative and explicit recognition by Brussels thus far, of the Council of Europe's unique role and mission in the area of human rights protection and promotion, consolidation of the rule of law and of democratic values and principles across the continent. It is further established that the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding is a political, legally non-binding instrument. In spite of that, argues the author, it seems to be a far-reaching arrangement and its real practical effects will have to be judged on the basis of its subsequent implementation.

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