COE Countries

(asked on 20th May 2021) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their policy as chair of the Council of Europe to seek to boost grass roots democracy and political stability at local levels, what plans they have to encourage their international partners to establish partnerships with different communities and areas within Council of Europe member states.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 4th June 2021

The UK places great value on the role of the Council of Europe (CoE) in advancing work on human rights, democracy and the rule of law across Europe. As set out in the Integrated Review our plans to encourage our international partners to establish partnerships with different communities and areas go much wider than the CoE member states. The UK will work with allies, including CoE member states and civil society worldwide, to protect democratic values as part of our force for good agenda. In many instances, this will involve working bilaterally with countries to strengthen their domestic governance. In doing so, the UK government will focus its efforts primarily in the wider European neighbourhood, East Africa and the Indo-Pacific, tailoring our approach to meet local needs and combining our diplomacy, development, trade, security and other tools accordingly. To promote robust democratic institutions, the UK will support strong, transparent and accountable political processes and institutions overseas (including parliaments and political parties) through the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and other institutions. This work will be bolstered by a new UK capability to support election observation and activity to strengthen existing multilateral efforts.

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