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Candidates for Council of Europe Secretary General named

23 April 2009 17:20 (UTC +04:00)

Spain will handover the Council of Europe Presidency to Slovenia at the meeting attended by the foreign ministers of the member countries, APA European bureau reports. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos will report on the work done during six months of his presidency. His Slovenian counterpart Samuel Zbogar will announce the priorities of his countryâ€™s chairmanship in the Council.

Diplomatic sources told APA nomination of four candidates for the Secretary General of the Council of Europe â€“ Former Polish Prime Minister Vlodzimej Tymoshevic, former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland, former Head of the Flanders Government (Belgium) Luke van den Brande and member of the Hungarian Parliament Matias Jorsh was discussed at the meeting of CE permanent representatives on April 22-23. According to the results of voting Jagland gained 34, Tymoshevich â€“ 32, Van den Brande â€“ 20 and Jorsh â€“ 4 votes.
Jagland and Tymoshevic will run for the Secretary Generalâ€™s post in Madrid. The elected candidate will be approved on June 23 at the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The new Secretary General will take office in September.