Considerations on COM(2025)151 - EU position within the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the extension of the term for accession of Tunisia to the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, with regard to matters related to institutions and public administration of the Union

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dossier COM(2025)151 - EU position within the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the extension of the term for accession of Tunisia ...
document COM(2025)151 EN
date April 22, 2025
 
table>(1)The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the ‘Convention’) was concluded by the Union by Council Decision (EU) 2023/1075 (1) with regard to institutions and public administration of the Union, and by Council Decision (EU) 2023/1076 (2) with regard to matters related to judicial cooperation in criminal matters, asylum and non-refoulement, and entered into force for the Union on 1 October 2023. There are currently 39 Parties to the Convention (the ‘Parties’), including the Union and 22 Union Member States.
(2)Pursuant to Article 14 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, each member of the Council of Europe shall be entitled to one representative on the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (the ‘Committee of Ministers’), and each representative shall be entitled to one vote. All Union Member States are members of the Council of Europe and thus represented in the Committee of Ministers.

(3)Pursuant to Article 76(1) of the Convention, the Committee of Ministers is able, after consultation of the Parties and obtaining their unanimous consent, to invite a non-member State of the Council of Europe to accede to the Convention, by a decision requiring a two-thirds majority of the Committee of Ministers, as provided for in Article 20.d of the Statute of the Council of Europe, and by the unanimous vote of the representatives of the Parties entitled to sit on the Committee of Ministers.

(4)On 22 April 2020, the Committee of Ministers decided to invite Tunisia to accede to the Convention. Pursuant to that decision, that invitation remains valid for five years from its adoption, that is until 23 April 2025 (the ‘deadline’).

(5)By a letter dated 20 February 2025, Tunisia requested an extension of the deadline until 23 April 2027, to be able to complete its internal procedures.

(6)The Committee of Ministers, at its meeting on 23 April 2025, is expected to adopt a decision on the extension of the deadline until 23 April 2027.

(7)It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken on the Union’s behalf within the Committee of Ministers, as the extension of the deadline could have legal effects on the Union. The effect of that extension would be to renew the invitation to Tunisia to accede to the Convention and therefore would imply the establishment of treaty relations between the Union and Tunisia in the framework of the Convention. The decision on the extension of the deadline could also influence the way in which decisions are taken within the Committee of the Parties.

(8)The accession of Tunisia to the Convention would be beneficial for the Union since it would extend the Convention’s ambitious standards to that country. The Union’s position should therefore be to grant Tunisia two more years to complete its internal procedures.

(9)As the Union is not a member of the Council of Europe but all its Member States are, the Union's position is to be expressed by its Member States, acting jointly,