, Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you for the trust and suppport .

i appreciate your trust and

support immenselyI want to start by giving you an idea of my plan for our beloved country
., I have based all my action on the fact that we must change if we are to match up to our
predecessors and remain relevant, and if we are to avoid the fate of WEU. It was clear to
me from the outset that the parliamentarians should be fully involved in the reform, and
that the PACE should be even more so their Assembly. I therefore concluded that the life
of this Assembly should be more participative and more democratic, in short, that we
should implement our values. This is why I have introduced a new Conference of
Committee Chairs, which will meet on pre-session Sundays, before and then with the
Presidential Committee, so that we can all discuss the agenda for the forthcoming part-
session. Concurrently, since most questions relating to the agenda will have been settled
the previous day, the time thus freed up will enable us, as I had hoped, to deal at greater
length during the Bureau meeting with policy issues, which is obviously our main
mission.

plans for 2013. Firstly, an initial overall assessment. As I pointed out on 23 January 2012, I have
based all my action on the fact that we must change if we are to match up to our predecessors and
remain relevant, and if we are to avoid the fate of WEU. It was clear to me from the outset that the
parliamentarians should be fully involved in the reform, and that the PACE should be even more
so their Assembly. I therefore concluded that the life of this Assembly should be more participative
and more democratic, in short, that we should implement our values. This is why I have introduced a
new Conference of Committee Chairs, which will meet on pre-session Sundays, before and then with
the Presidential Committee, so that we can all discuss the agenda for the forthcoming part-session.
Concurrently, since most questions relating to the agenda will have been settled the previous day, the
time thus freed up will enable us, as I had hoped, to deal at greater length during the Bureau meeting
with policy issues, which is obviously our main mission. I have accordingly decided to hold meetings
of national delegation Chairs during each part-session. They are the heart and soul of our Assembly,
which is an emanation of our member states’ 47 Parliaments. What could be more normal and
legitimate than organising dialogue between them and the President of the Assembly? In fact I have
always fallen into line with their views, for instance on the organisation of the standing committees,
even when they have contradicted my initial proposals. My first year as President has also been
marked by the implementation of the Assembly reform which I had initiated as Rapporteur of the Ad
hoc Committee. I am proud of this. I am thinking, for example, of the introduction of new procedures
such as free debates. This procedure clearly still requires improvement, but it already fits in with the
searches for an overall framework enabling Assembly members to express themselves. No
innovation is without its teething problems. We are currently suffering from a real deficit in terms of
recognition for and visibility of the substantive work which we do to promote the rule of law and
human rights. This is an enormous challenge, and although we are obviously not there to replace our
national parliaments, it is our duty to ensure that these parliaments can relay our work, that they act
as our mouthpieces, so to speak. This is why I attach so much importance to the national parliaments.
From this angle, I can only welcome the success of the Conference of Speakers of Parliament last
September and the exchanges which I have held with various national parliaments, for example with
the Bundestag. I also requested, and I am glad to see that this is now the case, that new members be
presented with a welcome file providing the main information which they will need to integrate into
such an institution as this, which obviously differs from their national parliaments. Lastly, I have
endeavoured, and will continue to endeavour as far as possible, to regularly attend committee
meetings and to chair the Assembly in order to maintain close, strong and direct contact with the core
of our work. So that, in a nutshell, is the work I have been conducting over the past year at the
internal level, I think in accordance with the commitments I made last January in this Chamber.
Before moving on to another strand of my work so far, let me just quickly outline my vision of the
President’s role. As we are among friends, let us be frank. Pierre Mendès France always argued that
politicians were duty-bound to explain to their constituents the actual problems and the measures
which their planned measures to remedy them. He argued that if integrity and fundamental respect
for truth are not there, this automatically means that there can be no democracy. I could not agree
more.

plans for 2013. Firstly, an initial overall assessment. As I pointed out on 23 January 2012, I have based all my action
on the fact that we must change if we are to match up to our predecessors and remain relevant, and if we are to avoid
the fate of WEU. It was clear to me from the outset that the parliamentarians should be fully involved in the reform,
and that the PACE should be even more so their Assembly. I therefore concluded that the life of this Assembly
should be more participative and more democratic, in short, that we should implement our values. This is why I have
introduced a new Conference of Committee Chairs, which will meet on pre-session Sundays, before and then with
the Presidential Committee, so that we can all discuss the agenda for the forthcoming part-session. Concurrently,
since most questions relating to the agenda will have been settled the previous day, the time thus freed up will
enable us, as I had hoped, to deal at greater length during the Bureau meeting with policy issues, which is obviously
our main mission. I have accordingly decided to hold meetings of national delegation Chairs during each part-
session. They are the heart and soul of our Assembly, which is an emanation of our member states’ 47 Parliaments.
What could be more normal and legitimate than organising dialogue between them and the President of the
Assembly? In fact I have always fallen into line with their views, for instance on the organisation of the standing
committees, even when they have contradicted my initial proposals. My first year as President has also been marked
by the implementation of the Assembly reform which I had initiated as Rapporteur of the Ad hoc Committee. I am
proud of this. I am thinking, for example, of the introduction of new procedures such as free debates. This procedure
clearly still requires improvement, but it already fits in with the searches for an overall framework enabling
Assembly members to express themselves. No innovation is without its teething problems. We are currently
suffering from a real deficit in terms of recognition for and visibility of the substantive work which we do to
promote the rule of law and human rights. This is an enormous challenge, and although we are obviously not there
to replace our national parliaments, it is our duty to ensure that these parliaments can relay our work, that they act as
our mouthpieces, so to speak. This is why I attach so much importance to the national parliaments. From this angle,
I can only welcome the success of the Conference of Speakers of Parliament last September and the exchanges
which I have held with various national parliaments, for example with the Bundestag. I also requested, and I am glad
to see that this is now the case, that new members be presented with a welcome file providing the main information
which they will need to integrate into such an institution as this, which obviously differs from their national
parliaments. Lastly, I have endeavoured, and will continue to endeavour as far as possible, to regularly attend
committee meetings and to chair the Assembly in order to maintain close, strong and direct contact with the core of
our work. So that, in a nutshell, is the work I have been conducting over the past year at the internal level, I think in
accordance with the commitments I made last January in this Chamber. Before moving on to another strand of my
work so far, let me just quickly outline my vision of the President’s role. As we are among friends, let us be frank.
Pierre Mendès France always argued that politicians were duty-bound to explain to their constituents the actual
problems and the measures which their planned measures to remedy them. He argued that if integrity and
fundamental respect for truth are not there, this automatically means that there can be no democracy. I could not
agree more.