Strasbourg, 6 June 2014                                                                             GT-TD(2014)1

Item 4 of the agenda

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE

(CDDG)

WORKING GROUP FOR THE PREPARATION
OF A REFERENCE TEXT ON DEMOCRACY

(GT-TD)

TERMS OF REFERENCE BY THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS

Secretariat Memorandum

prepared by the

Directorate of Democratic Governance

Democratic Institutions and Governance Department

________________________________________________

This document is public. It will not be distributed at the meeting. Please bring this copy.

Ce document est public. Il ne sera pas distribué en réunion. Prière de vous munir de cet exemplaire

Introduction

According to the Terms of Reference adopted by the Committee of Ministers establishing the CDDG, the Committee is asked to:

“On the basis of a comprehensive document by the Secretariat, advise the Committee of Ministers on the necessity, purpose, scope, feasibility and budgetary and workload implications of the preparation of a reference text bringing together existing principles and standards of democracy, intended for programming purposes and, if the advice is positive and the Committee of Ministers agrees, prepare such a draft reference text”.

The advice required by the Committee of Ministers has to be provided before the end of 2014. To this end, at its 1st meeting (3-4 April 2014), the CDDG agreed to instruct a limited number of committee members with the task to study the questions raised by its mandate related to the feasibility of a possible reference text on democracy, as well as to submit a draft advice to the CDDG at its second meeting in November 2014.    

Action required

Members of the Working group are invited to discuss the elements of the mandate of the CDDG and give guidance to the Secretariat, in the light of the document GT-TD(2014)2.