UN General Assembly
1990

Organising a new and greater Europe based on co-operation must take the principle of complementarily as its premise. This means that, wherever possible, existing institutions should be used to the full, and that we should avoid setting up new institutions whose usefulness cannot be demonstrated in advance. Belgium therefore much prefers to set up co-operation mechanisms rather than create a new wave of Institutions. For example, in the field of human rights, the Council of Europe, with 21 members at present, should be able to play an important role by welcoming in new members in a spirit of openness, while still maintaining the standards and values it has set in the past.