During her 1 to 3 February 2012 visit to Brussels, the President of the Assembly of States Parties (“the Assembly”), Ambassador Tiina Intelmann met with members of the European Parliament, including Mr. Wolfgang Kreissl-Dörfler, Ms. Barbara Lochbihler and other members of the Group of Friends of the ICC from different parliamentary groups. The President thanked the parliamentarians for their firm commitment to the Rome Statute system and their support for the ICC in the different parliamentary commissions they take part in, stressing in particular the need to achieve the universality of the Rome Statute, the effective cooperation with the ICC and the understanding of the Court. She also highlighted the key role which their contacts with parliamentarians in States Parties and observer States could play in attaining those objectives.
President Intelmann also met with senior European Union officials, including the Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service, Mr. Maciej Popowski, the Chair of the Political and Security Committee, Mr. Olof Skoog, as well as officials of the European Commission. The President thanked the European Union for its unstinting support of the Rome Statute system and discussed additional support which the European Union institutions could provide to address some of the challenges being faced by the Rome Statute system.
During her presentation to the public international law subgroup of the European Union (COJUR ICC), President Intelmann informed representatives of the outcomes of the tenth session of the Assembly held in December and set out the priorities of her office. These include an increased focus on strengthening the domestic capacity of States to investigate and prosecute Rome Statute crimes, in accordance with the principle of complementarity, as well as a renewed focus to achieve the universality of the Rome Statute.
President Intelmann also met with Ms. Louis Arbour, the President of the International Crisis Group, and with a group of NGOs, to discuss issues of common interest.
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