Croatia's Foreign and Affairs Minister, Marija Pejcinovic-Buric, is one of the four candidates nominated for the post of Secretary-General of the Council of Europe (CoE), the pan-European human rights and democracy watchdog said on Friday.

In addition to Pejcinovic-Buric, the organisation said they received candidacies by Belgium’s Foreign Minister, Didier Reyners, former Lithuanian Prime Minister, Andrius Kubilius, and former Greek Foreign Minister, Dora Bakoyannis.

“The Committee of Ministers will interview the four candidates separately in March 2019, and decide upon a final list of candidates that will be transmitted to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,” they added in a press release.

The organisation’s parliamentary assembly will then proceed with the election of the next Secretary-General, which is due to take place in June 2019. The mandate of the new person elected to the post is scheduled to start on October 1, 2019.

The Council of Europe has 47 member countries. It is the oldest European organisation, founded in 1949 in London with the goal of strengthening European unity and promoting democracy, protection of human rights, and rule of law across Europe.

Headquartered in Strasbourg, its current Secretary-General is Thorbjorn Jagland, former Prime Minister of Norway, who took office in 2009. In April last year, Jagland gave an exclusive interview to N1 television, in which he talked about a number of challenges and issues that the Council of Europe has been dealing with in recent times. 

Croatia had joined the organisation in 1996, and chaired it for the first time last year, from May to November.

Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook.