Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, on the Role of the Council
Thorbjørn Jagland has served as the COE’s Secretary General since 2009. He was re-elected in June 2014 for a second five-year term, thus becoming the first Secretary General in the organization’s history to conduct a successful re-election campaign. A former prime minister (1996–97) and foreign minister (2000–01) of Norway, Jagland is a prominent member of Norway’s Labor party and headed his country’s parliament from 2005 to 2009. He is also a member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which he chaired from 2009 to 2015. He has published widely on European and international affairs. Recent books published in Norway include Our Vulnerable World (2001) and Ten Theses on the EU and Norway (2003).