ADDRESS BY MR LLUÍS MARIA DE PUIG,

PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY,

ON THE OCCASION OF THE 60th ANNIVERSARY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

(Strasbourg, 27 April 2009, 12.45 pm, Assembly Chamber)

Dear friends and fellow-members,

As Paul-Henri Spaak said in the film which we have just seen, perhaps a touch of madness was needed by those great men who 60 years ago, after the deadliest war in the history of mankind, swore to make this nightmare vanish and supplant it with a wonderful dream – the dream of a united Europe.

They went further than indulging in reveries, but did their utmost to make the dream come true. Others took up the task and little by little, brick by brick, they built what we are now accustomed to call the big European home.

This home which shelters Europe’s large family is the Council of Europe.

In celebrating its 60th anniversary, can we say with a clear conscience that the dream has become a reality?

We have good reasons to reply in the affirmative. Bringing together all the countries on a continent, with the most varied histories, cultures, languages and experiences, around a core of common ideals and principles, is the boldest and most sophisticated political design that history has ever known.

The role that the Council of Europe performs not only in Europe but also at world level is above all to demonstrate that people’s security and well-being are not simply a question of defence and markets. The viability of the organisation through these 60 years is proof that the pillars of any caring society are democracy, human rights and rule of law.

Through its action, the Council of Europe has challenged the theories that dominated political life for centuries, according to which some peoples, cultures and socio-economic conditions were predestined for democracy, and others not. The attempts to export or implant democracy or even to impose it by bombing, as we have seen in Iraq, have been countered by our organisation with a peaceable yet powerful force. Every day it cultivates democracy across the continent by the methods of dialogue, participation and co-operation. It also inspires other countries in the world that believe in the same principles.

The Council of Europe is primarily a moral force. This force is exercised in manifold ways to the same end, through the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights which is celebrating its 50 years of existence this year, the Committee of Ministers representing the governments, the institution of the Commissioner for Human Rights, the Venice Commission and the European Youth Centre to name but a few, and of course through this Assembly which conveys the voice of 800 million Europeans via their elected representatives.

The Council of Europe is also a conglomerate of grey matter: an incalculable wealth of legal norms, experience and good practices from 47 member states. This wealth is liberally placed at the service of the citizens and of all the other countries wishing to share our standards.

The Council of Europe is also a litmus of new trends and a generator of new ideas. It is in the forefront of reflection on such varied and crucial subjects as bioethics, cybercrime, trafficking in human beings, corruption and others.

Unity is strength, and in those terms being 47 strong is a fine achievement in itself.

For years the goals before our organisation were clear perhaps for the very reason of this strong quantitative component. Now we are facing a further stage when we shall have to ask ourselves questions of an increasingly qualitative kind.

Democracy is nor a static concept carved in stone. It evolves with society, and indeed we are living through a time of complete upheaval in society.

Doubt is one of democracy’s driving forces; everyday life confronts with questions whose answers are not simple. What will the democracy of tomorrow be like – local or centralised, participative or representative ? How can the proper balance be between regulatory mechanisms at national and supranational level? Will it become an electronic democracy? How to mange the purported democracy which is being turned into its own denial either from the top down (authorities inventing their own rules of play) or from the bottom up (the “destructionists”, those who oppose injustices by wrecking everything around them?) How to guarantee the citizens’ security against fanatical terrorist attacks or how to guarantee their prosperity against the fluctuations of the financial system, though without resorting to the excessive regulation that undermines individual freedom and infringes fundamental rights? What view to take of the new forms of societal organisation spawned by the Internet?

Besides all these questions awaiting our reply, the dream may not yet have become a complete reality because Europe’s everyday reality is not always something to dream about.

Even though war has not recurred over the last 60 years on the old scale, our continent went through 40 years of cold war and was subsequently the theatre of grievous warfare in the Balkans and just last year in two of our member states, Georgia and Russia. What are known as “frozen” conflicts, but are really dormant volcanoes, conceal grave risks of erupting at several points in Europe. Democracy remains hesitant and fragile in societies marked by decades of totalitarianism. And even mature democracies may go astray, upsetting our societies.

Our work, then, is not finished. Democracy, human rights and rule of law are potent but also vulnerable values. They demand to be cultivated, cared for and protected. This will remain the principal mission of our organisation.

My dear friends,

Remember that the word “globalisation” was at first associated with two 20th century wars which acquired a global character. Happily, globalisation has since taken another course, that of a drawing together and an obliteration of boundaries through commercial, cultural and human exchanges, and above all thanks to the lightning-like development of telecommunications.

The Council of Europe has been part of this natural trend of recent human history, and that may have been what has guaranteed part of its success.

But the challenges too have developed a global character, and that is what will typify the action of the Council of Europe henceforth.

International terrorism has become a new global challenge. It is one of the ways in which hatred, racism, xenophobia and religious fanaticism are expressed. Moreover, intolerance and discrimination are entrenched in ordinary day-to-day life.

Global warming is another great challenge. Not only does it threaten the survival of entire populations, but it involves the risk of social havoc being wrought by the mass population movements expected to take place on a world scale.

Friends,

It is not my intention to paint a pessimistic picture, just to point out as many good reasons for the Council of Europe to pursue its mission.

Our first duty is not to forget our primary task, to repeat to ourselves over and over again the slogan of the founding fathers of European integration, “never again”. Nobody is ever proof against fresh excesses, which is why we must keep alert so as never to allow a recurrence of the ills that the founders of our organisation set out to eradicate.

We must also remain true to our principles and values. At the same time, we must endeavour to find innovative ideas in order to apply them wherever democratic culture makes slower progress.

We should also think about new machinery that will enable the organisation to assert itself more in the member countries and on the international scene. It is a question of, when needed, implementing and supervising - enforcing - its decisions where they meet with indifference or lack of political will. At the same time, we should preserve our essential characteristic of intellectual freedom which transcends political and national interests.

In the Council of Europe we possess a power of which we are not always fully aware. Sixty years ago, the founders had the power of their dreams. Today our power is quite real, it is the power of all the countries of a continent joined together. Let us not waste it, but use it in to its correct extent.

Sixty years, my friends, are but a brief episode in the history of mankind, but they represent almost a whole human life. What kind of life is in store for the men and women who will be part of Europe’s future history? That is the very challenge which we should raise today in celebrating our past but also in trying to make a new departure. The way which we shall follow must be guided by our sense of responsibility for the future generations.

Thank you.