SPEECH BY MR MEVLÜT ÇAVUŞOĞLU, PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY, AT THE OPENING OF THE DEBATE ON THE STATE OF DEMOCRACY IN EUROPE

(Strasbourg, Wednesday 23 June 2010, 15h00, Chamber)

Dear colleagues,

It’s time for our annual debate on Democracy and Human Rights.

For the fourth time since we introduced this practice in 2007, an important element of the June session is a general debate, based on several reports, aimed at taking stock of the situation of Democracy and Human Rights in our Continent. Last year we focused on Human Rights, this time it will be Democracy. In particular, we will try to understand which challenges Democracy is now facing and what are the perspectives for the near future.

The starting point for our reflection will be the idea that institutions - governments, parliaments and administrative authorities – are not the only actors in the big game of democracy. The civil society, trade unions, the business community, interest and pressure groups, the media and many other have or try to have a role in the political process.

We will then deal with the economic crisis and its impact on democratic institutions: a major challenge that our world has had to face in the last few years. Finally, we will try to look into the future, to see how democracy can evolve in Europe in the years to come.

We will have a distinguished guest to help us, Mr. Alain Touraine, a sociologist, philosopher, and Director of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales who has given an important contribution to developing – and DEFENDING - the concept of democracy.