28.10.2011

LECTURE BY MR MEVLÜT ÇAVUŞOĞLU,

PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY,

AT THE KYIV NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

“TARAS SHEVCHENKO”

KYIV, Thursday, 3 November 2011, 3 p.m.

Council of Europe values as a basis for sustainable economic and social development

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am very pleased to address your today in my capacity as President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and I would like thank, most warmly, Mr Huberskyi, Rector of the Taras Shevchenko University, for his kind invitation.

It is a pleasure indeed to be with you today. In fact, I am myself an economist by profession – after studying international relations in Turkey as well as at the London School of Economics, I obtained my master degree in economics at the Long Island University, in the United States of America.

Today, I represent here the Council of Europe – an international organisation created in 1949, which put the fundamental human values - democracy, human rights and the rule of law - at the heart of Europe’s future.

It is very important to understand that these fundamental values are not the aim in itself, but a means to ensure long-lasting peace and prosperity. Their respect creates a general framework for all human activity and general well-being.

By defending and promoting these values, the Council of Europe has greatly contributed to what Europe represents today – one of the most prosperous and democratically stable areas in the world. We are now the pan-European organisation comprising 47 member states - all European countries, with the exception of Belarus, representing 800 million people.

Furthermore, we are reaching beyond the frontiers of Europe. The United States, Japan, Canada and Mexico have observer status with the Council of Europe. In the Parliamentary Assembly, we develop contacts with countries in North Africa and the Middle East – recently, we granted the status of Partners for Democracy to the Parliaments of the Kingdom of Morocco and to the Palestinian National Council. And this is not all: Kazakhstan enjoys a privileged relationship with the Assembly on the basis of a special co-operation agreement and the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic is in the process of applying for the Partnership status with the Assembly as well. As you see, our political area of action goes far beyond the mere geographic borders of the European continent!

The brilliant idea at the origin of the Council of Europe was its conception as a standard-setting institution with its own enforcement mechanisms. The foundations of this mechanism were laid 60 years ago, with the signing of the European Convention on Human Rights. By becoming parties to the Convention, European sovereign states accept the authority of an international enforcement body, namely the European Court of Human Rights, which is open to individuals from all over Europe. This is unique in Europe and, indeed, in the world.

In addition to the European convention of human rights and the Strasbourg Court, during more than 60 years of our history, we have developed an incredible variety of legal instruments, monitoring mechanisms, partial agreements, as well as co-operation programmes. And all these mechanisms are very well known in your country: I am thinking in particular about the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) which, over the years, has been closely working with the Ukrainian authorities on constitutional-law-related reforms.

In fact, I think I can say without hesitation that the Council of Europe has been the driving force behind the establishment of a common European legal space within which our societies exist and develop today. Even the European Union is a ramification and continuation of the Council of Europe for those states wishing to push their cooperation towards integration – but we are based on the same values and share the same goals, as well as the same symbols.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Against this background, you are probably asking yourself an obvious question: what all this has to do with economic and social development?

In fact, I can assure you, there is direct link. Economic and social development is sustainable only if it is based on and supported by the fundamental values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. And Europe’s today’s experience in fighting the global financial and economic crisis proves that this statement is true.

We all know that quite a number of countries in Europe face astronomic indebtedness. In response, governments are being forced to introduce severe budgetary cuts which lead to painful political, economic and social choices affecting millions of Europeans.

In April this year, our Assembly already addressed this issue in a report on “Over-indebtedness of states: danger for democracy and human rights”. It transpired from our analysis that the vicious circle of excessive debt, large budget deficits and low economic growth is now threatening the very foundations of European structures and the quality of life of European citizens.

In these conditions, and despite the power of the financial markets, we must ensure that the State remains the key regulator and the guarantor of the rule of law which is at the basis of the orderly functioning of market economy and, indeed, of democracy itself. As markets are global, states must act globally to improve the international financial regulation system.

Besides reinforcing regulatory powers, the State needs to regain, through transparency of public finances, the credibility of information on public finances in order to reduce the power of the rating agencies. Members of Parliament have an essential role to play in ensuring this transparency and the Council of Europe has put at our disposal a great number of recommendations and best practice standards developed by one of our monitoring bodies – the Group of States against Corruption (commonly known as GRECO).

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,

Quite naturally, fighting the economic and financial causes and effects of the crisis, as well as re-launching growth, are the two main issues which are high on the European political agenda today. At the same time, we should not forget about the social consequences of the crisis, as well as about their effects on our democratic political model of governance. About a month ago, at our annual Forum for the Future of Democracy, held in Limassol, Cyprus, we discussed how we could strike the balance between fighting the crisis and preserving social cohesion.

In fact, the consequences of the budgetary austerity measures governments are taking today directly affect social welfare programmes which were designed to secure access to social rights. Their effects are particularly significant for the poorest and most disadvantaged categories of the population. This is a very risky development: poverty may lead to exclusion and discrimination. Discrimination, in turn, leads to intolerance, violence and even extremism.

This is especially alarming, because in the current difficult economic and social context some political forces in our member states are extensively using extremist and populist rhetoric in an attempt to regain the support of the electorate.

Ladies and gentlemen,

What could be our response to all these challenges? Once again, I can say that our fundamental values and standards of democracy, human rights and the rule of law help us develop appropriate tools.

Firstly, in order to preserve social cohesion, we must make sure that our European social model remains visible and credible. In this respect, the revised European Social Charter, which has been a source of inspiration for furthering fundamental social rights throughout Europe for the last 50 years, offers governments concrete standards and guidelines to follow in the development of their national policies.

Therefore, the Assembly works closely with member states in order to ensure that they all sign and ratify the Charter as well as implement its provisions. We are specifically focusing on the role of Parliaments in consolidating and developing social rights in Europe, in order to provide political support to the work of the European Committee of Social Rights, the monitoring body of the European Social Charter.

Secondly, we must address the political and institutional consequences of the economic and financial crisis. In fact, political developments during the last couple of years have demonstrated that the economic crisis led to what is now commonly known as “a crisis of democracy”, that is an increasing disinterest of citizens in the current institutionalised procedures of democracy.

In the face of the drastic austerity measures affecting millions of Europeans, the crisis of democracy created a real feeling of anger and frustration among the population in countries suffering more than others from the consequences of the crisis, such as Greece, Spain and Portugal: hundreds of thousand of protesters have come and continue to come to the streets to protest against a political system that they consider does not function.

In order to counteract the crisis of the mechanisms of representative democracy, we suggest exploring new mechanisms of participatory democracy in order to enable all people (and not only nationals) to participate effectively in the conduct of public affairs at local, regional, national and European levels. This is necessary to boost social capital in our societies – reinforce trust in the political system as well as in the democratic decision-making process.

And I can say that many European states are already experimenting with these new mechanisms, such as participatory budgeting, citizen-initiated referenda, petitions, citizens’ juries or conferences. Many of these mechanisms are particularly suitable to address the problems which the young population is facing: in many countries young people are extensively involved in the decision-making process through youth councils and young people’s parliaments. Moreover, in some states, young people participate, together with community organisations and NGOs, in the management of specific social programmes designed to address their basic needs. I believe that there is a huge potential in these more flexible and informal mechanisms of participation and I encourage you all to actively promote them in your country.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,

As you see, sustainable economic and social development is not possible without the respect of the fundamental principles and standard of democracy, human rights, social cohesion and rule of law. To support this approach, the Council of Europe has already developed a great number of specific guidelines and policy recommendations for governments, parliaments, local and regional authorities, political actors and non-governmental organisation. But, there is a lot more to be done in future in order to address the challenges our societies are facing and I trust you all will make a valuable contribution to this work.

Dear friends,

We need your enthusiasm to continue the work which we have launched 60 years ago with the signing of the European Convention of Human Rights. We need your determination to adapt our standards to new realities, as well as to develop them further in order to face new challenges. Therefore, I wish you a lot of success with your studies and hope very much that one day we will be working together with you on the most topical issues Europe has to face.

Thank you for your attention!