23/06/2008 Session
Strasbourg, 23.06.2008 - “If we cannot safeguard human rights and protect our democratic way of governing , our societies risk sooner or later to sink down into confrontation”, said Carl Bildt, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Chair of the Committee of Ministers, addressing the Parliamentary Assembly on 23 June.
“This is what the Council of Europe is all about, no state stands above these standards. While being proud of our achievements, we must recognize that there are significant challenges ahead”, he added.
The Minister said that free and fair elections to be of critical importance, and mentioned the particular attention given at present to Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
He also highlighted Sweden’s priority to implement the Warsaw decision to focus on core issues – to make rights real for the European citizens.
“We – governments, parliamentarians – in the 47 countries of our Council have a collective responsibility to make certain the Court works”, he said and underlined that ratification of Protocol n°14 is of key importance.