18/12/2011 President
Strasbourg 18.12.2011 - Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Mevlüt Cavusoglu today paid tribute to the late leader of the “Velvet Revolution” Vaclav Havel for his vision of a better Europe and his outstanding contribution to the values the Council of Europe stands for: human rights, the rule of law and democracy.
“In his speech before the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on 10 May 1990, Vaclav Havel gave us the key to a new European home: ‘without dreaming of a better Europe we shall never build a better Europe,’ he stressed. The values we stand for remain words on a paper if we have no vision, no dream for them.
Much has been achieved since, thanks to the courage and vision of women and men like him. But the time has come to once again recall what Vaclav Havel said about our common European symbol here in Strasbourg, more than 20 years ago:
‘To me the twelve stars in your emblem don’t express the broad conviction that the Council of Europe will build heaven on this earth. There will never be heaven on earth. I see these twelve stars as a reminder that the world could become a better place if, from time to time, we have the courage to look at the stars.’
To make his vision of a better Europe come true is probably the best tribute we can pay to him,” the PACE President concluded.