16/05/2024 President
“With its unique mandate, expertise, moral authority and a certain flexibility of action which others might lack, the Council of Europe has a clear role and purpose in today’s international landscape, and is capable of reacting to new challenges and of taking proactive steps in previously unknown territory,” said PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos, addressing the Austrian National Council in plenary sitting today.
He underlined that this capacity and agility rests strongly on a multilateral foundation, on trust and co-operation with and between national governments and national parliaments.
Although the Russian aggression against Ukraine remains at the forefront of the Assembly agenda, Mr Rousopoulos pointed out other challenges to be addressed, such as climate change and environmental protection as well as the exponential growth of the use of artificial intelligence in all spheres of life. He expressed concern at “growing signs of democratic backsliding”, such as the erosion of fundamental freedoms, a weakening of checks and balances, the spread of misinformation and hate speech, and attempts to silence any dissenting voices.
“Our Assembly is often the trailblazer in the Council of Europe in calling for new thinking on human rights issues, adapting our legal framework if necessary and putting in place multilateral co-operation mechanisms to work together to find the best ways forward,” he stressed.
During his working visit to Austria Mr Rousopoulos also met the Speaker of the Austrian National Council as well as the Director of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), and took part in a meeting of the Federal Council's European Affairs Committee.