01/06/2010 Political Affairs and Democracy
Discussing today a report by Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC) on democracy in Europe: crisis and perspectives, the Political Affairs Committee concluded that the world economic crisis had accentuated symptoms of crisis of democracy: lack of necessary regulation and political control over financial interests, highly centralised executive decision-making, concentration of power and money, disinterest in the current institutionalised procedures of democracy, populist, extremist and identity politics, an almost unlimited collection of personal data by state agencies.
Among the three main pillars of the Council of Europe, the democracy pillar needs to be strengthened, further conceptualised and gain in visibility, the Committee said. It agreed on a set of measures aimed at enhancing people's participation in the conduct of public affairs thus improving the quality of democracy and promoting the common interest.
The proposals contained in a draft resolution adopted by the Committee include a consultation with the Venice Commission with a view to elaborating an Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights guaranteeing the right to participate in the conduct of public affairs as a human right and fundamental freedom.
The Committee also proposes to set up a Strasbourg Democracy Forum as an umbrella structure providing an international reference in the field of democracy and a laboratory for new ideas, as well as serving as a barometer with respect to the main new challenges to democracy. The Forum should be led by a Delegate for Democracy in charge of disseminating the Council of Europe's message on democracy-related issues of major current interest.