25/06/2014 Session
"The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 ended World War I, without laying the foundations of a lasting peace. The new international context led to the collapse and humiliation of Germany, ultimately paving the way for the rise of Nazism and the Second World War.
That repeat cataclysm taught our predecessors a lesson: to guarantee lasting peace is impossible if one side is humiliated, creating an international order without respectful dialogue is impossible. It was in this spirit of dialogue, co-operation and openness that the founding fathers of the Council of Europe strove to build a new international order that would guarantee sustainable peace in Europe and protect Europeans from the murderous violence of war and breaches of their fundamental rights", said PACE President, Anne Brasseur, today at a ceremony held in Strasbourg to commemorate the First World War.
"It is a tragedy that, after all these efforts, armed conflicts have still been waged in Europe: Cyprus, Northern Ireland, former Yugoslavia, the North and South Caucasus, and now Ukraine," she deplored.
"If we do not want to betray those who sacrificed their lives for peace, we must do even more to guarantee that the people of Europe can exercise their fundamental rights, above all the right to peace and the right to a life without fear. That was why the Council of Europe was founded, that is why its role is more important today than ever before and it is to this end that we remain committed," she concluded.