12/09/2014 President
Europe needs strong parliaments to promote its common values – values which stand beyond national or cultural specificities – backed up by the “anchor” of the European Convention on Human Rights, heads of parliament from across the continent have agreed.
Summarising the conclusions of the two-day European Conference of Presidents of Parliament in Oslo, which saw interventions from around 60 Speakers, PACE President Anne Brasseur said: “The recent tragic events in Ukraine remind us of the fragility of ‘democracy’ as perceived by the Council of Europe’s founding fathers. We have not yet been able to prevent major human rights violations which we had mistakenly considered to be confined to the annals of history.”
She reiterated the conclusion of many speakers that only applying international law and upholding human rights could guarantee peaceful coexistence in the long term and “prevent the building of a new Wall in the heart of Europe”.
The PACE President added: “We ourselves need to seriously rethink the way we are doing politics: not for short-term political gain, but with a long-term political vision in the interest also of future generations.”
Olemic Thommessen, the President of the Norwegian Parliament and host of the conference, underlined that constitutions and laws alone were not sufficient to guarantee democracy – and that it was vital to encourage the involvement and participation of citizens in democratic processes.
“Democracy… implies not only delegating and taking decisions, but also debating, participating in the conduct of public affairs and living together in dignity, respect, trust and solidarity,” he said. Transparency and accountability on the part of decision-makers was key, he added, as well as the conditions for vibrant oppositions to freely debate and scrutinise.
Parliaments needed to be more connected to citizens, he pointed out, making use of good practices such as petitions to initiate laws, referenda and consultation of civil society organisations. The digital revolution offered fresh opportunities for dialogue with citizens, but he also warned that social media and the flood of information should not replace civilised discussion with “a cacophonic noise” or fragmented discussion behind closed doors.
Both leaders gave strong backing to the initiative to establish a European Day for the Victims of Hate Crime on 22 July, the anniversary of the Utøya and Oslo attacks.