15/01/2015 President
“Europe needs the Council of Europe more than ever,” said Anne Brasseur, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), speaking at the end of a three-day working visit to Berlin (12-14 January 2015), during which she met the President, Speaker of Parliament and a number of ministers, among others.
“I was very moved by the public meeting last night at the Brandenburg Gate at which the entire political leadership of Germany expressed their solidarity with the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris and spoke up for freedom of expression, freedom of religion and tolerance, with the participation of high representatives of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. I am grateful to the Speaker of the Bundestag, Norbert Lammert, for spontaneously inviting me to join in. This is what the values of the Council of Europe are all about, which we must uphold together with all our force.”
The main issues the President raised in Berlin included:
• the possible upcoming decision in the Assembly on the ratification of the credentials of the Russian delegation, with or without restrictions such as the renewal of the suspension of the voting rights decided in April 2014 in reaction to the annexation of Crimea;
• the urgent need for reforms in Ukraine, including decentralisation, judicial reform and the fight against corruption;
• the difficult human rights situation in a number of member States, including the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Turkey, but also in Hungary, an EU member state;
• migration issues and the rise of xenophobic populist movements, including the so-called Pegida in Germany;
• the status of ratification of Council of Europe Conventions by Germany and the implementation of recommendations addressed to Germany by the Parliamentary Assembly;
• the critical budgetary situation of the Council of Europe in the face of major new challenges.
“I received a lot of encouragement from my interlocutors for the Assembly to continue upholding the values and principles of the Council of Europe, namely respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law, including international law. The credibility of our Organisation is clearly at stake. The people of Ukraine deserve all the assistance the international community, including the Council of Europe, can provide in order to build strong democratic institutions.
Regarding refugees and migrants, there was much agreement on the need to find European solutions, which must be both humane and realistic. We cannot leave thousands of desperate refugees to drown in the Mediterranean Sea, and we cannot leave the southern states alone with this problem. Dealing with migration in a transparent way, in constant dialogue with the local population, is also the best way to stem the rise of intolerance and xenophobia. Last but not least, I have not failed to raise the difficult budgetary situation of the Council of Europe, which is faced with a growing number of challenges. I have received encouraging signals from some of my interlocutors in this respect”, the PACE President said.
As well as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Bundestag, Ms Brasseur also met the President of the Republic, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Justice and Finance, the heads of all the political groups in the Bundestag and members of the German delegation to PACE. She met a delegation of the Bundestag’s Committee on European Affairs and participated in a meeting of its Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. She also visited the German Institute for Human Rights and at the Berlin Treatment Center for Torture Victims.