11/10/2016 Session
“As a founder member and host of our Organisation, France plays a key role at the Council of Europe. Your visit to Strasbourg shows France’s strong political commitment to the Council of Europe and the ideals and principles it champions. This political impetus is very important to us, particularly in the current political context”, stated the PACE President on welcoming President François Hollande to the Council of Europe today.
“Europe today must contend with new threats, particularly international terrorism. France has been particularly hard hit by this scourge and we are at one with the French people and authorities. ‘What the terrorists want is to frighten us, to fill us with dread’, you said after the terrible attacks in Paris last November. Our reply to them is: ‘You will not have our fear; you will not have our hatred’. These words from Antoine Leiris, the journalist from the French radio station, France Info, who lost his wife in the attack on the Bataclan, are the inspiration for our #NoHateNoFear initiative.
“I am truly grateful to you for your support for this activity because we must all stand together to defend our values and our way of life”, he concluded.