04/04/2025 President
PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos has hailed the work of the Council of Europe Development Bank – noting its “countless achievements” in building a stronger, more inclusive and more human-centred Europe.
Addressing the annual Joint Meeting of the Bank in Budva, Montenegro, the President pointed out that by helping its member countries to grow stronger, the Bank was “investing in people, resilient living environments and quality public infrastructure and services”.
The Bank – which has 43 member countries – has been promoting social cohesion in Europe since 1956, financing projects that serve vulnerable people in particular, disbursing funds to co-finance schools, hospitals, affordable housing, jobs and many other social projects.
The President noted in particular the Bank’s support for the reconstruction of Ukraine, as well as its focus on the social dimensions of climate change and countering environmental degradation, in line with its strategic framework and the directives of the Reykjavik Summit.
Turning to the focus of this year’s meeting, education, the President recalled that – as a professor himself – he knew at first hand the impact of the lack of investment in education. He recalled the words of Nelson Mandela, who he had once met as a journalist: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Speaking later at a separate event on the role of education, the President mentioned the dangers that misuse of AI can bring to democracy, suggesting targeted interventions to encourage media literacy: “We need actions that will teach our children how to guard against deep fake news and how to participate in the public sphere equally and effectively.”
Education can also give citizens the skills and knowledge to choose their leaders, the President pointed out: “Power of all kinds needs accountability and control. And this can only be done better when every citizen is trained to discern the populists who in our time seem to prevail.”
