Check against delivery – Speech by Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Director-General Houngbo,
Assistant Secretary-General Sandkjær,
Excellencies, colleagues,
Rent that keeps going up.
Food prices rising faster than wages.
Families forced to choose between paying the bills or putting food on the table.
The OECD warned us that in some of our member states, it takes six or even seven generations for the poorest 10 percent to reach average income
Across Europe — and beyond — too many people feel that democracy no longer gives them perspective.
The Council of Europe’s European Social Charter says it plainly:
Education, health, housing, decent work, social protection are not optional benefits.
They are the foundation of human dignity — and the building blocks of democratic stability.
When they are denied, populism fills the void.
This is why we have launched a New Democratic Pact for Europe.
A collective and inclusive effort to make democracy tangible for everyone, especially younger generations.
Because we cannot meet today’s challenges with yesterday’s playbook.
What makes this Pact — and this movement — unique is its recognition that social justice and democratic resilience are inseparable.
This mirrors the ILO’s own warning:
Without strong social policies, the great transitions we face — climate, digital, demographic — will widen divides instead of closing them.
In the lead-up to the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha, Europe is committed to placing human dignity and social rights at the center of the global agenda.
Strong social rights guarantees are not just a moral duty — they are legal obligations.
They also drive higher productivity, sustainable investment, just green and digital transitions.
More and more young people in Europe are asking if democracy can still deliver.
We must show them that it can — by making social justice real.
Because only by restoring social justice can we rebuild trust in democracy.
Thank you.