60 years of Switzerland in the Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly conference

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe holds a conference in Berne, three days after the 60th anniversary of Switzerland’s accession. Alain Berset speaks at the reception given for the anniversary, a week before the Reykjavik summit.

The war in Ukraine “is shaking the values defended by the Council of Europe”. He repeats the Freedom House figure: 20% of humanity lives in democracy, against 50% ten years earlier. And he names an internal drift: member states apply the judgments of the Court and the recommendations of the organisation “selectively”, and use their contributions as “a means of political pressure”.

Speeches on this site

• Conférence de l’Assemblée parlementaire du Conseil de l’Europe à Berne (in French, French-language page)

Sources

• Federal Council, speech of 09.05.2023