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Europe Day: message from the President of the Swiss Confederation
5 May 2023
Written message for Europe Day, which marks the Council of Europe every 5 May. Switzerland joined it on 6 May 1963: sixty years the following day. Alain Berset recalls what membership has brought Switzerland, the modernisation of the rule of law and human rights, and the central instrument: the European Convention on Human Rights and the right of individual application to the Court.
International law “protects small states by obliging the larger ones to respect rules defined in common”. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is a flagrant violation of it. He announces Switzerland’s commitment at the Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik on 16 and 17 May.
Speeches on this site
- Journée de l’Europe (in French, French-language page)
Sources