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Speech by Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Minister Hodas,
Madam President of the Venice Commission,
Representatives of PACE,
Ambassadors,
Members of the Venice Commission,
I. PRESIDENT CARTABIA
Before I begin, allow me to congratulate Marta Cartabia on her election as the new President of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.
Professor Cartabia has spent her career at the intersection of constitutional thought and democratic responsibility.
She has been one of Europe’s most thoughtful voices on the deeper architecture of our legal order.
At a time when Europe has a critical role to play in preventing fragmentation of the international legal order, I cannot think of anyone better placed to guide the work of this Commission.
II. LEGAL ORDER ON THE BRINK
When many of us gathered here to mark the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Venice Commission just a few months ago, we knew we were living in a moment of profound instability.
But that was before Greenland, Venezuela, and now the war in Iran and across the Middle East.
A war that has already spilled into the territory of some of our member states.
Since then, not a single day goes by without the international legal order moving closer to the brink.
III. WHEN FORCE REPLACES LAW
We all know where this leads: a world where the power of the strongest dictates relations between states.
We see it today in Ukraine, where Russia’s war of aggression has entered its fifth year.
In such a world, there is no law. Only force and impunity.
And containing the return of force is precisely what the Venice Commission has spent more than three decades working to do.
IV. TRANSACTIONAL POLITICS
But two other consequences are emerging.
Less visible perhaps, but just as destructive.
The first is the growing temptation to compromise on our values in the name of pragmatism.
As we heard at the recent Munich Security Conference from a key European leader, foreign policy should be less about principles and more about transactions.
In that logic, partnership no longer requires a shared commitment to principles.
Rules become negotiable.
And before long, the rule of law itself becomes a variable in the equation.
V. INSIDE OUT
The second consequence concerns our own democracies.
What we are seeing happen on the international stage does not remain outside our borders.
The decline of international law and the rule of law at home often go hand in hand.
The two feed each other.
VI. DEMOCRATIC PRESSURE INSIDE EUROPE
We can already see this dynamic at work across Europe.
Elections are becoming easier to influence, and their results harder to trust.
AI-driven disinformation is shaping public debate long before citizens cast their votes.
Civic space is shrinking under the pressure of new so-called “foreign influence” laws.
Courts are being pulled into politics, including the European Court of Human Rights.
Many of the issues before the Venice Commission in this session reflect these pressures, from the integrity of elections to the independence of the judiciary and the role of the media.
VII. IN THE NATIONAL DEBATE
During my visit to Serbia this week, the Commission was referenced several times in the national debate.
That is not unusual, and in many ways it is as it should be.
When reforms touching the judiciary are debated, the credibility of the process depends on independent legal assessment.
The Venice Commission exists precisely to provide that role for our member states.
VIII. A GLOBAL REFERENCE
But its influence does not stop at Europe’s borders.
Today, the work of the Venice Commission resonates far beyond the forty-six member states of the Council of Europe.
Its opinions are requested by partners across the world, from Latin America to Africa and Asia.
Courts and institutions increasingly rely on its standards when questions of constitutional balance and judicial independence arise.
IX. STANDING FIRM
Earlier this year, the United States decided to withdraw from the Venice Commission after many years of constructive participation.
We regret this decision and hope that cooperation on constitutional and justice matters will continue.
But the purpose of the Venice Commission remains the same.
To provide independent legal judgment when institutions are under strain.
To clarify constitutional standards when political debate becomes uncertain.
And to uphold the rule of law when it comes under pressure.
That work must continue. And it will.
X. GUARDING THE RULE OF LAW
For this, the Venice Commission can count on its updated Rule of Law Checklist, developed following the Reykjavík Declaration.
The update reflects the pressures that democratic systems face today, from rule of law backsliding to technological change and the growing influence of powerful private actors.
It also highlights a recurring pattern behind many violations: the tendency to treat democracy as a simple winner-takes-all system.
The rule of law exists precisely to prevent that drift.
It requires strong checks and balances, independent institutions, and a civic culture in which citizens understand and defend the limits placed on public power.
This is the essence of the Venice Commission’s mission: democracy through law.
XI. RENÉ CASSIN’S WARNING
In his nineteen sixty-eight Nobel Prize lecture, René Cassin warned that when states return to the idea of “the absolute and exclusive sovereignty of the state,” they risk “leading the world into a state of anarchy.”
His warning resonates again.
It is a reminder that democracy and the rule of law must constantly be renewed and protected.
XII. THE PACT
That is the spirit behind the New Democratic Pact for Europe we have been working on.
This Pact is not a single reform, and not a silver bullet.
It is a collective effort to strengthen the foundations of our democracies.
Be it the integrity of elections, the resilience of institutions, and our capacity to respond to new forms of interference and manipulation.
In that effort, the Venice Commission plays a central role.
CLOSING.
You build bridges across borders and legal cultures.
You carry the Council of Europe’s values and standards far beyond our continent.
But in the world we are entering, this work is no longer only about law.
It is about security.
The security that comes from institutions people trust, from elections that remain credible, and from power that remains bound by law.
That is democratic security.
And this is where the Venice Commission ensures that the stability of our societies rests on the force of rules, not the rule of force.
Thank you.