Check against delivery - Speech by Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Minister Abela,

WHO Regional Director for Europe Kluge,

Assistant Director-General Farrar,

President of the European Committee on Social Rights Nolan,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Five years ago, Europe and the whole world fell silent.

Streets emptied.

Hospitals overflowed.

And fear became contagious.

As Minister for Public Health in Switzerland during the COVID-19 pandemic, I saw how quickly systems can unravel.

How everything we take for granted in our societies and in our lives depends on the protection of health.

I have carried this lesson with me into my role as Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

Then as now, protecting health is the measure of the strength of our democracies and the values we share.

For all seven hundred million Europeans.

Across forty-six countries on our continent.

These men, women, and children may have never heard of our European Convention on Human Rights.

Let alone Article 11 of the European Social Charter.

But they know deep down that the protection of health is a fundamental human right.

No matter who you are and where you come from. 

They also know this right — this promise — is under pressure.

Inequality still divides access to care.

Disinformation puts people at risk.

Climate change and conflicts are claiming lives.

And emerging technologies like AI move faster than our ethics and rules.

Each challenge shows how fragile the right to health is.

Trust is the thread that runs through all of this.

We see this in the case law of our European Court of Human Rights.

Like the case of a doctor who claimed on his medical website that vaccines never protect against disease.

The Court reminded us that freedom of expression ends where the right to health begins.

That is what sets democratic societies apart.

We protect open debate — not deliberate deception.

The same principle guides our reflection on a New Democratic Pact for Europe.

A collective effort to strengthen the foundations of democracy.

To renew accountability.

And to restore trust where it has been lost.

This Pact is a call to make democracy tangible in people’s daily lives.

So that everyone in Europe can enjoy equal access to rights — including the right to health.

The Council of Europe acts on this conviction every day.

Through our European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare, we make sure that medicines are safe and trusted.

We also stand against those who profit from harm.

The MEDICRIME Convention helps countries stop the counterfeiting of medical products and the sale of fake treatments.

The Santiago de Compostela Convention helps them fight the trafficking of human organs.

And through the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, we show that progress —  including artificial intelligence — must always serve people, not the other way around.

And today this commitment grows stronger still.

Later this afternoon, Armenia will deposit its instrument of ratification of the Oviedo Convention.

So much of what shapes health lies beyond the health system itself.

I am talking about decent housing, fair work, a liveable income, clean air, and a sense of belonging.

Education remains one of the most powerful vaccines ever developed.

A vaccine against poverty, manipulation, and division.

If we want healthier Europeans, we must build more equal societies.

And when I say “we,” I mean the Council of Europe, the World Health Organization, the European Union, and all those working for the protection of health across our continent.

Excellencies, colleagues,

What the pandemic exposed was not just a virus.

It was how fragile and unprepared we all were.

Now we know…

The protection of health is our shared responsibility.

Our health depends on the health of our democracies.

On trust.

On science.

And on solidarity.

Here in Europe and beyond.

Thank you.