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

 

Prorector for Education, Professor Kristian Lauta,

Professor Lars Tønder, 

Members of the faculty,

Dear students,

 

[Opening]

I don’t know if, like me, you are a fan of Borgen.

That great Danish TV drama about politics.

Each episode begins with a quote.

Here is one my favourites:

“To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.”

It comes from Søren Kierkegaard, a son of this city.

This is Europe’s dilemma today.

To take risks and face uncertainty.

Or not to dare and risk vanishing as a democratic force.

That is the choice before us.

Democratic security — or strategic irrelevance.

Will Europe dare to secure its democracy, or drift into irrelevance?

 

[I. A Perfect Storm]

That question feels different for your generation than it did for mine.

When I was your age, I thought the next decades would be bright.

The future looked clear, stable, full of opportunity.

But for today’s twenty-year-olds, the opposite is true.

They have no idea what reality will look like in five years.

That destroys perspective.

And when perspective disappears, trust in institutions disappears too.

Why?

Because of the sequence of crises we have lived through.

The financial crisis of 2008.

The debt crisis that followed.

The first stage of the war in Ukraine.

The rise of populism.

The crisis of multilateralism.

A pandemic.

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

And behind it all — the climate crisis.

And it is also technology changing faster than politics can follow.

Social media. Artificial intelligence. Deepfakes.

A flood of information — and no certainty what to believe.

This is the perfect storm that defines your generation.

That is why we must speak not only of military security, but of democratic security.

Because without trust, without legitimacy, without rights, no army — no matter its size — can keep us safe.

 

[II. What democratic security means]

The Council of Europe was founded on this truth after the Second World War.

On the principle that democracy, human rights, and the rule of law are the foundations of peace.

But we have been naive.

We thought democracy would simply expand, generation after generation.

We did not prepare for a world of disinformation, deepfakes, and hate speech.

We did not prepare for governments challenging the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

We did not prepare for a time when some leaders would call democracy “woke.”

But there is no way back to the old world.

Only a way forward.

And that way is democratic security.

It transcends the divide between “hard” and “soft” security.

It confronts cyberattacks, terrorism, climate change, and other challenges.

And it puts our values at the heart of our defence.

But what does democratic security mean in practice?

Let me share three stories.

 

[III. First Story: Moldova]

The first is the Republic of Moldova.

A small country with the longest border with Ukraine of any European state.

And among the most exposed to disinformation.

False claims that Russian speakers would be dragged into war.

That their land would be sold to foreigners.

That their Church would be banned.

All lies.

All designed to divide.

President Maia Sandu called her country a test case.

A test of whether democracies under pressure can resist, adapt, and move forward.

And just days ago, Moldovans proved it.

They voted for a European path.

A choice for democracy.

I congratulated President Sandu — a double victory, for her and for her people.

The Republic of Moldova shows that democratic security is not abstract.

It is also resilience against disinformation.

Disinformation thrives because it is profitable.

So platforms must be held accountable.

But let me be clear.

Fighting disinformation must never mean silencing debate.

Restrictions must be proportionate, rooted in law, never tools against free speech.

 

[IV. Second Story: Armenia]

My second story is Armenia.

This week, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told our Parliamentary Assembly that after the Velvet Revolution of 2018, Armenia began holding competitive elections.

For the first time, local elections ended without protest.

He said democracy in Armenia is now a strategy — not a coincidence.

That is democratic security.

And Prime Minister Pashinyan himself was once a political prisoner.

He would look up to the European Court of Human Rights.

Its judgments gave hope.

Hope that justice is possible.

Hope that Europe stands with those who defend democracy.

Today Armenia faces another challenge: building peace with Azerbaijan.

Last August, Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Aliyev signed a declaration in Washington.

In Strasbourg, Prime Minister Pashinyan said:

“Peace is not a vacation; it is daily work. Like a newborn, it requires daily care.”

That is democratic security too.

Democracy as the engine for peace in the South Caucasus.

 

[V. Third Story: Ukraine]

Third, Ukraine.

The frontline of Europe’s security.

Where aggression is rewriting borders — and testing principles.

This June, President Zelenskyy came to Strasbourg to sign an agreement to establish the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

That was historic.

A tribunal to judge between victims and aggressors.

Between impunity and accountability.

But accountability is not only about courts.

It is also about the record of truth.

After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations General Assembly recommended creating a register of damage to document the losses caused by Russia’s aggression.

One year later, at our Summit in Reykjavík, the Council of Europe made this a reality.

The Register of Damage is now fully operational.

It preserves evidence.

It protects the right of every victim to be heard.

And it prevents the rewriting of history.

But a register is not enough.

There must also be a mechanism to turn claims into justice.

That is why, just weeks ago, we finalised a draft Council of Europe Convention to establish an International Claims Commission for Ukraine.

In December, in The Hague, governments will gather to adopt it.

Register of Damage. Claims Commission. Special Tribunal. And the European Court of Human Rights.

These are all building blocks for peace.

Because without accountability, there can be no peace.

And without peace — is there a Europe?

 

[VI. The Danish context]

We are here in Copenhagen, at one of Europe’s oldest universities.

Founded in the fifteenth century.

Rebuilt in the nineteenth, after the city was bombarded.

A home of learning and resilience for centuries.

Today, students here are also shaping debates about democracy and justice.

Just a few months ago, this University decided to halt investments in companies operating in the occupied West Bank.

It followed protests demanding accountability.

The controversy over the national school elections — and the question of Palestine — also shows how democracy must deal with difficult issues.

And in May, Denmark and Italy led a group of nine countries questioning the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights on migration.

This is Denmark’s prerogative.

But the method was debatable.

And it raises a larger question:

If we weaken the Court, who will protect our rights tomorrow?

These are not easy debates.

But democratic security means engaging them directly — not avoiding them.

 

[VII. Speaking to the new generation]

So to all the students:

You have grown up with instability.

You have faced a pandemic, war, climate change, and disinformation.

You have every reason to be skeptical.

But skepticism is not cynicism.

Johannes Jensen, who studied here and later won a Nobel Prize, wrote:

“The Dane is a skeptic, because Denmark’s history is the story of the downfall of a powerful tribe.”

Skepticism is vigilance.

It is the immune system of democracy.

And democracy needs your vigilance now.

Because across Europe, many young people say they no longer trust democracy.

Some even say they would prefer a strong leader without parliament or elections.

This keeps me up at night.

The answer is not to give up on democracy.

It is to renew it.

That is why the Council of Europe has launched a reflection on a New Democratic Pact for Europe.

A process to strengthen the foundations of democracy, restore trust, and make it meaningful for the next generation.

We are now in its first phase — a wide consultation with governments, parliaments, cities, experts, civil society, and citizens.

And that conversation needs you!

 

[CLOSING]

Let me end with this:

The world we knew is gone.

The new one is uncertain.

And the best thing we can do is to go with full engagement to renew this order.

There is no better alternative.

Europe’s order cannot be built on fear, force, or division.

It must be renewed through democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.

Kierkegaard was right.

To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily.

Not to dare is to lose oneself.

So let us dare.

To make democratic security the heart of Europe’s new order.

To prove that democracy can deliver.

And to make it the choice of a new generation.

Thank you.