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Speech by Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Minister Marttinen,
Hanaholmen CEO Kronman
Secretary General Ellemann
Ambassador Paukkunen-Mykkänen,
Dear participants,

Hyvät ystävät, hyvät kuulijat, tchära vänner,

It is an honour to address the Nordic Baltic Youth Summit.

I want to thank the Finnish National Youth Council and the Youth Sector for bringing the Council of Europe into this important conversation.

These are decisive days for Europe — and for the world.

This week’s peace talks on Ukraine have gained momentum.

Every move is watched.

The outcome is uncertain.

But this is a time for action.

In many of the areas now on the table, the Council of Europe is already at work.

It is important work on democratic reconstruction and on accountability.

These are the foundations of a just and lasting peace.

But as we speak, strikes are still hitting Ukrainian cities.

Lives are being lost.

And rights are being violated.

This is the reality Ukraine and Europe are confronting.

And to be young in this Europe today is to live inside that tension.

You see, peace is not just about stopping a war.

It is about the kind of societies that come after it.

So, for all of you in this room:

What do you expect from democracy today?

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

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

For decades, 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.

And neither do those who are helping to shape that future.

Let me give you a small anecdote from earlier this year at the Paris AI Summit. During a dinner, Sam Altman, the founder of ChatGPT, was asked:

“Where do you think AI will be in five years?”

He paused and said, “I have no idea. Five years is an eternity.”

And this answer has something inacceptable.

That answer captures the uncertainty of the moment we are living in.

But young people know this uncertainty firsthand. 

You have already lived through a pandemic, the rise of generative AI, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

You have grown up amid successive crises:

The financial and debt crisis, a crisis of multilateralism, and the climate crisis.

This is not just a sequence of crises; it is the perfect storm.

When uncertainty becomes permanent, perspective is lost.

And when perspective is lost, trust in institutions erodes.

That matters at a time when Europe is rebuilding military power on a historic scale.

Rearmament is necessary.

But it is only safe if democracy and institutions remain strong enough to control it.

I believe that trust starts with listening.

At the World Democracy Forum just a few weeks ago, we asked people from across Europe a simple question:

What is putting democracy under the most pressure right now?

The first concern was manipulation.

Disinformation, hate speech, and the way social media is being used to divide and deceive.

We have seen this play out in recent parliamentary elections in Czechia and the Republic of Moldova.

That is why initiatives like Finland’s Faktabaari are so important in helping people recognise false claims before they take hold.

Polarisation came up again and again, as well as the normalisation of extreme rhetoric.

And one concrete warning stood out:

Economic insecurity, falling living standards, and the sense that the system no longer works for everyone.

At the World Forum for Democracy, we also asked a second question:

Who needs to be more involved to make our democracy more resilient?

The answer was clear.

Young people. Activists. Civil society. Underrepresented voices.

But young people were equally clear about something else.

They do not want symbolic consultation — no “youth-washing.”

Last month in Malta, Europe’s Ministers responsible for Youth agreed on a clear standard:

Think with young people, learn from them, participate with them, and act with and for them.

And when that standard is taken seriously, it works.

Here in Finland, youth councils give young people real voice and real responsibility.

And the Youth Election (Nuorisovaalit) gives them real practice in democracy.

Our final question was straightforward:

What solutions would actually make democracy stronger?

The answers were practical.

Give people the tools to recognise manipulation, deepfakes, and foreign interference.

Open up participation beyond election day through citizens’ assemblies and real involvement in decisions that shape daily life.

And ground policies in evidence and expertise.

That is why we launched the New Democratic Pact for Europe earlier this year.

What drives us is the conviction that democracy must be able to adapt to today’s technological and geopolitical changes.

And by “us,” I mean governments and parliaments, regions and cities, international partners, the private sector, and civil society.

Young people and the not-so-young.

Everyone with a stake in shaping democracy.

The Pact is built on three pillars:

Education — to nurture democratic culture.

Protection — to reinforce democracy wherever it is in retreat.

And innovation — to adapt our institutions to fast-moving, cross-border, hybrid threats.

It is designed as an open process.

And this Summit is part of that effort.

At its core, this Pact is about cooperation and democratic adaptation.

Because, in the end, democracy cannot stand still when the world around it is changing this fast.

Democracy is not built for speed.

It is built for durability.

The decisions we make today must still work in ten, twenty, even thirty years.

That is true for Ukraine, for AI, for climate change.

For all the challenges of our time.

Victor Hugo was 27 when his play Hernani defied censorship and challenged royal authority.

Sophie Scholl dropped leaflets calling for resistance to Nazi rule when she was 21.

And she gave her life for it.

Victor Hugo and Sophie Scholl did not wait for permission.

They did not wait for perfect conditions.

They used their voice as a force for change.

That is what Europe’s democracy needs now.

Patience for the long term.

Courage in the present.

And the power of its youth.

Thank you.