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

Ambassador Francesca Camilleri Vettiger

Excellencies,

Dear young delegates,

Across Europe, people are angry.

Angry as they watch democracy chipped away, the rule of law ignored, human rights treated with contempt.

People are also afraid.

Afraid because they feel excluded from the decisions shaping their future.

And because they no longer recognize the world they live in.

And yet, here you are.

Young people who want democracy as a lived experience.

Fairness in schools.

Opportunities in jobs.

Equality in everyday life.

Some say young people are turning away from democracy.

Perhaps.

But what I see is that many young people feel democracy has turned away from them.

That is the challenge before all of us.

To bring democracy back into people’s lives.

And it starts with young people.

What we need is a reset.

A New Democratic Pact for Europe.

The idea behind the Pact comes directly from the Reykjavik Principles for Democracy.

And those 10 principles?

They are not new. 

Democracy in Athens is not democracy today.

More than two thousand years between them.

Centuries of change, struggle, and progress.

But at its core, democracy remains the same: people shaping their own future.

And yet, democracy — as we know it — is under threat.

Many young people — people your age — feel it is no longer important to live in a democracy.

Some even say they would rather have a strong leader than a parliament and elections.

The “why” matters.

Rising costs that make life harder.

Housing that feels out of reach.

Schools and welfare systems cut back.

Repression of those who dare to protest.

Freedoms once secure now at risk.

We are seeing fear and mistrust used as weapons.

Weapons built on disinformation.

Using AI not as a force for good, but as a source of division.

The “why” matters.

But so does the “how.”

How we protect democracy.

How we make it deliver.

I am looking forward to hearing your ideas.

Not just to hearing them, but to acting on them.

How can we reinforce our values?

Democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.

How do we reach those who are disillusioned — or worse, indifferent?

How can we build on the pillars of the Pact — education, protection, and innovation — to create a secure democratic Europe?

No democracy will be secure without democratic security.

Because security is more than drones and missiles.

It is also independent institutions.

A free press.

Impartial judges.

Laws that protect everyone, without exceptions.

And societies strong enough to resist crisis, manipulation, and lies.

This is who we are.

Forty-six countries.

Forty-six ways of living democracy.

All working toward one New Democratic Pact for Europe.

A pact not only about defending what we have.

But about deciding what kind of democracy we want to build together.

Across our continent.

For this generation.

And for many more to come.

Thank you.