Mr Bjørn BERGE, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, thanked Mr KOX. Mr BERGE was very happy to be able to be there to present a short preview on the eve of the historic Summit. He commented that it was hard to believe that 18 years had passed since the last Summit of its kind was held. Mr BERGE believed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the rise, as he called it, of an old nemesis, an old ghost, of violent and aggressive nationalism in Europe that they were currently and regrettably witnessing all over Europe with democratic backsliding. The Council of Europe was, thus, entering its third major period in Europe’s history. The first defining period of the Council of Europe was its creation after the Second World War in 1949. The second period came after the fall of the Berlin wall and through its vital support and assistance to fundamental reforms in over 20 new member States in the 1990s. He said there was no doubt that a summit was highly needed, but it was also a godsend of an opportunity to highlight the organisation’s visibility and the crucial role it could play in the years ahead, in meeting these vital challenges like aggressive nationalism and democratic backsliding face on. There were also other key priorities decided at the Summit for the day after. Mr BERGE was grateful to everyone, including Mr KOX, and the Parliamentary Assembly, as well as the Secretary General and the Irish Committee of Minister presidency, in particular, for their joint push and insistence in making this historic Summit a reality. Negotiations on the relevant decisions and texts had been ongoing in Strasbourg; Mr BERGE remarked that it had certainly not been easy to get 46 countries to agree in this defining moment for the Council of Europe and Europe. His gratitude, thus, also extended to the Icelandic presidency, its skilled political leaders and parliamentarians, with Mr Bjarni JÓNSSON, Chairperson of the Icelandic delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly at the lead, and last but not least, Ms Ragnhildur ARNLJÓTSDÓTTIR, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Iceland to the Council of Europe, and her team in Strasbourg. There was no doubt that Ukraine was the number one issue of the Summit; they had to continue to do everything that they could to support Ukraine. Mr BERGE noted that assistance was already being provided, covering a wide range of areas, from the investigation of war crimes, to assistance to Ukrainian law enforcement and the judiciary. In the trenches of Bakhmut, the Ukrainians were not only fighting for their beloved homeland, but for all of Europe, and for a continent where everyone respected each other’s independence and self-determination, and where their values and fundamental rights were promoted and upheld. Mr BERGE noted that everyone had seen the suffering and the pain. He would not be going into detail on the Register of Damages, but said that it was good news that so many member States had agreed to become parties to this enlarged partial agreement. This came on top of decisions about an ad hoc tribunal for the crime of aggression, and also the need to establish a compensation mechanism for all of the victims. Mr BERGE noted that they were shocked by the systematic abduction of Ukrainian children, thousands of whom had been taken to Russia for so-called “adoption” and re-education. This was going to be a very important issue too, over the next two days of the Summit. They needed to do everything they could to raise international awareness on this issue, and protect these children, illegally taken and transferred to Russia. The execution of judgments and the convention system would also be a special discussion over the next two days. Mr BERGE hoped steps would be taken to make both stronger. Mr KOX and Mr JÓNSSON had already mentioned the democratic backsliding, a fundamental challenge which Mr BERGE said had to be acted upon via the adoption of the 10 principles of democracy, as a first step. They needed to see action to ensure they were implemented throughout Europe. Climate change and the climate crisis were also topics which could no longer be ignored, and he believed there would be a special annex on the declaration on this issue. The ramifications that Artificial Intelligence had on human rights, democracy and the rule of law would also be discussed.

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