of cereals exported by Ukraine. The risk was also that these countries - especially because there was a quite effective Russian propaganda, especially in Africa - consider that the responsibility was none other than the European sanctions and not the aggression of Russia. It was therefore obvious to her that a whole discourse must me changed, but she repeated that it must be done with a certain skill. Ms BRYNJÓLFSDÓTTIR said they also saw the strengthening of allies who were more against democratic values or leaning towards totalitarianism. She asked if Ms BERMANN could elaborate on alliances forming, even surprise ones. Ms BERMANN said there were indeed alliances. She then used China as an example, having been an Ambassador there and having visited it several times. She said that China did not have alliances. China was, according to her, indifferent to regimes, whether they were democracies, autocracies, or regimes such as the Taliban. On the other hand, she pointed out that since the United States is China’s declared enemy, and that there was a well-known principle of international relations that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, that had been a rapprochement between China and Russia that she had been witnessing in the last few years when she was in Moscow, as the two countries had otherwise a very long history of distrustful relations. However, she explained that, for the moment, since Chinese knew that would be the next on the list, they cannot let go of Putin. Nevertheless, as everyone knew it, the Chinese never supported the annexation of Crimea and did not support the war in Ukraine either. She repeated that they would not let go of Russia. She went on to say that Chine was less and less accepting of European admonitions: it used to do so because it was weaker, but now if felt that it no lingered needed to be lectured or sanctioned. China was therefore on the other side, event if, unlike Russia, which considered that there was a collective West, made up of the United States and the Europeans, who would be vassals, it made a clear difference between the United States – which had a preoccupation with a superpower in relation to a rising power – and Europe. There was therefore a role for Europe to play in general. She went on to explain that China, in the past, had been in fact very much inspired by a certain number of European rules, even if this was now more on the side of autocracies. She spoke about Türkiye and said that the outcome of the upcoming elections would be important. She mentioned Iran and regional organisations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which brought together more than half of the world’s population but did not issue statements like the G7 or like the Europeans tended to do. She concluded by acknowledging that her speech was less optimistic than that of her colleagues but that, in her opinion, they could not ignore this situation. Ms BRYNJÓLFSDÓTTIR turned to Ms Alice BERGHOLTZ, Vice-Chair of the Advisory Council on Youth, Council of Europe. She said that the Council of Europe was pioneering a co-management structure which established standards. She asked what the youth expectations were of the Reykjavík Summit, and its outcome, as the sector had been very active, for example, about the climate crisis before the pandemic. Then came the invasion, she said. Ms Alice BERGHOLTZ, Vice-Chair of the Advisory Council onYouth, said as the last Summit happened 18 years ago, there was a whole generation who had never experienced this before. She wanted to see what the outcomes would be in an institution as big as the Council of Europe. Finding a relationship to the Council of Europe and its values, as Ms GYLFADÓTTIR raised, was also very important to Ms BERGHOLTZ. A reference point to this had not been made for the young generation. The youth sector enthusiastically issued a response to the open call for the consultation, and also submitted responses from the Advisory Council, youth organisations, and the Youth Forum. They had also suggested what they would like to see, but they wanted to be sure that Europe’s leaders had their youth’s backs. Young people could not only be seen as those needing education for future participation, but also as actors and real contributors to democracy. This was the beauty of the culture of youth engagement with the Council of Europe. Young people were seen as partners and not as beneficiaries, as could be seen in the co-management structure of the Advisory Council, the Congress Youth Delegate Programme, the World Forum for Democracy’s youth programme, her invite. However, Ms BERGHOLTZ pointed out she still did not have a place at the table at the Summit. Ms BRYNJÓLFSDÓTTIR opened the floor for the debate and gave the floor to Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS. Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS said he had been a member of parliament since 1993. He remembered Iceland’s contribution to freedom in the 1990s. He was representing Lithuania in the Icelandic Parliament in Mr Mikhail Gorbachev’s era, against the will of the Soviet Union. He reminded Ms GYLFADÓTTIR they were meeting in the room where that happened, and with Mr Ronald Reagan too, and it was the place to make decisions.

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