CoE 70th anniversary
(Strasbourg) “Unity could not but be conceived where the wounds were deeper”, that is to say, in Strasbourg, which “for three times was destroyed by fratricidal warfare”. And it is the city of Strasbourg that Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, visited today. There, he gave his speech in front of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, before attending the ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the institution. The Council is the “product of European humanism”, an “act of faith in the capacity of our continent to make peace on the basis of respect for the human person and the sacredness of human dignity”, at a time where no one thought it was possible. Macron listed the benefits created by the Council in these seven decades which “have made our continent more democratic”, by building “a common architecture, in the name of our great European brotherhood” – which was also the dream of Victor Hugo. But “the walls of our common home have cracks”, he continued, for human rights on our continent are constantly called into question: the reference to Turkey, Russia, authoritarian regimes, and “our democracies in crisis” clearly shows that “freedom cannot be mechanically imposed”, contrary to what we were led to believe or hope. These are, in Macron’s words, the “appeals of history”, which we should face with “fortitude”, coupled with “insight and courage”.
