“Europe’s democratic environment and democratic institutions are in mutually reinforcing decline”, warns Marija Pejčinović Burić. “Often, it pre-dates the emergence of coronavirus. However, there is no doubt that legitimate actions taken by national authorities in response to Covid-19 have compounded this trend. The danger now is that our democratic culture will not fully recover”.
In her 156-page report published yesterday, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe draws on the findings of the organisation’s various bodies to take stock in the following areas: political institutions and independence of the judiciary, freedom of expression and association, human dignity, anti-discrimination and democratic participation.
“What emerges here is a picture of democracy in distress”, she said, calling for a “democratic renewal for Europe”, the title of her report.
To achieve this, she encourages Member states to take advantage of existing and future Council of Europe mechanisms based on the following key principles: - reaffirmation of the adherence to the legal standards of the Council of Europe (including the execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights); - adherence to the multilateralism embodied by the Council of Europe; - proportionality and time limitation of measures imposed by the Covid-19; - broadening the collaboration of national authorities with civil society.
The report cites many concrete problems related to the issues discussed, including a telling figure: between 2018 and 2020, the European Court of Human Rights found a violation of the Convention in 237 out of 263 cases relating to freedom of expression.
Link to the report: https://bit.ly/3w2FTou (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)