Opening on Tuesday 16 May with the arrival of the Heads of State and Government and the first round tables in the Harpa conference centre in Reykjavik, the 4th Council of Europe Summit will end on Wednesday 17 May with a much anticipated Final Declaration.
Present in the Icelandic capital, Belgian Rik Daems, who was President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from January 2020 to January 2022, expressed “great relief” that the Summit, which he had been calling for since the first day of his election, was finally taking place.
“I called for this long before the start of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine”, he says, but “it was already clear that great changes had taken place in Europe since the Warsaw Summit in 2005”.
“Our founding values had not changed, but the context had”, he summarised, referring to the attacks on democracy in Europe and the emergence of a “new generation of rights” linked to artificial intelligence (AI) and environmental protection.
Rik Daems is confident that the final Declaration will address AI and the link between human rights and the environment, “which is essential for the future”.
“The Summit must be the beginning of something in this area”.
The core of this declaration will be devoted to the creation of a “Register of Damage” caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
More than 40 countries are announced as founding States, including the United States - represented in Reykjavik by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Ambassador to the UN - and probably Japan, both “observers” at the Council of Europe, as well as the European Union, whose involvement has been confirmed.
This dimension, which is as international as possible, was intended from the outset, since the “Registry” will be based on a partial agreement extended to third countries.
For Rik Daems, this flexibility is the Council of Europe’s “strength”.
“This organisation is the only one capable of setting up such a tool so quickly, not even the UN can do it”.
This required a “strong will from the leaders of the Council of Europe Member States” and this was at work in the preparations for Reykjavik.
In this respect, Mr Daems emphasises how the “Connection with the European Political Community”, launched at the instigation of President Macron, “seems very interesting” to him.
“This is a pan-European initiative that focuses on political issues. The Council of Europe deals with issues of democracy, fundamental rights and the Rule of law. It is excellent that the Heads of State or Government were able to discuss these democratic issues two weeks before the second EPC meeting, scheduled to take place in the Moldovan capital, Chișinău”.
The issue of the creation of a “Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression” and the support it could receive from the Council of Europe will also be included in the Final Declaration, as will the issue of the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia and the annexed territories.
Described as a “war crime” by the Parliamentary Assembly at its April plenary, it will be the subject of a dedicated chapter.
For the Council of Europe, it is essential that this 4th Summit marks a strong moment of refocusing on the values which presided over its creation in 1949 and confirms its irreducible commitment to the Rule of law in a Europe which is not only in crisis, but at war. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)