In his 2026 Report entitled The New Democratic Pact for Europe in times of rupture, Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, calls for a legal and democratic framework on which European security can be based in the long term.
In this text, presented on Friday 15 May in Chişinău at the annual session of the Council of Europe’s foreign affairs ministers, Alain Berset highlights the damage caused by Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine and the other international crises that have erupted since then.
He warns: “Each unchallenged threat or use of force pushes the international legal order closer to the brink”.
“Europe’s current security model falls short, and where democratic security must begin”, he notes. And he adds that: “It is up to democratic security to take up the baton”, at a time when “Europe is rearming on a scale unprecedented since the Cold War”.
To meet the challenges posed, in particular, by manipulation and foreign interference combined with the erosion of confidence in democratic systems, which threaten European democracies from within, the Secretary General calls for broad partnerships, in Europe and elsewhere, in an approach that the Council of Europe wants to be “innovative and balanced”, combining protection and prevention measures with investment in education.
His report is divided into six chapters, each devoted to an area of strategic intervention: - countering the manipulation of information and disinformation; - the promotion of social rights, which for too long have been regarded as “soft security”; - defending equal rights and promoting gender equality; - safeguarding elections and democratic processes; - inclusive participation; - the positive use of digital technologies and AI, and the fight against cyber threats.
The report presents the work carried out by the Council of Europe since the process was launched in 2025, examples of concrete initiatives and new avenues for reflection and action.
Link to the 2026 report: https://aeur.eu/f/lyc (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)