“Our Assembly is not a battlefield to confront national agendas. On the contrary, it is a place where bridges between peoples and governments are built and where parliamentarians from all over Europe defend the common good – the fundamental values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law as concrete means to prevent conflicts and uphold peace on the continent,” PACE President Michele Nicoletti said in his opening speech of the PACE spring session in Strasbourg.
“The founding fathers of the Council of Europe made a truly visionary decision to create our Organisation as an international multilateral mechanism to prevent wars on the European continent and to allow the peoples of Europe to live together and co-operate in peace. They found the courage to put aside disagreements and differences (…) and lay the foundations for a Common European Home where the protection of rights of individuals according to a common uniform standard would be put at the center and where pluralism and political freedom would serve as safeguards against totalitarianism and the upsurge of populism,” he recalled.
“Our Assembly should also give its contribution reflecting on how, in the present situation, conflicts within the states and among the states can be prevented and settled, being faithful to our ideal of peace through law,” Michele Nicoletti said.
