18-19 September, Warsaw – TheSecretary General of the Council of Europe is in Warsaw for meetings with Polish President Bronisław Komorowski, Marshal of the Sejm, Ewa Kopacz, and Piotr Wach, Vice-President of the Polish Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Together with Minister Michał Boni, Polish Minister of Administration and Digitization, Thorbjørn Jagland opened a conference organised by the Polish Ministry of Administration and Digitisationand the Council of Europe addressing the issue of increasing hate speech in public and political debates in Europe, the implications it has for society and possible ways to tackle it. Held under the theme "The hate factor in political speech, Where do responsibilities lie?", the conference aims to shed light on the grey areas of political speech by focusing on speech that contains hatred and requires a political and social response, rather than on qualified hate speech that is of criminal nature. 
The conference is organised with the support of the EEA and the Norway grants.

Speech by Thorbjørn Jagland
Live webcast
Conference website - Programme