To mark the 70th anniversary of Germany’s membership of the Council of Europe and in view of youth being a priority of its current Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, Germany has gifted a colourful “Berlin Buddy Bear” to the Council of Europe. The painted sculpture is a work of art by Alfred Ullrich, a graphic and video artist of the Roma community and son of a Holocaust survivor.
The Buddy Bear was inaugurated in the garden of the European Youth Centre on 21 April 2021 by Ambassador Rolf Mafael, Permanent Representative of Germany to the Council of Europe and Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe in the presence of Mr. Andreas Nick Chairperson of the German delegation and Mr. Frank Schwabe, Chairperson of the Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group to the Parliamentary Assembly.
The Council of Europe and its European Youth Centre are delighted to give a home to Buddy Bear and thank Germany for its symbolic donation. Buddy Bear will extend a warm welcome to the hundreds of young people who come to the European Youth Centre to take part in its activities which foster our values of democracy, human rights and respect for diversity!
