"Countries are running a high risk of seriously undermining the European model of social cohesion", Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland warned when talking about the present financial crisis in his address to the Forum for the Future of Democracy on 13 October . He also stressed that the Council of Europe can make an important contribution to issues of social cohesion in a social rights and human rights perspective, in particular relating to youth, ageing, inter-generational solidarity, migration, education and the fight against extremism and hate speech.

The Forum for the Future of Democracy, which took place on 13 and 14 October in Limassol, focused on the close connection between democracy and social cohesion, with involment of countries from the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region.

Speech