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On April 26, the representative of the Armenian delegation to PACE Armen Gevorgyan delivered a speech at the Plenary Sitting of PACE Spring Session.
“Mr President,
the latest developments on the European continent shall make us all think about how can the Council of Europe remain the main institution that is going to be able to defend democracy and democratic values, and be the platform for dialogue and development for the European nations?
It is high time for the adoption of our own version of the Lisbon Treaty for the Council of Europe with due regard to the requirements of the 21st century and the new realities in the world.
I think the Report and the associated draft attempts to seed division among the Council of Europe's member States on completely political and, in fact, geopolitical grounds.
If we proclaim the Council to be, I quote, "a benchmark for democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Europe," then we have to be more specific about each member's domestic policies and whether they are genuine democracies. Relating states merely by their political and geopolitical aspirations to join other international organisations such as the European Union does not automatically mean that human rights in these countries are well respected and democracy is the way of life.
In other words, geopolitical choices, especially in the current tense international situation, shall not be called a measure of judging the adherence of certain states to democratic standards.
Furthermore, so far as the co-operation with the European Union is concerned, I believe we have to collectively think of ways to learn lessons about how the EU treats its members for fallbacks from the democratic path. The Council of Europe has to develop such a toolkit otherwise the aspiration of being a benchmark for democracy will be hard to achieve.
To conclude, I do not endorse the idea of artificially seeding divisions among member states on geopolitical grounds, and certainly, I think that treating each member on their merits in democratic governance and rule of law shall be our guiding star in our aspirations,” Armen Gevorgyan noted.
