Today, former Fribourg Federal Councillor Alain Berset takes up his duties as the 15th Secretary General of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Elected for five years, he will head an organisation that employs some 3,000 people and manages an annual budget of around €625 million.
Asked in “La Liberté” about the role of his position, he clarified: “I no longer deal with 26 cantons, but with 46 countries and around thirty languages”, adding that his twelve years spent at the Federal Council were “very good preparation”.
Founded 75 years ago, the Council of Europe oversees the European Court of Human Rights, the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly which brings together 306 deputies, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities with 612 elected representatives and the Commissioner for Human Rights.
Human rights and the defense of democracy will be at the heart of Alain Berset’s mandate. “I have the feeling that almost everywhere,” he says in “La Liberté,” there are divergent movements in terms of values, with democratic functioning tending to decline.”
In this context, the war in Ukraine will be one of his main concerns, as he had specified during his speech before the Assembly on the occasion of his election on 25 June. “The Council of Europe has positioned itself very strongly on the Russian aggression in Ukraine,” he noted. “Other organisations have done so too, but the Council of Europe is fortunate to function well. Recent progress on the register of damages and the dynamics of the discussions on the special tribunal are proof of this.”