The Middle East is sliding into full-scale conflict at the immediate eastern borders of the Council of Europe. As missiles strike, international law is weaponised. Civilians in Iran and across the region bear the brunt of force.
This escalation, together with the succession of recent crises, underlines the need for a common European legal framework at the level of the forty-six member states of the Council of Europe, capable of judging violations and the use of force and sanctions, while ensuring continuous, coherent decisions without paralysis. What was once a discussion is now a matter of strategic imperative.
As we have seen with the crisis in Venezuela, this situation cannot be reduced to a binary choice between condemnation and support, regardless of the leadership and nature of the regime in Tehran. We are in a deconstruction phase of the international legal order where impulses and the power of the strongest are seeking to govern relations between states.
This world has no legal order, only force and double standards.
No one can hide behind the pretence that this order was never violated, or that the powerful have not imposed their will when it suited them. But what we have seen in Ukraine, in Gaza, in Venezuela and, in a different form, in Greenland is a slide toward a full-blown breakdown of that order.
Too often, pan-European security relies on ad hoc formats, with no common legal basis, no permanent decision-making authority, and no structures to ensure continuity. That fragmentation is no longer sustainable.
Europe as a whole must act to de-escalate the conflict across the Gulf while protecting the safety of its citizens in the region. It must insist on respect for international law, including the Charter of the United Nations.
I echo calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities by all parties.
I will put the escalation in the Middle East on the agenda of the next meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, to initiate a collective reflection on Europe's capacity to respond coherently and within a common legal framework.
Time is of the essence. If we don't organise the collective wider European security within a permanent and binding legal structure, it will remain reactive to crises shaped by others. The only alternative is to restore security and authority under law.
The conflict unfolding in Iran, Israel, and across the Gulf is a test of whether Europe intends to shape the emerging order or merely observe its fragmentation.
Inaction is not prudence. It's abdication.
