Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset has warned that the escalating crisis in Iran and the wider Middle East raises fundamental questions for Europe's security and for the ability of international law to regulate the use of force.
Addressing the representatives of the 46 member states and several observer countries at the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, he urged stronger action for a continent facing a broader regional conflagration on its doorstep:
"This crisis is unfolding at Europe's immediate borders... It directly affects member states of our organisation."
Alain Berset told the ambassadors present that he had spoken with leaders of states abutting the region - including President Níkos Christodoulides of Cyprus, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, and Foreign Minister Mihai Popșoi of the Republic of Moldova - to express his solidarity with those countries, and with Hakan Fidan, the Foreign Minister of Türkiye, to come.
A rupture in the international legal order
The destruction of the international legal order calls for a "bold, clear and values-based vision for Europe as a whole", stated Mr Berset. Ultimately, the world needs a Europe that's "safe, prosperous, faithful to its values and politically predictable" as an anchor of global stability.
It is in times of crisis that the Council of Europe comes into its own. Alain Berset noted, it was created "precisely for times when force threatens to supplant the rule of law".
Does the Council of Europe need to evolve in the face of security threats?
In context of rupture of the international legal order, he argued that Europe must reflect on how to organise its collective response to growing instability: "We face a fundamental choice: do we want to continue to react to crises created by others? Or do we organise our collective security in a permanent framework that allows us to anticipate and act together?"
The Council of Europe has embarked on reform with a view to reinforcing its capacity for action.
The Secretary General argued that Europe's security architecture should be organised within a stable and permanent institutional framework - one capable of overcoming fragmented, ad hoc responses and preventing paralysis. The objective is to enable European countries to make coherent, continuous decisions in the face of growing instability.
For Alain Berset: "The Council of Europe is the only existing organisation with the geographical scope, historical legitimacy and legal coherence to fulfil this function."
He emphasised that the current moment offers an opportunity to reflect collectively on the role the organisation could play in Europe's security architecture.
Consultations with member states will take place in the coming weeks to articulate the way forward.
Secretary General Alain Berset
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
