Speech by Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of the USSR, at the Ceremony for the 60th Anniversary of the Council of Europe

Strasbourg, 1 October 2009

Mr. President of the Parliamentary Assembly,

Mr. Secretary General of the Council of Europe,

Distinguished members of the Assembly and Ambassadors of the member states,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am grateful for the invitation to attend this ceremony and happy to be able to congratulate you all on the 60th anniversary of the Council of Europe.

The Council of Europe was created during the early years of the Cold War, and it fully felt the impact of its icy winds. And yet, it was not an arena of confrontation. Its fundamental values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law are genuine. These European values are, in the final analysis, universal human values.

The changes that began in the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s and then spread to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe opened for our continent the prospect of building a common European house as a law-based community of states.

That was a watershed – and a new beginning for the Council of Europe.

It was a moment that gave the Europeans a truly unique historic opportunity. I was convinced of it then. I still believe it today.

Speaking in Strasbourg twenty years ago, I set forth our concept of European unity as a process involving a “common creative effort of all nations – big, medium-sized, and small.” I declared respect for the right of every nation to freedom of choice. I said that “any attempts to limit the sovereignty of states, whether friends and allies or any other state,” were unacceptable.

All that I said at the time was not just words. We proved our words by our deeds.

We proved them by our commitment to the Helsinki process, by our constructive position at arms limitation and reduction talks.

We proved them by our position toward the events in Eastern European countries when they made their own choice of their future.

We – and here I am referring not only to our country – proved our words by our approach to the German problem, making it possible to achieve unification of Germany in accordance with the will of its people and with due regard for the interests of Europe as a whole.

The result was a change in the overall climate in Europe, leading up to the summit in Paris in November 1990 and the signing by all its participants of the Charter for a New Europe, which opened up a prospect of true European unity.

Much has changed in the world and in Europe since then, and much of this change has been positive. The Council of Europe now comprises 47 states. Russia is an equal and fully fledged participant in the Council’s activities and in shaping its agenda.

But we must say honestly that not all of our hopes and expectations have been fulfilled. Europe has still not been able to solve the main problem – that of laying a firm groundwork for peace, creating a new architecture of security.

Let me remind you that right after the end of the Cold War we discussed new security mechanisms for our continent, in particular a Security Council for Europe – a kind of security directorate with real, wide-ranging powers.

To our regret, events took a different course, which has affected the work of all European institutions.

So long as the danger of armed conflict continues to exist in Europe, conditions for the work of the Council of Europe cannot be called favorable – as we have seen over the past few days, so difficult for the Parliamentary Assembly and for the Council as a whole.

The root of the problems we are facing today lies in the West’s erroneous assessment of the events leading to the end of the Cold War and the breakup of the Soviet Union, which brought about a “victory complex”, followed by the enlargement of NATO.

All this has slowed the pace of the construction of new Europe. Instead of the old dividing lines, new ones have appeared. Europe has witnessed wars and bloodshed.

The old stereotypes and suspicions to which I referred twenty years ago have not disappeared. Russia is suspected of bad intentions and even of aggressive, imperial designs.

Europe is being drawn into a debate over responsibility for unleashing the Second World War, with attempts being made to equate Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, attempts that are historically flawed and morally unacceptable.

Europe bears a special responsibility for the state of the world. Twenty years ago, I urged it to contribute to a “transformation of international affairs in the spirit of humanism, equality and justice, by showing an example of democracy and social achievement”. Today, this continues to be our historic challenge.

Over centuries, the Europeans have proven again and again their ability to overcome crises and reach new frontiers. We proved it twenty years ago, when history dramatically accelerated its course. This was a great test of maturity and wisdom for European nations and their leaders. At the time, we proved able to break the grip of the past and set the course of events onto a peaceful track.

Since then, new generations of leaders have entered European politics. They are facing the agenda of old and new challenges: security, the financial and economic crisis, the environment, migration.

I have a feeling that if we are to meet the new challenges of history we need a transformation of both global and, particularly, European politics and economics. Such a transformation will require a new structure of European institutions. The President of Russia has contributed to the debate on this subject a proposal for a new European security treaty. I urge all Europeans to consider it constructively and without bias.

The Council of Europe needs to be a part of the evolution of European institutions. This vital European organization will be able to realize its vast potential if it remains true to its founding values, if it refuses to divide European nations into “good” and “bad”.

Twenty years ago, as I spoke from the rostrum of the Parliamentary Assembly, I quoted the famous words of Victor Hugo:

“Un jour viendra ou vous France, vous Russie, vous Italie, vous Angleterre, vous Allemagne, vous toutes nations du continent, sans perdre vos qualit?s distinctes et votre glorieuse individualite, vous vous fondrez etroitement dans une unite superieure, et vous constituerez la fraternite europeenne... Un jour viendra ou il n'y aura plus d'autres champs de bataille que les marches s'ouvrant au commerce et les esprits s'ouvrant aux idees”.

“The day will come when you, France, you, Russia, you, Italy, you, England, you Germany — all of you, all the nations of the continent — will, without losing your unique features and your splendid distinctiveness, merge inseparably into some higher unity and form a European brotherhood (…). The day will come when the only battlefield would be markets open for trade and minds open to ideas”.

Twenty years after, we are closer to this goal but there is still a long way to go.

So, as I speak here to those who are carrying the baton of European affairs at this new stage, I want to express the hope that the Council of Europe will find its own place in this movement; that it will become a vitally important center in the search for mutual understanding and interaction of European countries, a place for dialogue and common creative work of Europe’s people. With that, it will have a great future.