The Council of Europe responds sharply to the request of De Wever and EU leaders about convicted migrants
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« It is not our job to weaken the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), but to keep it strong and relevant. » That is what the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, says in a response to a letter that Prime Minister Bart De Wever and eight other EU leaders wrote to the European political community. In that letter they ask a debate about the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Insert of the letter is that the signatories want more room to take measures against irregular migration and crime in their territory. Among other things, they point to the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights by the European Human Rights Court, which « has limited our possibilities to make political decisions in our own democracies. »
« These are complex challenges and democracies must always be open to reflection via the right institutional ways. But clarity is essential, » says Alain Berset in a reaction. Berset is the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. In 1959 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), a European Court of Appeal, focused on compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights. « Debate is healthy, but the Court of Appeal is not that. In a constitutional state, no judiciary may experience any political pressure. Institutions that protect fundamental rights may not bend for political cycles. If they do, we run the risk that the stability for which they have been erected, » Berset adds.
The Secretary General also points out that the Court served as « a fixed compass that protected the rule of law and individual rights within the system of checks and balances that our states have built together ». Moreover, it is the only international court that rules on human rights violations in the context of the Russian attack war against Ukraine, he says. « This should never be questioned. »
Berset therefore decides to say his reaction that « in the light of today’s complex challenges is not our job to weaken the treaty, but to keep it strong and relevant ». According to him, that must ensure that freedom and safety, justice and accountability remain in balance. « That is our estate. And that is our joint duty. »
