“During the crisis, we decided to put human life above all else,” Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis stressed during the videoconference of the Greek Chairmanship of the Council of Europe, on the subject of human life and public health in the time of a pandemic. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejcinovic Buric, as well as the heads of CoE committees and institutions participated in the videoconference.
In his introductory remarks, Mr. Varvitsiotis referred to the conclusions and the lessons to be drawn from the pandemic experience, emphasising that “the health crisis threatened not only human lives, but also our democracies.” “With a strong sense of maturity and respect for human life, European citizens accepted the restrictions aimed at protecting human life and public health. This doesn’t mean that democratic values and fundamental freedoms can be restricted easily or without adequate explanations every time there is an emergency situation. The measures taken in similar situations must be necessary, temporary, proportionate – and they must be re-examined constantly,” he stressed. He added that the principles and values of the Council of Europe, such as Democracy, the Rule of Law and respect for Human Rights, can guide us in these difficult times.
Presenting the priorities and goals of the Greek Chairmanship, the Alternate Minister emphasised that we have a duty to European citizens to turn a new page in safeguarding human rights, through the adoption of the Athens Declaration on 4 November, on the 70th anniversary of the signing of the European Convention on Human Rights. At the same time, he stressed that the Greek Chairmanship’s goal is to bring citizens, and especially young people, even closer to the Council of Europe.
June 17, 2020