Let’s try to capture the soul of Europe

The Council of Europe was founded on May 5, 1949, and had just celebrated its 77th anniversary when Bayr was in Iceland, but the Council’s mission is to support human rights, democracy and the rule of law in European countries. The Council is the oldest working organization of European countries, but now it has 46 countries.

Bayr emphasizes in our conversation that there is a major difference between the Council of Europe and the European Union, as the Council of Europe has nothing to do with the internal market, the common currency or a common binding regulatory framework. Instead, the Council has complied with various intergovernmental agreements, the highest of which is the European Convention on Human Rights, but the Human Rights Court works on behalf of the Council to enforce it.

“I always try to put it in such a way that we are the soul of Europe,” says Bayr, referring to the important role that the Convention on Human Rights has played in the development of the continent since the end of the war, and not least the Court of Human Rights, which guarantees the human rights of the more than 700 million people who live in the countries of the Council.

Conduct election monitoring

She says that the Parliament of the Council of Europe mainly has a monitoring role in order to try to ensure that the people of the countries can live with democracy, human rights and the rule of law. “The parliament is more important for those who lack democracy, human rights and the rule of law than for those countries where these things are in good order. And there are more and more people who lack these elements,” says Bayr.

For example, the Parliament supervises elections in the countries of the Council and makes sure that elections are held correctly and are free. “Elections are often very well conducted, but are not considered free or fair, as in some countries only the ruling parties get space in the media to advertise themselves. Then the ruling parties in those countries use public money for their election campaign, which the opposition does not have access to,” says Bayr.

Bayr says that in such countries the space given to the opposition to fulfill its role is often greatly reduced. Our talk goes to Hungary, where the opposition managed to win the recent parliamentary elections, despite the fact that it had been cut short by the government, including limited access to state media.

Bayr says the example from Hungary shows that where democracy exists, it can work, even if it is under imperfect conditions. “Even if the system is actually torn apart and turned upside down, and therefore manipulated so that it should always be in favor of the ruling party, the Hungarian elections show that people are not fooled and they know that when they make a decision, they can make an impact.”

Bayr puts the caveat that it is yet to be seen how Peter Magyar, the new Prime Minister of Hungary, will conduct his governance. She also points out that in some states, where parties in power have tried to change the constitution in their favor, it has proved difficult to change ways back to the old ways after the parties in question have been voted out of power.

Iceland is a model country

When asked, Bayr says that Iceland has a loud voice at the level of the European Council and is not shy about using it. She says that it is not only thanks to Vigdís’s equality award, but that Iceland’s delegation at the Council’s meeting is very noticeable, especially when the country’s population is kept in mind.

She also notes that Iceland is almost always mentioned as a model country when it comes to issues related to equality and equal opportunities in Europe. It appears, for example, in reports commissioned by the Parliament’s Equality Committee on the state of affairs on the continent.

“Iceland is often cited as one of the countries that has really achieved gender balance in important matters,” says Bayr, citing as an example that a conscious decision was made to eliminate the gender pay gap. “So you have a voice, and a loud one,” she says.

However, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir’s equality award also has its effects, according to Bayr. “The award certainly has a huge impact, especially since it takes its name from the world’s first elected female head of state and a woman who was in her own way a global head of state,” says Bayr, who recalls that she met Mrs. Vigdísi when the award was established in 2023 in connection with a meeting of the European Council in Iceland, and obviously knows her well. Bayr also says that the Council of Europe is very grateful to the Icelandic government for funding the award, but the award winner will receive 60,000 euros, or around ISK 8.6 million.

Promote women’s empowerment

Bayr mentions in that context that the council gives various awards, but two of them are at the top of the list, one is the Vigdís award and the other is the human rights award named after Václav Havel, the former president of the Czech Republic. Bayr says awards like this mean a lot.

But what considerations lie behind who receives this award?

“We try to capture the spirit of Vigdís herself and her example. We therefore look for projects and individuals who really promote women and make them agents of change towards a world of equality where everyone has their place and their voice,” says Bayr. She adds that, among other things, projects related to environmental issues are considered, as Vigdís had the habit of planting trees wherever she went.

Bayr says, however, that she is well aware that an award like this cannot change the world for the better on its own. “Some of the people who have received Havel’s human rights award, for example, are still in prison,” she says. “But any visibility we can give to the fate of individuals or oppressed groups is worth it, because that way we can build strong communities and persevere against attempts to drag our societies back to the past, deprive people of their human rights or reduce the milestones that have been achieved towards gender equality after decades of struggle,” says Bayr.

She sees a clear thread there. “When gender equality is attacked, democracy is next on the agenda. And when human rights are undermined, it is the rule of law that suffers as a result. We have to look at the bigger picture,” says Bayr.

The Council of Europe contributes to this in various ways. Bayr mentions that during her presidency she placed special emphasis on people’s right to live in a safe, healthy and sustainable environment. Many things have been achieved there and something is in the pipeline, including a reaction to the judgment of the Human Rights Court in a case where Switzerland was judged for not having responded sufficiently in climate matters.

At the same time, Bayr says that much of his energy goes into defending the rights that have already been won. “Then I have less energy to try to reach new stages in the struggle. I would like to be able to devote all my energy to that, but that is not the situation as the world is today,” she concludes.