Subscribe here: [ Ссылка ] Warning of rising polarisation and disinformation, the World Forum for Democracy on Wednesday expressed concern after Donald Trump's US poll win.
Trump's repeat triumph dominated discussion at the start of the three-day Council of Europe-hosted 12th edition of the forum in Strasbourg, eastern France.
This year's theme is "Democracy and Diversity -- Can we transcend the divides?"
The event, presided by French President Emmanuel Macron, coincided with the US election which saw populist billionaire Trump earn a return to the White House after a deeply divisive campaign and defeat of rival Kamala Harris.
"There is not a better moment to discuss democracy and diversity" than the backdrop of the US presidential election, said Alain Berset, Council of Europe secretary-general.
He suggested the poll had thrown up "many questions which are also being asked in other parts of the world", transcending the US context.
The socialist former Swiss president suggested issues such as women's rights, LGBTQ and migration had left societies ever more polarised, as populism and nationalism tore at the very fabric of democracy.
"The problems facing are democracies are real and it may be that my generation was too confident, we were probably too naive in the past," said Berset, 52, with disinformation having become a "particularly urgent" problem.
"We had the impression that it's over, that our principles, our values had won, and we know and we see right now that it's not so easy," the Swiss politician said, citing the war in Ukraine as one key challenge.
"We probably have been too naive about our march towards democratic progress," said Berset.
But he concluded that "while democracy may not be inevitable, nor is its defeat."
The role of the Council of Europe is to uphold democracy and human rights among its 46 member states -- which include Ukraine.
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