France has announced its support for the creation of a Special Tribunal on the crime of aggression against Ukraine and its intention to join its Steering Committee, while also calling on the Council of Europe to remain a bastion of the rule of law, democracy, and human rights.
This was stated by French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot during his speech at the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on April 20.
“I have the honor to announce that France supports the creation of a Special Tribunal to address the crime of aggression against Ukraine, which would complement the International Criminal Court. And I declare before you that France will join the Steering Committee of the Special Tribunal,” Barrot said, adding that he hopes the committee’s establishment will be finalized at a ministerial meeting in Chișinău on May 14–15.
The French foreign minister emphasized that Russia’s leadership must be held accountable not only for war crimes, but also for planning and waging what he called an “unjust war of colonial aggression” against Ukraine.
Barrot recalled that the Council of Europe has already taken steps toward accountability by establishing the Register of Damage for Ukraine in 2023.
“But compensation for damages is not enough. Russian leaders will have to answer for this. There is no peace without justice. And no justice without truth,” he said.
In his speech, he also addressed the state of the rule of law in Europe, where “power is prevailing over law, while human rights are increasingly under threat,” and democracy is being questioned more often.
Against this backdrop, he described the Council of Europe as a “bastion of resistance” and stressed that Europe’s rearmament must be accompanied by its “democratic rearmament, because power without legal frameworks risks turning into tyranny.”
