European nations need to provide budgetary support for a special international court to prosecute those responsible for crimes of aggression in Ukraine, Council of Europe chief Alain Berset told Euronews, as US-led talks on a peace settlement continue.
Berset’s Strasbourg-based institution signed an agreement with Ukraine establishing the Special Tribunal last June, to ensure top Kremlin officials, including President Vladimir Putin, are one day tried for their unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“When you have aggression, there is accountability. When you have destruction and suffering, there is accountability,” Berset told Euronews’ 12 Minutes With.
“Now we are preparing, but we really need to make progress and to have countries (show) political will to join those instruments about accountability.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for the tribunal to be headquartered in the Dutch city of The Hague. It is intended to fill the legal vacuum caused by the fact that the International Criminal Court (ICC) cannot prosecute for the crime of aggression in and of itself.
But the court’s fundraising efforts have recently been complicated by the US’s withdrawal from international institutions, which is piling pressure on European nations to plug the gap. Any country beyond the Council of Europe’s 46 members can take part in the Special Tribunal.
The Council of Europe has also set up a Register of Damages to record potential war crimes as well as an administrative body to assess claims for compensation, known as the Claims Commission.
“Now, we need to have clear views on the costs and budgets – and to have a clear support for the budget, because the Council of Europe is definitely not able to do this (alone). It’s much bigger than we are,” Berset explained.
Last month, the European Union signed a contract to provide the first €10 million for the Tribunal. But other financial contributions have not yet been forthcoming.
Sources familiar with the matter previously told Euronews that the draft budget initially presented by the Council of Europe, which included total operational costs linked to the tribunal, amounted to approximately €75 million per year.
‘Accountability’ over ‘impunity’
In the wide-ranging interview on Thursday, Berset also said that discussions on accountability should feature in ongoing peace talks. This week, the two sides met in US-led peace talks in Abu Dhabi.
“It’s clear that this (accountability) is part of the whole discussion, maybe not always in a positive sense,” Berset said, adding that “in the first so-called peace plan, of the 28 points, one point was not about accountability but about impunity.”
An initial US-backed peace plan for Ukraine leaked last December included a “full amnesty” for actions during the war and an agreement “not to make any claims or consider any complaints in the future.”
This plan crossed several red lines for Ukraine and Europe, which tabled a counterproposal, drafted by France, Germany and the United Kingdom, using the Washington plan as a basis.
It featured major adjustments, including to the capping of Ukraine’s military and Kyiv’s NATO aspirations.
Berset noted that, in the midst of the ongoing destruction and suffering in Ukraine, the Council of Europe brings added value to the bloc’s support of the country.
“Our role is to make this link between the rule of law, democratic values, and responsibility, and where there is responsibility, there is also accountability,” Berset added. “That is exactly what we promote.”
You can watch the full interview on 12 Minutes With on Thursday at 20.30 CET.