Victoria Bayr, a representative of Austria from the Socialists Group, was today elected President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for a one-year term, which may be renewed once. She obtained an absolute majority in the first round of voting with 164 votes to 50 for the other candidate, Victoria Tiblom (Sweden, ALDE). Succeeding Theodoros Rousopoulos (Greece, EPP), she becomes the 36th President of PACE. “We are united by the vision of a Europe – and a world – without war. And we are united by all our achievements, our conventions and convictions”, the newly elected President said in her inaugural address. The Council of Europe “must never be silent in the face of injustice, where democratic achievements are under increasing pressure and wherever individuals are deprived of their liberty solely because of their beliefs”. “I stand here”, she said, “for linguistic and cultural minorities across our member states, for all those who defend their rights, for freedom of expression without censorship or fear, for equal access to education and for a Europe where women live free from violence, are economically independent, politically represented and fully heard”. On the Russian aggression against Ukraine, she said: “This war is not only an attack on the sovereignty of a state. It is an attack on international law, on European peace order and on the very foundations of human rights”.