30/09/2024 | 15:53:34 Mister President, Is this thing working? Yes, it is. Can I just start by saying goodbye? This is my last time here at the Council of Europe. I've done 14 years; nine as group leader of the European Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance. I hand over in a few hours time to my friend and colleague, Mr Zsolt NÉMETH. I would just ask, and I listened to Mr Iulian BULAI, who is a close friend and I'm a great admirer of his, talking eloquently about Georgia, Mr Mogens JENSEN talking about... 15/04/2024 | 12:52:24 Thank you, Mister President. There is an old saying, which is "May you live in interesting times". I think at the moment it's a little bit too interesting, but it is a challenge to us all. Seventy-five years ago, Sir Winston Churchill came here to set up this organisation. Why did he set it up? Why was it embraced by Europe? Because at the time we'd come out of a devastating war. We're looking again at a problem which we are not being able to control. It's easier for us to sit in here and... 22/01/2024 | 15:49:27 I am very grateful, indeed, for the words I have heard about Sir Tony LLOYD, Mr David WILSHIRE, and also colleague Mr John HOWELL, who is extremely ill in hospital. I am very grateful everybody here for the best wishes they have given to the British delegation. I will say that there are a lot of challenges that are facing this organisation. It is very easy for us, especially where the war in Ukraine is concerned, to be able to cast stones. This war has been fought by proxy. Unfortunately, the... 22/01/2024 | 12:20:04 Thank you very much, indeed. We challenged the German credentials on procedural grounds. The German delegation, I'm afraid, is in violation of Rule 6.2.A. This Rule obliges national parliaments to ensure fair representation of political groups and parties in their Parliaments. The composition of the delegation, Resolution 1798, Paragraph 6.7, calls for political balance that needs to be kept. The balance is not kept within the German delegation, with the inclusion of Mr Andrej HUNKO and Ms... 09/10/2023 | 15:51:57 Thank you Mister President. May I say, how delighted we all are to be here. Progress is set by what you achieve, Mister President, as you well know. We now have a situation which in our life span - I'm 64, a little bit younger than the President, but not a heck of a lot - I remember out on those screens, 1968, when the tanks rolled in Czechoslovakia. I remember as a boy watching it, I wasn't older than eight, but it was ingrained in ourselves that this was something terrible. We move forward... 21/06/2023 | 16:11:31 Thank you very much indeed, Tiny. I am very grateful to be able to talk and I thank the rapporteur. A budget is – the clue is in the name – a budget is the ability to do what you want to do over a period, sometimes here in our case slightly longer. But let's look at this in the cold light of day. We have to be aware of what we can and can't do. And Mr Rik DAEMS was our former president and I don't disagree with what you said there, Rik, so well done, but a budget has got to look at every part... 26/04/2023 | 16:10:57 Thank you, Mister President. Mister President, after yesterday - to which you are now looking at - first of all we don't blame you, sir, for what happened. And I don't think it had anything to do you. But I will say two things, if I may. The first: my teller was never informed that he had to go behind the scenes to be part of what happened. You have re-addressed that today. I am grateful, sir. That is the first thing. The second thing is that it wasn't secret. One of my colleagues, who is a... 24/04/2023 | 16:02:28 Thank you very much indeed, Mr President, Can I say what an interesting debate. There are a lot of things in here and I'll try and go through some of them very quickly. Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, you made a very good point about the corridor in Azerbaijan. Just to let you know myself and Ms Lise CHRISTOFFERSEN have agreed, as the rapporteurs, to go there as soon as we can; the invitation has been sent to Azerbaijan today. Mr Davor Ivo STIER talked about the Balkans and also what that means. It was... 24/04/2023 | 15:06:05 Mister President, thank you very much indeed. I have just been talking to one of my British colleagues, who never thought that he would actually ever sit in this building. He then said, "Look at us now! You've got the Brits back into the European Parliament!" [Laughter, applause] Can I first of all please praise my friend and colleague for us all, Mr Aleksander POCIEJ. That was very a moving speech indeed. The irony of that terrible time in Warsaw was that the Soviet forces stopped short of... 23/01/2023 | 13:05:21 I'm so sorry. It took a little time to cut in. Congratulations, Tiny, on being adopted. I wish to talk about a point of order that happened earlier, and I don't know if you heard it. The credentials of the German delegation were challenged because of the situation in Berlin. The person who actually challenged them –I'm not sure if he's in the room, I can't see that far because I haven't got my glasses– put word out using the word "credentials" twice. He's sitting in his place. I've also...