27/01/2021 | 17:55:25 Madam President, dear colleagues, Thank you very much for giving me the floor. On behalf of the EPP let me congratulate the rapporteur, Ms Alexandra LOUIS, for the great effort she rendered to prepare this important report. It is disappointing and very sad to state that restrictions on NGOs' activities in the Council of Europe countries still prevail in some member countries. It is our duty actually to share the good practices adopted by some member states to offer an environment that is... 20/11/2020 | 17:28:49 Good afternoon Mr President, thank you very much for the floor. Dear colleagues, I would like to congratulate Mr Koloman BRENNER for the important report that he has put forward. I've been an academician for 27 years. I have the experience to actually talk about what academic freedom is all about. The report is indeed timely and I would like to just point out five important issues of academic freedom that we need to abide with. First and foremost it means that a political, religious and... 11/04/2019 | 18:36:09 It is the committee’s view that this report has been prepared very thoroughly and comes from hearing several witnesses and experts in our committee as well as the fact-finding visit to Greece of our rapporteur, Ms Petra De SUTTER. As a medical doctor she was able to evaluate the shortcomings in healthcare and psychological care in the camp on Lesbos and the two camps she visited on mainland Greece. The report is very fact-based and clearly describes the terrible situation of refugees and... 11/04/2019 | 17:56:22 On behalf of the EPP I congratulate Ms Petra De SUTTER on her important report. For many years, immigrants from the Middle East and Africa have reached European countries, some looking for greener pastures, others as typical refugees from countries affected by armed conflict and some looking for family reunion. In the first 10 months of 2015, more than 600 000 arrived in Europe through Greece. The short land border between Turkey and Greece is fairly well guarded, so immigrants came to Greece... 10/04/2019 | 15:45:31 I join colleagues in congratulating Elvira and Goran on the great job that they have done in presenting the reports. It was only during the January part-session that we had a minute of silence for the murder of the Mayor of Gdansk, Mr Adamowicz, who was a victim of hate speech in politics. There should be zero tolerance for hate speech. Hate speech at sports grounds is a complex phenomenon, which can be approached from a legal, political, cultural, pedagogical, linguistic or sociological... 09/04/2019 | 11:41:24 I congratulate the rapporteurs on raising awareness among parliamentarians about this very important topic. The Council of Europe is founded on the universal values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Our contribution must therefore focus on these root values, which are not only values in their own right but important factors of sustainability for any societal model. In 2015, 193 countries worldwide adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable... 23/01/2019 | 18:43:55 I congratulate Mr Damien THIÉRY and Mr Adão SILVA on the excellent job that they have done in preparing the two reports. Let me start with the report by Mr Damien THIÉRY. It is crucial to observe the principle of equal treatment in access to and use of labour market services and instruments, irrespective of race, sex, ethnic origin, nationality, religion, belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. Discrimination in access to employment lays the foundation for radicalism among different...