29/01/2026 | 17:53:39 Thank you, Chair. The very notion that someone needs to be cured, or fixed, because of who they are is vile. It should make all of us angry. I come from Malta. Small island Malta. Very Catholic Malta. And yet, ten years ago – ten years ago – we became the first country in Europe to prohibit conversion practices. Not because it was the easy thing to do. But because it was the right thing to do. And, yes, we are very proud to be the gold standard, thank you very much. We did it because we... 28/01/2026 | 10:54:17 Thank you, Chair. Some of us here may be familiar with a current social media trend, where people look back and share photos of what they were doing in 2016. Ten years ago, I was a 21-year-old student, actively involved in youth politics in Malta. At the time, one of the key issues on the youth agenda was "Vote 16". We really believed that, as young citizens, we weren’t asking for much, just for the recognition that we should be the authors of our own destiny; because lowering the voting age... 01/10/2025 | 16:10:10 Thank you, Madam Chair. I have been a member of this Assembly for three years now, and I am very happy to note the increased attention on youth participation, especially now that it is one of the priorities of the Maltese Presidency. Because no matter what is going on across our continent, no matter the issues which are rightfully at the very top of our agenda, we must also keep an eye on our young people, on their hopes, their dreams, their aspirations and their fears. I really enjoyed the... 27/06/2025 | 10:39:43 Mr President, I wanted to take this opportunity to close off what has been an incredible and very significant week here in Strasbourg, especially for the Maltese delegation. We are so proud of how it has all unfolded. We are a small team from a small country with big ambitions, and it was always our intention to make the Maltese presidency an impactful one. But I also wanted to look ahead. And once we return home, we will immediately set forth with a ministerial conference on the protection... 26/06/2025 | 17:08:39 Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, rapporteur for the report. We are making reference also to gender equality in national parliament. And the challenge here, I guess, is twofold. It's getting more women to parliament and safeguarding the women in parliament. I come from a country which has recently enacted constitutional amendments which allocate additional seats to the under-represented sex as a temporary measure to get more women in parliament and give them the visibility and exposure... 26/06/2025 | 15:39:42 Thank you, Mister President. And thank you so much, Petra, for your outstanding work, as always. The very fact that we need to have an urgent debate on women's rights underlines the worrying state of affairs that we are in, doesn't it? Women have achieved so much for gender equality. But we all know that what we have achieved is not certain. Especially in times of crises, women's rights are put in jeopardy and crises, we have had plenty. And within the context of wars and conflicts around the... 08/04/2025 | 18:35:23 Thank you, Chair, and thank you to the rapporteur. I know you've put a lot of work into this report. I am very pleased to see the youth rapporteur's proposal finally take shape, as is the rest of my group. In the limited time that I have, I would also like to focus specifically on the youth perspective. Every organisation around the world needs to update itself or risk losing its impact and relevancy. The same applies to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, especially when one... 28/01/2025 | 20:01:36 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) “The memory of the war will last for a long time. All we ask is to be treated as human beings” “No one in Gaza is healthy. They have all lost something, whether family, friends or their homes and businesses.” “When you get a message every day informing you that someone you know has been killed, you learn to suppress the pain. I think only now will we realise the full extent of what’s happened to us,” These are all excerpts of quotes from an... 01/10/2024 | 12:50:39 Secretary General, I sincerely wish you strength and energy as you take on this pivotal role at such a delicate time for our continent. One of the priorities highlighted during your campaign was having a Council of Europe for today and tomorrow, and this is more than just a very good slogan but it must be embedded in our actions, especially here at the Parliamentary Assembly. In order to ensure the relevancy and longevity of this organisation, we must really work harder to ensure the... 25/06/2024 | 13:11:06 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Thank you to both rapporteurs for these really well written Reports. I was absolutely delighted to see a Report focusing on the youth perspective on our agenda aligned with the Report on strengthening democracy through participatory process. I am one of the 17 members aged 30 and below, a statistic in the Report which is disappointing yet unsurprising. This session marks two years of my participation in the Assembly, and during this time it...