21/04/2026 | 10:38:03 Mister President, I welcome this report and this debate, if only because it allows me to agree completely with Baroness Thérèse COFFEY, who I usually disagree with quite a lot. In fact, the report of our Electoral Commission in Britain and the John Smith Centre shows that violence has moved from the periphery of politics to the centre. 70% of candidates at the last election in the United Kingdom said they had experienced violence. 70%! That is appalling that that should have happened, because... 01/10/2025 | 11:41:43 Mr President, as Sir Edward LEIGH said earlier, this is one of the most important debates of our whole week, and Ms Yevheniia KRAVCHUK has produced an excellent report and an excellent introduction outlining the problems that we face. But condemning those is not enough. What we also need to ensure is a transparent register of all detained journalists, full access by independent monitors and accountability for all those responsible, as Ms Valentina GRIPPO so rightly said earlier. But we must... 08/04/2025 | 10:38:06 Madam President, I ask you to support the report and reject completely Mr Clement SHOPOV's Trump-like propaganda, and also Mr George LOUCAIDES's false comparisons that he made in his speech. Russian interference is not just fake news, not just disinformation. They are buying up assets in the West, including human assets. Indeed, why did they support Trump in 2018? Why did they support him in 2024? Because he's a useful idiot! We understand that he has a name: Krasnov is his Russian code name... 29/01/2025 | 10:29:43 Thank you, Mister President. Can I too congratulate Ms Luz MARTINEZ SEIJO on an excellent report on this important issue? History is an incredibly powerful tool, and in the right hands, it can be used to foster democratic citizenship and build mutual understanding. But in the wrong hands, it can be misused to undermine diversity, erode democracy and increase polarisation. But interpretation is the key. And as the old saying goes, there are two sides to every story. Hiding the wide range of... 01/10/2024 | 11:47:52 Thank you, my technical advisor, Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, as well as doing this excellent report. It was a great honour for me to stand in as Chair for this report, because I greatly welcome the report. It's really very appropriately timed with the advent of the internet, with modern democracies becoming increasingly vulnerable to disinformation and fake news. We saw it in the United Kingdom with the recent riots when fake news was spread about deaths. Thanks to the work of Western intelligence... 26/06/2024 | 11:30:51 Mister President, most people have difficulty pronouncing my name, so I forgive you. These are three excellent reports. I'm going to concentrate on the one on sanctions. Britain is committed to supporting Ukraine in every way possible against the illegal Russian aggression, but I must say I'm disappointed in the lack of progress we've had so far in having effective sanction. And unlike Mr Roland Rino BÜCHEL from Switzerland, I do believe sanctions can be effective. The reason why they haven't... 25/06/2024 | 10:44:48 Can I first of all confess that I speak with some hesitation on this topic, because I think I'm probably the oldest member present, by a couple of weeks anyway. And nevertheless, that hasn't stopped me in the past and it's not stopping me now. From a British perspective, there are two key threats to our democracy. First is dark money influencing our politics and the second is the increasing level of the disengagement we have, particularly among young people. And the second issue is partly a... 16/04/2024 | 15:59:52 Mister President, I too want to warmly welcome this really excellent report on reconstruction in Ukraine. However, like Ms Yevheniia KRAVCHUK, I want to remind us all that we need to do a great deal more before we are ready to do that, to make sure that Ukrainians win this war. We need to supply more arms and more defensive systems, as quickly as possible, and overcome all the reservations and inhibitions which are preventing particularly some members of this Council of Europe from doing that... 24/01/2024 | 18:56:14 Thank you very much, Madam President. Can I say I greatly welcome this Report and congratulate my good friend Constantinos on a job well done. Can I also welcome, as Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, my colleague Lord Richard KEEN not just from the United Kingdom, but from Scotland. And he's a great advocate and brings a good forensic skill to the Chair of the Committee, which will be particularly useful in areas like this, where he has a great experience and great... 22/06/2023 | 20:05:28 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) The illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, with the active support of Belarus, has become even more brutal in the past few months. As well as the killing of innocent civilians, women and children, and the forced deportation of parentless children to Russia, there has been the most degrading torture of captured Ukrainian soldiers. The Sunday Times reported last week of two young men who were castrated so they could not have kids and the...