21/06/2023 | 16:15:08 Mister Tiny KOX, You will be glad to hear I am not going to follow Mr Ian LIDDELL-GRAINGER, except just in one respect, and that is the importance of this Parliamentary Assembly. In an organisation where democracy is one of the three key aims, of course, the Parliamentary Assembly must be given some special consideration and some priority. Within that, as Mr Rik DAEMS said, the political groups must be given some priority. If you cut back on the expenditure of the political groups, you are... 26/04/2023 | 19:09:24 Thank you, Madam President. I don't know if you, Madam President, are, like me, a fan of mysteries on television. Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, who always reminds us that he's Belgian and not French, Mr Bernard FOURNIER! Then Sherlock Holmes written by [a man] who came from Edinburgh, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as I have come from Edinburgh. Now I can see some of you are wondering, "What's this got to do with the subject of today's debate?" I think we have a mystery here. Why is the United... 24/01/2023 | 17:24:53 Thank you, Mister President. When Ms Fiona O'LOUGHLIN introduced her excellent report, she put the three key themes of our work in this order: democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. Democracy first. And that's not to underplay human rights, but human rights I think is well understood. Democracy is sometimes taken for granted as our role, and sometimes lip service is paid to our democratic functions. So we need to increase the profile of our role in democracy, not just one form of... 13/10/2022 | 16:54:10 Mister President, As some of my colleagues here, not least Mr John HOWELL, our delegation leader, will confirm, I don't need any encouragement to attack the Tory government in the United Kingdom. I will tell you there are many opportunities at present to attack them. Not least from any budget that we have at the moment, which is total chaos, and of course Brexit, all of Brexit, which has been a disaster, a total disaster in the United Kingdom. That's why I'm against the Northern Ireland... 23/06/2022 | 16:07:46 Thank you, Mister President. For the very reasons that Mr George KATROUGALOS and Mr Roberto RAMPI raised about the respect that so many countries have had for the traditions of the United Kingdom, we in the United Kingdom, all of us, should welcome this debate today. The Bill of Rights which was introduced yesterday in the United Kingdom Parliament is a misnomer. It is not a Bill of Rights. It reduces the rights of British citizens. The Justice minister in the House of Lords, Lord Bellamy... 23/06/2022 | 10:31:07 Mister President, Can I also thank the rapporteur for a very well-balanced report? The brutal murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia shocked us all. I was at the time your general rapporteur on media freedom and the safety of journalists. I was involved in that capacity along with other members of the Assembly and particularly also with the three very brave and committed sons of Daphne, in helping to expose the corruption and the crime in Malta at the time. It wasn't easy for me as a member of the... 21/06/2022 | 11:27:48 Thank you, Mister President. I have been listening very closely to every contribution to this debate. Can I say, I warmly welcome the report by Mr Bogdan KLICH? I think it is the way forward, but, frankly, I have been disappointed by some of the contributions. For example, the contribution from Ireland, from Mr Thomas PRINGLE and from Mr Damien COTTIER from Switzerland, who imply – or who argue – in favour of the very narrow definition of security that Ms Marija PEJČINOVIĆ-BURIĆ put forward... 28/04/2022 | 12:10:24 Mister President, Let's never forget, as Mr Claude KERN said, that we're talking about Russia invading a sovereign country in a fierce, cruel, and heartless way. Now some people yesterday, in yesterday's debate, were talking about finding a balance between the two sides. That's senseless! Ridiculous! Ukraine poses no threat at all to Russia. The Russian troops have undoubtedly committed major atrocities. You know, when I see the corpses of little children lying in the streets, it brings tears... 26/04/2022 | 11:24:31 Thank you, President. Can I join in the congratulations to my socialist colleague Titus for his excellent report, which I support fully. My colleague from the United Kingdom earlier, Mr John HOWELL, pointed out the obvious thing that we in the United Kingdom are no longer, sadly, members of the European Union. It's been a tragedy. Brexit has been a tragedy for the United Kingdom. It gets worse and worse day by day, week by week, month by month. Anyone, any country that is thinking of... 25/04/2022 | 17:43:45 Well, Mister President, that was a very impressive, albeit novel speech by Mr Ian LIDDELL‑GRAINGER on the progress report of the Bureau. Although I agree with a lot of what he said, I'm going to leave that now. We've got a couple more debates on the Russian intervention, which I hope to participate in. I'm certainly not going to enter into the debate between Armenia and Azerbaijan, not tonight anyway. I want to raise these two rather more mundane issues. Day after day, night after night...