27/06/2019 | 16:22:56 Thank you very much. As we all know, Bulgaria became member of the Council of Europe in 1992. The country has been subject to the monitoring procedure for 6 years, from 1994 to 2000. In 2000, the Assembly decided to close the full monitoring procedure and to open a post-monitoring dialogue with the Bulgarian authorities. Since then, two reports have been submitted by the Monitoring Committee on the progress achieved by Bulgaria: the first in 2010, the other in 2013. My German colleague, Mr... 25/06/2019 | 10:52:53 Dear colleagues, in the name of the European People's Party, I would like to draw your attention to two important recent developments. One is the change of presidencies, and the other is the change of the Secretary-General. Concerning the presidencies, I would like to congratulate the outgoing Finnish presidency from my heart. They have done a good job. I would like to welcome the new French presidency. They seem to have a very good and very dynamic programme for their priorities. Both... 08/04/2019 | 12:29:19 I would like to comment on the Ukrainian presidential elections. In the first round, Mr Zelensky’s landslide victory has come as a big surprise. I commend our delegation’s suggestion that the elections were competitive, from which we can draw a few conclusions. First, if the situation continues, it will open up a very important opportunity for the whole international community. We may expect the mutual execution of the Minsk agreement, and it might change the whole dynamic of international... 22/01/2019 | 10:57:56 Thank you, Madam President. Dear colleagues, President of the Venice Commission, I believe the report is extremely timely. The European political systems are, these days, struggling with a lack of legitimacy. That is one reason why I believe that this is a timely discussion. Secondly, I am convinced that the 2007 Code of Good Practice on Referendums is under revision by the Venice Commission, so it is timely in that regard too. I hope the Venice Commission will be able to integrate the report...