29/01/2020 | 11:30:35 Thank you, Mr President, Indeed, non-discrimination and equality are at the very heart of modern human rights. All human beings are born free and equal in their dignity and rights; "all" is the keyword. And modern understanding and interpretation of equality goes far beyond formally equal treatment. Moreover, formal equal treatment may appear discriminatory if the persons who are subjected to this treatment are in substantially different situations. This is first established by our European... 27/01/2020 | 11:56:55 Thank you, Ms GOLUBEVA. Are there any 10 members of the Assembly who support the challenge of credentials of the Russian delegation on procedural grounds? Could you please rise and stand up for a while. Thank you, colleagues. It's enough, the support is sufficient, so the credentials of the Russian delegation are sent to the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs only. Are there any other challenges? I see none so it seems that this is absolutely highest number... 27/01/2020 | 11:52:37 Thank you. The credentials of the delegation of North Macedonia are challenged on procedural grounds, so I have to ask whether there are ten Members from five national delegations who support this. Please rise and remain standing for a while. Yes, yes. Thank you. It seems that the challenge has sufficient support, so the credentials of the delegation of North Macedonia are sent to the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs for the report. And since the challenge... 27/01/2020 | 11:41:33 Thank you Madam BAYR. So I remind that under Rule 7, a challenge must be supported by at least 10 members. This is a challenge on procedural grounds from at least five national delegations present in the chamber. Would those members supporting this challenge please rise in their places and remain standing while we check whether the requirement is met. I see that this challenge has necessary support, so accordingly the credentials of the Swiss delegations are referred without debate to the... 27/01/2020 | 11:32:26 I entered this hemicycle as a member in the previous millennium. During those years, on many occasions I felt proud of the Assembly's work. However, I must candidly admit that on some occasions I also felt ashamed. Our Assembly reflects the political evolution of the national parliaments and of European politics in general. We all face major challenges emerging in Europe and beyond. The mission of this body is to re-affirm and uphold the fundamental values of democracy, human rights and the... 26/06/2019 | 17:31:15 Thank you Madam President. As a representative of the Committee I must be neutral and I must be formal. I would like to stress that this is really a very difficult, very emotional and very divisive issue. Also the issue about principles. We have basically two views. The first view is we must be inclusive and all parliamentary delegations must be present here. Including our Russian friend. And I see it is a point. On the other hand some people are concerned that the unconditional return of the... 24/06/2019 | 17:23:38 Thank you Madam President. The issue we are discussing today is of special importance for me. Most of my voters are Latvian citizens for whom Russian is a mother tongue. Russian is also my first language and we speak Russian at home. My party is labeled as pro-Moscow by Latvian nationalists. Latvian Russian speakers are loyal Europeans, but naturally for them good relations with Russia, active involvement of Russia in European life, including the Council of Europe, is vitally important. But... 11/04/2019 | 11:23:16 I want to make two points. First, I express my sincere gratitude to Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS for his thorough account of the resolution on further improvements to the procedure for the election of judges to the European Court of Human Rights. The resolution was adopted by the Standing Committee of our Assembly last year. Several measures suggested by us and supported by the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs will further improve the procedure, which is probably... 21/01/2019 | 11:34:41 Mr Cilevičs, the doyen of the Assembly, took the Chair at 11.35 a.m. The sitting is open. I declare the first part of the 2019 ordinary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe open. Dear colleagues, just over a month ago, on 11 December, Strasbourg – our city, European capital and capital of the rule of law, democracy and human rights – was deeply wounded by deadly and indiscriminate violence. In this attack five persons were killed, and 11 others were injured. Those...