11/04/2019 | 16:05:28 I have two reasons to speak about this report. First, Danske Bank in Estonia is also about my country of Estonia. Criticism is justified, given that the anti-money laundering mechanisms were too weak, and there was probably even too much trust with regard to Scandinavian banks. Unfortunately, new questions are already being asked about Swedbank. Secondly, I was for a very long time the rapporteur on Azerbaijan and afterwards Chair of the Monitoring Committee. Now that period is being... 10/04/2019 | 18:57:05 In this part-session we have three reports about our rules and our role, namely our role in co-operation with the European Union and the role of the Assembly within the framework of the Council of Europe. Self-reflection can be very important for organisations, but I think three such reports is too much. Meanwhile there are corruption cases and there are political assassinations, especially in the Russian Federation, which are not resolved. There are also problems with monitoring and how to... 24/01/2019 | 11:28:16 I too thank Mr Andreas NICK for the report. The political message is clear – our commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine – as is our strong call to the Russian Federation to immediately release the Ukrainian sailors and refrain from further violence. At the same time, as pointed out by Mr John HOWELL at the beginning of the debate, and by various previous speakers, I would also like us to use even stronger terms. Yes, it was naked Russian aggression and it is a... 23/01/2019 | 18:03:16 I thank everybody who participated in the discussion and elaborated on many topics I touched on only superficially in my introduction. As I mentioned, there are many aspects to this and it is a topic of the future. As I said, artificial intelligence, social media and personal data deserve separate reports, and the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media has many reports in the pipeline on similar topics. Today’s discussion of the media was also partly about new challenges and what... 23/01/2019 | 17:00:39 The Internet is penetrating our everyday lives. I am sure that many of you are using it right now, even during this debate, and we are fully free to do so. Unfortunately, this tool does not have only positive aspects; it is also misused and abused. We must therefore talk about it in relation to human rights. We want an Internet that provides our societies with more information and knowledge, innovation and sustainable development, social justice and collective wellbeing, freedom and democracy... 23/01/2019 | 16:07:57 I thank the rapporteurs for their very good reports on this important topic. Media freedom is an inevitable precondition of democratic elections, but unfortunately it is being severely violated in our Member States. Many other reports deal with this topic, including reports about election observation and the monitoring of countries. I am grateful to our partners from the OSCE – the long-term observers who scrutinise very effectively what is happening in the media landscape, long before... 22/01/2019 | 17:48:16 Thank you, Madam President. Dear colleagues, first of all I would like to thank Lord Donald ANDERSON for this very important report. The Magnitsky case has a double meaning for us: first, human rights abuse; and, secondly, corruption and money laundering. The previous report, in 2014, made concrete recommendations. One was better international co-operation in the field of money laundering, including the fraud made public by Mr Magnitsky himself. Another recommendation was to make a truce with...