01/10/2024 | 19:16:40 In these hours, agencies around the world are pounding the news of thousands of missiles that Iran is launching on Israeli cities. So, we are faced with another chapter in a tragedy that has already claimed thousands and thousands of lives in Gaza, in Lebanon, in northern Israel, and in the coming hours may determine them in Israeli cities as well. It is obvious that, in the face of such a picture, it is right, as has been proposed, to be able to distinguish a purely political dimension from... 27/06/2024 | 19:19:59 Thank you, President. Of course, the debate has also brought out very different positions, and so it is not surprising. We find them every day in an issue that affects us directly and of which we are all obviously well aware. I just want to say this. The condemnation of how the Netanyahu government handled the military operation in Gaza is a general condemnation. What I have heard here does not correspond to reality, I don't think there is anyone who has spared criticism of the handling that... 27/06/2024 | 18:13:15 Thank you, Chairman, I have visited the past few weeks, as Chairman of the Middle East sub-committee of this Assembly, Israel and Palestine, and I therefore believe that the issue that has been placed on the agenda should be framed in the evolving situation on the ground. The situation as we know today is deadlocked, it is deadlocked because two different interpretations of the UN resolution are opposing each other. Israel is calling for the release of hostages as a condition for initiating a... 27/06/2024 | 16:43:04 Thank you, President. I also thank all those who have spoken. I say this, we have 50 years of division behind us, there are many reasons for this crisis. There are responsibilities on both sides. But I believe that we cannot resign ourselves to considering this division as irreversible, because I believe that it is still possible to work toward reunification. I want to emphasise to our Turkish friends, who have reiterated here, some have reiterated the inevitability of the two-state... 27/06/2024 | 15:38:43 Thank you Mr. President, Thank you colleagues, [In English] I speak in Italian because there is a translation. The report is about the situation in Varosha, Varosha is a part of the city of Famagusta. It was in the 1950s and 1960s a very important international tourist resort, which in 1974, by virtue of the political crisis that occurred in the island of Cyprus, came under Turkish control and it is a ghost town, because by virtue of an agreement that was then established, the town of Varosha... 26/06/2024 | 19:27:22 Thank you President, We are talking about a country that has had a tortured history and that, since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union onwards, has experienced three wars and the tragedy of Nagorno-Karabakh. And I think therefore, the first thing that this Council of Europe must reaffirm is the safeguarding of the independence of Armenian sovereignty, and this does not seem to you an obvious statement, because in the course of history, Armenian identity and... 24/06/2024 | 16:26:40 Thank you, Mister Chairman. I'd like to talk about the elections in Northern Macedonia, because I think we need to pay close attention to the results and their political consequences. As you know, as far as the elections in Macedonia are concerned, victory went to the opposition party, the VMRO: it's a conservative party, a party that challenged the Prespa Agreement and above all the Agreement on the name "North Macedonia", which was essential in opening the way for Macedonia to join the... 16/04/2024 | 18:07:14 Thank you, Mister President, I will speak Italian. Meanwhile, I would like to thank Ms Dora BAKOYANNIS, because it was not an easy job, as you mentioned, and it seems to me that you have presented a report that I consider balanced, forward-looking and fair in its directions and policies. Now, we know that we are discussing a complicated issue. We know what the history and the suffering of Kosovo is, and we know that Kosovo is part of those Western Balkans that for a long period of time has... 26/01/2024 | 12:55:37 We very much appreciate, and it is said in the Report, all the efforts that Georgia is making to comply with all the indications that come both from the Council of Europe and the European Union on the basis of the application procedure. However, several problems still remain open, and this is the reason why we propose to delete in the Amendment the words "du travail très intense effectué par la Georgie". But in the Amendment thus sub-amended there is a recognition of the importance of the... 26/01/2024 | 12:47:37 Thank you. Mr Iulian BULAI rightly started his speech by saying, "We are not perfect, and no state is perfect" He's right. Mr Andrej HUNKO said, "In this exercise that we do of checking on the state of implementation of the Charter of Rights of the Council of Europe, there are no masters, there are no schoolchildren". He is equally right. I would add, "We are not a tribunal. The Council of Europe has an instrument of jurisdiction, which is the European Court of Justice." We are a Commission...