23/06/2021 | 11:47:16 Mr President of the Parliamentary Assembly, Prime Minister, Mr Alexander de Croo, Ms President, Ms Anca Dana Dragu, Minister, Ms Elisabeth Moreno, Ms Dubravka Šimonovic, Ms Nadia Murad, Distinguished members, It's a pleasure to address you on a subject that is close to your hearts and to mine. We share a commitment to end violence against women and domestic violence, and an understanding that the Istanbul Convention is central to that task. The Assembly has played a key role in making the... 22/06/2021 | 16:40:08 In what is the question, actually two questions, related to Armenia and Azerbaijan. Let me first say that I have been calling since the last year, last summer's outbreak of the hostilities between the two countries, for stopping the humanitarian catastrophe that was visibly going to happen. Unfortunately, the war was there and the consequences are very heavy and very difficult and as always, the consequences then take much, much longer to be erased and to be remedied and the confidence to be... 22/06/2021 | 16:36:59 As you know, Israel is not a member of the Council of Europe; it has a status with the Parliamentary Assembly. Therefore, we cannot talk about the European Convention on Human Rights being followed by a state that is not a member of that Convention. So what we can do, we haven't yet done it though, is to take measures in the context of projects, in what was called the neighbourhood policy for the Middle East, where we had certain projects, especially in Palestine, but which were gradually... 22/06/2021 | 16:26:24 Thank you very much for referring to the annual report because this is my first fully-fledged annual report. Last year I reported through a smaller format which was on, one hand because I was not in the office for long for the whole year, but also because of the pandemic. It was called multilateralism partially oriented to the challenges to the multilateral fora and partially oriented to the Covid-19 and impact on the matters that we are dealing at the Council of Europe and our response to it... 22/06/2021 | 16:20:31 Thank you very much for this opinion. I think the real question is: future of Europe or future of the European Union? The name of the conference is the Future of Europe and, of course, I myself felt immediately invited to representing the Council of Europe, to try to find our institutional place there. I know that also the President of the Parliamentary Assembly talked to the President of the European Parliament, so I talked to the Vice-President who is in charge of this this very important... 22/06/2021 | 16:14:39 Thank you very much. Actually, to answer by the end of your question, one of the priorities in the strategic framework that I have put together and sent to the deputies, to the Committee of Ministers, comprised an environment versus human rights as the new priority together with artificial intelligence. Clearly, as I have put it as among the strategic priorities for the next four year term, this is speaking by itself. It's my clear priority as well that we work together to find a proper... 22/06/2021 | 16:11:06 Thank you very much for this question. National minorities is an important area of our work and as you heard from the new Chair of the Committee of Ministers, it is also the priority of the current Chair. So it goes without saying that when it comes to Covid-19 and how much Covid-19 has had an impact — unfortunately, very often, a negative impact — on several groups in society, several vulnerable groups, in some areas, that could be attributed to minorities has shown that relying on the... 22/06/2021 | 16:05:38 Thank you very much. The Council of Europe and the European Union, including its institutions you mentioned, the European Parliament and European Commission, are long-standing cooperation partners with the Council of Europe and our more formal link dates back to 2007 or since when we have the specific memorandum of understanding. So, accordingly, we have shared values, as we mentioned very clearly in this memorandum of understanding, namely democracy, rule of law and human rights. And on that... 20/04/2021 | 14:54:44 Let me start with the first question, which is about the Istanbul Convention. Of course, I imagine that the question was pulled by the fact that, unfortunately, Turkey has announced the denouncing of this gold standard, which I deeply share your opinion on this important human rights instrument. Let me say that this is the first time in the history of this organisation that a member State is withdrawing from a human rights instrument of these fundamental values. This is really a big, I would... 20/04/2021 | 14:46:05 Thank you very much. I absolutely agree that it's always especially in the family of 47 to talk with them about, but sometimes both approaches are needed. The way to engage with the country is certainly in dialogue with the country. I think that is a very basic principle of work of this organisation. It needs to be cherished in the most difficult situation when they are at hand and in this situation for the crisis in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh. I think that goes without saying that the...