24/01/2022 | 16:20:04 Madam President, Dear colleagues, First of all, I would like to thank our colleague Mr Alfred HEER for this report, which gives a good account of the presidential election and the early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria on November 14. The parliamentary elections took place in a particular context in this country. Indeed, following the last two elections, which took place on April 4, 2021 and July 11, 2021 respectively, no coalition could be organized in Parliament to form a government. I... 27/09/2021 | 16:57:27 (FR) Madam President, I would like to congratulate our colleague Mr Paul Gavan on this very detailed report. This means that we can clearly see who is responsible amongst the warring parties. It is not the first time that the Assembly has spoken about this conflict. I can only regret the fact that an armed conflict should have broken out in the heart of Europe between two member states of this Organisation, which, when they joined the Council of Europe, committed not to use force to settle... 24/06/2021 | 09:40:35 Mister President, Dear colleagues, I would like to thank our colleague Mr Paulo PISCO for his report on diasporas, which addresses many important issues and is a continuation of the work carried out by our Assembly for several years. I would like to mention two subjects in particular: the integration of people from diasporas in host societies and the issue of citizenship and voting. Our colleague's report rightly emphasises that immigration is sometimes frightening today. Diasporas can indeed... 23/06/2021 | 18:21:04 Madam President, Ladies and gentlemen, The Crimean Tatars were deported en masse to Uzbekistan on Stalin's orders in May 1944. Following the collapse of the USSR, they sought to resettle in Crimea. Despite administrative or financial difficulties, in 2014 there were over 280,000 Tatars in Crimea. Many of them expressed their opposition to the referendum of 16 March 2014, the result of which enshrined the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. Since that referendum, which the... 21/04/2021 | 19:02:22 Mr President, Dear colleagues, Montenegro has been a member of the Council of Europe since 2007. In 2015, our Assembly decided to close the monitoring procedure and to start a post-monitoring dialogue. Admittedly progress has been made over the last ten years. We can only welcome the efforts that have been made, particularly in guaranteeing the rights of minorities and combating discrimination. This progress is undeniable and must be commended. However, a number of difficulties remain, which... 20/04/2021 | 17:33:54 Madam President, distinguished colleagues, I thank our colleague Mr Alain MILON for his balanced presentation of the facts. I think it is important that our Assembly hold this current affairs debate on Armenian prisoners of war, prisoners in captivity and displaced persons. Several cases have been referred to the European Court of Human Rights during and after the conflict. In particular, the Court had called on all states involved to uphold the rights guaranteed by the Convention to persons... 19/04/2021 | 18:31:40 Thank you very much Madam President, Dear colleagues, The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities was opened for signature some years ago. It was not so much a question of defining national minority, it was a question of protecting the ethnic, linguistic, cultural or religious minorities who reside on the territory of the member states of our Organisation. Indeed, borders have been drawn and redrawn between several States over time. That is why we have minorities within... 30/01/2020 | 11:37:54 Mr Chair, Ladies and gentlemen, Azerbaijan has been a source of concern to us since its accession to our Organization. Indeed, this requires respect for the European Convention on Human Rights and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. Unfortunately, however, this is not the case and Azerbaijan does not seem to understand the scale of the problem. Our Assembly has voted on numerous resolutions to denounce the authoritarian excesses of the regime in place. The report tabled today... 02/10/2019 | 18:17:49 Madame President, My dear colleagues, Many member states of the Council of Europe have been, or are facing, the threat of terrorism. Our Assembly has been repeatedly called upon to condemn in the strongest terms all acts of terrorism. I would therefore like to thank our rapporteur, Marietta KARAMANLI, for the quality of her report on the protection and support of victims of terrorism, to which I wish to pay tribute. Terrorism is a threat to states, to democracy, to human rights. It is also a... 01/10/2019 | 11:06:32 Madame President, My dear colleagues, The whistle-blowers play a particularly important role in various fields, such as the fight against corruption, the illegal use of personal data or threats to public health. To protect our fellow citizens, it is our duty to protect whistle-blowers everywhere in Europe. I thank our colleague Sylvain WASERMAN for this report. Our Organization, aware of the role of whistle-blowers in the proper functioning of democracies, has been working on this issue since...