30/09/2024 | 16:00:14 Thank you very much, Mister President, Ladies and gentlemen, We always call this debate a "progress report" on Mondays. Unfortunately, it is not the case at the moment that we can talk about progress in terms of democracy, the rule of law and human rights. I agree with Mr Eerik-Niiles KROSS's point that we should actually be talking about an activity report. One point that has already been mentioned, thanks to our Danish colleague, 76 Members of Parliament have been placed on a sanctions list... 30/09/2024 | 12:25:09 Thank you very much, Mister President. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Group of the European Left, on behalf of the Group of the European United Left, I would like to warmly congratulate you, Mister Vladimir KARA-MURZA, on being here, on having been released from unlawful imprisonment a few weeks ago. It is always good when people who are imprisoned because of their political activity, because of what they have said, are then released under external pressure, so to speak. That is why I... 27/06/2024 | 20:05:06 Thank you very much, dear President, for the possibility to respond. I don't take all the three minutes because I don't want to take more time, but a few thoughts about this. I think, and I would like to refer to Mr Stéphane BERGERON from Canada, from Quebec. It is a complex issue. The threat to the freedom of expression is a complex issue. It's not only a state issue, but it's also a state issue. It is a combination of some developments in our societies with the state. I just want to refer... 27/06/2024 | 19:24:36 He did indeed suffer for a very long time; 14 years in total. Two years in which he had to hide, so to speak, seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy and five years in the maximum security prison in Belmarsh. It is good that he is finally free. I would like to remind you that this Assembly has called for his immediate release three times. I think we can be proud of that as an assembly. Not all international organisations have done that. Yet, in my view, there are still consequences for freedom... 27/06/2024 | 10:33:28 Thank you very much, Mister President. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to say at the outset that I am also concerned about developments in Georgia. Especially with regard to an authoritarian development towards a polarisation of society. I am not sure whether all external interventions have been helpful in this development. But let me perhaps say briefly that I have been to Georgia several times as an election observer. I had the honour of leading the presidential elections, the mission... 24/06/2024 | 17:05:06 Madam President, thank you very much, I would like to start by thanking the rapporteur, Ms Ingjerd Schie SCHOU, for her really extraordinarily committed handling of this Report and also for her open ear to suggestions. On the question of the threshold for political groups - that was a big debate, back and forth - it has already been mentioned; we once had 20, then it was raised to 28, and so on. Actually, it's not really a clear rule compared to other international organisations. The European... 24/06/2024 | 16:12:09 Many thanks, Mister President, Thank you also for the Report to Mr Alfred HEER on the elections in North Macedonia. We always talk about a Progress Report at the beginning of the Assembly. Unfortunately, it is not always the case that we can speak of progress. We still have the situation in Azerbaijan, where we cannot accept the return of the Azerbaijani delegation following the very unpleasant signals from Azerbaijan. We have the situation in Kosovo, where this Assembly proposed in April... 24/06/2024 | 12:17:36 Thank you very much, Mister President. Ladies and gentlemen, The Council of Europe was founded 75 years ago by 10 states after the devastation of the Second World War. I believe that the Assembly even envisaged the creation of a new European Constitution at the time. But the basis was and is, the European Convention on Human Rights, and around 200 other conventions have followed. I believe that this model of sovereign states making agreements and then looking at how they implement these... 18/04/2024 | 17:03:44 Thank you very much, Mr. President, Ladies and gentlemen, We, the Group of the Unified European Left, have initiated this debate because we believe that the Council of Europe is far too silent on the developments taking place in Gaza. In Gaza, but also in the Middle East. We had a meeting here shortly after 7 October 2023. We also had minutes of commemoration. There were of course condemnations from our side of Hamas' attack on Israel, and we had a debate in January where we passed a... 15/04/2024 | 13:00:54 Thank you very much, Mr President, The Council of Europe is an organisation that attaches great importance to rules. We are based on conventions and compliance of rules. And in my view, we have seen a worrying erosion of rules internationally in recent months. Not just our rules, but also other international conventions and agreements. In addition to the war; the terrible war in Ukraine; there has now been an escalation in the Middle East – a massacre in Gaza with over 33 000 dead. And here...