22/04/2021 | 13:07:24 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Dear Colleagues, The PACE has repeatedly warned about the consequences of Turkey’s deviation from our Organisation’s standards and principles, which primarily affect Turkish society and the most progressive forces within it. The Council of Europe does not seek confrontation with the Turkish authorities, but rather ways to encourage constructive dialogue conducive to democratic reform. The aim is not to impose any model of governance on Turkey... 20/04/2021 | 16:26:48 Good afternoon from Cyprus Mr Chairperson. I would first like to congratulate the rapporteur Mr Georgios KATROUGKALOS for his really excellent work. The established closer and more productive relationship between the Assembly and the OECD is a proven valuable framework for cooperation, and feedback on pressing challenges, such as the ones reviewed in this report. The fiscal power of the government predicates its democratic legitimacy. The appropriate transferring of tax revenue into spending... 20/04/2021 | 11:15:30 Good morning, Mr President. Dear Colleagues, Allow me to thank our Rapporteur, Mr. Tiny KOX, for his excellent Report. Despite what Mr Oleksii GONCHARENKO's already said. The Council of Europe has been a strong pillar in safeguarding democracy and fundamental human rights and freedoms through international co-operation for the last seven decades. There is a growing need, though, for the Council of Europe to further enhance its relevance in promoting peace through multilateralism. Stepping up... 28/01/2021 | 11:56:00 Good afternoon, from Nicosia. Allow me first to congratulate Mr Boriss CILEVIČS for his excellent report. Dear colleagues, the violent killings of George Floyd and Brianna Taylor by police officers in the US have shocked public opinion worldwide. Europe unfortunately has not been spared: the detention of far-right and Neo-Nazi groups in Germany's law enforcement institutions, systemic racism in French national police, the recent resignation of the Dutch government over child care subsidies... 26/01/2021 | 12:59:24 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) I wish to congratulate my colleague, Mr. Constantinos Efstathiou, for his report, and the wealth of information provided. Indeed, it is important to highlight that the Interlaken Reform Process has brought about tangible results, including in particular the processing of cases by the Court. The implementation of the pilot judgments’ procedure and the effective filtering of applications has led to a steady decrease of the previous influx of... 30/01/2020 | 16:13:14 Thank you, Mr Chair. Dear Colleagues, Libya is suffering endless bloodshed in recent years, being the theatre of following interventions, openly involved in the civil war. At the same time, the collapse of state structures has turned the area into concentration camps for migrants from Africa at the mercy of human traffickers. However, all of the above have a common origin and a specific course. As it was said by Mr George PAPANDREOU, Libya is currently in this tragic situation because, in... 28/01/2020 | 18:35:51 Thank you Mr Chairperson. Dear colleagues, I would also like to congratulate the reporter Lord George FOULKES for his report on an admittedly timely topic, as violent incidents and attacks on journalists are constantly on the rise. The most striking example is the matter of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017, who was leading the investigation on corruption charges in Malta and had made revelations in relation to the Panama Papers. Another common example is the alarming... 02/10/2019 | 16:56:07 Dear colleagues, I would first like to thank the rapporteur for her excellent work. As the oldest multi-national development bank in Europe, the Bank has a distinct mission aimed at promoting projects of social infrastructure and development. The discussions concerning the social mission of the bank are important: taking into account the fact that our continent counts tens of millions of impoverished people, as well as millions of unemployed and homeless people, it becomes clear that the... 10/04/2019 | 19:11:32 I congratulate Mr Tiny KOX on the very high quality of his report and on his excellent work. The report really must have required a huge effort – it is a tremendous amount of work, and we are very grateful to him for it. As other colleagues have pointed out, we now confront – for the first time in the 70 years since this Organisation was founded – a very severe and important crisis. We are at a crossroads, and we need to make a choice. That choice will be decisive and will have huge... 10/04/2019 | 15:52:07 I thank the rapporteurs for their reports. Ms Elvira KOVÁCS’s report contains some very useful suggestions for combating hate speech and intolerance, which, unfortunately, are still on the rise. We therefore support the draft resolution’s recommendations, including the recommendation that Member States take the legislative and other measures necessary to ensure that political parties are in line with the relevant ECRI recommendations, not only through voluntary self-regulation mechanisms, but...