08/04/2025 | 10:58:15 Madam President, dear colleagues, I’d like to thank Madam Zanda KALNIŅA-LUKAŠEVICA for her comprehensive report. She mentions the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency, the role of which is to identify, analyse and provide support in countering malign information and influence that is directed at Sweden by antagonistic foreign powers, such as Russia and China. For a long period of time Sweden has also been a target for Islamist foreign interference. In 2021, disinformation spread in Arabic... 07/04/2025 | 12:15:20 Thank you, Mister President. Dear colleagues, Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine continues to claim victims. Nothing is sacred and no one is safe from the Russian barbarians who use ballistic missiles against children. Two days ago, nine children were brutally killed, the youngest of them only three years old. While the White House remains silent, we and our countries have to continue our unconditional support for the people of Ukraine. Last week, my country, Sweden, decided on the... 03/10/2024 | 11:29:14 Mister President, dear colleagues, Holodomor – from the Ukrainian words for famine and death - is the name of the catastrophic famine in Ukraine from 1932 to 1933. A tragedy that has not received the recognition it deserves. A terrible famine disaster where 20 people died every minute, 1 200 lives were extinguished every hour, 28 000 died every day, totalling 10 million people. Holodomor is the Holocaust of famine, orchestrated by the barbaric Soviet communist regime. In true communist... 26/06/2024 | 19:51:52 Thank you, Madam President. And thank you, dear colleagues, for participating in this important debate. Here in the Council of Europe we work for promoting democracy, rule of law, and human rights, and Armenia is a bright example of how a country, a former Soviet country, can transform to a democracy. And it's quite difficult in the surroundings of Armenia, only with autocracies: Russia, and Iran, and Türkiye, and Azerbaijan. Despite these very very difficult conditions, Armenia has reached a... 26/06/2024 | 19:16:45 Thank you, Madam President. Dear colleagues, Presenting this report on Armenia is a special moment for Mr Kimmo KILJUNEN and me. We were both appointed in 2021 and since then, we have shared the ups and downs of the Armenian people. In 2022, we praised the progress of democratic developments and the fact that Armenia had successfully emerged from the political crisis triggered by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. However, since then, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been revived. In September... 16/04/2024 | 19:59:35 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Mr President, dear colleagues, I’d like to thank the rapporteur Mr Basha for the excellent work. Through its terrible war crimes, Russia has inflicted immense damage on Ukraine, damage that Moscow must pay for. Not when the war ends, but immediately. As long as the war continues as intensively as today, Ukraine needs approximately 100 billion dollars a year in foreign aid. The EU has concluded that only the interest on the Russian money in... 23/01/2024 | 20:18:50 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Mr President, dear colleagues, I’d like to thank Mr Fassino for his balanced rapport. To those who accuse Israel of a lack of proportionality, I would like to remind that Hamas's main goal is that Israel must be eradicated as a state. In Hamas's doctrine, the Muqawwama doctrine, it is stated that the Jews can never exist as a people with their own country. After the barbaric attack on October 7, one of the Hamas leaders, Razi Hamed, said that... 12/10/2023 | 17:52:37 Mr President, dear colleagues, Imagine that you and your family are forced to flee your country in a rush, barely managing to pack a few belongings into a plastic bag before leaving your home behind. Because you hear the echoes of artillery and see the drones with deadly loads. Because you fear, because you recall the haunting memories of soldiers taking lives and torturing innocent civilians during the autumn of 2020. Consider the agony of hunger, the desperation of not having essential... 11/10/2023 | 20:02:16 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) The images from the terrorist organization Hamas committing bestial murders of Israeli civilians, indiscriminately slaughtering women and children, and desecrating the dead have shaken and deeply disturbed all decent people worldwide. I’m profoundly outraged that there are others who celebrate these bloodbaths. In Iran, Lebanon, but even here in Europe, within my country - Sweden. I am extremely disturbed that thousands of individuals in... 22/06/2023 | 20:06:32 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Mr President, Dear colleagues, The original Olympic oath was sworn at the opening ceremony of the Olympic games in Antwerp in 1920. It read: ”We swear. We will take part in the Olympic games in a spirit of chivalry, for the honour of our country and for the glory of the sport.” This oath actually explains everything about why Russian and Belarusian athletes shouldn’t be allowed to compete in the Olympic games, not even under a neutral flag...