25/06/2019 | 12:31:44 Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to thank all the colleagues for their contribution to this debate. I think it helps me to gain insight, on the one hand; on the other hand, I would like to start with mentioning something on the economisation as to the organisation of the Council of Europe in recent years. This organisation is already, since 8 years, under continuous reorganisation to sober up its expenses. It was not helpful that a zero nominal growth was introduced. Staff has to be paid... 25/06/2019 | 11:35:16 Thank you, Chair. Dear colleagues, This is the last time that I will present the reports to this assembly. This time, I will do so as your General Rapporteur on the budgets of the Council of Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly and budgets are my favorite subject. Colleagues, following the acceptance by a large majority of my reports on the budgets of the Council of Europe and our Parliamentary Assembly in the Rules Committee, in Paris on 3 June, and my constructive meeting with... 24/06/2019 | 16:56:42 Thank you, Madam Chair. Dear colleagues, I'm against the illegal annexation of Crimea. I'm against the presence of Russians in East Ukraine and I am against the downing of airplane MH17. From January 2018, I have been involved in the work of the Committee on the role and mission of the PACE and in the follow-up work in the Rules Committee. With differing views, we work hard for the realisation of the De SUTTER report. I started my work unbiased and with an open mind. Quite soon I asked myself... 11/04/2019 | 17:48:16 For more than a decade, the Greek islands have been a main entry point for migrants to the European Union. A few migrants cross the Turkish-Greek land border, while the vast majority of migrants come by boat from the nearby shores of Turkey. There are currently around 20 000 people living in reception centres, often in unheated tents and containers, with limited access to running water and electricity, insufficient food supplies, as well as a lack of health services, and poor security. They... 11/04/2019 | 17:02:32 I thank colleagues for their thorough comments on my report. When I started the report, the sum of money involved was only €24 billion, but now it is up to €350 billion, so it has become even more important to deal with money laundering. The comments that colleagues have made prove that they took notice of this long and thorough report. I thank the staff of the Council of Europe who supported me for one and a half years to bring you this report. The report is not about one bank or one country... 11/04/2019 | 15:40:07 This might look like a report on dry, technical issues, but in reality, it is about our fundamental values. It is about how to protect the rule of law, human rights and democracy against dangerous, destructive forces – forces that have already damaged even this Assembly, in the institutional home of European democracy. Corruption undermines people’s confidence in public bodies, and populists exploit that scepticism to attack democratic institutions. We are seeing this right now in many... 11/04/2019 | 10:39:39 I congratulate Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS on his report, because we all know that our Rules of Procedure need to be updated regularly. Developments in the Assembly necessitate our adapting the rules to reflect what we have experienced in the last year and a half. We should take care of that. Many of the amendments proposed by Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS are therefore welcomed by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. Nevertheless, on two points, which have already been mentioned this morning... 10/04/2019 | 17:09:07 On behalf of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs, I thank the Rapporteur of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, Mr Tiny KOX, for his support. The Rules Committee supports the proposed draft resolution and draft recommendation. Mr Tiny KOX’s report is the follow-up to the work of the ad hoc committee on the role and mission of the Parliamentary Assembly. There has been a lot of work for a lot people – members, but also staff, as Mr Tiny KOX... 25/01/2019 | 10:52:00 I read Ms Tineke STRIK's report with great care. Let me clearly state at the outset that I am against acts of terrorism, which spoil democracy, and I am against terrorists. Acts of terrorism deliberately aim to trigger unjustifiable pain and sorrow for innocent people. For me, terrorists, who are sometimes called “freedom fighters”, do not qualify as a minority who deserve exclusion from the application of democratically accepted laws and rules. Issues connected with terrorism and freedom... 21/01/2019 | 12:40:50 On behalf of ALDE, I would like to congratulate you, Madam President, on the renewal of your appointment as President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. I thank Mr Ian LIDDELL-GRAINGER for the progress report of the Bureau and the Standing Committee. I also thank Mr Andrej HUNKO and Mr Aleksander POCIEJ for reporting, respectively, on the presidential elections in Georgia and Armenia. Factual information is crucial to our function as members of the Parliamentary Assembly...