20/06/2023 | 17:31:10 Madam president, dear colleagues, As rapporteurs, our opinion is clear: this law should not have been adopted at all from the beginning. Now we can only urge the Polish authorities to understand the far-reaching consequences of this law and its potential to undermine the democratic nature of elections in Poland. Therefore, our appeal to our Polish colleagues from the ruling party presented here today and to the Polish authorities back at home are clear: do not implement this law until the... 30/09/2021 | 09:24:37 Thank you, Madame President. This is a very important debate and report, because what is happening in Afghanistan should be of a great concern for everyone and every institution that stands up for human rights. When the former Taliban regime fell in 2001, the country was in ruins after occupation, civil war, oppression and gross mismanagement. The next 20 years did indeed include violence and many setbacks, but also indisputable successes. The number of children in school has risen since 2001... 22/04/2021 | 12:28:45 Madam President, dear colleagues, What we are seeing happening in Turkey is a demolition of democracy. The foundation of democracy is built on rule of law, human rights, and the freedom of speech. And President Erdoğan and his party is taking this down, brick by brick. The relentless crackdown on freedom of expression and other human rights is enabled by the widespread executive control and political influence over the judiciary. In recent years, this has led the courts to systematically... 21/04/2021 | 19:31:49 Thank you. As you know, Montenegro is one of the three countries with which the Assembly is engaged in a post-monitoring dialogue. The other two being North Macedonia and Bulgaria. In its resolution on Montenegro, the Assembly has put clear conditions for Montenegro to fulfil the wanted to post monitoring dialogue to come to an end. Although the co-rapporteurs have noted some progress, they have not proposed to close the post-monitoring dialogue. The Monitoring Committee unanimously supported... 28/01/2020 | 15:40:46 I will be very short. I would just like to say, in response to what some of our colleagues have said during the debate, that me and my co-rapporteur, Mr OMTZIGT, have only been... we don't have an interest in the Polish politics or the internal affairs in the country of Poland. Our basic, our principles, have been the same principles as the Assembly; it's been about the rule of law, it has been about democracy and it has been about human rights. Those are the principles that we have followed... 28/01/2020 | 10:11:08 Thank you, chair. Dear colleagues, All member states of the Council of Europe are obliged to respect the principals of democracy, the rule of law and human rights. Therefore, any development in a member state that undermines or weakens one of these fundamental principles is of immediate concern and must be addressed. Since 2015 there have been numerous reports and judgments, from inter alia the Venice Commission and the European Court of Human Rights, addressing the worrying developments in...