26/06/2025 | 17:12:07 Thank you, Chairperson. I congratulate Ms Maryna BARDINA for this important report, which addresses a critical gap in our democratic systems: the persistent under-representation of women in our parliaments. Parliaments remain male-dominated spaces – not just in numbers, but in culture, in rules, in assumptions. Women, especially mothers, still face structural barriers: the lack of childcare, rigid scheduling, and the expectation that political work must come before family. These are not... 26/06/2025 | 15:54:19 Thank you, dear President, Dear colleagues, I congratulate the Rapporteur, thank you, dear Ms Petra BAYR. You did a very good job. Even in our days, in any European country, in a robust democracy, it is not easy to be a woman. And if you are poor, without academic qualifications, living in a neighbourhood far from the workplace, it is much more difficult. It is very hard. Despite progressive legislation, achievements and advances in equality, women's lives are still a daily test. Competence... 25/06/2025 | 17:38:29 Thank you, dear President. Dear colleagues, how many more children must die before we call this a genocide? How many mass graves? How many bombed schools, shattered hospitals and starving babies? Children are dying of hunger and a lack of medicine. Not because aid doesn’t exist, but because it is being systematically denied. Trucks are blocked. Relief workers are killed. Starving people are shot at while waiting for food. This is not collateral damage. It is barbarism. Prime Minister... 10/04/2025 | 18:55:38 Thank you, Madam Chairman. Dear colleagues, I congratulate the rapporteur on the quality of his report. Thank you very much, Antonio. I'll continue in French because it's not appropriate to speak in Portuñol. ["Felicito al ponente por la calidad de su informe. Muchas gracias, Antonio. Continuaré en franceis porque no es apropriado hablar portuñol."] Strengthening relations between the Council of Europe and Latin America, in the current unstable global context, is both a challenge and an... 10/04/2025 | 11:46:10 Dear President, dear colleagues. Just some comments, but first of all I'd like to thank colleagues who participated in this urgent debate on the situation in Georgia. It was a very good and fruitful debate. I would like to thank the secretariat of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee) and of course, Ms Sabina ĆUDIĆ, co-rapporteur, my dear colleague. Despite the different perspectives, we are united in our... 10/04/2025 | 10:56:43 Thank you very much, Mister President. Dear colleagues, Before presenting to you the content of the resolution on the situation in Georgia, adopted by the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee), allow me to begin with a personal note. I have been co-rapporteur for Georgia long enough to say that this is not the resolution I wanted to present to this Assembly. This was not the debate I expected to have at this... 09/04/2025 | 20:01:10 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) I start congratulating the co-rapporteurs of the Resolution, Mr Stefan SCHENNACH and Lord David BLENCATHRA. The recent arrest of the Mayor of Istanbul is not an isolated incident. It is yet another chapter in a troubling story — a story of rising authoritarianism, of institutions being hollowed out, of dissent being criminalized. The people of Istanbul have demonstrated their revolt because they are told that their votes do not matter. That... 07/04/2025 | 12:27:42 Dear President, dear colleagues. I participated in the election observation mission in Kosovo and I asked for the floor to speak about what I saw and heard. First of all, I would like to thank Ms Petra BAYR for her excellent work as Head of our delegation. I would also like to thank the authorities of Kosovo for their invitation and support. As you know, this was the first time that our Assembly was invited to observe elections in Kosovo. These elections, as the rapporteur mentioned, have... 28/01/2025 | 17:47:27 Thank you, Mister President, I thank the rapporteur for this important report. Dear colleagues, After more than a devastating year of war between Israel and Hamas, a ceasefire has finally been reached. This truce included an exchange of prisoners and allowed much-needed humanitarian aid to reach affected areas. Until when? I don't know, but I know that Palestinians need peace to rebuild their lives and their homes. I know that women and children of Palestine have a right to live in peace... 27/01/2025 | 17:12:52 Thank you, Mister President, The recent elections in Georgia, which should have been a reaffirmation of the Georgian people trust in democratic processes, have instead cast a shadow over the country’s future. These elections are the first elections since Georgia gained its independence from the Soviet Union that take place under a fully proportional election system. Most opposition parties, as well as those in the ruling majority, presented joint election lists to avoid losing the votes of...