25/06/2024 | 12:02:31 Thank you very much. The debate is now closed. The Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy has presented the draft Resolution (Document 16001) to which no Amendments have been tabled. We will now proceed to vote on the draft Resolution contained in Document 16001. A simple majority is required. The vote is now open. The vote is closed. I call for the result to be displayed. So the draft Resolution in Document 16001 is adopted. Congratulations. The Committee on Political Affairs and... 25/06/2024 | 11:50:53 Thank you very much. I must now interrupt the list of Speakers. The speeches of members on the Speakers' list who have been present during the debate but have not been able to speak may be given to the Table Office for publication in the official Report. I remind colleagues that the typewritten text can be submitted electronically, if possible no later than 4 hours after the list of Speakers is interrupted. The ballot of the election of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe is still... 24/01/2024 | 17:16:01 Thank you, Mister President. I'm honoured to attend this debate held within the framework of our traditional enlarged Assembly. "Enlarged" signifies that we have the participation of parliamentarians from countries that do not form part of the Council of Europe, but which nevertheless belong to the OECD. Our debate could surely have been held against a background of a world economy in a better state than we have right now. Dear colleagues, as we all know, an economic crisis, regardless of its... 23/01/2024 | 20:22:44 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Mr President, There are two predominant principles in the report presented by our Rapporteur Mr Fridez, on how to deal with the issues of mass migration and asylum in the course of election campaigns. The first of these principles is how to respect and protect the fundamental principle of freedom of expression - a freedom which underpins the whole of Western democracy. Unless we can have a frank and open discourse about migration, asylum and... 23/01/2024 | 17:26:49 Thank you, Madam President, Our rapporteur Mr Piero FASSINO and the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy are to be commended on the concise Report they have prepared on recent developments in the Middle East with a focus on the war between the Hamas terrorist group and the state of Israel. I agree fully with the Report's analysis of recent developments, such as Hamas' deceitful attack on 7 October in breach of the official ceasefire then enforced and the subsequent brutal slaughter of... 27/04/2023 | 20:03:01 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Mr President, I salute this opportunity for our Assembly to debate in depth yet another war crime perpetrated by Vladimir Putin’s Russia in the course of its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. I am referring to the real-life, mass kidnapping of that country’s civilian population and the latter’s forced transportation to Russia or to Russia-held territory in eastern and southern Ukraine. Among the abducted are thousands of children, who either... 25/04/2023 | 20:03:36 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Mr President, That particular type of government called ‘democracy’ has in the course of history certainly had its ups and downs, ever since democratic Athens in 400 B.C. stood up against tyrannical Sparta. Mr Winston Churchill, once a member of this Parliamentary Assembly, for his part called democracy “the worst form of government …”, Then he added “… except all the others …” After the darkening 1930s and a devastating Second World War... 26/01/2023 | 20:07:39 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Mr President, I am very happy to see this Assembly take up the issue of the sit-down and ongoing blockade of the so-called Lachin Corridor, which provides the only, and I stress the only, road connection between the region of Nagorno-Karabach and Armenia. The reason for the allegedly civilian and spontaneous demonstration in question, which has by now lasted well over a month, is the supposed damage caused to the local environment through the... 26/01/2023 | 13:00:13 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Mr President, We have, in this important debate, heard many excellent statements, including that of our Rapporteur Mr Cottier, on the horrible, almost indescribable war crimes perpetrated by Russian forces against an innocent and peace-loving population, the Ukrainians. Mass executions and torture of civilians and captured soldiers alike; millions of Ukrainians displaced , often abroad; forced deportations to Russia, including of children... 28/04/2022 | 12:23:03 Thank you, Mr President. This is Assembly is right in holding a debate at this present session already, as consequences are flowing from Russia's heinous and unlawful attack on Ukraine. This being said, we know full well that the conflict is still far from over. We may, in fact, at this stage, be far from the beginning of the end. We may instead, more realistically, be at the end of the beginning, to quote Mr Winston Churchill. The first consequence I wish to mention is the enormous suffering...