17/04/2024 | 19:00:46 Thank you, Madam Chairman. Madam Chairman of the Committee, Dear Rapporteur, Our continent is founded on democracy and the rule of law, as we reiterate at every session. It is also based on freedom: the freedom of all people to lead their own lives and to enjoy all the rights guaranteed to them, whatever life they lead. The situation of LGBTI people is therefore at the heart of our concerns. It is the pride of our continent to continue to guarantee freedom of expression and assembly to LGBTI... 16/04/2024 | 19:27:24 Thank you, Mr Chairman. Ladies and Gentlemen, The adoption by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy on 27 March of the draft opinion recommending Kosovo's accession to the Council of Europe, presented by Ms Dora BAKOYANNIS, is logically followed by a discussion of the said opinion in the Plenary Assembly. If the opinion is also adopted, the final decision will be taken by the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, which will meet... 16/04/2024 | 17:06:09 Thank you, Mr Chairman. Ladies and Gentlemen, The report we are considering today, the report by Mr Lulzim BASHA, is of the utmost importance, as the Assembly must remain focused on the issue of Russia's accountability for the reprehensible, destructive and criminal acts, contrary to all our values, that it has been committing in Ukraine since 2014. The creation of the Register of Damage Caused by the Russian Federation's Aggression against Ukraine is a first step in this direction. The... 15/04/2024 | 16:26:27 Thank you, Mr Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, Listen, I'll be very brief on this point: you've all expressed what I think is the unanimous position of the Council of Europe on these two reports. I would particularly like to congratulate Mrs Elvira KOVÁCS and Mrs Isabel MEIRELLES, who no longer sits in our noble Assembly: they have both worked, in the end, on what constitutes the beating heart of democracy, i.e. how we bring to life in our reciprocal parliaments our oppositions with the... 25/01/2024 | 17:38:55 Thank you, Mr Chairman. I would like to speak on behalf of the Committee as we bring to a close this instructive debate on a democratic future for Belarus. I would like to express my deepest gratitude for the exchanges shared today: our commitment to a democratic future for the people of Belarus has been clear, unwavering and continuous. I warmly thank Ms. Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA for her renewed presence among us today, and I salute her work, that of the democratic forces of Belarus, as well... 25/01/2024 | 16:16:42 Thank you, Mister Chairman. It was pronounced correctly. Madam Secretary General, Following the ethnic cleansing that took place in Nagorno-Karabakh at the end of last year, more than 100 000 people were forced to leave their homes and take refuge outside the Azerbaijan border. Most of them are now in Armenian territory. I was able to see for myself the state of material and psychological distress in which they find themselves during a visit I made there last December. However, the worst... 24/01/2024 | 15:33:36 Thank you, Mister Chairman. Mister General Secretary, Ladies and gentlemen, Dear colleagues, It falls to me today, in my capacity as Chairman of the Political Affairs and Democracy Committee, to present to you the report prepared by our former colleague Mr George KATROUGALOS, who is no longer a member of this Assembly, on the activities of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Our debate today is of an institutional nature. Relations between our two organisations date... 23/01/2024 | 18:22:43 Thank you, Madam President. Following this debate, I would like to thank all the colleagues who have contributed their comments to this discussion. We are witnessing a difficult moment for the region. It is also a challenge for the international community, for Europe, for our societies, for this Assembly. I would like to stress that the Assembly has been clear in its condemnation, just as the rapporteur has been clear in his stance on the terrible atrocities committed by the Hamas terrorist... 12/10/2023 | 18:05:48 Thank you, Madam President. Ladies and Gentlemen, For months, we have been warning about the cutting off of the Lachin corridor, the route linking the territory to Armenia and providing access and supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh. Today, there are no Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh: 120,000 displaced persons fleeing the takeover of the territory by Azerbaijani troops; an ethnic cleansing. These people have lost their homes, their history, everything that made up their lives. 120,000 uprooted... 10/10/2023 | 19:21:08 Thank you, Mister Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, By voluntarily joining the Council of Europe, our states have decided to submit to the scrutiny of their parliamentary peers from other states. Monitoring is an essential tool. For this to happen, the process must be transparent, based on clear data and devoid of political or diplomatic ulterior motives. I, obviously, hope that this has been the case in my country. I leave that to everyone's discretion. I'd like to come back to three points in...