10/04/2025 | 10:37:59 Thank you very much. Indeed our environment needs very robust protection, and the criminal law is absolutely an appropriate measure. It's very common on a national level, but there are still voids on an international level, so we really should close them. I would like to focus on the Rome Statute, which is the basis of international criminal law. And crimes against the environment are often linked with other offences the International Criminal Court is dealing with anyway. So just to mention... 09/04/2025 | 19:31:54 "No. International courts are not made to intervene in sovereign states. International courts are made to restore justice in sovereign states, just to make clear what they are made for." [in English]. Let me come to the report and to the core. The European Court of Human Rights is the core or is one of the very, very important cores of the Council of Europe. The core is only ever as hard as the implementation of the judgments of this Court work well. In the Committee for the Election of... 09/04/2025 | 16:37:17 Thank you very much, Mister Chairman. I must confess. When I look at Türkiye at the moment, I am above all desperate, really desperate, because it is clear that the judiciary is being misused for political purposes in order to clear away politically undesirable opponents. I am desperate because the results of democratic elections are being trampled on again and again, because mayors are being replaced by government commissioners. I am desperate, because for years, for many years, Türkiye has... 09/04/2025 | 10:27:07 Yeah, thank you very much. We know that many countries start to fight corruption in politics when there is a specific case that becomes public. And of course that's a good reason, and better then, than never. But I think that we are all united in the idea that a system to assist MPs to respect ethical standards from scratch is much better than one that only relies on responding to breaches of standards. It's obvious that throughout Europe we have very diverse standards, from clear settled... 07/04/2025 | 12:02:47 Thank you very much, Mister President. I have to mention at the beginning, it was the very first time in general that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) observed elections in Kosovo, and it was a different setting as we know it. Usually there was no audio; it was just us as a delegation, and the European Union with also a small parliamentary delegation. We made separate reports, we made separate observations, but we were very well co-ordinated in whatever we did. Our... 31/01/2025 | 11:31:49 Yeah, thank you very much. I think that all or most of your intervention showed the urgency to tackle ageism against all the persons and fully protect the rights of all the persons in our member states everywhere. This is also about building inclusive and cohesive societies and intergenerational links and also solidarity among generations. Ms Andrea EDER-GITSCHTHALER... I will tell her back home in Austria that many of you praised her for her work. Indeed, she will be happy about that. Andrea... 31/01/2025 | 11:01:02 Thank you very much, Mister Chairman. Ms Andrea EDER-GITSCHTHALER, who is the rapporteur of this very important report to protect the human rights of older persons, regrets that she can't be here with us today, but she is, for half a year, chairing the Federal Council of the Austrian Parliament, and they have sittings this week and so, I will do my best to present her report on "Overcoming age-based discrimination against older persons". So let me start with the obvious. And the obvious is... 30/01/2025 | 11:42:47 Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. There are many important and good reasons why it is important to have free and fair elections in Belarus. Probably the most important reason of all is to establish the rule of law. The rule of law that allows free trade unions to operate, for example. Last week I met with the chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions, Alyaksandr. He was imprisoned; he escaped. There is no freedom of assembly. Those who want to represent people and fight for... 29/01/2025 | 16:47:06 Thank you very much dear Theodoros, In any substantive challenge to credentials, the role of our Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs is to consider whether the correct procedures have been followed within the rules, and to consider whether the proposal in the draft resolution complies with the rules of procedure. So, our report is not on content, but just on procedure. The proposal in the report and draft resolution of the Monitoring Committee is for the... 28/01/2025 | 10:50:13 Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much, Theodoros. Mister President of the Court, Mr Marko BOŠNJAK. The UN framework for a sustainable future, the Sustainable Development Goals in their goal 16, focus on strong institutions, including access to justice, which is key in institutions, but also key to meet all the other goals. Also the pact of the future of the UN is clear on this and well functioning courts are substantial in this regard. Knowing other international courts and how they...