26/04/2023 | 19:02:41 Thank you, Madam President. I was expecting Mr David MORRIS to take the floor actually. Dear President, distinguished members of the Assembly, allow me first of all to express my congratulations to the rapporteur of this report on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. I imagine that it required a lot of commitment and a very laborious working plan and programme to compile such a comprehensive report about many countries. Respect for human rights, democracy and... 25/04/2023 | 19:00:10 Thank you, Mister Chairman. Distinguished members of the Assembly. The report we are reviewing today is a summary of our 13 years of efforts to develop a new mechanism in reaching out to neighbouring geographies. It is the evidence of our determination to expand our cooperation with non-member countries in those geographies, to consolidate democratic transformations, to promote stability, good governance, respect for human rights and the rule of law. Partnership for democracy is a concept... 24/01/2023 | 16:52:40 Thank you, Chairman. Distinguished members of the Assembly, This report is the product of a journey we have been in for almost a year now. We have worked on it meticulously, and thanks to the talent and extraordinary efforts of our rapporteur, we are finalising this journey today. Our group, right from the outset, has been an ardent supporter of the Fourth Summit of the Council of Europe, and we support this excellent report. We have been in favour of the idea of the Summit and this report... 11/10/2022 | 13:08:30 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) The report entitled "Supporting a European perspective for the Western Balkans" is very important at a time when we are all concerned about the increasing challenges to the unity of Europe. I therefore would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy as well as to our rapporteur Mr. George Papandreu who has prepared an excellent report describing the current situation in the region and drawing... 23/06/2022 | 17:35:48 Thank you, Mister President. Dear colleagues, dear friends, preparing this report must have been quite difficult. One certainly needs resilience to reflect appropriately on what the Kyrgyz Republic aims at, what it is going through and why it is important to keep this country engaged with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Thanks to our rapporteur, we have a very accurate and informative report in front of us. First, I would like to share a personal experience with you which... 21/06/2022 | 10:21:19 Thank you, Mr Chairman. Distinguished members of the Assembly, As we are getting closer to the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, it is quite obvious that the international system is transforming. Some blame the pandemic for the changes we are going through. Some try to identify other reasons. But in any case, it is hard to ignore the effect of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine and many agree that European security will never be what it used to be. Things are changing... 27/04/2022 | 10:21:11 Thank you, Chairman. I take the floor on behalf of the Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group. I just want to underline that we are now going through a very important epoch in the history of Europe. The 24 February 2022 is probably going to become a very important benchmark in our history, in the history of our continent. Because it has opened a new chapter. It has opened a new chapter which is unprecedented since the Second World War. It is unprecedented in the sense that it has created... 26/04/2022 | 10:27:19 Thank you, Mr President. Distinguished members of the Assembly. On behalf of our group, allow me first and foremost to express my sincere appreciation to the rapporteur of the report we are reviewing today. It is very timely. It is timely because all over our continent, from the west to the east, we are facing an increasing backsliding of democracy. The integrity of democratic processes are being undermined, the good functioning of democratic institutions are being prohibited, and all these... 27/01/2022 | 19:09:28 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) The establishment of the Observatory on History Teaching in Europe is a significant step forward in our long-standing programme on history education. First, I would like to commend the rapporteur for bringing this issue to the attention of the Assembly with this report, and second I particularly appreciate the draft resolution and the draft recommendation thereof which prepare a good framework for the continuation of our efforts. History is... 25/01/2022 | 20:03:11 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Thank you Mr. President, What we are discussing today, namely media, in general, is known to be the fourth pillar of democracy and it has a very important role in generating democratic culture. Media supplies the political information that the electorate base their decisions on. Media workers identify problems in their societies and serve as a medium for providing an in-depth knowledge about those problems so that people may have a better...