13/10/2022 | 11:35:34 Honoured President, members of the Parliamentary Assembly, First of all, I would like to express my deepest support to the Ukrainian people, those who have lost loved ones, who are injured, and who are bravely fighting for the freedom of Ukraine. On February 24th the Russian Federation launched a wide-ranging attack on Ukraine. In March the Parliamentary Assembly indeed responded promptly to Russia's barbaric actions by expelling the aggressor from the organisation. However we are still... 15/03/2022 | 20:12:50 Honourable President, members, I would like to start my speech with pointing out one simple fact: the Russian Federation’s actions against Ukraine is a war that brings destruction, heart-breaking losses, and death of civilians and innocent children. This war started already eight years ago, and the aggressor has never taken responsibility for its actions. Let's name things as they are. The Assembly has always played the role of Europe’s guardian of human rights and democracy. Defence and... 27/01/2022 | 12:22:28 Honoured President, Dear colleagues, One cannot remain impartial to the events on recent challenges to security in Europe unfolding around us. Unfortunately, the current geopolitical situation because of Russia’s demands to overview the architecture of European security is very tense. The European continent is going through turbulent times. And the particular questions that we have to address and to consider is: What is the role for the Council of Europe and all European countries within... 26/01/2022 | 15:51:50 Honoured President, Dear Colleagues, At the opening of the Assembly's part-session on 24 January 2020, to Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS supported – by the required number of members of the Assembly – challenged the still unratified credentials of the Parliamentary delegation of the Russian Federation on substantive grounds pursuant to Rule 8 of the Rules of Procedure. The Parliamentary Assembly decided to refer the challenge to the Monitoring Committee for report and in keeping with Rule 8.3 of the... 30/09/2021 | 15:54:25 Honourable President, dear colleagues, I would like to thank the rapporteur for such important work. The situation on the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Polish border with Belarus is not only a regional security concern for us. Currently, several dozen persons from Iraq and Afghanistan are stranded on the EU-Belarusian border. President Alexander Lukashenko uses migrant trafficking as a hybrid attack to undermine the values and the unity of the EU countries. He manipulates defenceless people, who... 23/06/2021 | 17:08:44 Honourable President, dear colleagues, There is no doubt that the topic of this report is an important one. Despite the fact that [there are] plenty of programmes to help women from under-represented groups to be more active in societies, there is a lot to be done. I am happy to see that there are governments that can be proud of their progress. Finland is an excellent example with 10 ministers out of 19 being women. This topic is important for me because of my personal experience that I have... 23/06/2021 | 10:23:03 Honourable President, Dear colleagues, There is no question about it. We have to strongly condemn the act of the Belarusian authorities in forcing a passenger plane to land on the 23rd of May and detaining Mr Protasevich and Ms Sapega. We cannot look past the violations of basic human rights and the use of violence. Not in this case nor in the previous incidents we have been observing for almost a year now. Roman Protasevich was granted political asylum in Poland and therefore must be treated... 22/06/2021 | 11:56:46 Honourable President, colleagues, rapporteur, Half of numerous European countries have introduced Covid-19 passport systems including my own home country Estonia. This system should not be used to limit our everyday actions and, worse, deepen inequality and discrimination in our societies. As Israel did in February this year, a number of countries have followed by creating Covid-19 passport apps that show whether an individual has been vaccinated against Covid-19, has recovered from Covid-19... 20/04/2021 | 09:16:09 Thank you. We have to remind ourselves that vaccine passports are nothing new. We have been using them for travelling internationally for a long time already. However, we have come to a point where a passport is not only for travelling anymore, but it is also considered for access to our everyday services. In Israel, for example, vaccinated people are already using an app on entry to gyms, pools and cultural venues. The particular question in respect of Covid-passes concerns the mutual... 28/01/2021 | 09:28:37 Mister President, Dear Colleagues, On behalf of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe I want to express the opinion of the members of our political group on the text of the resolution that refers to the question of the credentials of the Russian delegation, and sadly, to the persistent violation of democracy and the principles of rule of law by our Member State. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe expresses great concern on the continued failure by the Russian...