13/10/2022 | 15:48:43 Thank you Mister Chairman. On behalf of my political group, Group of the European People's Party, here is what I have to say on what we are discussing today about the protection of a fundamental human right, which is the right to choose who you love in dignity and in full respect with this choice. There is no doubt that there has been enormous progress in the last years on that front and we are proud that Europe, overall, is at the forefront of that fight for this human right. But there is a... 12/10/2022 | 11:38:16 Mister Chairman, I come in front of you today, dear colleagues, to speak to you as a friend, a long-standing friend of Turkish European vocation. Actually, I represent the country Greece that has been a strong supporter, actually one among the strongest and most sincere supporters of Türkiye's European vocation after Helsinki and one of the countries that sees it in its national interest to have a European, liberal, democratic Türkiye at peace with itself and at peace with its neighbourhood... 21/06/2022 | 17:22:18 Okay. Can you restart the time please? Mister Chairman, Dear Colleagues, I wanted to speak to you today about the basic axiom on which the report is based. A basic rule of international relations. The fact that democracies promote peace and stability, and that authoritarianism, especially hybrid regimes that back-pedal towards authoritarianism and breed instability and war. What we are seeing today in Ukraine is the result of this process of de-democratisation that took place in Russia during... 28/04/2022 | 15:51:32 I would like to congratulate the rapporteur. I feel particularly proud that both the rapporteur of the report and the rapporteur for opinion come from our political group, Group of the European People's Party. This is important because I think the EPP is at the forefront of confronting that challenge that comes from or often from political forces to our right. We have a particular interest in EPP to see this challenge effectively answered. Now we have had waves of democratisation in the past... 27/04/2022 | 15:34:12 Thank you Mr President, I read the report. It's an excellent report, and I agree with all the recommendations. But I have a point to make. No matter how good a report is, and this is a very good report, it cannot fully describe the enormity of what we are faced with. It's not only what is happening in Ukraine, an attack on our core values, as it has been described. It is an attack on our most basic assumptions, on our mental universe, on our imagination. The unimaginable became possible. Our... 27/01/2022 | 12:15:37 Good morning, Mister President. I hope you can hear me well. I speak to you from downtown Athens. I participate in the ceremony for the Holocaust Memorial Day as the president of the Greek-Israeli Parliamentary Friendship Committee together with many of my colleagues and the president of the republic. We here in Athens, the ancient cradle of democracy, say out and loud like every other nation in the world: never again. Never again, we, the Council of Europe as an institution that was founded... 26/01/2022 | 18:23:13 Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. As you say, I come from Greece, a country with a very long, a very strong and a very deep relationship with Russia and the Russian people. My father was born in Russia back in 1925 in the Black Sea coastal town of Tuapse. He was part of the big Greek diaspora community of Russia. Therefore, I speak to you as a friend of the Russian people, and as such, I have a very simple message to deliver: free Alexei Navalny. Free him now without any further delay... 25/01/2022 | 09:45:07 Yes, good morning from a very snow-covered, white Athens, an unusually white Athens. I wish I were there with you, Mister President, to congratulate you in person, but you have the congratulations from everybody and the best wishes for a good work ahead. Let me start with a very brief comment on the commissioner we just heard, Ms Helena DALLI. She comes from a country, Malta, a small Mediterranean Southern European country, Catholic country, that ranks at the very top of every international... 30/09/2021 | 15:50:39 Thank you, Mister Chairman. We are very happy with the report by the European People's Party and happy with a chance to discuss this very serious situation created by an authoritarian regime that by instrumentalising a humanitarian concern it weaponises immigrants and asylum seekers to put pressure on neighbouring countries and all of Europe. I have five points. First: a state behaving like a criminal gang and a clandestine human trafficker on a massive scale – that is Belarus. Second: a... 30/09/2021 | 09:49:48 Thank you. I asked for the floor, Madam President, because I think it's important to talk about another aspect and learn the right lessons from the Afghan disaster here in Europe. We live in a new world of heightened tensions and geostrategic antagonisms. We in Europe have been too complacent for too long. If we were to continue on this path we are bound to face new surprises closer to home, I believe. We are often full of big words and I'm afraid our session this morning is no exception...