21/06/2023 | 18:21:03 Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, rapporteurs. Dear colleagues, Let me start with sincere congratulations to both rapporteurs. They did excellent work on the extremely important issues of social inclusion of migrants, refugees, and internal displaced persons, as well as the importance of integration of migrants and refugees. Many of the recommendations included included in the reports are really accurate and worth it to be widely implemented, as well as examples of good practice listed by... 20/06/2023 | 18:26:54 Thank you, madam Chair, dear colleagues, Let me start with a very personal remark. For me, an active member of the democratic opposition in times of communism in Poland, and for me as a man who devoted his life to building a democratic Poland on the basis of such principles as the rule of law and free and fair elections, it is a very, very, depressing day. Why? Because my country becomes a subject of a debate in the Council of Europe, the most prestigious leading organisation established to... 20/06/2023 | 16:50:51 Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA for your moving contribution to our debate. It was a great speech referring to what Belarusians have been fighting for for already many years. The rigged presidential elections of 2020 were, so far, the most significant battle of the brave citizens against Mr Aleksandr Lukashenko's regime for free and democratic pillars. It resulted in enormous repressions inside the country, as well as hundreds of thousands of Belarusians living... 27/04/2023 | 16:47:50 Thank you, Mister President, colleagues, members of the Council of Europe. First of all, allow me to start by expressing my sincere year of gratitude to Ms ZELENSKA, First Lady of Ukraine, for her moving speech delivered to our chamber a while ago. Real examples of children being victims of Russian invaders which were presented during her speech have been, I believe, for all of us gathered here in the hemicycle, very touching. Secondly, let me also thank Mr Paulo PISCO, the author of the... 25/04/2023 | 16:52:20 Thank you, Madam President, dear colleagues. We are discussing the issue of the upcoming Council of Europe Summit, which will be held in Reykjavík on 16 and 17 May this year. I have no doubts that will be an extremely important event, not only because the summit is being organised 18 years after the previous one, but also due to the horrible war in Ukraine – one of our Council member States that was invaded – at that time – by another member State of this organisation, which was established... 13/10/2022 | 11:45:31 Thank you, Mr President. Dear colleagues, Following an excellent speech delivered this morning to our assembly by Ukrainian President Mr Volodymyr ZELENSKYY, I believe it should be reiterated that Russian aggression against Ukraine, which started almost eight months ago, is a brutal violation of any international law including this accepted and signed by the Russian Federation. The only reason it started was imperial ambitions of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and the rest of Russian leadership... 12/10/2022 | 18:54:51 Thank you, Mister President. And that's right. I will be replacing Mr Aleksandar NIKOLOSKI on behalf of the Group of the European People's Party on the discussion on the both reports "Pushbacks on land and sea: illegal measures of migration management" and the second one "Safe third countries for asylum seekers". Let me start with words of gratitude to both rapporteurs. Their work is excellent. The result is absolutely competent, and unbiased, and they are both right, that pushbacks and not... 27/04/2022 | 15:53:44 Thank you, Mr President, not only for giving me the floor, but also for your excellent pronunciation of Polish names, which I assume, I am aware, are not easy at all. Dear colleagues, allow me to start my intervention with referring to the principal document that our organisation is based on, to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In its preamble, representatives of states, including high officials from the Russian Federation, which signed the... 23/06/2021 | 13:01:31 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Dear Colleagues, I am extremely sorry for not having a chance to address you personally due to technical problems that occurred when I tried to connect you on-line. However do want to take part in this very very important debate on situation in Belarus. Allow me firstly to start with saying: thank you, to Emanuelis Zingeris and other Lithuanian MPs who have taken the initiative to organize this debate as well as have chosen very proper title... 26/01/2021 | 12:00:37 Thank you Chair. Dear colleagues and members, allow me to start with some personal remarks. As a former member of the Polish democratic opposition I fought in the 80s for an independent democratic state of Poland with an independent judiciary, which I believe is one of the cornerstones of a democratic rule of law. I do still believe that it is, which doesn't mean that I can't see some citizen's concerns relating to the functioning of the judiciary in Poland. Long-lasting proceedings, not...