13/10/2023 | 10:54:28 Thank you, Madam President. "A thing is not just because it is law, but it must be law because it is just" (Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu). I wanted to start with this quote, because that's what we're talking about today. The rapporteur put it extremely well. It's about the separation of powers, checks and balances. Mr Pieter OMTZIGT's report is based on serious work. Firstly, that of the Venice Commission, to which the Committee asked for an opinion, and then within the... 11/10/2023 | 18:23:54 We are truly at the heart of our Organization's activity, namely the defense of fundamental rights and freedoms, and this is the essential role of the Council of Europe. During the preparation of this Report, the Committee held two hearings: one in Bern in 2022 with an expert from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and an MEP who is a member of the PEGA Committee; and another hearing in Paris in December last year with three targeted victims of Pegasus or... 11/10/2023 | 15:56:15 Thank you, Mister Chairman. Humanity had learned important lessons from the terrible conflicts of the late 19th and 20th centuries. The Council of Europe is a powerful witness to this. In the 21st century, these lessons seem to be fading from our memories and our hearts. In Ukraine, alas; in Nagorno-Karabakh, alas; in northern Kosovo, alas. Three crises in our Assembly, debates also this week. And in Israel, alas. What's happening there is shattering our hearts and minds. Terrorist attacks by... 09/10/2023 | 15:48:10 Thank you, Mr Chairman. I would like to thank the rapporteurs for their reports. This activity report shows the importance of the work carried out by this Organisation and by this Assembly. For my part, I have had the honour of chairing the Legal Affairs Committee for almost two years now, and its reports at each part-session basically underline the importance of the Council of Europe's conventions, of the entire legal framework on which this Organisation is based, with reports that are... 21/06/2023 | 19:56:26 Yes, that's right, Madam President, thank you. Madam Chair, The Committee has given its unanimous support to the rapporteur's precise and balanced work. As we have seen today, the issues dealt with in this report are the subject of lively discussion in the United Kingdom, which we know to be an ancient, vibrant and exemplary democracy. These discussions relate as much to the draft Charter of Fundamental Rights, which it seems may not be adopted, as to the Illegal Immigration Bill. It is... 19/06/2023 | 15:37:53 Thank you, Mister Chairman. When I arrived at the Council of Europe, people who had been there longer than I had said to me: "Observing elections is one of the best things we do in this institution, one of the most useful things." "One of", I emphasise, of course; there are many others. It was true. The Council of Europe was wondering about the impact of the current crises in our world. On the subject of election observation, and as chairman of the Swiss delegation, I would like to thank the... 25/04/2023 | 18:36:51 The rapporteur said it clearly and subtly in his report: there is no hierarchy between the different texts. It is a Swiss person who is telling you this, one of the few countries in which, in reality, there is a hierarchy, since we place the convention above our own constitution, but this is an exception. There are few of them and, in most countries, there is not a system of hierarchy but rather of co-habitation between the national constitution or the constitutional texts, the convention and... 24/04/2023 | 15:58:03 Thank you, Mister President. You are right, Mister President: this is the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, but it is true that it is also special for me, as a representative of Switzerland, to speak here in this house which is the house of the European Parliament. I believe that this shows, finally, that all the countries represented here are fighting for the same values: the values of the rule of law, democracy and human rights which are the foundation of our institution. The... 27/01/2023 | 10:46:39 Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, I would like to thank all those from the political groups who support this report and who have made compliments. Mr FRIDEZ, you said "thank you, Damien COTTIER", but you should say "thank you, Fabien GOUTTEFARDE", and you should say "thank you, Günter SCHIRMER" to thank the secretariat support. This is really where the work has been done. I believe that Mr Vladimir VARDANYAN is right when he says that we will not be able to stop this technology and that... 27/01/2023 | 10:05:33 Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Dear colleagues, This report was, I must say, essentially the work of our former colleague from the Assembly, Mr Fabien GOUTTEFARDE from France, who was rapporteur until last summer on this subject. He made an important contribution to this work and I was content, in fact, with the indispensable support as always of the Secretariat, to finalise what Mr Fabien GOUTTEFARDE had prepared. What are we talking about today? A category of new weapons that has been under...