21/04/2021 | 19:28:45 Thank you very much, Chair. Listening to the rapporteurs of the groups, I think that the general conclusion is that, basically, this is a mixed picture. A lot of progress has been made and it should be welcomed and stressed, and the colleagues who have spoken along these lines are right to do so - we should be quite strongly supporting it. Yet there is still a long way to go and we must make that journey together. Mr Sokratis FAMELLOS, for example, spoke of the political will to make reforms... 21/04/2021 | 18:50:49 Mister President, In 2015, our Assembly closed the monitoring process and initiated a post-monitoring dialogue process with Montenegro. A report was prepared in early 2020 on the state of this dialogue after five years. It should have been discussed here a year ago, but COVID decided otherwise and the report was referred first to the January session and then again to today's meeting. We also hope that the vote can take place today on the resolution. In the meantime, the co-rapporteurs have... 20/04/2021 | 16:17:00 Thank you, Mister President. The objective of ensuring the financing of states through taxation and of ensuring the contribution of all economic actors, in particular all types of companies, including in the digital field, to this collective effort is obviously a laudable objective. However, over and above what we have heard today about the importance of this contribution, the importance of the fight against fraud and the size of the amounts involved, which are clearly shown in the report, I... 20/04/2021 | 09:08:44 Thank you, Mr President. Dear Colleagues, In the face of the global pandemic of COVID-19, the way out of the crisis is through vaccination. This is being done in stages in the various countries and at a varying pace from one region to another. In the face of this pandemic, which has led to considerable restrictions on fundamental freedoms everywhere, the project of certificates or "passes" to certify one's vaccination status has gained ground. Although some people, including those in this... 27/01/2021 | 17:26:44 Thank you, Madam President. Colleagues, Safeguarding democracy is at the heart of the Council of Europe. It was to defend democracy and fundamental freedoms that our institution was born more than 70 years ago. That is its raison d'être: democracy. Democracy is demanding; it requires, in particular, plurality of opinion, contradiction, debate, freedom of expression, assembly and association, free formation of opinion, the right to demonstrate peacefully, and free and fair elections. It... 26/01/2021 | 17:38:38 Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mister Commissioner, Thank you for your presentation and for this dialogue with our Assembly. Co-operation between the Council of Europe and the European Union is important to me, and I say that coming from a country, Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU. However, co-operation or co-ordination between the two organisations, with all their differences and all their commonalities, seems to me to be important in order to advance the values on which the Council of... 26/01/2021 | 16:24:27 I have three questions for you, Minister. First of all, we would be interested to hear more from you about the progress of the European Union's accession to the European Convention on Human Rights: what is your prognosis on this matter? Secondly, could you tell us more about the objectives and the results you expect from the multi-stakeholder conference on "No Hate Speech" that the Presidency of Germany will be organising in Berlin in February, which we are looking forward to, a conference... 26/01/2021 | 09:17:58 Thank you, Mr President. Ladies and gentlemen, The European Court of Human Rights is the ultimate guarantor of the fundamental freedoms of every inhabitant of our continent. It is a very precious legacy that we must take special care of. On behalf of the ALDE Group, I thank the author of this tenth report on monitoring the Court's judgments. While the primary responsibility for this work lies with the Committee of Ministers, the fact that our Assembly is closely monitoring these issues...