27/04/2022 | 20:15:59 Thank you, Madam President. Basically, this is quite representative, unfortunately, of the way this report has been finalised in the last few weeks, since during the committee meeting, Mr. Oleksandr MEREZHKO, who was on the line from Kiev, had his line interrupted. He was literally under bombardment, and it was our former committee chairman, Mr. Boriss CILEVIČS, who had to present his report in the committee meeting. Then today, as we saw, it was difficult to have a connection with the... 27/04/2022 | 19:17:15 Thank you, Madam President. Yes, Mr Oleksandr MEREZHKO is in Ukraine and he's not in the possibility to connect at the moment. Unfortunately. Until a few minutes ago we were in contact with him but apparently, we cannot connect. If he is connected I will leave him the floor, but if it's not the case. I will make the presentation of his report. That's a pity because it's a lot of work, an important work that Mr Oleksandr MEREZHKO has been doing. "Whether in war or in times of peace, violence... 27/04/2022 | 19:01:16 Thank you, Madam President. On behalf of the Commission, I would like to remind you that the excellent report from our colleague, Senator André VALLINI, is part of a series of previous reports that our Commission has presented with the common objective of fighting organised crime and grand corruption, by attacking it where it hurts, namely in the wallet. The first report in this series was the one by Senator Mart van de Ven, our former colleague, who recalled the Irish model and proposed the... 27/04/2022 | 16:10:09 Thank you, Mr President. In our extraordinary session, we spoke about this brutal attack on international law and on the post-war legal order, and we must, unfortunately, continue to deal with it. We are all the more sorry that this violence was caused by a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a state that is basically supposed to be one of the guarantors of peace at the international level, and the opposite is happening. Since then, we have seen not only the beginning of... 27/04/2022 | 12:39:33 We believe that the dialogue between this Assembly and the Committee of Ministers, and the country holding the Presidency, is extremely important. My question is similar to those raised by Mr Davor Ivo STIER and by Mr Frank SCHWABE. Basically, we are at a turning point in the history of Europe, a turning point perhaps as important as that of 1989, with the aggression of Russia against Ukraine. We must rethink the Council of Europe. I am glad to hear you say that you support the idea of a... 26/04/2022 | 19:06:08 Dear Mister President, congratulations on your appointment to the post. [delivered in German] Dear colleagues, On behalf of Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), I would like to express our dismay at the life sentence handed down to Mr Kavala by a Turkish court. The European Court of Human Rights issued a final judgment in 2019 demanding "his immediate release". The Court's judgments are binding on all member States of the Council of Europe. By taking a decision that goes... 15/03/2022 | 11:46:42 Thank you, Madam President. Ladies and Gentlemen, 7 May 1992 was a day of light: Russia applied to join the Council of Europe. Four years later, our Assembly adopted an opinion recommending Russia's membership. It did so on the basis of a report by a member, Ernst Mühlemann, representing Switzerland, which recalled the progress made and the commitments undertaken. The opinion stated that Russia, and I quote, "intends to settle international and internal disputes by peaceful means (an... 27/01/2022 | 11:39:48 Thank you, Mister President. The Commission attaches great importance to this report. Thanks the rapporteur Mr André GATTOLIN for the work that has been done. Allow me to tell you, on a personal note, that visiting the Park of Memory in Buenos Aires was one of the strongest memories of my life. When you are invited to throw flowers in the Río de la Plata, where people disappeared, you realise the terrible weight that such a situation can have on the families, on the loved ones and on the... 26/01/2022 | 19:12:44 Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. On behalf of the Committee, I would also like to thank the rapporteur, Mr Jacques MAIRE, as most of you have said, for the quality of the report and also for the commitment that was put into drawing it up. The Committee regrets the lack of cooperation of the Russian Federation in the preparation of this report, not only with our Assembly, which is its obligation, but also with the United Nations, with the International Chemical Weapons Organization and also... 25/01/2022 | 16:18:36 Thank you, Mister President. Madam Secretary General, A few months ago, the Council of Europe launched a campaign which could have given the impression that our Organisation was promoting the wearing of the hijab. It was clumsy and it was regrettable for the messages that our Organisation usually carries since it could have caused misunderstandings. You have announced, Madam Secretary General, reorganisation measures following this incident. What is the status of the implementation of these...