01/10/2024 | 20:37:47 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Iran is the biggest sponsor of terrorism. Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Huthis in Yemen are directly linked with Iran. As my Swiss colleague Heer said, it is like a cancer in the region! Iran is a close ally of Russia. Iran assists Russia with its drone technology and other military equipments as our Ukrainian colleagues mentioned often her in the hemicycle. Iran is a very brutal regime, killing and torturing its own citizens... 26/06/2024 | 12:28:23 Dear colleagues, Thank you for these three reports and it is a wonderful coincidence that yesterday in Luxembourg the talks between Ukraine and the European Union started, and our newly elected Secretary General of the Council of Europe has in his programme as priority number one a free and sovereign Ukraine. And now we are discussing these three reports, I think it is important to continue with this discussion. Since the beginning of the Russian Federation's large-scale aggression against... 16/04/2024 | 16:13:21 Dear colleagues, since day one of Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, the Council of Europe has stood in solidarity with Ukraine and we all agree that we have to continue to support Ukraine as long as it is necessary. The courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people are unbroken and our support for Ukraine has to remain strong. Our full support for the Ukrainian government and its people is the best answer we can give in days like this to this Russian aggression. One man has... 15/04/2024 | 15:44:35 Thank you very much. We, from our political group, support the report of our colleague Ms Elvira KOVÁCS and in the same way the report of our colleague Ms Isabel MEIRELLES. The member states of the Council of Europe shall endeavour to develop common standards and practices aimed at promoting a free and pluralistic parliamentary democracy, and the means for the implementation in our national parliaments. At the same time we have to develop the Code of Good Practice also on referendums. The... 23/01/2024 | 17:36:33 Dear President, dear colleagues, On 7 October, which coincided with a Jewish holiday, thousands of armed Hamas terrorists invaded Israel through the land, the air, and the sea. Simultaneously, Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets from Gaza towards Israeli civilian territory across the entire country. They broke into civilian homes and carried out a series of murderous atrocities and barbaric attacks. And over 1 200 civilians were murdered on this day, and over 200 were abducted and... 10/10/2023 | 19:17:53 Mister Chairperson, Ladies and gentlemen, Let me begin by thanking you very much for this comprehensive report. This report shows that France has a functioning state, that France is a country of human rights, and that France is, of course, a functioning democracy. A large part of the report also has my full support. But there are individual passages where, in my opinion, the report is based on the wrong basic tone. I would like to mention two examples here. I believe that in France, compared... 10/10/2023 | 18:35:16 Dear Chair, dear colleagues, Following this very rich debate with 43 speakers, I would like to thank all the colleagues for their contributions. I want to underline that there is no place for violent ideologies in our societies. Here, we are an organisation to protect human rights – universal human rights for the protection of common values and against ideologies that seek to undermine this. I want to thank Mr Samad SEYIDOV for his comprehensive report and our many discussions on this report... 09/10/2023 | 16:59:04 Dear president, dear colleagues, Of course everyone would agree that we need to enter permanent crisis mode and de-escalation in this region. Therefore I condemn the recent heinous attack in the north of Kosovo. The perpetrators must be brought to justice. Serbia has promised to assist in all investigations, which is positive, but at the same time we have to see that all parties and actors need to actively de-escalate. Perpetrators need to be brought to justice: this also applies to the... 09/10/2023 | 15:37:28 Dear President, dear colleagues, I had the pleasure to lead the election observation delegation for the early parliamentary elections held in Montenegro on 11 June. Our delegation co-operated closely with the delegation from the European Parliament, led by our colleague Mr Nikos Papandreou. Of course, as always, we worked closely with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). We had a very smooth and fruitful co-operation in the framework of our international... 22/06/2023 | 16:42:52 Dear President, Dear colleagues, Of course, we all fully support Ukraine in the war against Russia. On the other hand, I also fully support the point of view that we have to respect the autonomy of sporting organisations. I am a strong defender of sport's right to make its own choices without government interference. If governments or parliamentary forums try to decide which outlets can take part in which competitions, it would mean, for me, the end of world sport as we know it today. Sport...