29/01/2025 | 16:53:38 Thank you, President. I want to begin with congratulations – Ms Zanda KALNIŅA-LUKAŠEVICA, also the secretary of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Ms Petra BAYR. The times were not easy. The political heat very high, the expectations extreme. And you follow the mandate of this institution: to promote democracy, human rights and always the rule of law. We are living in troubled times. The invasion of Ukraine is only one chapter in the struggle between the dark forces of... 29/01/2025 | 12:19:16 Thank you, President, Secretary General, ladies and gentlemen, Chief Rabbi LAU, representatives of family of the deceased and survivors of the Shoah, In this temple of democracy, as the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has called this room, we are gathered together today to mark in a solemn manner one of the blackest periods, nay, the darkest periods in humankind. We may feel that it is our credit to gather together to mark this anniversary. But, my friends, it... 27/01/2025 | 17:26:20 Thank you very much indeed. Thank you very much for all of those comments. Thank you very much indeed for all of your speeches. Obviously, one of the most complex issues that we have had to deal with recently is Georgia. It's something that has been going on for some time. We were already looking at it last year. We realised this morning of course that this is something which is set to occupy us for some time to come. So, the challenges are what they are. We have got the issue of Ukraine as... 27/01/2025 | 16:30:56 Okay, thank you. Mister President. I'm honoured to present to you the latest progress report on the activities of the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly. This report covers the period from the Bureau's meeting on 4 October 2024 through to the pre-session meeting on 21 January 2025. It includes key decisions made by the Bureau during its meetings in Strasbourg, Luxembourg and Paris, as well as glimpses into upcoming plans and priorities. I will on purpose limit my intervention to only a few... 27/01/2025 | 12:39:56 Thank you, President, and welcome and congratulations for your elections. Your Holiness, welcome to this Assembly. I am a Roman Catholic and leader of the Group of the European People's Party in this institution, a group with deep Christian values. Thank you for being with us and for the words that you have given to us that have been very inspirational. I am going to ask about one of the challenges of our times. How do you envision the church's role in supporting refugees and promoting peace... 02/10/2024 | 16:16:56 Thank you very much, Mister President, First of all, I want to recognise how the president of the Assembly, Mr Theodoros ROUSOPOULOS and the Secretariat, have accomplished their difficult duty and been an example of respect, [with regards to] the right of the members of the assembly and the proceedings of this institution. Also, the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs has acted in a very professional way, analysing the requests made by the competent authority... 01/10/2024 | 18:53:09 Thank you very much, Mister President. The violence in the Middle East is reaching levels that we have not ever witnessed to date. It will be the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks against Israel in just a few days time. The consequence was hundreds of murdered and more than 200 taken hostage. Since 1945, Israel had not suffered an aggression as terrible as this. Today, almost one year later, 100 Israelis remain hostages, which is a good sign of the inhumanity of the Hamas terrorist... 30/09/2024 | 12:15:49 Mister President. Welcome, Mister Vladimir KARA-MURZA. You are here today to accept the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize awarded to you in 2022. When Evgenia accepted the award on your behalf on that day, she spoke the words you sent from prison. You dedicated the prize to all those brave Russians who had spoken out against the war in Ukraine. In interviews you gave to the BBC since your release, you described being taken from your prison cell to a room where you sat under a portrait of... 28/06/2024 | 10:11:17 Dear Mr President, Dear colleagues, Integrating the rights of future generations into legal and policy frameworks encourages the development of laws and regulations that prioritise long-term benefits over short-term gains. It lies at the heart of responsible governance. The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights welcomes the timely report prepared by our former colleague Mr Pedro CEGONHO and the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development. Our rapporteur for opinion... 26/06/2024 | 18:08:05 President, I would like to start by congratulating Lord Richard KEEN, our rapporteur, for this extraordinary report because unfortunately, perpetual peace which Immanuel Kant wrote about, was nothing more than a pub in Königsberg or which exists in cemeteries. Throughout the 20th century, Europe has been a continent torn apart by conflicts and wars that divided our societies. The end of Fukuyama's story did not bring the end of conflicts either, indeed, it was quite the opposite. Since...