02/10/2019 | 20:22:28 Thank you, Madame President. I'll be very brief. The report of the post-monitoring dialogue was prepared by the co-rapporteurs as you've heard, Lise Christoffersen and Valeriu Ghiletchi, who left the assembly this year, and Aleksander Pociej very kindly agreed to take over the brief and bring this to a satisfactory conclusion. The co-rapporteurs have worked together for more than four years. They have prepared an account of the many changes that have occurred in North Macedonia since 2013... 26/06/2019 | 17:22:00 Thank you, Madam President. I have listened to this afternoon's debate with a growing sense of disappointment. Earlier this afternoon I walked along the committee corridor past the busts of Václav Havel and Alexander Dubček and past the monuments to Winston Churchill and I just wonder, colleagues, what they would make of what is being done here today in the name of democracy. I wanted to hold my fire because I wanted to hear this dialogue that was supposed to be taking place. I have listened... 26/06/2019 | 15:37:55 Thank you Madam President. Can I start immediately by paying tribute to the team sitting behind me. Particularly to Agnieszka Nachilo and Bas Klein. Two of the finest civil servants in this building who have worked tirelessly to deliver a report under very difficult and very stressful circumstances. On Tuesday afternoon, I was charged with the duty of seeking to prepare a report. That appointment in itself, because I'm a Chariman of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and... 26/06/2019 | 11:54:35 Thank you, Mr Stefan SCHENNACH. And that concludes the debate. The Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development has presented a draft resolution, document 14895, to which one amendment has been tabled. The Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development has also presented a draft recommendation, document 14895, to which no amendments have been tabled. I understand that the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development wishes to propose to... 26/06/2019 | 11:45:12 Thank you, Mr RAMÍREZ BARBA. And again, it's always good to hear from one of our observers. Just before I revert to the Rapporteur, could I remind again members that three votes are in progress. We have a vote for the election of the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, the second to elect two judges, from respectively Estonia and Germany, to the European Court of Human Rights, and the third, of course, is to elect a vice president of the Assembly in respect of the Russian Federation... 24/06/2019 | 16:27:44 Thank you Madam president. I congratulate my friend Ms Petra de Sutter on her report, which I'm now going to have to oppose and that saddens me, but I wish her well in her future with the European Parliament. This morning, we narrowly avoided a premature celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Council of Europe. This organization was founded in 1949 by Winston Churchill and others, as an antidote to Nazism and communism and as guarantor of Human Rights. Sir Winston would, Madam President... 11/04/2019 | 11:25:17 Having heard what has been said this morning, I think that perhaps, as the person who made the 5% suggestion at the Rules Committee in Paris, I need to clarify the position. This is not an attempt to gag members of parliament or prevent them from forming groups; indeed, it is not possible to prevent members from doing so if they choose to. It is a question of recognition. If we take this to its ludicrous extreme, the number of members of the Assembly mean that it would be possible to have 30... 10/04/2019 | 17:18:26 I wish to follow on immediately from what Mr Frank SCHWABE has said. Some imaginative proposals are coming forward, particularly on the future of our finances, and I believe we shall hear and feel a lot more about those in the autumn. In the meantime we are debating a report that ought to have been debated in June, but which, at the behest of the Secretary General, was brought forward and put forward as an urgent debate very late on Sunday night. As a result, in my view it is going slightly... 24/01/2019 | 17:56:01 It has been a pleasure to listen to such an illuminating debate. I am particularly grateful for the recognition that has been given to the work of the Monitoring Committee. The rapporteurs do a very difficult and, sometimes, very dangerous job, and, in my experience, they do it diligently in an endeavour to be fair and factual. Of course, it is inevitable that, when you are in the game of criticising people, people will take some exception to what has been said. The recognition of their work... 24/01/2019 | 16:56:21 Thank you, Mister President. I do not know if anyone else is becoming sick of my voice, but I think I am. It is a privilege to be able to present the progress report. You have in front of you the Monitoring Committee’s progress report, which consists of three documents. The first one reflects major findings and concerns of the committee on specific countries under full monitoring procedure and engaged in the post-monitoring dialogue. This report is based on the conclusions of the respective...