29/09/2026 | 20:24:38 I hope it works. Thank you, Madam Chair. Dear colleagues, Greece became the 11th member state of the Council of Europe on August 1949, only a couple of months after its establishment by the 10 founding countries. Like all member states, upon accession, the country committed itself to respect the obligations incumbent on all members with regard to pluralist democracy, the rule of law and human rights. The latest periodic review, which took place in 2018, was held just a few years after Greece... 29/09/2026 | 10:51:36 Fine? Yes. Thank you, Madam President. Dear Colleagues, In the context of the current developments, this debate is both timely and necessary. I will focus on the important and positive contribution made to the role and achievements of the Council of Europe by the Assembly's monitoring and election observation process. When we talk about a strengthened Council of Europe that is ready to meet the challenges ahead and is firmly based on our core values, we should emphasise two important... 23/06/2026 | 17:16:29 Thank you. Distinguished Chair, Dear colleagues, Indeed, the last report of the Monitoring Committee on Serbia's honouring of its obligations and commitments dates back to 2012. Repeated early elections and changes of co-rapporteurs have created obstacles to the preparation of a new report on the country. Therefore, it is a positive step forward that the two co-rapporteurs were able to carry out a fact-finding visit and that this Assembly is now debating the report before it. The 2024... 22/06/2026 | 16:42:17 Distinguished Chair, dear colleagues, As a representative of the Hungarian minority political party in Serbia, I would like to outline the basic tasks of minority parties such as the development of the community, the protection of rights and representation of interests, the maintenance and development of links with the kin state, and the maintenance and development of community institutions which affirm good co-operation between the two countries in different fields, including infrastructure... 22/04/2026 | 11:29:04 Thank you, Distinguished Chair, dear colleagues, We must all remind ourselves of the sad fact that in every country in the world, women experience sexual, physical and emotional violence. On the one hand, domestic violence is a widespread form of violence. On the other hand, freedom from violence is a basic human right. Violence against women is a huge problem; its effects are lasting and difficult to overcome. It is a human rights violation that inevitably leads to other violations and... 21/04/2026 | 11:23:12 Distinguished chair, Dear colleagues, For years, there has been an ongoing heated global debate over the precise boundaries between free speech, discrimination and hate speech. If we think of democracy as being built on the twin pillars of majority rule and minority rights, or to put it another way, freedom and equality, they have tended to be better for freedom than equality. We have failed to emphasise the importance of equal rights. We have neglected the idea of reciprocity, which should... 20/04/2026 | 12:37:33 Distinguished Madam President, dear colleagues, Promotion and consolidation of pluralist democracy is one of the main objectives of the Council of Europe and our Parliamentary Assembly. In that case, observation of the parliamentary elections in both Kosovo and Hungary indicates flows and failures in the integrity of the electoral process. Since the last time we discussed Kosovo, there has been an alarming degradation of the situation. No progress has been achieved towards the establishment... 29/01/2026 | 19:57:02 Thank you, distinguished Chair. Dear colleagues, as we heard tonight, North Macedonia joined the Council of Europe back in 1995. Until 2000, North Macedonia was subject to the full monitoring procedure, and since 2000, under the post monitoring dialogue procedure. The previous Assembly's resolution, which was mentioned by our wonderful rapporteur, Resolution 2304 (2019) on North Macedonia, dates from 2019. According to our rules, only two reports can be debated within the framework of the... 27/01/2026 | 19:56:25 Thank you. Distinguished Chair, dear colleagues, I would like to express my really sincere gratitude to the two very experienced rapporteurs for the remarkable and substantial work they have carried out in monitoring the democratic institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As both of them have pointed out, there are many positive developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but still also some sensitive issues to be resolved in order to strengthen the institutional and political system and... 26/01/2026 | 17:31:56 Thank you, distinguished Chair. Dear colleagues, During this debate, the Monitoring Committee presented its report on the 'progress of the Assembly's monitoring procedure' in 2025. The report was prepared by my predecessor, our dear Ms Zanda KALNIŅA-LUKAŠEVICA. As she personally, our rapporteur, said, "Recent global developments have emphasised the importance of strengthening our international rules-based order and adherence to the principles on which the Council of Europe is founded". The...