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... 01/10/2025 | 13:01:20 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2.) Serbia’s current political situation is complicated by the protests of one part of the country’s students, firstly protesting because of the alleged absence of the investigation on the collapse of the canopy at the Railway Station Building in Novi Sad, and then requesting early parliamentary elections in which they would participate with their own list with no parliamentary opposition members. To date, it is not clear who would be in this... 30/09/2025 | 18:28:45 Distinguished Chair, Dear colleagues, As a representative of the Hungarian minority political party from Serbia, I would like to underline the very good co-operation between the two countries in different fields, including infrastructure, justice and the European integration process. As we all know, our Assembly has been closely following the situation in Hungary on specific issues, the measures taken, and the progress achieved. Unfortunately, the draft resolution in front of us only... 08/04/2025 | 17:31:11 Distinguished Chair, Dear colleagues, Despite legal proceedings unfolding in line with all reasonable and legal deadlines, the tragic event of 1 November in Novi Sad last year was used as a pretext for action such as physically preventing employees of the courts and prosecutor officers from coming to their workplaces, blocking the Parliament, etc. At the same time, a part of university students shut down the vast majority of the faculties in the country. Lectures and exams were interrupted... 07/04/2025 | 17:15:21 Thank you, distinguished Chair. Dear colleagues, A number of challenges are endangering the capacity to protect the rights of persons belonging to national minorities. The challenge for the authorities is how to build societies in which minorities are not merely tolerated, but respected and perceived as an equal and integral part. In other words, how to achieve the full and effective equality of persons belonging to national minorities. Experience has shown that bringing legislation into line...