26/01/2021 | 11:06:22 I do apologise for keeping you waiting for a couple of seconds but as you might imagine this is quite busy these days. So sorry for that. Our next item of business this afternoon is the debate on the report titled 'Judges in Poland and the Republic of Moldova must remain independent'. This is document 15204 presented by Mr Andrea ORLANDO on behalf of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Right. This will be followed by a statement by Ms Sabine LEUTHEUSSER-SCHNARRENBERGER, former Federal... 25/01/2021 | 17:01:46 We now go to our next item of business this afternoon which is the debate on the report titled "The progress of the Assembly's monitoring procedure (January-December 2020)" which is in our document 15211. It will be presented by Mr Michael Aastrup JENSEN on behalf of the Monitoring Committee. In order to finish by 7:30p.m., which is in two and a half hours, we must interrupt the list of speakers at about 6:45 to allow time for the reply and the vote. I now call Mr Michael Aastrup JENSEN... 25/01/2021 | 16:24:22 Thank you, Madam Secretary General. We now go to the questions. I remind my colleagues that the questions are limited to a one-minute maximum. May I ask you not to make declarations but to pose questions. We have a large number of colleagues wanting to address a question to the Secretary General, but we need to stop at 5 p.m., so I do apologise to those colleagues who will not be able to put their questions but the Secretary General has agreed to respond to questions put in writing. So for... 25/01/2021 | 13:30:39 Thank you, Ian. Thank you very much for the report. Since you referred to me concerning Russia, I can inform you that you know that I was there in December: we had to return because of COVID-19. We had the agreement that rapporteurs could go, but given the situation that has not been possible until now. It is my intention to head out to address all these issues if possible even still in the month of February. But we'll see. This being said, we now go to the continuation of this progress... 25/01/2021 | 12:22:56 Thank you very much. Therefore the agenda, as proposed by myself, has been accepted. Let's now go to the next point of order: the adoption of the minutes of proceedings of the Standing Committee. The minutes of the meeting of the Standing Committee in Strasbourg on 4 December 2020 have been distributed. I invite the Assembly to take note of these minutes. I see a request for the floor. Ms KOVACS you have the floor. I see that this has been withdrawn so the Assembly takes note of the minutes... 25/01/2021 | 12:16:15 Then the urgent affairs debate request is denied. Now we come to the current affairs debates. The first one is the current affairs debate and arrest and detention of Alexei Navalny. The Bureau was in favor of this current affairs debate anyway. Does anyone wish to have the floor? The current affairs debate is approved, the Bureau's recommendation is accepted and the request for a current affairs debate is therefore approved. The debate will be opened by Mr Jacques MAIRE. Then we have the next... 25/01/2021 | 12:10:06 So then the proposal for an urgent debate is rejected. Okay, I have to go through my pages. Then, okay, which page? Because this is a lot. Okay, okay, then we come to the next one: At its meeting on Friday, the Bureau agreed to recommend to the Assembly that request for a debate on the urgent debate on the worsening situation in Belarus be rejected. I recall that basically the Bureau advised two current affairs debates. Does anyone wish to have this put to the vote? I don't see it, then it is... 25/01/2021 | 11:54:31 And it also made me think of, maybe a very strange reflection, but it came to my mind that trees don't meet, but people do. Trees stand separate to each other and people interconnect, and this is the difference between what we have lived in part in 2020 and what we are trying to reconnect with as of today – interconnect people, and, yes, in part we stood separate from each other and this has not been the best way to work, because you need to meet in order to convince your colleague or to be... 25/01/2021 | 11:48:39 Dear Colleagues, all of you, thank you very much for your trust. This is one of the toughest elections I have ever had in my entire career. Thank you. Thank you. Let me tell you that last year I confided to you that I would be at your disposal full time. I gave my word, and I kept it. This time, I pledge again to be at your service full time because I believe it is more than necessary. It is not easy, but it is necessary. Allow me then, in turn, to wish you all, Madam Secretary General, Madam... 20/11/2020 | 17:49:21 I reckon that this is a two-thirds majority, if it is so then the recommendation is adopted. The draft recommendation contained in Doc. 15167 is adopted. Congratulations to the reporter on the committee. The recommendation will be forwarded, as it supposed to be, to the Committee of Ministers. Dear colleagues, we now have on our agenda four more reports from the Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development Committee, and two from the Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons Committee...