25/01/2024 | 16:13:40 Let me set the principle that when there are serious concerns about allegations of illegal cyber surveillance of whoever - political opponents, journalists, lawyers, human rights activists - that we need to recall the European Convention on Human Rights and the pertinent case law, and in particular the Article 8 Right to respect for private and family life, because even any interception of communications by member states, including the national Security Services, must comply with that. So... 25/01/2024 | 16:06:00 First of all, thank you for mentioning the budget. I think I did so in the introduction. But I have to pay tribute to the Parliamentary Assembly, that has always been advocating for a bigger budget. Not only because also this House needed an increase, which we got now, but in general. So I would like to really pay tribute to the fact that you voiced it, and really, of course, I would like to thank the Committee of Ministers, and of course, the Reykjavík Summit and meeting of leaders, when... 25/01/2024 | 16:02:32 Well, as you may know, international organisations, like governments, have legal regulations or laws that relate to the age of retirement. When it comes to the Council of Europe, we indeed have, as you mentioned, the Committee of Ministers. In our staff regulations we adopted 65 as the age of retirement. It is common practice among the co-ordination organisation, because we have several organisations in which we deal with issues pertinent to staff policies and staff regulations. They all... 25/01/2024 | 16:00:00 Thank you very much for your question. I think you raise the pertinent issue of the rule of law, which is one of the three important pillars of the work in this house, and one of the three very important pillars for democracy and enjoyment of human rights. When you talk about the use of the only article in the Convention that the Secretary General can use, which is Article 52, I can just tell you that I already used it once within my mandate in the case of Poland for breaching in a very... 25/01/2024 | 15:52:26 I was in Azerbaijan at the beginning of December, and that visit was prepared for quite a while. Actually after the war in September, or one-day operation, it was clear that we needed to talk and I needed to go to both countries. So my primary interest was to go to Azerbaijan and send one message that covers all crucial questions: to repeat to all that all individuals residing in the Council of Europe member states should have full enjoyment of all human rights and freedoms that are enshrined... 25/01/2024 | 15:44:07 With an office up and running in The Hague and a satellite office due to open soon in Kyiv, the register of damage has come a long way in a short time. This is a statement of our determination that Russia will be held accountable for its crimes, without which a just peace will be impossible. That commitment to accountability coupled with a determination to help the Ukrainian people also prompted leaders at our Summit to agree on the need to support children in need. That is why we are now at... 25/01/2024 | 15:35:40 Mr President of the Parliamentary Assembly, Ladies and Gentlemen, Your Excellencies, Dear colleagues, dear friends, As always, it's a pleasure to be here with you, and I hope it's not too late to start by wishing you all a very happy New Year 2024. I would like to begin by paying tribute to Mr Tiny KOX, who has served with distinction as President of this Assembly, and congratulate you, Mr ROUSOPOULOS, on your election as his successor. The outgoing and incoming Presidents come from different... 10/10/2023 | 16:06:41 Thank you. Let me go in the reverse order, so I start with the colleagues who work in the in the Secretariat. We are a rule-of-law organisation and I'm applying the current regulation. The regulations were decided by the Committee of Ministers, so, as long as they are in force I will do so. But you also know that the moment when we expelled Russia from this organisation, I prepared a very comprehensive document on the consequences of Russia's expulsion, and one dealt with this issue. Since... 10/10/2023 | 16:00:31 Well, push backs are clearly forbidden under the European Convention on Human Rights, so I can only call on our member states when dealing with migration and with refugees or asylum seekers to apply international standards, including the European Convention that forbids the push backs. So, what in the past we were doing was either through the action of the commissioner or through, in certain cases, also our action from the special representative for migrants and refugees. We would go there... 10/10/2023 | 15:56:17 Thank you very much, Mister Thibaut FRANÇOIS. You will have read that I reacted on the morning of 7 October, when the horrific attacks by Hamas occurred. The brutality and indiscriminate nature of the Hamas violence has led to the deaths of several hundred civilians and injured thousands, with several hundred people taken hostage. All this is unacceptable, as I made clear in my statement on 7 October. Yesterday, as you also know, all over France, including in Strasbourg and in front of the...