02/10/2025 | 17:46:46 Thank you, President. Thank you, colleagues. Thank you for all your reflections and also support for this report. Coming from many of our debates here in Strasbourg is the message that the resilience of democracy depends not only on shared principles, but also on the strengths of the institutions that structure political life. Among these, political parties are central and they organise competition, articulate demands and mediate between citizens and the state. Talking, President, about... 02/10/2025 | 17:01:35 No, it's coming. It's coming. So it's okay. Thank you, President. I have realised that I'm going to miss the Council of Europe more than the Parliament. And that I really feel it in my heart. So, thank you for the good words and I wish you all also stay on and keep on with this important work in the Council of Europe. I'll come back to that later in my speech. Dear colleagues, I am often asked when I take part in debates or political events, a simple but powerful question: what are you most... 02/10/2025 | 11:44:16 Thank you, President. Yet again, we have an urgent debate on the devastating humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. In June, I was rapporteur on our urgent report on Gaza. And sadly, since June, the catastrophe has become even worse. Our Assembly has clearly condemned Hamas' attack on 7 October, almost two years ago. And we have done so repeatedly. Again, I repeat, there is no doubt that Israel has a right to self-defence. But what is happening in Gaza is not self-defence. The attacks on the... 02/10/2025 | 10:11:09 Thank you, President. And thank you, Mr Iulian BULAI, for presenting this important draft resolution. The threats we experience from Russia against our democracies are increasing in number and they are increasingly creative. The threats are not only military, but there are a variety of hybrid threats that interfere with our democratic way of life. One of the recent examples is how strings appear to have been pulled so that Latvia might have a government crisis. It seems as if this information... 25/06/2025 | 20:07:10 Thank you, President. Terrorism is a complex threat that affects many nations. It causes a tragic loss of life and significant destruction. And terrorism impacts not only security, but also the economy and social stability. In Norway, we experienced dramatic terrorist attacks in the most tragic way. First, in 2011, when 77 people lost their lives, most of them young people, and in 2022, when two people died after an attack on a Pride event. In both cases, President, we see that survivors and... 25/06/2025 | 17:47:37 It's okay? Yeah. Thank you, President. Dear colleagues, thank you for this debate, and also for the seriousness with which you have engaged in this debate. I said at the outset that this is a deeply polarising issue. And it is. There are no easy answers here. But the work of this Assembly is not to mirror division. It is to rise above it and seek clarity, unity and a way forward, especially when the situation is most complex. Therefore, I have tried to find our consensus on two urgent... 25/06/2025 | 16:04:34 President, thank you. It is with a deep sense of responsibility that I present this report, and I thank you for your trust in appointing me as rapporteur. Let me begin by recognising the obvious: this is a deeply polarising issue. There are strong, passionate and often painful feelings on all sides of this debate across our societies and, yes, within this Assembly. But what we are trying to do today is not deepen the issue; it is to try to reach a consensus on two urgent principles. First... 10/04/2025 | 11:11:13 President and dear colleagues, I am a strong believer in dialogue. Through the history of the Council of Europe, dialogue has been the most prominent tool. We do not have economic or military power to enforce values or principles on nations or states. We have the power of dialogue! That is why I voted in favor of the resolution on Georgia in January. To maintain dialogue, we ratified the credentials of the Georgian delegation, but with some limitations. Still, the Georgian delegation chose to... 09/04/2025 | 17:00:05 Dear President, Dear colleagues, The backsliding of democracy has become a most pressing issue in this Assembly. This week we are debating several concrete examples of this. Türkiye is one country where the backsliding is happening before our eyes. The arrest of the Mayor of Istanbul, Mr Ekrem İMAMOĞLU, is the most recent example. It is important that we as an Assembly condemn this in the strongest terms. Making sure that your opposing candidate cannot stand for election is not worthy of a... 09/04/2025 | 11:13:16 Dear President and Colleagues, and dear Mister Schwabe, We have been colleagues in the Assembly for 14 years. For many years we sat side-by-side in the hemicycle, and our surnames start with S. For many years we have worked together in the Rules Committee. We have not always agreed, but on this issue, on the fight against corruption in our Assembly and the Council of Europe, we have collaborated closely, and we fully agree. I congratulate you on this important report. Eight years have passed...