28/04/2022 | 12:44:47 Thank you, Mr President, Mr Rapporteur, Dear colleagues, Since the totally unjustified armed aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine on 24 February, Europe has been confronted with a dramatic situation that brings back the darkest memories of our history. Accusations of abuses by the Russian army are multiplying. Should we speak of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide? It is still too early to decide and the International Criminal Court will do so, but it is already... 27/04/2022 | 18:12:53 Thank you, Madam President. First of all, I would like to congratulate the rapporteur, Mr André VALLINI, for his report, which attests to a serious and well-documented work. I thank him for it. Organised crime and corruption divert huge amounts of money from legal channels. Current events in Ukraine have reminded us of the excessiveness of this phenomenon. The fortunes accumulated in a dubious manner by Russian oligarchs were estimated by Forbes magazine at 290 billion dollars at the... 15/03/2022 | 16:55:58 Thank you, Mister President, Madam Rapporteur. Dear colleagues, Since the totally unjustified armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine on 24 February, Europe has been confronted with an extremely serious situation that brings back the darkest memories and the fear of a conflagration on our continent. The conflict between two of our member States is dramatic. Civilian victims are counted in the hundreds, migrants in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Cities are... 26/01/2022 | 12:05:40 Thank you, Madam President, Mr Rapporteur, Mr Mr Carlos Alberto GONÇALVES, Dear colleagues, The world of sport has been hit very hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, whether it be high-level competitions that have been cancelled or postponed, or amateur sports that have been made impossible because of confinements or restrictions on access to sports facilities. The consequences of this upheaval are multiple. All categories are concerned. Athletes are particularly affected because they can no longer... 25/01/2022 | 17:59:15 Thank you, Mr President, and my sincere congratulations on your election. Mr President, Ms ENGBLOM, My dear colleagues, The traditional role of the media is to disseminate information and knowledge to the general public. They are an essential part of the democratic process because, by relaying the different points of view with which facts are examined and by explaining them, they enable citizens to better understand the issues and encourage support for the decisions taken by the authorities... 28/09/2021 | 19:09:30 Thank you, Mister President. Ladies and gentlemen, I call rapporteur Ms Béatrice FRESKO-ROLFO. The report that you are presenting on the fight against so-called "honour crimes" deals with a painful subject that is poorly assessed because of the lack of official statistics. These crimes, most often perpetrated within the family, are characterised by the desire to enforce a so-called "honour" code. They include murder, kidnapping, abduction, torture, mutilation, forced suicide, forced marriage... 20/04/2021 | 11:22:05 Thank you, Mr President. I thank the rapporteur for his report. The report you are presenting is of great importance as it constitutes the Parliamentary Assembly's contribution to the forthcoming ministerial session of the Committee of Ministers scheduled for May 2021, at which the ministers are expected to discuss the Council of Europe's strategic framework, based on the Secretary General's proposals. As a statutory body bringing together representatives of all national parliaments of the... 27/01/2021 | 18:44:14 Thank you, Mister President, Dear Colleagues, Madam Rapporteur, I thank you for the work you have done. I share your concerns about the restrictions on NGOs in several Council of Europe Member States. As you point out, not only do some countries - you mention Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey - continue to apply restrictive legislation and regulations, but other Member States have prepared draft laws apparently based on these restrictive laws. You mention Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, and Greece. This... 27/01/2021 | 11:28:13 Thank you, Mr President. Good morning to all of you, rapporteur, ladies and gentlemen. Rapporteur, as you quite rightly point out in your report, the COVID-19 pandemic that has been affecting the whole world for a year and has already claimed 1.5 million victims can only be brought under control through the successful deployment of vaccines. It would be absolutely catastrophic if the remarkable scientific successes of recent months were to be undone by faulty vaccine strategies. You emphasise... 28/01/2020 | 13:02:34 Thank you, Mr. President. Madam President, On 12 December, the Georgian Parliament appointed 14 judges to the Supreme Court out of a total of 20 judges. The selection process of candidates, carried out by the High Council of Justice, has been the subject of much criticism. The co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, for the monitoring of Georgia, deplored in particular the appointment of persons who had not demonstrated the necessary legal knowledge and...