15/03/2022 | 20:00:00 Madam President, As we gathered in this chamber less than two months ago, we were still living in what is known as a post-cold war era. That era started in the early 1990s and witnessed the spread of democracy in previously unfree nations, the tempering of tensions in Europe generally. There was a time when, as the saying has it, "hope and history rhymed." To be sure, there were setbacks, as some states broke animosity - but there were also, on the whole, successful international efforts to... 27/01/2022 | 13:02:03 Thank you, Mr President. It's almost to the month 30 years ago, 25 December 1991, that the Soviet Union flag was lowered over the Kremlin in Moscow and replaced with a flag of a reborn Russia. Was that momentous event, along with others such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the signal of the coming of a new Europe? This would be a Europe where nations and peoples would be able to freely meet and create a new reality of pan-European friendship, co-operation and trust. A Europe where peace, not... 25/01/2022 | 19:37:19 Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2 Mr (Madam) President, Mrs Engblom’s excellent report on “The Role of Media in Times of Crisis,” could not have been presented to this Assembly at a more fitting moment than the present - however tragic and dramatic that moment is - as we find ourselves in the midst of not one, but two extremely serious crises at the same time! On the one hand there is the current pandemic. And on the other, the sudden danger posed to our entire European... 24/01/2022 | 19:22:50 Madam President, In this debate, we are asked to take a stand on a report entitled the European Union Pact on Migration and Asylum, presented by our esteemed colleague Mr Oleksii GONCHARENKO. It is an interesting account and the rapporteur is to be commended, however, the report also raises a number of questions. Firstly, the so-called "Pact" is not written for the Council of Europe and its 47 member States. It is written for the EU and its 27 member states, all of which are also members of... 30/09/2021 | 16:18:55 All right. Thank you, Mister President. The tragic events recently played out before us in Belarus is indeed something unheard of. An ageing dictator steeped in old-times Soviet thinking and in a position of absolute power for almost three decades unlawfully forced a foreign airliner to divert on to Belarus territory, did this so that he could capture a brave passenger on board and put him in prison simply for using the fundamental right of speaking up against a barbaric regime. The same fate... 28/09/2021 | 19:48:54 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Mr President, Only a few weeks ago, in my home country Sweden, an immigrant mother was convicted in court after having lured her daughter back to their native country in the Middle East, on the pretense of spending summer holidays together. Once there, however, the daughter was imprisoned in a basement, and beaten, tortured and threatened if she didn’t marry a man she had never seen. It was only by managing to send text messages to her... 22/04/2021 | 13:04:48 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Mr President, At our last session in January of this year, we debated this very same issue as a ‘Current Affairs debate’. Today, however, we do so under the heading ‘Urgent debate’. And justly so, for the matter has truly become urgent. In January we were relieved that the brave Mr. Navalny had miraculously recovered from the novichok assassination attempt carried out against him in Siberia some time earlier. And perhaps, some of us were... 22/04/2021 | 11:59:20 Madam President. I'm honoured to take the forum on behalf of European Conservatives and Democratic Alliance political group regarding the functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey. I salute the untiring wok and expertise on this subject by our two rapporteurs from the Monitoring Committee: my fellow countryman Mr Thomas HAMMARBERG and my fellow political group colleague Mr John HOWELL. The fact that both these rapporteurs are in such agreement as to the shortcomings in today's Turkish... 21/04/2021 | 13:14:10 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Mr President, Our Assembly owes major thanks to our two Rapporteurs for their excellent reports in our debate today on the situation in Belarus. Reading these two reports is a bit like travelling back in time, back to a society seemingly stuck in a ‘time warp’ - to a long-gone European era where innocent demonstrators would be arrested, beaten, sometimes tortured, and then vanish without a trace. We see indespicable and inhumane acts... 20/04/2021 | 18:01:21 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Madam President, When we discussed yesterday whether to include the subject of Armenian prisoners of war in our agenda this week, one of our esteemed Azerbaijani colleagues said that he was against, since he thought that a debate would not have any tangible results. As it turned out, however, a solid majority among us voted in favour of a debate. And I think we did this for a number of good reasons. The first reason is that we have all been...