25/06/2024 | 18:51:22 Dear colleagues, I now have the honour to announce the results for the election of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. It was the second round, as we all know. The total number of members voting: 246. Number of spoilt or blank ballot papers: 1. Number of valid votes: 245. The votes were cast as follows: Mr Alain BERSET: 114 Mr Didier REYNDERS: 46 Mr Indrek SAAR: 85 Mr Alain BERSET, having obtained the majority of votes cast, is elected Secretary General of the Parliamentary... 25/06/2024 | 16:32:59 So, Mister Türk, we would like to thank you for your address and answering questions of my colleagues. Thank you so much for being with us today. Dear colleagues, I want to remind you that the ballot for the second round of voting for the Secretary General of the Council of Europe is already open since 4 p.m. The ballot will close at 6 p.m. And now we are going on to the next item of business this afternoon, which is the debate on the Report titled “Protecting human rights defenders in Europe... 25/06/2024 | 15:36:01 Dear colleagues, The sitting is open. I remind members that they should insert their badge before taking the floor. As you begin your speech, please press the microphone button once only. The next item is the second round of voting for the election of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (Doc. 15968), for which a simple majority is required. For this election, the three candidates are, alphabetically: - Mr Alain BERSET - Mr Didier REYNDERS - Mr Indrek SAAR For this election, the... 25/06/2024 | 12:41:32 Thank you, Minister Landsbergis. Dear colleagues, I now have the honour to announce the results of the first round of voting for the election of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. The results are as follows. Number of voters: 241. Blank or invalid ballots: 1. Votes cast: 240. Absolute majority of the votes cast: 121. Obtained. Mr Alain BERSET: 92. Mr Didier REYNDERS: 70. Mr Indrek SAAR: 78. As no candidate has obtained an absolute majority of the votes cast, it will be necessary... 25/06/2024 | 12:06:59 Dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. Now I have the pleasure to welcome among us, Mr Gabrielius LANDSBERGIS, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and President of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Minister LANDSBERGIS will present the communication about the ongoing and planned activities of the Lithuanian Presidency before responding to questions from the parliamentarians. Thank you, dear President, for having accepted this exchange. Mister President, this is the... 25/06/2024 | 10:03:30 Before we start, I want to remind all members that they should insert their badge before taking the floor. As you begin your speech please press the microphone button once only, wait for a few seconds, and then everything goes smoothly. This morning, the agenda now calls for the election of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. So it is a historical day today for us. The list of candidates for Secretary General of the Council of Europe and biographical notices are to be found in... 24/06/2024 | 16:06:37 Dear Mister Zsolt NÉMETH, thank you so much for your kind words, and thank you for reminding the Assembly what happened to Mr Oleksii GONCHARENKO. I stood by him from the first moment by reproducing a statement that it is an unacceptable action from the Russian regime. Unexpected, but on the other hand, unfortunately, the way that they are behaving. First of all, we have this war of aggression in Ukraine. They violated any kind of international law, ethics, democracy, rule of law, human... 24/06/2024 | 15:54:03 Before we go on, dear colleagues, allow me to remind you that you should insert your badges before taking the floor. As you begin your speech, please, press the microphone button once only, and wait for two seconds, and it will work. Now, the next item on the agenda is the continuation of the debate on the progress Report of the Bureau and the Standing Committee and the report of the ad hoc Committee of the Bureau on the observation of the presidential and parliamentary elections in North... 24/06/2024 | 15:51:06 Dear Marija, this is a moment to be remembered, so I would like to ask you to wait just for a few minutes. I want to thank you so much on behalf of this Assembly for these very inspiring thoughts. I would like to add, dear colleagues, that we at the Parliamentary Assembly always appreciated your readiness to engage in dialogue and to take into consideration the views of our parliamentarians. This morning, you were present in the Bureau meeting, and the leaders of our political groups paid... 24/06/2024 | 15:34:28 Ladies and gentlemen, Dear colleagues, We shall begin this afternoon seating with a communication from the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Ms Marija PEJČINOVIĆ BURIĆ. Madam Secretary General, dear Marija, it is a great pleasure to welcome you in our brand-new hemicycle for what will be your last official address to the Assembly. Please, allow me to thank you wholeheartedly for all the work achieved during your 5-year mandate, which are not technically over, of course. There were...