30/09/2024 | 12:15:49 Mister President. Welcome, Mister Vladimir KARA-MURZA. You are here today to accept the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize awarded to you in 2022. When Evgenia accepted the award on your behalf on that day, she spoke the words you sent from prison. You dedicated the prize to all those brave Russians who had spoken out against the war in Ukraine. In interviews you gave to the BBC since your release, you described being taken from your prison cell to a room where you sat under a portrait of... 28/06/2024 | 10:11:17 Dear Mr President, Dear colleagues, Integrating the rights of future generations into legal and policy frameworks encourages the development of laws and regulations that prioritise long-term benefits over short-term gains. It lies at the heart of responsible governance. The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights welcomes the timely report prepared by our former colleague Mr Pedro CEGONHO and the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development. Our rapporteur for opinion... 26/06/2024 | 18:08:05 President, I would like to start by congratulating Lord Richard KEEN, our rapporteur, for this extraordinary report because unfortunately, perpetual peace which Immanuel Kant wrote about, was nothing more than a pub in Königsberg or which exists in cemeteries. Throughout the 20th century, Europe has been a continent torn apart by conflicts and wars that divided our societies. The end of Fukuyama's story did not bring the end of conflicts either, indeed, it was quite the opposite. Since... 16/04/2024 | 15:56:34 Thank you very much indeed, Mr President. First of all, I should like to congratulate the rapporteur. Europe is, once again, living through the drama of war. Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as the Council of Europe has said repeatedly is an unjust an illegal war, constitutes a violation of the rights, principles and values enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights. As such, Putin is not only attacking Ukraine, but all of us who believe in freedom, democracy and a rules-based... 25/01/2024 | 15:59:00 Thank you very much, Secretary General, for your report. Thank you very much, President, as well. The independence of judges is one of the pillars of our rule of law. Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights is very clear on this. Regrettably, we have seen in numerous member states, judges are under pressure, and democratic governments are accusing them of practising lawfare at each time they feel the courts adopt decisions against those government's interests while enforcing... 23/01/2024 | 16:50:40 Thank you, Madam President. The terrorist attacks by Hamas on 7 October against the people of Israel has been one of the most horrendous aggressions against the peace that humanity has suffered in the last two decades. In addition, for the hundreds of victims who were killed today, while we are speaking, there are hundreds of innocents who are still a hostage of Hamas. The terrorists knew what they were doing, they knew the damage they were going to cause to the people of Israel, but they... 12/10/2023 | 15:04:26 Thank you, President. Yes, welcome, Commissioner. Precisely today, the day of Spain's national holiday, the Venice Commission is one of the institutions of the system of the Council of Europe. Its instructions to guarantee the independence of the judiciary are clear. One of them is that a governmental body of judges is elected by a majority by the judges themselves. Many countries refuse to adapt their legislation, and in fact, consider reducing parliamentary majorities to elect them. It... 11/10/2023 | 17:34:28 Thank you very much Madam President, This report addresses one of the most important topics of the day, a topic of great importance. I have read the report with great interest. There are a number of questions addressed here – the tension between national security and individual rights. Of course, we should be defending, protecting all individual rights. The issue here is that this is an exercise that could have been a comparative law exercise, to see how these issues are regulated, in... 11/10/2023 | 15:52:46 Thank you Mister President, Last Saturday 7 October, while the people of Israel were celebrating their holiday, they suffered the worst terrorist attack they have suffered in the last 50 years. Hundreds of children, women, families and young people have been brutally murdered. These sorts of massacres remind of us of events like Srebrenica or Bucha. For this reason, my words in the name of my Group of the European People's Party, will be a firm, total and absolute condemnation of these crimes... 24/04/2023 | 17:14:00 Thank you, Mister President. First of all, we want to congratulate the commissioner and say that our Group of the European People's Party group supports your superb work and supports what you say about Ukraine, about Moldova, and about Armenia that is now threatening a repeat of what happened in the 20th century. In our continent there are numerous bilingual communities, and extremist nationalists use education to undermine the rights of children, to eliminate cultural plurality and try to...