That this House has considered the West Balkans and the Council of Europe.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Nokes, and a great pleasure to move the motion. I want to begin by saying that I have recently returned from a visit …..." John Howell - View Speech
"I thank the hon. Lady very much for her question. That is a large part of what my speech is about. The Council of Europe has a pivotal role in the area in being able to take forward the sort of agenda that she has outlined. I am grateful to …..." John Howell - View Speech
"I thank the hon. Lady for her comments, and it was a great pleasure to see her in Bosnia-Herzegovina where she was representing the OSCE. That was very much a joint mission to observe the elections, and I agree that the OSCE has a lot to offer, but today I …..." John Howell - View Speech
"The hon. Lady seems to have read my speech, because she is anticipating some of the points that I will make later. I made that point at the Council of Europe and I am happy to make it later if she does not mind waiting a few more minutes until …..." John Howell - View Speech
"I thank everyone who has participated in this debate. They have made it a very cross-party debate, as is typical of the Council of Europe, and as is typical of how I try to run the delegation. There are two things that I will recall from this debate. The first …..." John Howell - View Speech
"Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating President Zelensky on engaging directly with parliamentarians such as myself at the Council of Europe, where he spoke openly about his needs? It was in answer to a question of mine that he said he had only 10% of what he …..." John Howell - View Speech
"Will the Minister recognise with me the work of the UK delegation to the Council of Europe for the lobbying that we have undertaken of the Turkish delegation to get Turkey to change its mind over the admission of Sweden and Finland to NATO?..." John Howell - View Speech
That this House has considered the work of the Council of Europe.
I am the leader of the British delegation to the Council of Europe, which I declare as an interest, and it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dame Maria.
"The Council of Europe is not responsible for China. It is responsible for what happens in Europe, and the three pillars of the Council of Europe—human rights, the rule of law and democracy—are crucial to its future. That is what we need to hold countries to.
"I completely agree with that intervention. I will come on to say something about that at the end of my speech; it is crucial to what we are about.
The Russian expulsion has, however, left the Council with a deficit, which this time we are keen to see professionally filled. …..." John Howell - View Speech