What Maite spoke about.

–Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, there is a popular saying in Spanish for cases such as the one that brings us here. As regards the European Parliament's right of inquiry, you, the Council: not a bad word, not a good deed. What is at issue is the Council's sincere cooperation with regard to the very special powers of the European Parliament. The Committee on Constitutional Affairs has been pat

Mr President, Commissioner, when the European Commission published its report on the rule of law in Spain in July 2023, it did not reflect the magnitude of the problems that the governments of Pedro Sánchez have created and continue to create. Attacks on the independence of judges and the colonization of high State institutions are becoming more acute. The investiture has taken place in exchange f

Madam President, we are indeed going to talk about Russia. The deputy named as a collaborator of the Russian FSB showed support for years to the environment and terrorists of ETA. He also consistently supported Catalan secessionists who committed crimes before and after 2017. The case of Russian interference in Catalonia requires a special note, because the judicial investigation, fortunately, adv

– Madam President, thank you very much, Commissioner, for your words. I would like to thank all the honourable Members who have worked on the drafting of this report and the vast majority of those who have spoken in this debate, who, moreover, show that the vast majority of this Parliament is very clear that we are, as political operators, tremendously responsible for part of the ecosystem of publ

– Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, two years ago, the Commission tabled a proposal to extend the list of EU crimes to hate speech and hate crime. We refer specifically, Commissioner, to those incidents which, because of their particular gravity and cross-border dimension, require a European criminal response. Everything is not punishable – I advance it so as not to confuse us i

Mr President, I would also like to thank the honourable Members who have worked on the drafting of this report and all those who have spoken in this debate. In fact, in order to be able to say something to the Commission with as much enthusiasm as Mr López Aguilar, I have to say that both Mr Ruiz Devesa and Mr López Aguilar, Mr Doleschal or Mrs Collado have spoken about the key issues: How do we m

Madam President, it is always an honour to speak after listening to Mr Rangel, but it is up to me today to talk about the other part of the debate: the report on the application of European citizenship. I am very honoured to have the opportunity to speak about European citizenship in this plenary session. Citizens have been part of the European project for more than 30 years. Precisely, it was ado

Mr President, I did not intend to ask for the floor, but I think something must be said that is important. It's much worse than giving impunity in exchange for seven votes. In reality, the big problem is that the socialists have proved them right. And they don't have it. The Catalan secessionists of all these years were not and are not right. It is not a democratic deficit. It is a problem of excl

Madam President, it is our responsibility today to analyse Daphne Caruana's commitment and courage. And also whether the trauma of his murder six years ago served enough to change the corruption situation in Malta and the environment of impunity. Unfortunately, that is not the case at all. The investigation into his death indicated that the government, with its corruption, created an atmosphere of

Madam President, the technological revolution has surprised us adults without an instruction manual to protect minors from their risks, so I thank the Commissioner. The resolution on the New European Strategy for a Better Internet for Children places this responsibility on us and we must be quick and successful. I will cite an example from my country: there are terrible crimes related to the use o

Madam President, Commissioner, without truth there is no democracy. Without journalism, understood as truthful and verified information, there is no democracy. Protecting journalists and journalism is therefore one of the two or three most important things of the 21st century. And I speak in a personal capacity. The Media Freedom Act knows me little by little. Does self-qualification serve to have

Mr President, thank you very much to the rapporteur for this report. It has already been said: We are in a liberal democracy and therefore we are citizens. In this case we are parliamentarians and we are not vassals. And that is why it is so important to focus on the rules of the game. And it is good for us to remind ourselves of the foundation of our democratic and parliamentary system in order t

Madam President, in Spanish there is a saying that says: We remember Santa Barbara when it thunders. And in this Parliament he has thundered a lot with Qatargate; And he's thundered so much that we're here. I hope that we can have, after thunder and lightning and rain, a good harvest in regulatory matters. We are changing the rules to be more aware of our obligations, to minimize the temptation to

Madam President, Commissioner, this Parliament has been growing in political and legislative power, but our vulnerability from the point of view of integrity and security has also grown. The corruption scandal has demonstrated our naivety in the past and the risk of damaging interference from high-risk foreign countries and the most indecent lobby. And this is what we are going to fight with the v

Madam President, Commissioner, if the report we are going to vote on today causes so much sting in the populists of the far-left and those of the far-right, Mrs Kalniete, it means that you have done a great job. The fact is that the European Union is a central player in the democracies of the world and that autocracies attack it very intensely because we are open societies and we have to remain so

Mr. President, Mr. Commissioner, it's a new crime, but it's an old crime, and Jackie Fox, a courageous mother, has brought us here. And with all humility we send you the embrace of our Group and, of course, my deepest personal recognition. It happens in all our countries, Commissioner. There are twins in Spain, Leila and Alana, who last February, aged 13, threw themselves from a third floor to end

Madam President, with all the strength, corruption must be fought with all the strength so that it does not gain ground, so that it does not spoil our systems and lead us to democratic or economic collapse. So the Commission's proposal is welcome, I think by almost all of us. Congratulations. And he's going to have our full support, certainly from our group. In Spain we have been denouncing for mo

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner Jourová, a general principle: the rule of law does not deteriorate overnight and political power can hide it for quite some time. Concrete things: I am concerned about the situation in Spain. The government of the judges, indeed, remains blocked. It's been four years. Because the big parties, the People's Party and the Socialist Party, do not want t

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I listen to Mrs Roswall from the Council and I think she is playing the harp. With all due respect. Immigration patches have broken out one after another for eight years and the Council writes conclusions as if it had not been talking to Parliament for eight years and as if it had not dropped the migration and asylum package three and a half years ago. The ke

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, the Sánchez government is gaining power by supporting ultra-identitarian populism in Catalonia. We do not invent it, say the interested parties themselves. And we are witnessing the erosion of safeguards that are important for a democratic state and the reason is to grant total or partial impunity to perpetrators of serious crimes against the ru

Madam President, Commissioner, it is thirty years since that declaration and two years since we debated, in this very House, the rights of persons belonging to minorities. I said then, and I repeat today, that the protection of minorities and the most vulnerable - and, of course, the protection and promotion of linguistic diversity - is and must continue to be a growing priority. This protection c

Madam President, Commissioner, the Rule of Law report is right to bring together in one document aspects such as the fight against corruption, pluralism and media freedom. Because they all allow us to create a global picture of the health status of our democracies. In terms of transparency of media ownership, we remain concerned about the absence of sufficient rules on the sharing of institutional

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we have been letting the asylum and migration package rot for seven years. And in seven years, our gaze has become intoxicated and polarized. By not solving a common problem, social problems have been generated that some pretend to solve the bravado, against our own laws, while others live in a world of voluntarist dreams. And those who must be pragmatic and lea

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, rarely can we agree on something that is really so important and so necessary. The directive to adapt attacks to our system of critical infrastructures that are mutating, just as society is mutating, is really a moment of collective congratulations. We must also congratulate the French Presidency on this last-minute agreement. We can't afford these attacks. For

Madam President, Commissioner Vestager, congratulations and thank you, Bart. We are working against the clock to bring our standards up to the historic moment. Technological changes involve new and dangerous risks and the new directive is absolutely necessary, because we are old with the old one. However, we are going to supplement the directive with the regulation applicable to European instituti