What Niyazi spoke about.

Madam President, Europe has gone through the darkest pages of its history because of anti-Semitism. Nowadays, unfortunately, we find hatred against the Jews again with many facades. But another hate speech has been added. Islamophobia is rooted in cultural racism. Antisemitism and xenophobia may have different starting points, but both stigmatize and exclude people because of their religious and e

Mr President, Commissioner, a year ago we asked the European Commission to adopt legislation banning unpaid traineeships. Unfortunately, we are still waiting for progress on this issue. It is time to finally invest in the new generation, not only with slogans, but with concrete policies. Despite dedicating 2022 as the European Year of Youth, we have not yet met fundamental demands from young peopl

Madam President, we are witnessing an increase in xenophobia, racist phenomena and other forms of intolerance stemming from ethnocentrism, patriarchal thinking and cultural racism. Xenophobia, empathy against immigrants and generally the rejection of otherness is the unified element of the new far right and must be condemned without hesitation. In my country, Cyprus, we have recently seen two anti

Mr President, we Europeans are in front of a historical challenge, and we have huge responsibilities towards Jews and Palestinians alike. We should never forget that anti-Semitism was mainly a European malady, that the Jews were for centuries despised, humiliated, eventually exterminated en masse. The Western world has victimised also the Arabs. The roots of the Israeli Palestinian conflict lies i

Madam President, we are discussing one of the most important and sensitive issues of the digital era. It is our duty to protect our children and put in place a strong framework that will provide to youngsters all the necessary skills. It is of great importance that digital skills and competencies, including media literacy, be recognised as mandatory skills and should be included in school curricul

Mr President, Commissioner, the internal border areas cover 40 % of the territory of the European Union and represent 30 % of its population. Today we are discussing a voluntary mechanism, focused on neighbouring land borders of the European Union. The creation of the mechanism will help resolve legal and administrative obstacles in cross-border regions, mainly by supporting cross-border workers a

Mr President, the tragic consequences of heatwaves, forest fires and floods as recently seen in Greece, Cyprus and other European countries show that there are still lessons to be learned and actions to be taken. The vulnerability of our societies remain very high despite important progress in the cooperation amongst countries and investments in advanced equipment. Scientists warned us a long time

Madam President, the question of young people's traineeships is a key issue for today's young generation. It helps to provide the necessary supplies to meet the challenges imposed by today's modern society. The subject of internships is an important link in the whole process. We are talking here and we have an obligation to ensure quality conditions for our young people. We as the European Union n

Dear Mr President, welcome. First of all, let me wish you every success in your new duties. Our country, Cyprus, has been living an ethnic conflict since 1964 and has been de facto divided since 1974. I would like to express my support for every step you take towards a solution of the Cyprus problem on the basis of a bizonal, bicommunal federation, with political equality between the two communiti

Madam President, I am speechless. I will rather call Voltaire to talk on my part. I quote: ‘Entombed beneath roofs, and they die without relief from the horror of their suffering lives. As the dying voices call out, will you dare respond to this appalling spectacle of smouldering ashes with: “This is the necessary effect of the eternal laws freely chosen by God”? Seeing this mass of victims, will

Madam President, the EU today is admittedly in a very difficult position. In just a decade it has experienced a worldwide economic crisis, a pandemic of a deadly virus and the consequences of an aggression, of a war. At the same time, the effects of the climate crisis are intensifying. The youth has fewer employment opportunities. For the first time since the Second World War, the youth is experie

Madam President, another tragic dimension of the war in Ukraine is the destruction of cultural monuments. At the same time, artists and people of culture experience death, refugees and occupation. We therefore express our solidarity with every artist, every writer, every cultural worker facing the consequences of war. In the 1977 Geneva Convention, Article 53 prohibits any hostile action directed

Mr President, Theodor Adorno, already in 1967, pointed out that one of the causes of the rise of the extreme right is the failure of liberal democracies to fulfil their promises and satisfy the needs of the citizens. It is true that, with no liberal policies in recent years, the gap between the privileged and the vast majority of the population has increased. The far right exploits the dissatisfac

Mr President, as rapporteur for the REGI opinion on the EU action plan for the social economy, I would like to stress once again the key role of cohesion policy funds in financing social economy projects, both for urban and for rural development, and especially for regions that suffer from severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps, such as islands, outermost, cross-border and mountain

Madam President, Madam Commissioner, if there is a single European programme that is immediately recognisable by the youth, it is no doubt that of Erasmus. Since its formation back in 1987, when only 3 244 students participated in the programme, Erasmus has been growing and growing, growing not only in numbers but also in terms of visibility and created friendships. Of course we want this importan

Mr President, Osman Kavala is sentenced to life in prison because the President of Turkey wants it so. Turkish—Cypriot journalist Şener Levent, although Cypriot, is sentenced to prison in Turkey because President Erdoğan wants it so. The great poet, Nazım Hikmet, could not describe it better. Hence, I paraphrase his poem Microcosmos, and dedicate it to Kavala. Our world is small among stars, but s

Madam President, the extreme right in Europe wants to dissolve the European Union and go back to separate nation states. The Putin regime works also for the failure of the EU. The extreme right wants to replace pluralist democracy with so—called illiberal democracy. Together with President Putin, they undermine the rule of law. They prefer Sparta to Athenian democracy. Both the Putin regime and th

Mr President! I will start in German and continue with Greek. First, a quote: "You don't have to be a nuclear scientist to see the difference between fleeing the distant Muslim world and Ukrainians fleeing the Ukrainian-Russian war," said Viktor Orbán. And I say: You don't have to be a nuclear scientist to understand that these words are words of racism. Κύριε Πρόεδρε, βεβαίως ο κύριος ρμπαν και π

Mr President, 2022 will be dedicated to European youth, which, during the last decade, has been affected both by the financial crisis and COVID—19, and has really suffered a lot. Now young people will be in our focus. The European Year of Youth is a genuine opportunity for young people so that they are at the centre of our policies. Most importantly, I wish that they themselves will be involved in

Mr President, unfortunately, domestic violence remains a widespread phenomenon in Europe. One in five women in a relationship have experienced physical and or sexual violence by a partner or ex-partner. In many countries, half of family murder victims are killed by a partner or a relative. Despite all of these undeniable facts, some EU Member States are refusing to ratify the Istanbul Convention.

Madam President, in the Greek language a journalist is called dimosiográfos, meaning someone who writes and informs people. Democracy means dimoskratía: people’s rule. If a people or a community of citizens is not freely informed, we cannot talk of democracy. Unfortunately, media freedom violations in the EU reached their highest in the past five years. It’s unacceptable that journalists are intim