Breaches of EU law and of the rights of LGBTIQ citizens in Hungary as a result of the adopted legal changes in the Hungarian Parliament - The outcome of 22 June hearings under Article 7(1) of the TEU regarding Poland and Hungary (continuation of debate)
The overwhelming majority of the Council members were outraged by the anti-LGBTIQ law Orbán introduced in Hungary. Rightfully so. Orbán has crossed redlines before but that was a new low. I welcome the response by most heads of state and government but it should not stop here. The Council needs to trigger Article 7 against this Hungarian Government. All legal means should be applied in order to sh
Mr President, many thanks, dear colleagues, for this debate – a debate that raised the points that have accompanied us during our work, during the negotiations for the past three years. Have we found the right balance between protection and innovation? Do we have the right safeguards for citizens against the risks that technology can bring or against the potential abuses by governments or by bad a
Mr President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, it is customary to begin with thanks. I will actually continue where my colleague left it. I want to say, first of all, thank you, Commissioner Breton, and thank you to the Commission as such for the foresight of putting forward this proposal when no one else around the world was actually looking at this option. I also want to thank the shadow rapporteu
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State of play of the implementation of the Global Gateway and its governance two years after its launch (debate)
Mr President, Commissioner Johansson, dear colleagues, weak economies make weak democracies, and weak democracies are susceptible to populist rhetoric inside or to blackmail and pressure from outside. And neither of these will stop. Isolationist rhetoric will rise, as well as bullying for resources – pressure on the global trade and economic rules-based system. And while we are pressed ourselves t
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The need for unwavering EU support for Ukraine, after two years of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)
– Mr President, this horrendous war on our continent was not supposed to last that long. Putin thought it would be quick. We thought Ukraine wouldn’t stand its ground, and most thought our drive in solidarity as a Union wouldn’t last either. But here we are in a reality where everyone was wrong in the initial planning, except Ukraine and its brave people, who believed in their cause from day one a
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Frontex, building on the fact-finding investigation of the LIBE Working Group for Frontex Scrutiny (debate)
Mr President, Commissioner, dear Minister, dear colleagues, our union is as strong as its institutions and these institutions, bodies and agencies are only as strong as their credibility and the manner in which they fulfil the mandate received from all citizens. Credibility is linked with transparency, and at times it requires the courage to admit when mistakes are made, to draw the right lessons
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European Defence investment programme (EDIP) (debate)
Madam President, dear Commissioner, what do we need to make EDIP relevant? We need money, political will and credible implementation. Money alone won’t do. Without the political will and a shared platform for cooperation, it will be a waste – it will further deepen the gaps and lack of interoperability. So money needs to be invested in a way that brings forward our political objectives, which in t
Mr President, dear High Representative, dear colleagues, like every year we take stock in this report of the state of relations with the US. We note the points of convergence or divergence, the shared interests, the values holding us together. And I want to thank Mr. Picula, our rapporteur, for the work done in this report. But this is no ordinary moment in our common history, because the year to
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Framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials (debate)
Mr President, Commissioner Breton, dear colleagues, the Critical Raw Materials Act is a clear statement of intent. We want the EU to be a visionary and astute geopolitical actor with the tools to match that ambition. Besides the important trade and environmental aspects that this agreement covers, we are stepping up the game in strengthening our resilience and fostering our priorities in a divided
Mr President, dear Vice-President, dear State Secretary, we always declare that our EU-US bond is about shared values, and yet we often get bogged down in semantics about irritants or low-hanging fruits. Even worse, we get confused about friends and foes. The reality of today’s geopolitics must make us more clear-eyed than ever: together and well attached to our values, we can secure the resilienc
Mr President, the Republic of Moldova must be given the green light for opening EU accession talks. This is the message that this House has passed consistently over the last year, and this is the message that we shall pass again in the resolution that we vote this week. And I want to thank also all of my colleagues in all political groups for being consistent, for being fully aligned on this objec
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Framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials (debate)
Mr President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, we all knew from the first debates we had in our respective committees that this regulation had a profound geopolitical impact, given its timing, the global context and also, above all, given its implications. Of course, there are things that we can and must do at home for our supply chains and production capacities, and this text puts the finger on the
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European Defence Industry Reinforcement through common Procurement Act (EDIRPA) (debate)
Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, this file has been concluded with a lot of effort – an effort which might appear somewhat misplaced, particularly in light of the relatively modest budget that was agreed upon. But this instrument retains its relevance and importance nonetheless, because it gives us a good reflection of where we stand politically in preparing the ground for a true de
Mr President, good morning, colleagues, dear Vice-President Jourová, it is quite befitting that you are participating actually in today’s debate, because I think that today’s debate is more about values than it is about technology. Over the past 15 000 years, we went from making stone tools to splitting the atom, walking on the moon and building artificial intelligence. And yet, with all that behi
Madam President, dear colleagues, thank you very much for the vote today, for all of you, no matter how you voted. And now, dear President, according to Rule 59(4) I ask that the file is sent back to the interinstitutional negotiations. In fact, we start tonight.
Madam President, dear colleagues, this institution, our Parliament, has been the political trailblazer on AI for the last three years. When we voted in Committee three weeks ago, 300 media outlets around the world reported on that vote, and 99.6% of those reports were positive, laudative of the address of what we are doing here in this Parliament. So let’s live up to this expectation when we vote
Madam President, thank you very much for the debate today. We all use big words. We said change the world. Transformative impact. Turning points for humankind. Oftentimes we use these words as political exaggerations, but with AI, these are right on point. We are facing a turning point in history. Many may not see it yet. And we needed a small demonstration provided by a powerful chatbot over the
Mr President, dear Commissioners, dear colleagues, as we move into this debate, I want to address the one question that I got the most over the past four years, working with many of you in the AIDA Committee and then working on this file. Is this the right time? Is this the right time for Europe to regulate AI? And my question is resolutely ‘yes’. It is the right time because of the profound impac
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The need for a coherent strategy for EU-China Relations (debate)
Mr President, dear colleagues, I think we all agree that we want a stronger, more powerful Union. It is in the interests of our Member States, our citizens, and in the interest of our strategic partners. This debate should therefore not be about choosing sides. Our partnerships are clear; they cannot be unfollowed. Now competitors and rivals are also well known and we have a strategy on how to dea
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The challenges facing the Republic of Moldova (debate)
Mr. President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, President Maia Sandu and the citizens of Moldova have chosen a path. They chose a model of society built on democratic rules, on individual rights and freedoms, on an open economy. This model is in stark contrast to Putin's view of how a country works. In Putin's world, there are privileged and submissive, there is brute power as the only source of tru
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One year of Russia’s invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)
Mr President, Madam President, High Representative, dear Colleagues. One year ago, Russia unravelled a plan, which we now know was in the making for many years. Putin’s frustration with history went back to the USSR, to the breakdown of Yugoslavia, to the Bucharest NATO summit and, in general, to the moment when he looked himself in the mirror and thought he was not big enough for the rest of the
Madam President, dear Commissioner, dear Council representatives, dear colleagues, it is said that time and resources are everything in wartime. I would add hope and morale. I hear more and more arguing that giving hope to Ukraine and Moldova last year when accepting their candidate status was wrong because it created false expectations. Well yes, that historic decision did create expectations, le
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Transparency and targeting of political advertising (debate)
Madam President, dear colleagues, I’m actually speaking today on behalf of my colleague Anna Donáth, who is the rapporteur on this file on behalf of LIBE and worked alongside the shadows to arrive to the result today. Online targeting and ad delivery techniques have grown to be the business model for the big tech industry. It capitalises on our personal data, including very sensitive one, and not
Mr President, Madam Commissioner, dear colleagues, for far too long we have been shy and at times naive about how we deployed our soft power as a Union. We have funded projects all over the world, deployed often more development aid than any other foreign donor, and yet achieved little visibility for our investment and not enough political clout. And while we were doing all that, Russia was pushin
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The establishment of a tribunal on the crime of aggression against Ukraine (debate)
Madam President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, accountability is the basis of a society, a mark of its evolution through centuries of civilisation and a fundamental brick in how international relations work. With his invasion of Ukraine, Putin broke all norms set by law or common sense and, as a result, the people of Ukraine have suffered beyond imagination. Of course, all crimes committed i