What Vladimír spoke about.

Madam President, Commissioner, the current governing coalition has won elections in Slovakia. It happened with the help of fear, but she won them. The winner of the presidential election is Peter Pellegrini. Although he ran a non-transparent campaign and abused fear, he won. That's the reality. But winning in the real world, ladies and gentlemen, not in the press world, not in the online world, me

Vice-President, it is often said that we cannot predict the future, that we do not have a crystal ball. However, this is absolutely not the case with Russian propaganda and interference in the democratic processes in our Member States. We knew almost exactly what Russian interference would look like, where our democratic systems would be weak, and we were able to predict which European politicians

Mr President, independent, with transparent owners, more free. That is exactly what the media in Europe want, and that is exactly what we are voting for at this meeting, for journalists who are courageous, who seek the truth, who do not serve politicians. That is the aim of the European law on media freedom, which I will gladly support tomorrow. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the complete opposite

Madam President, it has been more than two years since the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine. An invasion that reminds us that our common European values in today's world are not self-evident. The Russian aggressor is deliberately trying to undermine democracy and weaken our security not only by war in Ukraine, but also by foreign interference, spreading disinformation and anti-European propagand

Mr President, I would like to address a European audience, but especially a Slovak audience. Please never let us be fooled in Slovakia that our friends in Europe don't care about us and that they don't really know what's going on here. They know it very well. We are closely following developments in the area of the rule of law and all its details from Brussels and Strasbourg. We pay a lot of atten

Madam President, it is no coincidence that we are meeting here today again because of Russia's punitive actions. If we wanted to, we could dedicate every meeting of ours to the damage that the Kremlin is planning to do. It is clear to all of us that our brave friends in Ukraine could tell the most about this today. Russia is fragmenting our unity and our values in a programmatic and long-term way.

Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues. Serbia’s public space has been captured by tensions and personal accusations. Let me therefore recap some facts from drawn conclusions of the European Parliament’s observers from 18 December, which I also signed and fully supported. I quote ‘frequent snap elections cause people’s distrust of the state governance and are hindering the implementation o

Madam President, we support the debate, but we would be keen to have a resolution only once the final OSCE/ODIHR report is published on the elections. So if we can have an agreement to have a resolution pending the publication of the OSCE/ODIHR report, this would be an overall agreement. We don’t have a date for the publication of the report, but it is going to be in the coming weeks. It may not b

Madam President, "Accustom yourself, it is after the elections." Some of you may remember these words of Mečiar. Such was the spirit of politics in Slovakia in the dark nineties. It wasn't easy, but we didn't get used to it. We have not become accustomed to the dismantling of the rule of law, to the contempt of our European partners, and we have not become accustomed to the fact that you can do an

Mr President, High Representative, dear colleagues, EU-US relations are ever more important as the world around us has become more adversarial and less rule-based and predictable. Russia’s brutal attack against Ukraine has forged the transatlantic alliance once again. We must stay focused and united to face effectively common threats such as Putin’s Russia and rivals such as communist China. Our s

Madam President, Vice-Presidents, colleagues, this proposal arrives at an important time as we approach the European elections in a few months and I’m very proud of our work in fighting foreign interference in the INGE and ING2 special committees in the European Parliament. Sadly, we are being proven right almost every day about how important this topic is. I believe that our special committees’ c

Mr President, dear Commissioner, colleagues, today, we are here to discuss a matter of importance to our democracy – the blatant misuse of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware. This issue is not just about privacy breaches; it strikes at the core of our democratic principles and the rule of law. The European Parliament has taken significant steps drafting the most comprehensive piece of tex

Mr President, colleagues, the Copenhagen criteria set the rules to transform Europe after the Cold War and define the foundation for any future enlargement. The ‘big bang’ enlargement of 2004 was successful precisely because of these criteria from 1993. Thanks to their power to change former communist countries into democratic regimes, we are all much stronger and resilient across an enlarged Euro

Madam President, I sometimes come across the question of why we deal so much with journalists and journalistic work in our work. The answer is quite simple – because the freedom of journalistic work is a mirror of society. When journalists feel threatened, feel unfree and are the target of constant attacks, it always says more about society than just the press and the media. This is always a sympt

Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine has put enlargement of the European Union among our top priorities once again, and Montenegro has been the natural frontrunner for EU accession in the Western Balkans. So today, more than ever, politicians in Podgorica have an historic opportunity to move forward decisively on the European path. I would like

Commissioner, I will start in person. I spent the formative years of my life in the United States. I respect this country and have great respect for the values of freedom and democracy. But if we really don't need to bring something from America into our European way of life, it's an unprecedented proliferation of anti-LGBTI laws. It is time to ask what and who is served by politics, whose purpose

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, in Banjska, people were killed and the situation on the ground is escalating alarmingly. We had not seen this kind of violence on the ground over the past decade. We do need a proper investigation. We need a delivery of justice. And this is why also both sides have an enormous responsibility that we all get back to dialogue as soon as possible. If I look at

Vice-President, the European Media Freedom Act is excellent news for both the media and democracy. In Slovakia, and especially since the beginning of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, we have been facing foreign interference from the Russian Federation for many years. It spreads its influence through disinformation, fake news and various punitive websites. The big political players are helping he

Madam President, this debate is important. However, the title, as suggested, is not appropriate. As many of us followed a recent election campaign in central Europe, which culminated in elections this weekend, we must be aware that the problem of anti-LGBTIQ propaganda is a problem which concerns also political forces on the left side of this House. This is why the EPP Group would request that the

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, let us be clear: Putin created and perpetrates all problems related to Ukrainian grain exports. This is why the Commission must lead a united European answer to the problem of Ukrainian grain exports. This is not only desirable but also possible. How? First, by ensuring uninterrupted transport of grain via train from Ukraine to designated seaports in the EU,

Madam President, Madam Vice-President, dear colleagues, I have listened carefully to the debate and I am ever more convinced that we not only have a very good report, but we must push with the measures which we propose. We need to preserve the public trust in our institution. This is one of the biggest things we need to do as a follow-up to Qatargate and, even more importantly, in very tangible wa

Madam President, the circumstances that led to this report were not exactly the happiest. We all remember the events a few months ago and the serious suspicions of corruption by some Members that hit our Parliament. Third countries were very likely buying the opinions of a few of our colleagues. Let me first make a small comment on the sidelines. I am convinced that this is only a minimum of our c

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, it was a privilege to work on this report, which I believe is already becoming an important reference document when it comes to dealing with gross misuse of spyware. We must strike a healthy balance between security, on the one hand, and protection of fundamental rights, on the other hand. Sophisticated spyware industry is a relatively new phenomenon, and Eu

Madam President, Madam Vice-President, colleagues, I think we need a realistic discussion on the establishment of the ethics body. It does need to respect certain principles, such as the separation of powers between the institutions. It has to provide relevant recommendations for our work. It must respect the freedom of the mandate of the Members of this House. I think this is a good starting poin

Madam President, since Russia insidiously attacked our neighbour militarily, I believe a little more that no one in court will allow threats from malicious countries to be underestimated. I'm just sorry it had to get this far in order for us to fully grasp it. The threat from third countries from afar is not only a military threat, but also a long-term, silent but focused action designed to underm