What Thijs spoke about.

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, Trump is gambling with Ukrainian lives and European security. In ten days, he struck a diesel deal, eased the sanctions, dropped the Graham Act, told Ukraine to stop striking refineries, said Ukraine needs a new president, praised Putin for being 'frankly fine on Ukraine' – all to lower diesel prices his own Iran war drove up. It will fail. But we must al

Madam President, Commission, Council, colleagues, many commended Prime Minister Burnham here with his analysis last week on the EU-UK relationship not being good enough, and I too agree. But it is a common problem, because the UK is our key strategic partner for security and defence and we are theirs, yet concrete cooperation lags behind on our shared challenges and responsibilities for European s

Madam President, let me first say that I find it unacceptable that a colleague here says to the HR/VP here that she wants to continue the war at all costs. Unfortunately, she is not listening now. Colleagues, Europeans are asking a simple question: what does Russia have to do before Europe reacts? Where is the line in the sand? People are being killed in European waters next to the relentless terr

Madam President, Commission, colleagues, in September, Russian-changed tactics led to more casualties in Kyiv than before, and Kyiv is not even the front line. At the front, the humanitarian situation is disastrous. Drones hunt anything that moves: ambulances, buses, aid convoys. In occupied Oleshky, thousands – including children – trapped without food, water or medicine. Their supplies run out t

Mr President, High Representative, colleagues, Russia is losing on the front line and is starting to struggle economically. Its only recourse is intensifying its terror on Ukraine's citizens and cities, and this is now constant and more deadly than we have seen in recent years. Yes, Europe has provided unimaginable financial, military and political support. And yes, Europe will stand by Ukraine fo

Mr President, thank you, Rasa, for the great report. I must be brutally honest: out of fear of escalation, we have enabled escalation. To be very precise, the Council did; our Member States did. A weak response, or the absence of one, is an invitation; it's an encouragement. Every attack must deepen our support for Ukraine urgently, including Sky Shield, more deep strike capabilities and air defen

Madame President, Commission colleagues, I am really, really unpleasantly surprised that the Council is not here. What are we debating? The Council conclusions without the Council. The Commission is not the problem on defence and support of Ukraine. We are not the problem on defence and support of Ukraine. The 27 capitals are deeply lacking a sense of urgency. The Council, in its conclusions, this

Mr President, Ukraine is squeezing the Russian economy. It regains territory, despite dire front-line conditions. Putin is lashing out with deadly strikes on cities where air defence ammunition has run out. Europe needs four things now more than ever: vigilance, focus, unity and resolve. Vigilance: we need vigilance because Russia wants to break our support for Ukraine. Further probing, a false fl

Madam President, I want to talk about two points on your agenda: Ukraine and defence. They are connected by a lack of sense of urgency, I am sorry to say, in particular with the Member States. There are many good things in the draft conclusions, and you will say to me: 'Yes, look what we are doing'. But condemnations of Russia's attacks don't save lives. Air defence, deep strike capability and int

Madam President, colleagues, Commissioner – and, regrettably, no Council on this key topic – we are slowly moving from words to real action on enlargement, but it's too slow. We need a breakthrough – not business as usual! The geopolitical stakes demand it. To the Council, I would have said: have the courage to embrace innovative proposals; do not reject ideas without offering better alternatives.

Madam President, colleagues, dear High Representative, thank you for what you just said, because I agree with what you said. But to the Member States, I would ask: how much proof do we need that Europe needs to strengthen its own defence and deterrence? Now is the time for bold action: no more incremental improvements. Now is the time for European solutions: we are stronger than the sum of our par

Madam President, nothing has changed. Russia is still the aggressor. Daily war crimes. Brutality. Hybrid warfare on Europe. No desire for real peace. And why then let Lavrov's daughter represent Russia at the Biennale? Why then allow athletes to compete under their own flag and maybe even championing Russian crimes? No normalisation. Not in sports, not in culture, nor anywhere else like in the G20

Madam President, Commissioner, Council, dear colleagues, we are reminded daily that Russia's war of aggression is nothing less than a terror campaign of war crimes and crimes against humanity. And we know there can be no real peace without justice – justice for those murdered in their sleep by Russians targeting their cities, for those tortured to death in Russian prison camps, for those buried in

Madam President, Commissioner, Council, colleagues, Trump's policies once again derailed European security. Rising oil prices, sanction relief, dwindling deliveries of military aid to Ukraine are risks for Ukraine and thus also risks for us. Meanwhile, the Member States' inability to deliver the loan to Ukraine is frankly appalling. They should have avoided giving Putin's Budapest assets the chanc

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, thanks to the authors for this timely resolution. Because Putin uses foreign fighters recruited under false pretence from Africa and elsewhere, and he's running out of soldiers thanks to the effective Ukrainian defenders. The alternative to this – conscription in Russia's cities – would expose a losing war. It is very uncomfortable to watch African fighters

Madam President, colleagues, thank you for both reports. Short‑term national interests, no matter the origin, are holding back the establishment of a European defence, and nowhere more so than in the internal market for defence. Contrary to what some say here, this is an indispensable part of a genuine defence Union. Of course, we want all the countries of Europe to flourish, but hidden, covert pr

Mr President, colleagues, in recent days the Commission President, the High Representative and you, dear Commissioner Kos, have all in different ways admitted that the enlargement process is not delivering the required outcomes. For starters, because of some 100 moments to veto one accession process. It's absurd. We also recognise where Member States and the Commission have actually failed candida

Madam President, colleagues, after four years of brutal aggression, terror and war crimes and of Russia breaking its teeth on Ukraine's courage and resilience, we honour the fallen, the tortured prisoners, the abducted children and all Ukrainians who have shown us what real bravery means. Out of fear of escalation, we enabled escalation. What if, in the first year, we had matched the determination

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, this could have been the year in which Syria finally saw an end to the bloodshed and a start of a transition to democracy, building accountable institutions, restoring justice and recognising the rights of all citizens, but the ongoing siege of Kobani and atrocities also on 9 January against the Kurds in Aleppo and their forced displacement tell a different

Mr President, Council, colleagues, the Council is not here. That's a problem. Europe stands by Ukraine for as long as it takes, but after four years, are we really doing everything it takes to defend Ukraine? The scale of Russia's attacks on civilian infrastructure are unprecedented. Then we can underline and say 'yes, these attacks are war crimes and barbaric state terrorism', 'Russia's approach

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, the answer to strengthening our sovereignty and security is simple: more Europe, not more slogans. Last month we adopted here a clear agenda for concrete action, which I know you support. We must stop dressing up national reflexes as strategy. Fragmentation is an expensive weakness, you said it, Commissioner, but Member States are not even close to unders

Madam President, after paragraph 19 we should like to include the following text: 'Supports all European initiatives in solidarity with Greenland and Denmark; welcomes Greenland's important decision to select Eutelsat, a European satellite operator, to provide its satellite internet coverage; and calls for the rapid development of the European space sector, which is essential for Europe's security

Mr President, thank you very much, and thank you, colleagues, for the remarks and for the support. While recognising that this could be an architectural moment for Europe, the report, the CSDP report focuses on realistic avenues for short-term progress ‑ I mentioned them in my first intervention ‑ but we do need more. Operationalise Article 42(7) with European command and control, clear definition

Madam President, dear High Representative, dear colleagues – and I hope the Council is also listening in – first off, I want to acknowledge the vital importance of the EU's CSDP missions and operations, with staff from the EU and non-EU countries often working under very challenging circumstances. But our common security and defence policy devised in Lisbon was a vision for so much more. The imper

Mr President, Commission, Council, colleagues, we need a real sense of urgency and determination. For a long time, we in this House asked for bringing Russia's assets in place. So thank you, Commission, for the reparations loan proposal, and thanks to the Council for ending the ability of Russia's assets to block our sanctions against Russia's financial assets. This clears the way. But myths are s