What Nikolaos spoke about.

Madam President, Commissioner, artificial intelligence is evolving at an unprecedented speed. It can serve science and health, but also threaten jobs, personal data and fundamental freedoms. International cooperation is necessary. But no global governance should lead to uncontrolled power of supranational mechanisms and tech giants. No algorithm can substitute human consciousness, moral responsibi

Mr President, Commissioner, Turkey is a threat not only to Greece and Cyprus, but also to the whole of Europe. For thirty years it has maintained casus belli against my homeland, Greece, if we exercise our legal right to expand our territorial waters. Today, it goes even further. It teaches Blue Homeland, challenges Greek islands and maritime zones, issues long-term NAVTEX in the Aegean and Easter

Mr President, Europe is also undergoing hybrid warfare from Turkey through my home country, Greece, which guards one of Europe's most important external borders. In 2020, Turkey instrumentalised tens of thousands of migrants in Evros, attempting mass illegal entry into Greece. In the Aegean, migratory flows and smugglers’ circuits continue to be used as a means of pressure. Strong borders, effecti

Madam President, two weeks ago, on 22 June, armed men invaded the Nigerian village of Kawel and executed at least 20 Christian civilians. Among them is Pastor Markus Nyam and a pregnant woman. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident; It's a pattern. According to the Open Doors program, Nigeria has more Christians murdered for their faith than any other country on the planet. It's a sad one

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, one in five Europeans and one in four children now live on the brink of poverty. 93 million of our fellow human beings do not know if tomorrow they will have a house, food or heating. These are not simple numbers in European reports and table-top exercises. They are people with names, families and dignity that no one has the right to take away. As an MEP of t

Mr President, Commissioner, targeted deportations of unprotected, judicial, foreign journalists and foreign Christians are a systematic practice in Turkey, which is now particularly worrying. The list of recorded cases is inexhaustible. Since 2020, more than 200 Christian workers have been deported. I will focus on a very recent but striking example, that of Yannis Vassilis Yialalis. Giannis disco

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we must now ask ourselves whether the implementation of the Pillar of Social Rights meets the real needs of our societies. The pillar must touch on values that for us Greeks come from afar, from the ancient Greek conception of care for the common good to the Byzantine tradition of community spirit and the protection of the weak. But today we live in a multi-s

Madam President, I welcome the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility in the new Regulation, as well as the Commission's decision for countries such as mine, Greece, which are under migratory pressure and therefore entitled to make use of solidarity contributions from other Member States. But my country is already paying a disproportionate price. Solidarity should not be blackm

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, in the run-up to COP30 in Brazil, of course, we must take global climate action. But let's not forget that climate change has always happened, is happening and will happen, and unlike the well-known narrative, it is not always related to human activity. Oversimplified and dangerous demonization of carbon dioxide, carbon taxes, green justice measures, when imp

Mr President, it is not possible for farmers to remain the last link in a chain that feeds the whole of Europe. Small producers keep the countryside alive, but they are squeezed between manufacturing multinationals by large retail chains and misguided Common Agricultural Policy targets. They work hard, but are poorly paid and see their income evaporate between middlemen and retail chains. Greek fa

Mr President, in the July plenary we discussed measures to prevent and prepare the European Union for summer forest fires. After the huge loss of forest land, we are again called upon to discuss the issue, in search of ways to improve it. In my country and this year we burned - literally. Greece is one of the most affected countries across the continent. The fires were everywhere, they reached the

Madam President, my country, Greece, is affected every summer by uncontrolled forest fires. In every fire, forests, animals, property, and even human lives are lost. Only in Attica in eight years has 37% of the forest land been lost. In 2021, nearly 1.5 million acres were burned across the country. The tragedy in Evia with half a million acres becoming ashes still hurts us. 2023 was one of the wor

Madam President, Commissioner, in a resolution in February we deplored the cost-of-living crisis caused by inflation in the European Union and considered it imperative to reduce it to 2% in order to maintain social cohesion. However, a mere finding is not sufficient. Accuracy in food reduces the purchasing power of citizens, threatening their quality of life and freedom, as prices rise faster than

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, on the tragedy affecting the Democratic Republic of Congo, instead of others, I would like to quote from the messages of the Greek Orthodox Bishop of Gomas and the Great Kivus, Mr Timothy, of African descent. It says the following: Our country has suffered an unfair war by Rwandan-backed rebels, covered by foreign forces for exploitation of the subsoil. Execu

Mr President, first of all we agree with the formation of a European defence, as long as the obvious is respected, that the attack of one Member State will mean an attack against all Member States. Greece and Cyprus have every reason to agree on a common defence between the Member States. But first, a clear European foreign and defence policy and diplomacy is a prerequisite. Secondly, agreement on

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, let us not forget the following: as regards Turkey, it is a major destabilising factor in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. With its expansionist and revisionist policy, it continues to express itself through threatening statements and provocative actions against two Member States, Greece and Cyprus, as well as Syria and Iraq. If it does not canc

Mr President, Greece's demographic problem is summed up in the words 'perfect storm'. For a century we have been facing negative records with the fewest births and the most deaths, thus losing every year the equivalent of a city of some 65 000 inhabitants, a performance which places us in the worst 5% of the planet. Many young people are afraid to have a family and children, even leaving the count

Mr President, I wish you a happy and blessed year. We naturally express our solidarity with the Belarusian people on their way to claiming their democratic freedoms. We condemn any attempt by the Lukashenko regime to rig the electoral process through blockades and bans of political opponents. But the European institutions have not reacted to the undemocratic, absurd cancellation of the presidentia

Madam President, as we know, in accordance with Article 34 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the right of persons with disabilities to a dignified life accessible to all necessary goods is guaranteed. In my country, however, Greece, this right is being violated incessantly because of the economic policies that are being implemented. Thus, too many of our fellow human bein

Mr President, social media may shape public opinion. We have the illustrative example of the recent presidential elections in Romania, where critics of the first-vote Mr. Georgiescu instrumentalized the Tiktok platform to cancel the election process. Disinformation and false information is undoubtedly a sad and deeply worrying fact. It is a major and multifaceted threat. And this is not just about