What Lefteris spoke about.

Population ageing is a very important challenge that the EU has to face. Life expectancy has increased, fertility rates have decreased, urbanisation has increased and the working population has shrunk, resulting in a shrinking share of Europeans in the world population. Demographic changes also exacerbate disparities between regions and consequently cause a decline in the EU’s population, especial

Madam President, Commissioner Hahn, President of the European Court of Auditors, Tony Murphy, I would first of all like to congratulate you on taking up your duties in a strong European Union institution. I am convinced that you will further strengthen this institution, strengthen it and make it truly an institution that European citizens will trust unconditionally and completely, because they wil

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, for me today is a very emotional day, because I am obliged, after eight years of action, joint struggles and giving together with all of you, my excellent, dear and beloved colleagues, to make my last speech before you. Because I think that the most beautiful years of my political career were here in the European Parliament. Because I firmly believe that it i

Mr President, today is a special moment for me. This is the last time I have been at this step – the most democratic, liberal, representative, pluralistic step, not only for Europe but also for the whole of humanity – to comment on the 2023 budget. For eight years I have been at this stage to really commend the efforts of the European Parliament and the Committee on Budgetary Control. Today, all I

Madam President, the European Union has the potential to become the most powerful and credible force on the planet if and when it applies its principles and values and truly becomes the force that will attract alliances. I must pay tribute to Antonio López-Istúriz for his excellent report and the vision he puts forward in it. I really congratulate him for giving a new vision and a new horizon for

Madam President, the European Union has proved in its 65-year history that it can deal with and manage crises. I am convinced that when the European Union wants, it can. And now it can effectively deal with and manage the energy crisis. Firstly, a strong fund must be created that can withstand the energy crisis and support all those households that will suffer enormous consequences from the energy

Mr President, the European Union, honouring its history, principles and values, has quite rightly stood unreservedly by the side of the Ukrainian people and Ukraine from a barbaric Russian invasion. From the very first moment we stood unreservedly with the Ukrainian people and Ukraine, because we know what invasion means and we are clearly in favour of international law. But I have to tell you tha

Madam President, Commissioner, it is my duty as a Member of the European Parliament, as a European citizen, to condemn with all my heart the new provocative acts of aggression by Turkey against Cyprus and Greece. Turkey, in blatant violation of the resolutions of the United Nations, the Security Council and the European Parliament, is effectively advancing in an expansionist and aggressive way in

Madam President, Commissioner, I would really like to thank my dear colleague, Karlo Ressler, for the excellent work on an issue that concerns us all: the consequences of a barbaric Russian invasion of Ukraine that created thousands of Ukrainian refugees. The European Union must stand by these people, because we feel Ukrainian refugees as much as no one can, because we have been experiencing the s

Madam President, Commissioner, the Recovery and Resilience Facility is undoubtedly a huge historic success and a huge achievement for the European Union. We are particularly proud that the European Parliament played a leading role and pioneered the creation of the Recovery Fund and really fought the battle, because it believed that with this powerful weapon we could face the consequences of the pa

Mr President, I think it is particularly important that this European Parliament has sent strong signals in its report against Turkey about human rights violations, but even more so about the constant violation of international and European law over time. But what I want to focus on is that right now the Turkish invader, Attila in Cyprus, Erdogan together with the occupation regime, continue the p

Mr President, I firmly believe that our islands are the real, natural, genuine wealth of the European Union, the invaluable value that the European Union, unfortunately, has so far failed to highlight, because to date it has failed to create an integrated European policy for our islands that can truly highlight their comparative advantages and create on the islands sources of development, progress

Mr President, I have the strong conviction but also the demand that the European Parliament's report on Turkey should begin and end with a very strong, very clear, very strict statement: that the European Union does not tolerate any invader, that the European Union cannot and should not have any relationship with any invader and in particular with the invader of the invaders, who for 48 years has

Madam President, I would like to take this opportunity once again to express my unlimited thanks to the Chair of the Committee on Budgetary Control, Monika Hohlmeier, and to the dear shadow rapporteurs for the discharge of the European Union agencies, to all my dear colleagues, but also to the Commissioner and the dear President of the European Court of Auditors for their important contribution. M

Madam President, Commissioner Johannes Hahn, dear President of the European Court of Auditors, dear Member of the European Court of Auditors, ladies and gentlemen, I consider it a great honour, but also a great responsibility, that I, together with my dear colleague, Tomáš Zdechovský, have been entrusted with the task of being the rapporteurs for the discharge of the agencies of the European Union

Mr President, today, on Women's Day, we are debating the excellent report by our dear colleague Chrysoula Zacharopoulou on the European Union's actions on gender issues, which I fully and unequivocally support. For me, the principle of gender equality was, is and remains a non-negotiable principle and value of the European Union itself. But today everyone's eyes and thoughts are on Ukraine and the

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, gender equality is a matter for all of us. It is a matter for our society, it is a matter of culture, but above all it is a matter for the European Union itself. The founding declaration of the European Union, which is the "constitution" of the European Union, stipulated that without discounts, delays or shortcomings, the European Union should impl

Mr President, Mr Vice-President of the European Commission, from this podium, from the podium of the European Parliament, from the podium of 450 million European citizens, I want to emphasise once again to the highest degree that I belong to all those who envision a strong, credible, sovereign, solidarity-based, human and social European Union that is able to defend the sovereignty of its member c

Madam President, Commissioner, Mr President of the European Court of Auditors, today, from this step of the European Parliament, I have to commend the valuable contribution and work that the European Court of Auditors does every day, and contributes to the positive and well-functioning of the European Union, but all the more to safeguarding the interests of the European Union and European taxpayer

Madam President of the European Parliament, Commissioner, representative of the European Council, I am here today waiting to hear clear answers about the actions and measures that the European Commission and the European Council intend to take to stop, at last, Turkish aggression, provocation and delinquency, as well as the daily criminal acts against Cyprus and Greece, two Member States of the Eu

Madam President, Commissioner, we have done everything in our power in the Committee on Budgets, starting with our dear fellow rapporteur, Karlo Ressler, to be able to draw up the budget and make the European Union stronger, greener, more growth-enhancing, more innovative, more social, strengthening society and citizens in particular, with a special focus on young people, small and medium-sized en

Madam President, Commissioner, from the very beginning we have supported with all our strength the creation of the Recovery Fund, because we believe that this fund is a powerful weapon in the hands of the European Union, to support and help Member States, economies, societies and European citizens. The European Union has quite rightly responded with the historic amount of EUR 675 billion on the is

Madam President, Commissioner, unfortunately the pandemic has left an incalculable huge health and socio-economic impact on all sectors. But no one can eliminate the enormous work and significant efforts made by the European Union in both the health sector and the socio-economic sector, particularly with the creation of the Recovery Fund, which we supported and support because we consider it to be

Madam President, Madam President of the European Commission, I fully endorse the European vision and strongly defend European principles and values over time, because I firmly believe that the European Union is the strongest future and the best perspective of European citizens. I also believe that humanity's greatest achievement in the last 70 years has been the creation and existence of the Europ

Mr President, climate change and the climate crisis are here and are irreparably and mercilessly affecting the whole of Europe. We are counting our wounds and unfortunately we are counting human casualties every day. This year, on the one hand, we experienced the catastrophic floods, and on the other hand, we experienced - and especially those living in the areas of the South with their own eyes -