What Terry spoke about.

14 Mar

2023

EN Speech

This is Europe - Debate with the President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda (debate)

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Madam President, first of all I wish to welcome the President to the European Parliament and, most importantly – even if we are a bit late – to say ‘Happy Independence Restoration Day’ to Lithuania, of course. More than anything, colleagues, the full—scale invasion of Ukraine has confirmed the need for European unity. And it is true that only together, as Europeans, can we stand up against the bru…

15 Feb

2023

DE Speech

One year of Russia’s invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, One year after the brutal escalation of the war in Ukraine, it is absolutely clear: We stand firmly by the side of the challenged democratic state of Ukraine, and our support – be it financial, political or military – is absolutely certain, even if we now and especially hear voices from the Member State from which I come, trying to spread crude narratives in …

1 Feb

2023

EN Speech

Preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February, in particular the need to develop sustainable solutions in the area of asylum and migration (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, colleagues, ahead of the EUCO meeting next week, we are facing a crucial moment for the future of our economy and our competitiveness. But let me be clear, it is not with senseless deregulation, dismantling workers’ rights or environmental standards, or this so-called moratorium on regulation that we can make the European Union strong and competitive for th…

18 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Terrorist threats posed by far-right extremist networks defying the democratic constitutional order (debate)

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Madam President, in 2011 in Utøya and Oslo, 77 people were killed by a Nazi terrorist. In 2020 in Hanau, nine people were killed by a far—right terrorist. In 2022 in Bratislava, two queer people were shot coming out of a gay bar by a right—wing extremist. This list is far from exhaustive, and you all know it; hundreds of people have been killed by far—right extremists over the past years. In Decem…

17 Jan

2023

EN Speech

New developments in allegations of corruption and foreign interference, including those related to Morocco, and the need to increase transparency, integrity and accountability in the European institutions (debate)

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Madam President, Madam Commissioner, dear colleagues, I think it is absolutely clear that we have to investigate until all facts of this scandal are on the surface, not only relating to Qatar, but also potentially other countries. But I think it’s also important that we already take the necessary steps that can be taken now, now. And I want to thank the President for coming forward with a proposal…

16 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Order of business

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Madam President, colleagues, I could now defend our proposal because we think it’s the best, but I’m not going to do that. I think if it’s very important for the other groups to have this aspect of new developments added, that can be fine. But for us, it will be very important also to focus on integrity and transparency measures, so to have that definitely in the title. And if you would like to ad…

13 Dec

2022

DE Speech

Suspicions of corruption from Qatar and the broader need for transparency and accountability in the European institutions (debate) (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. I think we're all still horrified by what came to light this weekend. Let me quote my father who said: "What a fucking shit they took off." I think that's a quote that shows how much trust has broken. Trust can only be rebuilt if we act now as the European Parliament. That is why we will have to be very clear, including in the resolution we are adopting, in term…

12 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Statement by the President

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Madam President, I can only echo what the colleagues have been saying. These are dark days for European democracy. I can tell you personally, colleagues, that I have always been a very proud member of this Parliament. To me, it’s the honour of my life to be elected to this Parliament. In the last days, honestly, this pride has seriously been shaken. I myself know that most of us here are working h…

23 Nov

2022

EN Speech

Eliminating violence against Women (debate)

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Madam President, colleagues, in patriarchal societies, violence against women has always been widespread. It is not only based on the belief that women matter less, it is actually based on the assumption that women are not fully equal and self—determined human beings, that they somehow need to be disciplined to be controlled. We are battered. We are raped. We are abused. Our choices are being rest…

10 Nov

2022

DE Speech

Resumption of the sitting

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Madam President, In fact, yesterday, November 9, this memorable day of German and European history, our former colleague Werner Schulz was surprisingly torn out of life at a commemorative event in Bellevue Palace. We remember Werner as a fighter for civil rights, beginning in the former GDR, but then also on his way to life. He was a fighter for defensive democracy, for a critical civil society an…

9 Nov

2022

EN Speech

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 20-21 October 2022 (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, what we have seen in the last weeks is that Putin is obviously realising that he cannot win the war in Ukraine on the battlefield and this is why he’s resorting to other means. First and foremost, in Ukraine, where millions of people have been without electricity and water after Russia bombed civilian infrastructure. But the energy war has also reached the rest of…

9 Nov

2022

EN Speech

Order of business

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Madam President, colleagues, as you all know, the Conditionality Regulation has been activated by the European Commission for the first time in the case of Hungary. And also we have seen, in the recent weeks and days, movement on the negotiations on the RRP regarding Hungary. We believe that the European Parliament has to make its voice heard in these discussions and we are aware that there is a c…

19 Oct

2022

EN Speech

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 20-21 October 2022 (debate)

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Madam President, Madam Commission President, Mr Minister, dear colleagues, I was born in 1987, two years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. My childhood and my youth were marked by an expansion of freedoms. Walls and borders fell, in 2004 we celebrated the eastern enlargement of the European Union. And over the last three decades, we strengthened the rights and freedoms of hundreds of millions of…

18 Oct

2022

EN Speech

Growing hate crimes against LGBTIQ people across Europe in light of the recent homophobic murder in Slovakia (debate)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, so many moments have passed now where we had to express our condolences and our solidarity with victims of hate crime and terror. Of course, first and foremost, also today our love and solidarity goes to the victims, their loved ones and the whole LGBTI community in Slovakia. But I want to take this opportunity and say something else as well. Words have consequences.…

17 Oct

2022

EN Speech

Order of business

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Madam President, as you rightly said, we would have a counter—proposal and the title of the counter—proposal that we would like to put forward is ‘fighting sexualised violence and violence against women: the importance of the Istanbul Convention and the need for a comprehensive directive against gender—based violence’. And we would like to propose this for Wednesday, as the fourth point of the age…

4 Oct

2022

EN Speech

The death of Mahsa Amini and the repression of women's rights protesters in Iran (debate)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, human dignity, freedom, democracy – values that we claim to hold very dear in the European Union, values that are the basis of the functioning of our societies. Now we see a protest movement in Iran that is fighting for exactly these values, led by brave women. A protest movement that has come together, and that can change not only Iran, but the whole region, and eve…

14 Sep

2022

EN Speech

Existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values on which the Union is founded (debate)

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Madam President, democracies can die. Democracies can die on battlefields in war, in occupation, in oppression. But democracies can also die silently. First, independent media is restricted, pushed out, journalists intimidated. Then critical civil society is defunded, swamped with lawsuits, maims foreign agents, universities are maimed in their academic freedom, political opponents are attacked, e…

14 Sep

2022

EN Speech

Composition of Parliament

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Madam President, dear colleagues, a lot of you might know a very important European event is set to take place this Saturday in Belgrade. It’s EuroPride. It’s a demonstration for freedom, for democracy, for fundamental rights and diversity, a pan-European demonstration. Unfortunately, it has been cancelled yesterday by Serbian authorities. We are in very close contact both with the Serbian Governm…

6 Jul

2022

EN Speech

The UK government’s unilateral introduction of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill and respect for international law (debate)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, what the UK Government is doing right now looks, unfortunately, more like a group of reckless, privileged people trying to distract from their own mistakes by breaking international law, rather than serious governing. What we actually urgently need is calm and constructive discussions on the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol; to find practical solutions…

4 Jul

2022

EN Speech

US Supreme Court decision to overturn abortion rights in the United States and the need to safeguard abortion rights and Women’s health in the EU (debate)

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Madam President, colleagues, in the state of Ohio, a 10-year-old girl has just been denied an abortion. Yes, you heard me right: a 10-year-old girl. The child-abuse doctor who was taking care of her had to arrange a referral to Indiana, a state where soon abortion could also be criminalised. Denying abortion care to a 10-year-old victim of rape is not a policy based on another person’s political o…

8 Jun

2022

EN Speech

Global threats to abortion rights: the possible overturn of abortion rights in the US by the Supreme Court (debate)

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Well, I would definitely say that if you can wear a cross, I think you should also be able to wear a scarf like this, especially when you have a sore throat.

8 Jun

2022

EN Speech

Global threats to abortion rights: the possible overturn of abortion rights in the US by the Supreme Court (debate)

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I’m sorry, I’m not going to take off the cloth right now, and I hope it’s okay for colleagues. So again ... (In response to clapping from the floor) Are you seriously going to keep clapping until I take this off? Colleague? (In response to continued clapping from the floor) Okay, then I’m going to speak against this noise. First of all, abortion is a fact. Millions of people end their pregnancy ea…

8 Jun

2022

EN Speech

Global threats to abortion rights: the possible overturn of abortion rights in the US by the Supreme Court (debate)

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Madam President, sorry, I have a very sore throat today, so I had to wear the cloth. Colleagues, I wanted to share with you three important points about abortion. First of all, abortion is a fact. Millions of people enter pregnancy each year. Criminalising abortion does not lower the number of abortions, it actually just makes ...…

7 Jun

2022

EN Speech

The rule of law and the potential approval of the Polish national Recovery Plan (RRF) (debate)

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Madam President, I think it has to be said here very clearly that what the Commission did last week was a big political and strategic mistake, and I think there is no dancing around it because even large parts of the Commission seem to agree with that. And now it is actually on the Council to show some spine and not to adopt the RRP for Poland until the pre-given conditions are going to be met. An…

6 Jun

2022

EN Speech

Order of business

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Madam President, dear colleagues, you have probably all followed the news that the Commission has given a positive assessment for the RRP of Poland last week. And this despite the fact that not even the conditions that the Commission set itself were met by the Polish Government. Now we think that this Parliament has been a very strong defender of the rule of law in the past, and we would like to c…