What Michal spoke about.

14

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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Situation at the Ukrainian border and in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, Ukraine is once again threatened by Russian aggression and renewed war and the reason is still the same. The simple reason is that Ukrainians dared to choose a path of democracy and association with Europe. Therefore, the situation is no longer just about Ukraine – it is about Europe as a whole. Because if Mr Putin is allowed to dictate the choices of democratic and sovereign Euro…

25

Nov

2021

SK Speech

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The International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women and the State of play on the ratification of the Istanbul Convention (continuation of debate)

Mr President, I will be speaking my mother tongue, in Slovak, colleagues, 600, 600 women, more than 600 women were murdered in 2018, according to the latest available Eurostat data, by an intimate partner or family member or relative in 14 Member States of the European Union, and this is pre-pandemic data. How many more women have lost their lives since then in other countries of the European Unio…

24

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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Fundamental rights and the rule of law in Slovenia, in particular the delayed nomination of EPPO prosecutors (debate)

Mr President, I will focus on the situation with the media, because free and critical media are the clearest sign of a healthy democracy, whereas smear campaigns, criminal investigations and lawsuits against journalists are the marks of authoritarian politics. In some Member States, including – I have to say – in Slovenia with Mr Janša, we are increasingly seeing the latter picture. The defamation…

20

Oct

2021

SK Speech

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The first anniversary of the de facto abortion ban in Poland (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, restricting women in their decisions about their own bodies is perhaps one of the most humiliating pieces of legislation we can see in the European Union today. And the Polish decision of last year is extremely drastic and dangerous in this context. Of course, first and foremost for women's health, but also for human rights and the fundamental values of the European …

19

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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The Rule of law crisis in Poland and the primacy of EU law (debate)

Mr President, first of all, it’s good to be brutally honest about why we are having this debate. The ruling of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal is not a product of some grand legal or philosophical dispute over competences or democracy or constitutionalism. Nor is it meant to protect the Treaty, as the Prime Minister would have us believe. The reality, unfortunately, is much simpler. Your govern…

6

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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The state of play on the submitted RRF recovery plans awaiting approval (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, the agreement on the Resilience and Recovery Facility is a true European success story, because – despite the massive economic shock of the pandemic – the EU has largely avoided long-term negative impacts, and to a large extent it’s thanks to the RRF. But the EU cannot be a cash machine that does not look at how European taxpayers’ money is spent. For far too long, B…

5

Oct

2021

SK Speech

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The situation in Belarus after one year of protests and their violent repression (debate)

Mr President, thirty-five thousand Belarusians have experienced some form of state repression in the past year: arrest, imprisonment, torture. And that number shows the immense heroism of Belarusians who, in the face of brutality, continue to fight for European values, our values of freedom and democracy, day by day. We couldn't even imagine that a year ago. Nor could we have imagined that the Luk…

15

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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Media freedom and further deterioration of the Rule of law in Poland (debate)

Madam President, captured courts, attacks on independent media, hate against sexual minorities, public broadcasters blasting pro—government propaganda, violations of parliamentary procedures – this, unfortunately, is Poland in the hands of the current government. By all standards, democracy and the rule of law in Poland are in retreat, and actually have been for years. And the response of the Euro…

15

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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State of the Union (debate)

Mr President, I want to say that you are indeed right that the EU has weathered the past year better than many had expected. We caught up in terms of vaccination rates with leading countries around the world and our economic recovery is underway. Of course, we still have a way to go to defeat COVID both in Europe and abroad, but the EU has indeed proved many of its doubters wrong. Looking ahead, t…

14

Sep

2021

SK Speech

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Direction of EU-Russia political relations (debate)

Mr President. What Europe's policy towards Russia needs most today is realism. There is a clear idea of where our interests are in that relationship, where there are threats, and what we can realistically achieve through dialogue with Moscow, or what we cannot achieve. And it really makes no sense to base European policy towards Russia on the demonization of Putin or Russians. But it also makes no…

7

Jul

2021

EN Speech

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Breaches of EU law and of the rights of LGBTIQ citizens in Hungary as a result of the adopted legal changes in the Hungarian Parliament - The outcome of 22 June hearings under Article 7(1) of the TEU regarding Poland and Hungary (continuation of debate)

Mr President, Madam Vice-President, the trouble with authoritarian politics is that without any pushback, it becomes ever and increasingly more brazen, and the EU has learned this lesson the hard way with Viktor Orbán. The last European Council gave us hope that EU leaders may finally be waking up to this reality, and, of course, it’s a reality in which a Member State government scapegoats vulnera…