What Daniel spoke about.

19

May

2026

EN Speech

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EU governance under pressure – institutional responses to global challenges (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, when we as Europeans last discussed how the European Union should function was 25 years ago. It was a very different world. It was a world where we could still entrust our lives to the Americans, where democracy, social market economy, freedoms were still spreading in this world. Well, we live in a different world now. We have seen since, for example, a head of state…

29

Apr

2026

DE Speech

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Amendment of the European Electoral Act allowing Members to vote in plenary by proxy voting during pregnancy and after giving birth (A10-0123/2026 - Juan Fernando López Aguilar) (vote)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, We parents have to make important decisions about our children every day. But there is one decision that we, as parents, should not make here in Parliament. And that is the choice between the birth of our children and voting – between the delivery room and the hemicycle. So far it is like this: Mothers lose their voice when they have a child, they cannot be r…

28

Apr

2026

EN Speech

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Joint debate - Discharge 2024 (joint debate)

Madam President, I want to react to a couple of things that were said during this debate. Let me start, Commissioner, with Slovakia. Of course you have other tools than the conditionality, but I think we really ought to make sure that Fico does not become another Orbán, as he himself says he wants to be. We have tools: let's not wait until it's too late, as we have seen in other cases before. And …

28

Apr

2026

EN Speech

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Joint debate - Discharge 2024 (joint debate)

Mr President, colleagues, Commissioner, the discharge is one of the most important scrutiny tools at the disposal of this Parliament, and obviously, the discharge is the biggest scrutiny that we do. It's the first time that this is in the hands of a Green rapporteur, so I want to thank my colleagues and the shadows for the trustful collaboration that we have had in this process. The Budgetary Cont…

27

Apr

2026

EN Speech

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Protection of the European Union’s financial interests – combating fraud – annual report 2024 (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, this is now the seventh report on the protection of the financial interests of the Union and combating fraud that I'm working on in this Parliament, and I have to say, it's the worst that I've seen so far. The rapporteur, Mr Sanchez, despite his numerous meetings that he supposedly had with EPPO, with OLAF, with the Commission, has missed all the major things that th…

25

Mar

2026

DE Speech

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Combating corruption (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Do you know what really makes me angry? I am infuriated by those who are always loudest about the EU, who think that Brussels is full of corrupt bureaucrats, the people of Le Pen, Orbán, and the AfD. Now we are talking here today about the first European anti-corruption law – common standards for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of office in…

10

Mar

2026

DE Speech

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Guidelines for the 2027 budget - Section III (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. In the Committee on Budgetary Control, it is of course particularly important to us that the money of European taxpayers is particularly protected. Unfortunately, when I watch – especially here in our own house – there is always abuse with funds. Marine Le Pen has been convicted and investigations into the former AfD ‑ faction – the ID – are ongoing. We have suc…

11

Feb

2026

DE Question

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Rule of law, fundamental rights and misuse of EU funds in Slovakia: the need for an EU response (debate)

Mr Buchheit, all sorts of stories go beyond how the AfD handles taxpayers' money in this way, but today we are talking about Slovakia. Do you want us to use taxpayers' money to finance luxury villas for any Slovaks, to build pools for them at their villas? Do you think that this is also a sensible use of EU taxpayers' money by German taxpayers? Then why don't you address corruption and say it's al…

11

Feb

2026

EN Speech

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Rule of law, fundamental rights and misuse of EU funds in Slovakia: the need for an EU response (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, just a couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in the living room of Zuzana Šubová, and she told me how she had worked in the paying agency for agricultural funds in Slovakia. And then she had been pushed out when she started pointing out the rampant corruption problems that she was seeing with agricultural funds in Slovakia. And just shortly after my visit in the earl…

20

Jan

2026

EN Question

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Pending approval of the Hungarian national plan for Security Action for Europe (SAFE) funding in light of persistent concerns around the allocation of public funding (debate)

Colleague, your candidate for Prime Minister is currently touring the country and is accusing Brussels of warmongering. He is saying that he's the only one keeping Hungary safe, and then he is the first one in line when it comes to applying for EU funds for defence. How does that make any sense? I mean, the only explanations I can find is that he basically, as always when it comes to EU funds, he …

20

Jan

2026

EN Speech

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Pending approval of the Hungarian national plan for Security Action for Europe (SAFE) funding in light of persistent concerns around the allocation of public funding (debate)

Madam President, madam Commissioner, dear colleagues, Hungary is the most corrupt country in the European Union. EUR 18 billion are frozen because of this corruption and the attacks on the rule of law. And at the same time, Hungary is the country where Orbán constantly travels to meet Putin. He blocks everything that has to do with European defence and security. And in this situation, the Commissi…

17

Dec

2025

DE Answer

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Cases of pro-Russian espionage in the European Parliament (debate)

So the proceedings are ongoing, and until a case is closed, I continue to assume that there is substantiated evidence. If house searches take place, then this is not just the case, but you have to present a judge with proper evidence. Particularly with MEPs, the hurdle is particularly high. Evidence must also be provided in the case of the waiver of immunity. In this respect, there is already a ve…

17

Dec

2025

DE Speech

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Cases of pro-Russian espionage in the European Parliament (debate)

Madam President, Dear colleagues! It seems to me that we need James Bond in the European Parliament to do something about the espionage, the propagandists of Russia who are here. It seems to be particularly members of the far-right who shine here today with absence. Until 2020, Nathan Gill was a Member of Parliament for Nigel Farage's anti-European UKIP party. They have always said they would defe…

17

Dec

2025

DE Question

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Implementation of the rule of law conditionality regime (debate)

You just talked about double standards and a lot of corruption. You did not mention the biggest corruption scandal we have had here in Parliament in recent years – that your ID group embezzled and stole at least 4.3 million in the last legislature, including individual members of the AfD. When do German and European taxpayers actually get their money back from the AfD, which was misused and stolen…

17

Dec

2025

EN Speech

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Implementation of the rule of law conditionality regime (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, 15 years of Viktor Orbán have turned Hungary into a mafia state: all checks and balances basically dismantled and Orbán has made his friends and family the richest people in the country, meanwhile their desolate hospitals, schools, roads, infrastructure, all of this is going down the drain. So then, three years ago – finally – the Commission said, 'We're going to fre…

24

Nov

2025

EN Speech

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

Mr President, dear colleagues, since Viktor Orban came to power in 2010, the European Union has given EUR 80 billion to Hungary – eighty billion euros! This was money meant to modernise schools, to update hospitals, to bring fast internet to every corner of Hungary – to do all those things that we do with EU money. But if you travel through Hungary and if you visit the neighbouring countries, you …

13

Nov

2025

EN Speech

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Proxy voting in plenary for Members during pregnancy and after giving birth (A10-0214/2025 - Juan Fernando López Aguilar) (vote)

Madam President, dear colleagues, this is an historic moment. It is a step forward towards the modernisation of this European Parliament. Members of this Parliament should be able to transfer their vote during and around pregnancy and after giving birth. That we do this for mothers now is a good step, but I think it should have been done for all parents. I myself had to make the choice twice for t…

22

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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Allegations of espionage by the Hungarian government within the EU institutions (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, Viktor Orbán is afraid. He is afraid of anyone that criticises him, anyone that exposes the rampant corruption of his friends and family, the billions being stolen. So, he uses all the tools that he has to fight everyone that could criticise, that could investigate his corruption. He goes after journalists, after civil society, he goes after academics, and it seem…

22

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report 2024 (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, hidden behind the diplomatic language of the 557 pages of this report, I think there are some very serious problems identified by the Court of Auditors, particularly regarding the EUR 650 billion post-COVID recovery fund. Actually, the report says it's not clear what citizens actually get for their money. I was very much in favour of this fund, but I – and we all, he…

22

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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The ongoing assault on the democratic institutions and the rule of law in Bulgaria (topical debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, when the key witness in a case admits that he has been coerced to testify – and not by some criminal gang, but by the authorities – then you know that something is severely wrong. And this is a case in Bulgaria. The country had been making progress in the last few years: joining Schengen this January, the euro area in January next year. But now we see that some of…

21

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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Delayed justice and rule of law backsliding in Malta, eight years after Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, right in the capital of Malta, there is a monument where every year flowers are laid down to commemorate the work and life of Daphne Caruana Galizia and, of course, her brutal assassination eight years ago. How petty do you have to be to throw those flowers into the bin? But more importantly, let's look at what political consequences have been drawn by the government…

21

Oct

2025

DE Speech

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Institutional consequences of the EU enlargement negotiations (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. European integration, the European Union, is an incredible success story. And I believe that it is based above all on two principles: an ever closer union – of further integration – but also of enlargement – that countries that have recently lived under dictatorship, under Soviet rule are now, as strong democracies, part of this European Parliament, the European…

10

Sep

2025

EN Speech

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Rule of law and EU funds management in Slovakia (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, what a picture: the dictators of the world together in China. You have Putin, you have Xi Jinping, you have Kim Jong Un, and you have Robert Fico hanging out with them, and I think it tells you something about where he wants to go with Slovakia. And indeed, we have seen the attacks on media freedom, on the rule of law, the corruption. I was part of both missions t…

9

Jul

2025

DE Answer

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Alleged misuse of EU funds by Members of the far-right and measures to ensure institutional integrity (debate)

I've heard a bit of suggestion out of the question at one point or another. The impression cannot be denied that certain MEPs, because they had no chance in national law for at least many years to be elected anywhere, then went to the European Parliament ... – well, you have to say that neither the UKIP people nor the people of Le Pen had a chance anywhere else for decades to be elected and then c…

9

Jul

2025

DE Answer

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Alleged misuse of EU funds by Members of the far-right and measures to ensure institutional integrity (debate)

Well, then disclose your expenses. So I want to see now that the ID faction in the last period, and that in this legislature the PfE and ESN successor faction, where the deputies from the former ID now sit in, that they now disclose. What do you do with your four hundred dollars? What do you do with your office fee? Is it independently audited? My things are independently checked by accountants to…