Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. It seems to me that a criminal organisation has been set up in the European Parliament. The AfD, the FPÖ, the representatives of Le Pen and other right-wing extremists have joined forces and not to create a few euros here and there on the side, but to systematically abuse all the funds available to them, to make fraud, to enrich themselves and friends, party colleagues. Marine Le Pen has already been convicted of 4.6 million euros in France after a very long trial, for abuse with the personnel and other funds. And now there's the next charge in the room: 4.3 million euros, which the AfD, the FPÖ and the people of Le Pen have probably stolen. And that's just the beginning, because it was just a sample. And if now all the money we have to look at... all the expenses of the ID have to be on the table now, so we can see what's going on. And you're inciting against NGOs here. And the only illegal funding of NGOs I've ever heard of with EU funds to this day is the allegations that you illegally funded NGOs with your funds. This needs to be clarified!

Madam President, dear colleagues, 250 000 people in the streets of Budapest – it was a historic moment. I'm glad that I was there. You could smell the wind of change in the air. I think the end of Viktor Orbán is coming. This was good. But despite all this, we cannot forget that the freedom of assembly is still restricted in Hungary. Commissioner, when in March, the Hungarian Government put this legislation in place, you said you stand ready, but you didn't do anything. Then the first Pride requests were filed with the police, and you said you stood ready, but nothing happened. The Hungarian police prohibited it. The highest court that is stuffed with Orbán's allies ruled that this is illegal. You said you stand ready, but you didn't do anything. It was down to the Green Mayor of Budapest that this could take place. But how about these other cities in Hungary? How about the civil society being able to organise protests? We need to act and not just stand ready when the fundamental freedoms are curtailed like this in the middle of the European Union. Please act.

Madam President, dear colleagues, 250 000 people in the streets of Budapest – it was a historic moment. I'm glad that I was there. You could smell the wind of change in the air. I think the end of Viktor Orbán is coming. This was good. But despite all this, we cannot forget that the freedom of assembly is still restricted in Hungary. Commissioner, when in March, the Hungarian Government put this legislation in place, you said you stand ready, but you didn't do anything. Then the first Pride requests were filed with the police, and you said you stood ready, but nothing happened. The Hungarian police prohibited it. The highest court that is stuffed with Orbán's allies ruled that this is illegal. You said you stand ready, but you didn't do anything. It was down to the Green Mayor of Budapest that this could take place. But how about these other cities in Hungary? How about the civil society being able to organise protests? We need to act and not just stand ready when the fundamental freedoms are curtailed like this in the middle of the European Union. Please act.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. Between Trumps America First and Putin’s attacks on civilians in Ukraine – it shows: We need a stronger Europe. On all the major issues of our time, whether in the fight against climate change, to ensure that even the largest corporations pay their fair share of taxes, and unfortunately again on the question for which the European Union was once founded – the question of stability, peace, freedom, democracy on this continent – we can do little to nothing on all these issues without a strong European Union. Small business is a security risk. Only together are we strong. We can also double the defence budget of Estonia or Lithuania, we can triple it – it will not deter Putin. What will deter Putin is if we work more together in Europe, including on defence issues. And, above all, when we finally tackle a few fundamental design flaws of the European Union. To abolish unanimity is the greatest gift to Putin: He only has to bribe, blackmail, somehow pull a single one of the 27 heads of state and government to his side. We must finally make progress on democracy. Because if democracy is attacked from the outside and from the inside, then we in the European Union must react by making the EU more democratic, that we finally get a right of initiative for this European Parliament, that we finally get real European elections, that we can finally see what the governments in the Council actually do, where they agree, where they reject. And in the end, all these issues require Treaty changes, and that is what citizens want; the approval levels for the European Union are as high as we have never seen them in the history of the European Union. Let's take advantage of this moment! The European Parliament has already made proposals. We want to change the treaties. And if, in the end, we are serious about our promise to Ukraine, to the Balkans, to the countries that want to join the European Union, if we are serious about that promise, then we must change the Treaties. And it is the Council that blocks, which does not even appear here today for this debate, makes Sunday speeches, but in the end does not deliver what the citizens want. That's what we have to do.

Mr President, this is actually part of the police evidence to ban a Pride protest in Hungary. I don't know about you guys, but I don't think about what other people do in the bedroom all day. But you guys seem very concerned about that. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Viktor Orbán basically doesn't really meet women all day. There are 18 men in his cabinet – all-male cabinet. All his advisors in his Prime Minister's Office are all male. Apparently that environment leads you to such sexual insecurity that you need to ban Pride. But obviously you guys are trying to launch some sort of culture war to hide the corruption and to hide that you're taking everyone's rights – not only of some, but of everyone. The Commission needs to step up – not just stand ready, but act on this.

Mr President, dear colleagues, Mr Commissioner, particularly for all the men here on the extreme right, I'm now going to make you all gay. Look! Two men holding hands. (The speaker held up a picture)

Madam President, dear colleagues, Mr Commissioner, soon you are going to launch the sixth report on the rule of law in the European Union. What we're seeing is that the rule of law is under attack. Actually, some of the countries in the world where the rule of law, democracy and press freedom are declining the fastest in international rankings are EU Member States. But just publishing a chronicle every year of this decline cannot be enough. We need to act when the rule of law is under attack. We just went to Slovakia, for example, with the rule of law monitoring group of this Parliament. What we see is they abolished the special prosecutor on corruption, they abolished the National Crime Agency, they changed the laws so that the friends and political allies of the Prime Minister can walk free and so that the investigations are stopped. The amount of indictments on corruption has gone down 95 % since the abolishment of the special prosecutor. When are you going to act? I negotiated the rule of law conditionality so that we have a pre-emptive tool so that we don't have to wait until democracy is destroyed, like in Hungary. We need to act on these cases if we're serious about defending the rule of law.

Well, I had a couple of meetings talking with USAID and other officials of the then US administration about the situation in your country: that you, your party, your political allies, the family of Viktor Orbán, are stealing billions. And where is this money going? You're taking private jets to the Maldives, you're buying luxury yachts, you're turning old kings' palaces into golf courses. You're stealing billions of euro from Hungarian citizens that have no functioning hospitals, that have schools that are falling apart. Where is all the stolen money? That's what we were talking about in Washington.

Mr President, dear colleagues, Commissioner McGrath, I think this is a decisive moment for the rule of law. What Trump is doing in the US, unfortunately, is emboldening dictators around the world, including Orbán. Your Commission froze funding for Hungary two and a half years ago. You had negotiated 27 reforms that are necessary – not a single one has been delivered in these two and a half years. Zero. Zero reforms. Instead we see further attacks almost weekly by now. The Integrity Authority is being bullied, there are further attacks on the judiciary, the last reform was implemented under the loud protest of the judges' association, there are restrictions on the freedom of assembly, and now this attack – further attack – on civil society. I don't really understand what we're waiting for. Are we waiting for Orbán – also imitating Putin – that opposition politicians start falling out of windows? Because that, I fear, is not far away. He is imitating everything that Putin is doing, so who knows? I cannot explain to citizens why we're still sending billions to this country. We wrote you a letter this morning – cross-party – it's time to freeze all this money until the corruption stops and the attacks on fundamental freedoms stop.

Dear colleague, I mean, two arguments that have been made by you and also your party colleagues. First one, that the Commission somehow authorised the scheme, but the Commission went to court against Malta over the scheme. So I don't understand – it's illegal, as the court said. And the second question I have is there seems to be a confusion between a passport and a residency scheme. I mean, I have also criticised the residency. I think that should stop as well. And the other Member States that have that should stop it. But there is clearly a difference, right?

Mr President, dear colleagues, Malta is selling something that doesn't belong to them alone. EU citizenship is bigger than any Member State because it allows holders to freely travel, live or work in any of the 27 Member States. So selling EU passports for EUR 600 000 is a disgrace. But selling EU passports to criminals, oligarchs and, as the Financial Times showed, to those evading Russian sanctions is despicable. The ECJ has rightfully condemned Malta now to stop this madness but, Commissioner, there are three issues that remain. First, there are those that already got the citizenship – and we really need to make sure that they don't keep it. Second, there are a number of candidate countries selling their citizenship and then seeking to come into the Union. So we need to talk to them. And third, after the golden passports, we need to look at the golden visas as well, because access to the European Union – living, working, loving in the EU – should not be for sale.

Mr President, dear colleagues, dear Commissioner Serafin, from my point of view, the biggest issue with the Commission budget discharge for 2023 is that your predecessors gave EUR 10 billion to Viktor Orbán to get rid of one of his vetoes, EUR 10 billion that was previously frozen because of his rampant corruption and his attacks on the independent judiciary in Hungary. It's pretty clear that the Commission was blackmailed. The Commission argued that the judicial reforms were made in Hungary. The key reform was increased independence for the National Judicial Council. The release of the funding could actually not wait for the election of this council that was ongoing at the time. Indeed, the Commission officials had to come back just after Christmas during the holidays to make the first transfers to Hungary on 27 December. That seems unusual to me, and I think that the Parliament is rightfully taking the Commission to court over this. It was wrong then, but I think it's even more clear today how wrong that decision was, because we now see that the independence of the National Judicial Council has not been increased. There have now been reforms actually reducing it under the strong protest of the Hungarian judges' association. Mr Serafin, I really think this money should be frozen again before the court forces you to. And indeed the remaining billions that are still going to Orban should be frozen as well, because he keeps ignoring the ECJ. He continues the attacks on anyone that criticises him. He tramples fundamental rights such as the freedom of assembly. So don't be blackmailed, don't be weak with him, don't be too slow, and really protect the EU's financial interest in Hungary.

Mr President, 228 bottles of champagne, turning a former royal palace into a private golf club, yachts, private jets, Ferraris, vacations in the Maldives – dear colleagues, these are all things that have been purchased by the French Rassemblement National and by the Hungarian Fidesz with money that they stole from the European Union. EU funds that were meant to improve the lives of ordinary Europeans have instead been misused for the luxury lives of a few individuals from the extreme right. The Rassemblement National and Fidesz – it's a match made in extremist heaven, and together they form the most corrupt group in this European Parliament: PfE. And while they're giving their hate and lie-filled speeches – and we just heard it here a couple of seconds ago – blaming people's problems on Soros, on Eurocrats, on trans people, on NGOs, on refugees, whatever is the matter of the day, they just can't hide the fact that Viktor Orbán and Marine Le Pen are ultimately the biggest risk to EU taxpayers' money. And while Marine Le Pen, who has defrauded this Parliament of EUR 4.6 million, has been rightfully convicted and is not allowed to run for election for five years, Viktor Orbán remains yet unpunished. But it is time that he gets punished for the EUR 14 billion that he and his cronies have stolen from EU taxpayers. Commissioner, we need to do something about this. We cannot keep sending billions of euros to what is the biggest financial risk in this Union. It's the corrupt system of Viktor Orbán. So, the best thing we can actually do to protect the EU's financial interests from fraud, from embezzlement, from corruption, is that we stop paying the corrupt autocrat in Budapest.

Mr Lopatka, you just said that Orbán probably shares the corruption and stealing with Marine Le Pen. Are you aware that, if you look into how much Orbán has stolen, he actually manages to steal almost every day the amount – the EUR 4.6 million – that it took, I think, Marine Le Pen 12 years to amass? So the problem is slightly larger. I have another question. The Fidesz people have spoken about inflation. Are you aware that Hungarian inflation is actually almost three times as high as the eurozone, which stands at 2.2 %?

Madam President, dear colleagues, just last week, I was in Budapest with thousands of demonstrators on the Freedom Bridge, because another fundamental right is being stolen from Hungarians: the freedom of assembly. Orbán has taken freedom from Hungarians time and again – press freedom, academic freedom, the freedom to marry whomever you love. But whenever Orbán is taking freedoms away from Hungarians, he often does that to distract from his stealing: EUR 14 billion already and, this time, I think he's trying to steal the Hungarian elections next year, because the constitutional changes are supposed to allow him to just suspend any law at will. Commissioner, we can't just react to that with the usual concerns and further analysis. We need action. Why are we still sending billions of EU taxpayers' money to this dictator? Why are we not freezing all EU funds until finally democracy, the rule of law and the fundamental freedoms of Europeans are restored in Hungary. We need action now.

Mr Simon, you have just spoken a lot about the rule of law. Is it not also part of the rule of law to adhere to an agreement between eight EU institutions that has been concluded and ratified? Is it not also part of the rule of law that an invoice resulting from this agreement should also be paid? In the rule of law, isn't the way, if you don't like an agreement, to make an application to leave this agreement instead of simply not complying with applicable law in the strangest way?

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Again, doors have been sealed, offices have been searched, and again there is suspicion that MEPs have allowed themselves to be smeared. Luxury travel here, football tickets there and then favors for Huawei. You have a certain déjà vu – we have seen it all very similar at Kartar-Gate, and we wanted to prevent that. We wanted the anti-corruption, lobby control rules to finally be enforced in this House. This is exactly why these corruption scandals happen: because still too many believe that they will get away with it in the end and even if you get caught, there are no penalties. An independent body, the ethics body, was the central response of this House to Qatar Gate. In order to solve precisely these problems, to open up the self-control in Parliament to a certain extent, which obviously does not work, we have created this body. More than ten months ago, the agreement with eight EU institutions was ratified and nothing has happened since then. If you look now: Why doesn't anything happen? This is because of the EPP, especially the CDU/CSU. Your Vice-President does not convene the first meeting, together with the far-right parties, you voted in the Committee on Budgets that Parliament simply no longer pays its bills as far as the ethics body is concerned. What is this understanding of the rule of law? Just not paying the bills – that's unbelievable! So if you don't want the ethics body, if you don't want the rules, then say that openly. Step out there, but don't just block everything that somehow has to do with transparency and integrity.

Madam President, just today, the court in Paris ruled on what has been so far the biggest fraud case in the history of the European Parliament. EUR 4.6 million were embezzled. This was not the doing of an individual, but the court actually speaks of an organised system, so things that you usually read in Mafia case rulings. I am sick and tired that those that scream the loudest about the corrupt Eurocrats are actually themselves the ones that are the biggest fraudsters in this House. We propose a debate where we can say loud and clear, once and for all, that we, as the European Parliament, won't stand for that.

Mr President! Dear colleagues! Mr Caspary, the breach of the dam that your party leader made two weeks ago in the German Bundestag, we have known about it here in the European Parliament for a little longer. But even if you have become increasingly accustomed to it, let me make it clear once again with which factions you are increasingly building majorities here. We have three very right-wing groups here in the European Parliament: ECR with the PiS, the Polish enemies of the rule of law, who are actually fighting their own Polish colleagues very hard here; the PfE with Viktor Orbán's corrupt Putin friends; and the ESN with the AfD, a far-right party in large parts. None of these parties have a democratic, European or good economic policy. From Adenauer to Merkel, Europe has always been at the heart of the Union’s policy – and you are now increasingly giving up for a few comfortable majorities with the PiS, Orbán or the AfD, because you do not want to look for compromises in the middle? You know you're doing better. Weber campaigned for Viktor Orbán in 2018. Where are we today? Why make this mistake again and again? If you can see in the Netherlands, in Italy, in Austria, in France, what effect this has on the conservative parties that will eventually perish if you open the doors to power for right-wing extremists. We as democrats, as pro-Europeans, must ultimately find majorities in the middle – not with the right-wing, not with the extremists – for this to work in the European Union.

So, the EU lobby register or the transparency register is for all organisations that lobby the EU. There are enough organisations that are funded for research projects, I know, but have never interacted with the EU institutions in terms of legislation, decisions or anything else. To force them all into the lobby register – so no idea, you can talk about it. I would rather hope that all recipients of EU money are transparent, that we can first see who actually gets the EU money. I think that would be the more important fight on the spot.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. Environmental organisations fight for clean rivers, biodiversity and climate change – and they do not do that badly to the EU. And I'm afraid a little bit: This is precisely why conservatives and right-wing extremists now want to make their work more difficult. Companies spend six times more on lobbying here in Brussels and Strasbourg than NGOs. For good reason, the EU is giving NGOs a little money to have a say at all – this is also what the EU Treaty says. But what has gone a bit wrong now, Mrs. Hohlmeier: You are now leading this attack against the NGOs. You yourself sit on the Supervisory Board of BayWa AG and receive 75,000 euros a year. The same BayWa AG receives 6.5 million euros from this LIFE fund in the last financial year you declared – I do not know whether transparency has already been established by the Commission – but the problem is of course the NGOs. So I have the impression that you are not interested in transparency, otherwise you would ask the same for companies or for the side income of CSU MEPs – but you are not. No.

Colleague, you said that the director of the Integrity Authority had been selected by Brussels. I don't know if you're not aware, but the selection procedure was entirely run by the Hungarian Government, who appointed this director. You are saying this is somehow a Brussels plot, that someone who you yourself, or your government, selected. And then the second question: it seems that in that investigation in his office, you've collected all kinds of documents on corruption cases that are unrelated to the director. Does this not rather look like interference in the supposedly independent work of this authority?

Mr President, dear colleagues, since Viktor Orbán has taken power in Hungary, mysteriously, his closest friends and family have become unbelievably rich – millionaires, sometimes even billionaires. And when now the extreme right here in the House uses a mix of what-aboutism or talking about other scandals, what they're trying to hide is that there is a serious corruption problem in Hungary, and anyone that tries to do anything about it or investigate is going to meet the full force of the Hungarian state. Intelligence spying, we have seen it with OLAF. I myself have experienced it. In the middle of the election campaign for the European elections, all of a sudden I have the cybersecurity of the European Parliament in my office who says that there is an attack with the spying software Candiru on my accounts. And when you look at the list of governments that are known clients of this software, well, it's China, Russia, and it's the Hungarian Government. So this is nothing new, Commissioner. We need to protect our civil servants. We need to make sure that they have the proper equipment, the proper training, so that we are not spied upon.

Thanks, colleague. I mean, you're one of many Spanish speakers that has appeared in the debate here today, and particularly from the EPP there has been lots of criticism on corruption in Spain. Anything you have to say about corruption outside your own Member State? I mean, we're not in the Spanish Parliament here, but the European Parliament. So, I would love to hear what you have to say about the issue beyond Spain.

Mr President! Dear colleagues, Qatargate has been two years now. After that, we improved the rules here in the house, including the rules for side income. So let's take a look at what exactly is going on in the side activities of MEPs: First of all, one notices that among the top German earners, the members of the CSU are in second place and in third and fourth and fifth and sixth place. The CSU is virtually the Bavaria-Munich of secondary incomes. We banned people from lobbying in Qatargate. So how can it be that Stefan Köhler from the CSU, in addition to his salary here as a member of parliament, still earns 51,000 euros as district president of the Bavarian Farmers' Association? The farmers' association is in the EU lobby register, agricultural policy is the sole competence of the European Union, and one of the most active, influential lobby associations ever pays one MEP every month. And this is not a violation of the lobbying ban? I reported the case to the President of Parliament this afternoon. It must not be the case that lobbying rules are still not enforced in this House.