What Daniel spoke about.

21 Nov

2023

DE Answer

Continuing threat to the rule of law, the independence of justice and the non-fulfilment of conditionality for EU funding in Hungary (debate)

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I don't know if you know where we are. We are here in the European Parliament. We are making policy for the whole of Europe. If I wanted to deal with the German federal government, I would have run for the German Bundestag – I do not have that. I am here in the European Parliament, and that is why I am concerned with what we are doing in the European Union. Otherwise, I can only say: You can find …

21 Nov

2023

DE Speech

Continuing threat to the rule of law, the independence of justice and the non-fulfilment of conditionality for EU funding in Hungary (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, In Budapest, posters are being hung again, with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen near a supposedly globalist world conspiracy – i.e. blunt lies with a decent portion of anti-Semitism, paid with taxpayers’ money. However, it must be said that Orbán is probably running out of ideas, because we all had these posters five years ago – at that time with Je…

21 Nov

2023

EN Speech

Proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties (debate)

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Mr President, those colleagues that in this debate have spoken the most about sovereignty seem to have the least understood what sovereignty actually is. We had colleagues here, one of the friends of you, Nigel Farage, who said he is going to bring all that sovereignty back to the United Kingdom. It seems that the kind of sovereignty that he brought back to the UK is more the kind of sovereignty t…

21 Nov

2023

DE Speech

Proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties (debate)

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Mr President! The introduction of the global minimum tax – Viktor Orbán vetoes it. EU sanctions against Russia – Viktor Orbán vetoed. EU assistance to Ukraine – Viktor Orbán vetoes it. Veto, veto, veto. Ladies and gentlemen, we all know the game. In the meantime, every time a unanimous decision is taken, Viktor Orbán immediately vetoes it, either to free up EU funds or to paralyze the EU in the sp…

18 Oct

2023

DE Speech

Rule of Law in Malta: 6 years after the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the need to protect journalists (debate)

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Madam President, Thank you for allowing the debate here. I was in the Polish election campaign last week and spoke to several journalists from TV stations and newspapers in Poland who were very worried about whether their job still exists after this election, whether their medium still has a license or whether they are being forced out of the market. I think that shows, ladies and gentlemen, that …

18 Oct

2023

EN Question

Rule of Law in Malta: 6 years after the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the need to protect journalists (debate)

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Thank you, Paulo. That was a strong speech in defence of journalistic freedom. I wanted to ask you: often the attacks on journalists don’t start with bombs or murder, but the first step is often that journalists are spied on. A number of governments that have used Pegasus, for example, against journalists – particularly those critical – many of them are EPP-led governments. Do you condemn that wit…

18 Oct

2023

DE Speech

Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report 2022 (debate)

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Mr President! Dear Tony Murphy, thanks for the good report. Commissioner, now the Court of Auditors has given you the worst report in many, many years. The error rate is significantly higher, especially for cohesion and structural funds. I have now understood your answer a little bit in such a way that the testimony you give yourself is much better. But then I don't really read out that you are re…

3 Oct

2023

EN Answer

Corrupt large-scale sale of Schengen visas (debate)

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It’s a human duty, I think, that people that are shipwrecked, people that are drowning in the Mediterranean are taken out from the water and don’t have to suffer the same fate as the 28 000 people that have drowned in the Mediterranean, fleeing from war, from persecution, from hunger and seeking shelter. It is proven time and again there are enough studies that say none of this encourages people t…

3 Oct

2023

DE Speech

Corrupt large-scale sale of Schengen visas (debate)

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Mr President! There is an EU government that incites unrestrainedly against migrants and at the same time sells Schengen visas on an industrial scale against bribes. Yes, with what is happening in Poland, you can only hold your head. Once again, it becomes clear that there are always hate speeches from the outside right, which then succumb to corruption. On the one hand, one's own worldview is sho…

3 Oct

2023

DE Speech

European Media Freedom Act (debate)

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There is basically no newspaper, no television, no radio outside of Budapest, which is not controlled by Orbán and does not spread his propaganda. Nowhere in the EU is the situation as bad as in Hungary, but there are more and more imitators, also in other countries. Unfortunately, there are too many in our Union, especially on the outside right, who only want to read praises and no more criticism…

3 Oct

2023

DE Speech

European Media Freedom Act (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, This is what media diversity looks like in Viktor Orbán's Hungary today.

13 Jul

2023

DE Speech

Public access to documents – annual report for the years 2019-2021 (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. I have sent 437 short messages so far in this plenary session: SMS, WhatsApp, Signal, Slack. Of course, this is how politics is coordinated today. You talk about the vote, you keep in touch with the members of the federal government in Berlin. This is how politics is made. I may have written a few e-mails, and maybe there was a letter this week. But I think ever…

11 Jul

2023

EN Speech

2023 Annual Rule of law report (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, this is the fourth time now that we have a Rule of Law Report, the fourth time that there is a bad assessment of the rule of law in Hungary. It was the pressure in this House that finally got us to do something about this. So now we have almost EUR 28 billion of EU funds that are earmarked for Hungary that are frozen. But we also have to say that since that decisi…

13 Jun

2023

EN Speech

Negotiations on the European Electoral Law (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, I don’t know how this is for you, but one of the main criticisms I hear when I speak with citizens out there about the European Union still having room to improve its democracy is that the Commission President was not on the ballot during the last European election. And all the lead candidates that ran were only on the ballot in one small constituency, either a co…

13 Jun

2023

EN Speech

Establishment of the EU Ethics Body (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, a former EU Commissioner has joined Uber as a lobbyist despite the Commission having signalled that it would not have approved it. Another former EU Commissioner started his own lobbying firm registered on the lobby register during the cooling—off period, together with six other activities for registered lobby organisations. Yet another former EU Commissioner star…

12 Jun

2023

DE Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, dear young parents! I was faced with a difficult decision in April. We voted here in Parliament on the extension of emissions trading, one of the most important climate laws that this House has ever passed. I had to decide: Do I either come here to Strasbourg, or do I stay at home with my wife, the three children and, above all, my newborn daughter, who was o…

12 Jun

2023

EN Speech

Order of business

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Madam President, indeed, the Commission has made a proposal for an independent EU ethics body, after the promise was made four years ago. The proposal that is now on the table from the Commission side is very different from what we have adopted in this House almost two years ago. So, I think it’s good that we have a debate tomorrow, but I think it would be good as well to react in writing and to h…

31 May

2023

DE Speech

Breaches of the Rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary and frozen EU funds (debate)

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Mr President! Dear colleagues! We visited Hungary again a week and a half ago with a mission of the Committee on Budgetary Control. We looked at it on the spot and talked to a lot of people about it: What is the situation now? For nine months there has been a big package, 27 super milestones identified between the Hungarian government and the European Commission. And what's the status now? What mo…

10 May

2023

DE Speech

Update of the anti-corruption legislative framework (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner! You talked about the damage that corruption does. Unfortunately, the Commission's figures are now more than 10 years old. More recent estimates are more likely to amount to 1200 billion euros. EUR 1200 billion lost by Europeans every year – in mismanagement, corruption, bribery. I believe that we in Europe must take a more decisive stance against this money not being…

9 May

2023

DE Speech

Discharge 2021 (continuation of debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, What do Le Pen, Panzeri and Nigel Farage have in common? All three are in the so-called voluntary pension fund of the European Parliament. In the 1990s, a pyramid scheme was created with quasi-criminal energy: few years of contributions, lush pensions, all in addition to the existing entitlements from the regular pensions for members of parliament. The bad th…

30 Mar

2023

DE Speech

2022 Rule of Law Report - The rule of law situation in the European Union - Rule of law in Greece - Rule of law in Spain - Rule of law in Malta (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. It is thanks to pressure from this Parliament that 140 billion euros were frozen for Poland and Hungary at the end of last year for blatant breaches of the rule of law, for disregarding fundamental values of EU citizens, for corruption on an industrial scale. This is a huge success for this European Parliament. But freezing money is not an end in itself. We want…

13 Mar

2023

EN Speech

Order of business

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Madam President, while we support having a debate on this topic, the Commission has indicated that they are willing to look into changing the rules, so I think it would be good for us, as Parliament, to also take a position in writing – in a resolution – to indicate how we want to see those rules changed beyond just having the debate. So I would invite colleagues that we in March II, not this week…

14 Feb

2023

DE Speech

Establishment of an independent EU Ethics Body (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. When this Parliament rejected two Commissioners for conflicts of interest in 2019, we proposed setting up an independent ethics authority. Four years later, they don't exist yet. Then, when Commissioners such as Günther Oettinger accepted dozens of lobbying jobs during the cooling-off period, we again called for the establishment of an ethics authority here in P…

1 Feb

2023

DE Speech

Transparency and targeting of political advertising (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, The next European election campaign is just around the corner, and that means, of course, for us here, that it will be more heated in the European Parliament in the coming months. We're going to fight even more, we're going to attack each other, we're going to run campaigns. All of this is part of democracy, the fight for the best vision for Europe. What cann…

17 Jan

2023

DE 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, ladies and gentlemen, More and more offences by MEPs against the rules of conduct are coming to light. Gifts were not declared, luxury trips, paid for by dictators, not specified – always new things that damage the reputation of all of us here. My face, if this is not to end in disaster at the next European elections, then there can only be one benchmark for us here: Full transpar…