What Daniel spoke about.

13

Dec

2022

DE Speech

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

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. Corruption is the greatest threat to our democracy. Corruption is punishable. And whoever is bribed with bags full of money belongs in prison. But this case does not take place for the European Parliament on its own accord on the day on which the Belgian authorities finished their work. Unfortunately, there are some in this House who do not seem to be aware of w…

21

Nov

2022

DE Speech

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Assessment of Hungary's compliance with the rule of law conditions under the Conditionality Regulation and state of play of the Hungarian RRP (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Reynders! The hour of truth has come. Do we accept the first EU autocrat, Viktor Orbán, and his incomprehensible corruption, or do we freeze him EU funds? The whole thing is now decided on the basis of 17 measures. 17 measures of which you, Mr Reynders, should know that you do not rule the rule of law in Hungary, that you do not stop corruption. And why? B…

19

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report 2021 (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, just yesterday, something surprising happened: 75 billion of Polish cohesion money are frozen. And how did this happen? Not because of the Article 7 procedure that is blocked for seven years, not because of the Conditionality Regulation that the Commission refuses to apply to Poland for two years now and not because of the ECJ rulings that the Polish government ke…

17

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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The Rule of Law in Malta, five years after the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, Daphne Caruana Galizia was an anti—corruption fighter. She dedicated her work to uncovering corruption, and she was murdered for it by greedy politicians and businessmen that wanted to keep stealing public funds without being exposed. This must never happen again. It’s our duty – it’s the duty of the European Union – not only to protect journalists, but also to make …

4

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Commission proposal for measures under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation in the case of Hungary (debate)

, dear colleagues, dear Commissioner Hahn, almost two years ago we gave you a very powerful tool to protect the rule of law and EU money. And yet today we witness that you are dismantling this tool in front of our eyes. Yes, a couple of weeks ago you announced that you want to suspend EUR 7.5 billion to the Orbán regime, and that sounds nice. But really what you’re doing is you’re breaking the mos…

14

Sep

2022

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)

Madam President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, Hungary is not a functioning democracy anymore, and Hungary does not respect the fundamental values that all Member States agreed on to overcome war, despotism and state terror. That’s been the opinion of this House for five years now, and it is an existential threat to the European Union. Since 2018, since we launched the Article 7, Hungary has…

6

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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Protection of the EU’s financial interests – combating fraud – annual report 2020 (debate)

Madam President, the Commissioner spoke of the remarkable track record of the Commission in the fight against fraud. That’s quite a bold statement, I have to say, Commissioner. I mean, Transparency International says that in Hungary, for example, at least 25% of EU funds are frauded, embezzled, stolen, to a large extent by Orbán, his family and his friends, and saying that that is a remarkable tra…

6

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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Presentation of the programme of activities of the Czech Presidency (continuation of debate)

Madam President, thank you. Dear Mr Fiala, you promised your voters that you would kick out the corrupt. That you will defend the rule of law. And you won against Andrej Babiš. Now you are taking over the Presidency of the Council. And I am sure you know that corruption is not only an issue in the Czech Republic, but in the entire EU. Where Babiš tried to prevent justice, the Polish Government is …

9

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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The call for a Convention for the revision of the Treaties (debate)

Dear colleague, you spoke of the European Citizens Initiative and the 1 million signatures one can gather. I wanted to ask you if you’re aware that, unfortunately, the European Citizens Initiative doesn’t currently allow to propose any changes to the Treaty, and how you suggest to deal with that? Don’t we need a convention, then, to actually change the possibility for the European Citizens Initiat…

9

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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The call for a Convention for the revision of the Treaties (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, it’s surprisingly easy to say why the EU needs reform in four words: Orbán has a veto. One ‘no’ from a dictator can block what 450 million Europeans want. And what might have been conceived initially to protect minority rights has now become a tool for extortion. Vetoes are misused for extra cash. Vetoes are misused to destroy the rule of law in the European Union. T…

7

Jun

2022

DE Speech

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

Madam President, The European Union was created to prevent war in Europe. Common laws and a common court that enforces them – that is at the heart of the post-World War II European peace order. European law instead of the law of the strongest: This is questioned by the Polish government. And under the guise of war, the Minister of Justice has now intensified the attacks after many years. The Polis…

18

May

2022

DE Speech

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Commission’s 2021 Rule of Law Report (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Unfortunately, the European Union has maneuvered into a self-built dead end. With Viktor Orbán's veto of the Russian oil embargo, we currently only have the choice between two bad options: Either we give up the unity of the Europeans, the unity, make the embargo in doubt without Hungary, or we give in to its blackmails. How expensive this will be, we do not k…

4

May

2022

DE Speech

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Discharge 2020 (debate)

Madam President, Mr Lehne, you said in your introduction that I had lied. You said that would be a lie that your apartment is financed by the EU. You will receive 3 428.40 EUR per month residence allowance. I have concluded from this that the residence, i.e. your apartment in Luxembourg, will be paid for. If I have misunderstood something and this is used for something else, then we can gladly cla…

4

May

2022

DE Speech

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Discharge 2020 (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, The European Union is working. It is so far the best, most beautiful and most valuable thing that Europe has produced. I myself am a fervent European, and I am convinced that the European Union should spend much more money together instead of paying a surcharge 27 times. But precisely because I am a convinced European, I think that where we spend money, we al…

3

May

2022

DE Speech

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The follow up of the Conference on the Future of Europe (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, What happens when randomly selected citizens are asked about the future of the EU? There are some right-wingers in this House who always claim full-bodiedly that they represent the true will of the people and that they know what they really want; They say at every opportunity that what we're doing here isn't what the people out there want. Now we've tried it,…

3

May

2022

EN Speech

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Threats to the safety of journalists and media freedom, on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day (debate)

Madam President, the end of democracy begins when politicians go after journalists. First, they discredit them as mainstream or liberal or Western. Next, they call them liars or fake news. Then they try to stop their publications with strategic lawsuits. Next, they cut their funding or take away their broadcasting licence and, eventually, some don’t shy away from physical attacks, intimidation or …

2

May

2022

EN Speech

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Election of the Members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage (debate)

Mr President, if you break it down, what is democracy? Well, it is candidates running for an election based on a programme. And us MEPs have been elected like that since 1979. But the European Commission doesn’t have that link yet. In the last election, ten of the Commissioners actually ran in the election, but Ursula von der Leyen was not on the ballot anywhere in Europe. There were 420 names on …

2

May

2022

EN Speech

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Election of the Members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage (debate)

I wanted to ask, I mean, we’re elected today in two different constituencies. You’re elected in Slovakia, I’m elected in Germany. I could argue now that my constituency is slightly larger than the one that you were elected in and yet we have the exact same rights, powers, our vote counts exactly the same. So how do you think that Members elected on a transnational list would be any different from …

2

May

2022

EN Question

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Election of the Members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage (debate)

Mr President, for the last two years, Paolo Rangel has argued against the transnational lists. But what I actually want to ask you is, what is your alternative? You campaigned for Manfred Weber, I suppose, in the last European election. He was dismissed in the Council. And I guess most of your voters had no idea who he is, couldn’t vote for him. There wasn’t a single election poster for him in Por…

6

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Cooperation and similarities between the Putin regime and extreme right and separatist movements in Europe (topical debate)

Madam President, the biggest friend of Vladimir Putin in the European Council is Viktor Orbán. If you just look at who sent the first congratulations after the election, those came from Putin, they came from Salvini and they came from Le Pen – all Putin’s friends, all supported by Vladimir Putin, because Putin hates democracy and he hates that we work together in Europe. So, of course, he supports…

23

Mar

2022

DE Speech

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MFF 2021-2027: fight against oligarch structures, protection of EU funds from fraud and conflict of interest (debate)

Madam President, Oligarchs own a football club, oligarchs have a super yacht, oligarchs build palaces. In the case of oligarchs, one thinks directly of Putin, of Abramovich, of the enemies of democracy. But oligarchs do not only exist with Russian oil, but oligarchs also exist with EU agricultural funds. The EU has bred its own caste of super-rich oligarchs. Viktor Orbán is building a football sta…

10

Mar

2022

DE Speech

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Transparency and administrative standards - the treatment of public access requests based on Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. Dear Commissioner Jourová, I see that you have your mobile phone at your fingertips and probably have already written dozens of messages today. As with all of us, the mobile phone is available 24 hours a day. I hope it will also be available to the President of the Commission 24 hours a day, because, after all, it must be accessible. Like all of us here in the H…

8

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Foreign interference in all democratic processes in the EU (debate)

Madam President, Putin’s invasion of democratic Ukraine shows that democracy is under siege. The shelling with bombs and missiles was preceded and is now flanked by a bombardment of propaganda, fake news and dirty money. There’s a widespread and coordinated attack by the world’s autocrats on democracy, on open societies, on our way of life. We all know this didn’t just start two weeks ago, but it’…

7

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Citizenship and residence by investment schemes (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, a passport of an EU Member State is valuable, provides freedom, provides protection and rights. It’s not because of any one Member State, but it is because of Schengen and the European Union that all our passports are valuable. You might ask how valuable? Well, Member States Malta, Cyprus, Portugal will charge you up to two million euros to get one. And let’s not foo…

16

Feb

2022

DE Speech

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The Rule of Law and the consequences of the ECJ ruling (debate)

Madam President, Mr Hahn! The mechanism has been in place for 14 months now. Since then, the Commission has been here with us in plenary on the subject nine times. Nine times we were told: It is now quite soon so far, still briefly the guidelines in autumn, in a few weeks. Again and again they said: No case is lost. Now we're back here today, and we've heard it again: You have to analyze it carefu…