What Tonino spoke about.

Mr President, it’s nothing new if we say that our relations with Russia are at a very low point, in short: energy over-dependence, divergent policies of the Member States’, direct interference in political processes and Russia’s very active role in disinformation campaigns. So we need to increase the resilience of the EU and its partners in the Eastern Neighbourhood against Russian disinformation and interference; ensure that Russia is implementing the Minsk Agreement; engage with Russian civil society more strategically, despite the regime’s evermore determined efforts to undermine any such engagement; besides carefully used selective engagement on urgent global challenges to generate progress on the other objectives. But we also must be realistic in our ambitions of democratising Russia as implied in this document. We should rather not keep falling into a political trap, further narrowing space for our political actions. Instead, we need a new, comprehensive, more strategic EU joint strategy towards Russia that will finally enable us for a more proactive approach.

Madam President, the catastrophic blast in the port of Beirut has only speeded up the deep and widespread crisis that has been crushing Lebanon’s political and economic life for years. During our visit last week, we witnessed dramatic images from across the country with thousands of people forced to live in dire conditions with shortages of fuel and energy supplies and terrible consequences for the national health care system. We need to reformulate the strategy and the recovery plan for Lebanon in the framework of the EU—Lebanon partnership priorities under the new Global Europe Instrument. We also still expect the new Government to address the macroeconomic and fiscal crisis and take credible anti-corruption actions for the immediate benefit of the Lebanese people. The measures implemented in recent years were not even close to matching the purpose. In this kind of social, economic and political meltdown, no one must be left behind, especially the most vulnerable in society.

Madam President, the speedy collapse of the Afghan Government and seizure of power by the Taliban sent shockwaves throughout Europe. It prompted intense debates on the future of rules-based international order, transatlantic relations, European strategic autonomy and relations with adversarial states. Humanitarian assistance, human rights protection, especially of women and girls, assistance to NGOs on the ground, must be our absolute priority. This unfortunate situation should also be an impetus to finally agree on the new pact on migration and asylum. As the European Parliament, we should establish a formal mechanism in this House on the scrutiny of the EU policy on Afghanistan since 2001. The task at hand would be not just to establish what went wrong, but crucially to draw lessons for present and future EU missions. Following the recent events in Afghanistan, it became evident that EU strategic autonomy becomes a necessity, not a choice.

Dear Chair, I thank the Rapporteur for her excellent report – this is a summary of the implementation of free movement in the Schengen area with recommendations on what needs to be improved. In recent years, the failure of Schengen has become one of the first consequences of current European political difficulties, starting from the migrant crisis to the pandemic crisis. We have also witnessed the erection of barbed wires between the members. Despite the provisions of Article 3 of the Lisbon Agreement, some Member States are trying to nationalise freedom of movement by using this issue for day-to-day political purposes. The Commission should consistently initiate infringement procedures in such situations. In case of ambiguity over border control, political campaigns should step down before independent oversight mechanisms. Speaking about the future of Schengen, we need to preserve and strengthen it as one of Europe's greatest common achievements, and new enlargement is one of the best ways. The Commission has confirmed that Croatia fulfils the conditions for the application of the Schengen acquis. It welcomed the establishment of an independent border control mechanism. I hope that the Council will take these facts into account as soon as possible and approve our accession.

Mr President, with great concern and sadness, we follow the ongoing tragic events in Tigray and elsewhere in Ethiopia. The situation in Tigray has seriously escalated, but the crimes against human rights are happening in other regions and towards different ethnicities. Our first and foremost priority is to help civilians who have no access to medical assistance, are dying of famine and are often victims of sexual violence. Furthermore, the exclusion of Tigray from general elections and communication disruptions makes this horrible situation even worse. We need to do everything to support a ceasefire that all would respect. That way, they can ensure that the humanitarian aid is delivered on the ground to the ones in need urgently. We also need concrete EU measures, including an arms embargo and targeted sanctions against all perpetrators. Tigray is without doubt one of the urgent, if not the most pressing, humanitarian situations we should work on to the full extent of our capabilities and powers.