Speeches

Madam President, The debate on relaunching competitiveness and improving citizens' quality of life gave you the opportunity to speak empathetically about what you should do to improve living standards, but you did not. You spoke abstractly about the measures you keep repeating to increase the EU's competitiveness. Unfortunately, the reindustrialisation programme is on the shelf, European industry is suffering from the burdens placed on producers in recent years. Citizens increasingly believe that the EU is regulating for another world, not the real one! We all want a clean environment, but you can't just put burdens on Europeans and import from third countries that don't follow any rules. And there is another serious problem that you are promoting: Two-speed Europe! Madam President, the states have signed the same treaty, the citizens of the 27 states must be treated the same.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, frankly, I am glad that today we are discussing International Education Day here and - it has also been said here - it must not remain just an abstract debate. I know, Commissioner, that you are concerned about this and I think we need to find solutions in this pact for education, especially for poor areas, for rural areas, where children do not have the same chance. Today we also talked about the competitiveness of the European Union. We cannot have a competitive economy without a school result, without this school product, and that is why I would like, if possible, to find a lever. We have very good Erasmus programmes. A lot of young people from all the Member States have used this programme, but maybe we can find a geographical balance, find solutions as ... sure, it is the competence of the Member States, together with the Member States - to find solutions for all children to have access. The figures are disastrous worldwide and at the level of the European Union, but we are interested in the European Union, to see how we can have access, to have access to education for all children to be well, in fact, for us.

Madam President, Mrs Lagarde, Commissioner, of course, we are discussing the success, it seems, of the ECB. From my point of view, I represent here the citizens of my country, I think, Mrs Lagarde, have you ever considered what social effects monetary policy has in all Member States? Because we have member states for the euro and non-euro. When the interest rate in my country is three times higher than in the euro-currency countries, when energy costs three times more, when the citizen pays interest - and the small entrepreneur - four times more, how do you think these citizens can feel? Don't you think we need to think about politics, if we are talking about banking union - after all, all 27 countries contributed to the establishment of the ECB - don't we need to think about policies that have this social function? We're having a crisis. We have recently discussed here, in Parliament, the housing crisis in all Member States, not only in Romania, in my country. How can we have access, how can young people have access? I believe that monetary policy did not play its role because it did not adapt to the socio-economic situation in the European Union.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Social Pillar is obviously an objective of the Commission. Social cohesion within the internal market is also an objective of the Commission, but has failed. Commissioner, in my country, Romania, which you know, one in three children is in poverty. 1.2 million children are excluded - social exclusion. In order to be cohesive and, unfortunately, what Mr Macron was saying ‐ Multi-speed Europe ‐ there can be no such discrimination. A person who has a salary of 600 euros, a person with disabilities who has 150 euros in Romania, cannot have access to housing. So it's an extraordinary discrepancy. How did social cohesion work? If we do not really make social cohesion, social protection, the conditions of workers, people with disabilities, mothers, Romania loses 1.5 million inhabitants in a decade, it has the highest demographic decrease. We cannot have a multi-speed Europe with more conditions and more, so to speak, facilities for citizens. Commissioner, true cohesion is needed, with concrete measures.

Madam President, President Costa, Commissioner, we are living in an extraordinary historical period and, as we have heard, what the Prime Minister of Canada has said, it seems that the world order is a world disorder. The European Union needs power. I have listened to you very carefully, Mr President, and, among other things, you have said that the European Union must show its citizens that it is concerned with economic prosperity, economic growth, innovation, wages, affordable housing, but we must do so, Mr President, and for that we must strengthen the European Union's economy and solidarity. Dear colleagues, I believe that we must assume that politicians no longer manipulate citizens, assume the truth, explain what every gesture and step and measure we take here means. Otherwise, we will destroy the unity of the European Union, which is so much needed now in global instability. So we have to take the truth and fight for the citizens and their rights.

Madam President, Commissioner, cyber threats are growing and we all know, I think we agree, that cyber attacks are digging into the foundation of democracy. We know well, both in my country, in Romania, and in other states, what happened to the cyber attacks. After all, I believe that those who deal with such a thing take advantage of the weakness of the European Union, of the Member States. We have made a lot of statements, but we need to move on to concrete measures and it is very good to strengthen ENISA. It is very good to allocate budgets for research, for technology, to have it here, in the internal market. Let us not depend on third countries, because then we are open to these attacks. And yes, not only democracy is at risk, but also people's lives. That is why, Commissioner, let us proceed to the facts. Let us now, after this debate, after the report, see how we can concretely improve and eliminate and prevent cyber-attacks that can be in all areas, from hospitals to transport, and we know well what can happen in this case.

Dear Madam, you contradicted yourself in your statement. On the one hand, you said yes, we need to protect ourselves from sexual exploitation and all fake news. On the other hand, you say that DSA It is a censorship. Well, we regulate here for protection. It is shameful to hear in our countries that MEPs want to free children, 5-year-old girls, 6-year-old girls, 7-year-old girls, 14-year-old girls to be sexually exploited, to manipulate the population with all kinds of fake news. And you say here that DSA It's fake news, or it's proof of power, it's censorship. How do you explain this?

Madam President, Commissioner, Parliament is providing you with a report through which you indeed have the chance to contribute to the Single Market. We have crossed the threshold of 30 years of talking about the Single Market. The European Union has a problem with innovation, it has a problem with start-ups. So now you just have to take over this and implement, not directives, that we will have 27 decisions again. A regulation, a very clear regulation, very simple, allowing a start-up, an innovative company to do it quickly, fairly, transparently and, as the report you are receiving states, to be ethical, because we need ethics and fair trade and cooperation in the single market, fair. So, Commissioner, I hope it will not take very long, because we have many own-initiative reports since I have been in Parliament, which I voted on and which have remained somewhere on the table of the Commission. We need this step, especially in this complicated global context, both politically and economically.