Speeches

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, 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.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are at the last plenary, a stocktaking plenary, and once again, President von der Leyen has left the room, she has no patience to listen to us. About what balance? He made a self-praising report, as he usually does, he started telling us how we would finance the fight and not how we would negotiate peace. We have lost a million jobs this year. We were unable, Commissioner, and we stayed together until midnight with the Danish Presidency, to conclude the trilogue on the Customs Regulation, which is very important for the protection of the internal market. Farmers are on the street, as you know, tomorrow. We don't have energy independence and we pay three times as much energy. Let's see. Maybe this holiday break brings us all together to have a real project to support European citizens. This is important, people to be put in the center. I was talking about the housing crisis yesterday. We won't be able to solve it until incomes grow, until we have a stable and strong economy, and until we have independence. We depend on imports. Merry Christmas to everyone!

Thank you for your reply. The point is that you spoke about the cohesion and development policy of the regions. The concrete question now is: in future policy, do you think it is good to have the budget for the common agricultural policy combined with cohesion policy?

Dear colleague, you said in your speech that you want an equal development of Europe. Do you think the report by President von der Leyen, now on the year-to-year balance sheet, shows anything? Does it show any basis for what you said? I have been in Parliament since 2014. Farmers in my country, in Romania, still have different subsidies. There are still disparities, there is a fragmented market. Do you think that the President of the Commission, at the end of the year, made a fair, realistic report or just slogans and political statements that citizens do not need?

I want to ask you a question, dear colleague. I agree with what you said. My question is: Do you think that the suffering in which the automotive industry is now is due to our mistake, the European Parliament, the European Union, the European Commission, which regulated before we had solutions? Because there are tens of thousands of jobs, there is an industry behind it that ultimately ensures the well-being of citizens. And if you think we need to correct what we did years ago, which is to impose deadlines and solutions before we have technology, before we have enough money, before we have innovation.