What Maria spoke about.

22

Jan

2025

RO Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 19 December 2024 (debate)

Madam President, Mr President, first of all, I would like to say good luck in the new term and thank you for being here to the end, because, as always, the President is speaking and leaving. This is not communication, this is not understanding. She has never been able to stay as president of the Commission until the end. Thank you very much for staying here. Mr President, you have said, among othe…

21

Jan

2025

RO Speech

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Need to enforce the Digital Services Act to protect democracy on social media platforms including against foreign interference and biased algorithms (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, today's debate shows that the DSA is not working. And it also means something: that it was not well understood, because we have seen a lot of speeches from the far right, which assumes that this regulation means not having the right to communication. But, dear colleagues, democracy does not mean chaos. Democracy means regulation, and democracy m…

20

Jan

2025

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Ceasefire in Gaza - the urgent need to release the hostages, to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to pave the way for a two-state solution (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I think we are all glad that this agreement existed yesterday. I saw the faces of the three hostages – between them a Romanian woman, a 31-year-old fellow citizen of mine. It's very, very hard to imagine how these hostages lived. Of course, the loss of any life is to be condemned, but we must be fair and remember and not treat with double standards: just as we c…

19

Dec

2024

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Need to update the European strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today's debate is extremely important. You said, Commissioner, about independent living for people with disabilities, we have 30% of the population of Europe. But how to have this independent living, when very often the income is simply humiliating? Sometimes they can't afford to take their medication, they can't afford to move around. Not to me…

18

Dec

2024

RO Speech

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Preparation of the European Council of 19-20 December 2024 (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, we are discussing the first meeting of the Council at which the newly elected Commission is presenting itself. Unfortunately, the President of the Commission has only spoken about geopolitical issues, which are certainly very important, but if we are talking about Europe's role in the world, we cannot help thinking about how Europe can play a more important role than…

17

Dec

2024

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Misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms, such as TikTok, and related risks to the integrity of elections in Europe (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we have been debating a key issue for several hours. It is true that many did not look at the title of the debate and talked about something else entirely. Here we are talking, Commissioner, about the role of the committee under the Treaties, the role of guardian, of checking whether or not the rules are respected, because many MEPs from the far ri…

17

Dec

2024

RO Question

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Misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms, such as TikTok, and related risks to the integrity of elections in Europe (debate)

Dear Madam, you used the word "seems" in your speech. This means that you do not know and do not know the situation in Romania. I ask you, would you get into a car without brakes and without a driver to go? Do you agree that platforms should operate without rules? You are in the European Parliament and there is a regulation for the functioning of the platforms. That's what this is about, not censo…

17

Dec

2024

RO Question

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Misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms, such as TikTok, and related risks to the integrity of elections in Europe (debate)

Mr Lazarus, as a former journalist, you have just misinformed Parliament. First of all, the candidate you're talking about would have had more likeThey complied with the electoral law in Romania, namely that of labeling the political campaign. So we can't compare apples to pears. I ask you, can you say here, in front of Parliament, that someone might campaign with zero expenses? And can you say th…

16

Dec

2024

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, I have chosen today to talk about human rights and why. In my city, today we celebrate 35 years since the Revolution. The first people died, after which thousands died within a week. Those people shouted in the street, their first word was ‘freedom’, freedom and respect for human rights. That is why I want to appeal to the European institutions, certainly also to the national ones, t…

16

Dec

2024

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Conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the United Nations Convention on transparency in treaty-based investor-State arbitration (short presentation)

Mr President, Commissioner, what our rapporteur has presented to us is an extremely serious and sensitive subject because yes, as has been said here in the conclusions, a lot of money can be lost. Either Europe needs money, Europe needs money in investments, and not only in economic investments, it needs money in social policies. We can't just leave it behind. We have our slogan ‘Let no one be lef…

16

Dec

2024

RO Speech

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A European Innovation Act: lowering the cost of innovating in Europe (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, I hope that this committee, I hope that you will do more in terms of practical implementation. It's very good that you started with this extremely important document, innovation, research, inventions. The problem is how we apply them, because if we do not go down the value chain to do research, applied innovation, if we do not simplify, simplify the life of SMEs, becaus…

16

Dec

2024

RO Speech

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Regional Emergency Support: RESTORE (debate)

Madam President, I think that the sceptics who say that we should not apply this programme, on the contrary, I think that it must be accelerated procedure, have not been to see in the states where people have died, have lost their homes, have lost their small businesses too many entrepreneurs. In my country, in Romania, I was on the spot, in Spain we all saw. So, Commissioner and fellow Members, t…

16

Dec

2024

RO Speech

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Activities of the European Ombudsman – annual report 2023 (debate)

Madam President, I too begin by congratulating you, Mrs Ombudsman, on your ten years of work, and you have remained and remain a benchmark for courage, a great deal of tenacity and commitment in your analysis and in the work that you have done. But I want to address the Commissioner. Commissioner, you have noticed that everyone has praised the Ombudsman and criticised the Commission. You were a cr…

28

Nov

2024

RO Speech

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Strengthening children’s rights in the EU - 35th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, of course, we debate children's rights every year. We are now celebrating the 35th anniversary of the UN resolution, but we are not discussing what Member States are doing in terms of institutionalising children. I have concrete examples, I have petitioned, I have written letters, mothers have written letters. We have the example of Camelia Smicala…

27

Nov

2024

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Stepping up the fight against and the prevention of the recruitment of minors for criminal acts (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that nothing is more important than protecting minors, the next generation. However, Commissioner, it is not through conferences that we are solving this problem. Do we have a strategy? I repeat, to listen, not through conferences, Commissioner, we are solving this problem. Do we have a harmonised strategy in the European Union for the…

27

Nov

2024

RO Speech

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Presentation by the President-elect of the Commission of the College of Commissioners and its programme (debate)

Madam President, President von der Leyen, you have a new team. I want to wish everyone good luck. I know many of them. Best of all, obviously, Roxana Mînzatu and I want you to trust her, she is a very well-trained person. Madam President, please do not repeat the mistakes of last term. Read more about the Parliament. You said here that the single market is the asset and yet we do not have the sing…

26

Nov

2024

RO Speech

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Continued escalation in the Middle East: the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank, UNRWA’s essential role in the region, the need to release all hostages and the recent ICC arrest warrants (debate)

26

Nov

2024

RO Question

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2025 budgetary procedure: Joint text (debate)

25

Nov

2024

RO Speech

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The outcome of the G20 Leaders' Summit (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, it is very good that you have informed us about the outcome of the G20 summit, and it is very good that we have discussed a topic that we also frequently discuss here - how to combat poverty? Because, yes, globally there are populations in poverty, but also in us, in the European Union, we have from children in poverty to adults, elderly people. It's good that an agr…

25

Nov

2024

RO Speech

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International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, of course we are debating, it is an important day, the International Day for Combating Violence against Women. But are we progressing? Every year, we look at this. There are many non-governmental organizations in the country, in all states, that analyze, but are we progressing? We need not only statistics, but also measures. And here, I'm going …

24

Oct

2024

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Closing the EU skills gap: supporting people in the digital and green transitions to ensure inclusive growth and competitiveness in line with the Draghi report (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, we are not discussing a new subject. For a very long time we have noticed that we have skills gaps in the European Union. The problem is, Commissioner, if you find the right methods, if they apply. We have many programs: retraining, skills programmes, adjustment mechanisms, but what is the result? We see that we are failing to close this competence gap. Why? Educatio…

23

Oct

2024

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The important role of cities and regions in the EU – for a green, social and prosperous local development (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that, more than ever, we now need to fight against the centralisation of funds. We have a slogan, Commissioner: Let no one be left behind. And we want to think about everything now. (A few words you can't hear) That we have problems in smaller towns, but also in communes. Obviously we have problems, but let's think about models of targete…

23

Oct

2024

RO Question

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Managing migration in an effective and holistic way through fostering returns (debate)

Dear colleague, migration is a problem, indeed, but you said that you do not agree with what has been debated and you would have liked us to debate concretely how to make illegal migration stop and, at the same time, help those who leave for economic reasons. Tell me, what would have been or what are your views? What concrete measures do you have for the migration pact?…

22

Oct

2024

RO Speech

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Urgent need for a ceasefire in Lebanon and for safeguarding the UNIFIL mission in light of the recent attacks (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that the most important thing we have heard today in the Chamber is to come to the implementation of UN Resolution 1701, to plead for peace, not to position ourselves, subjectively, perhaps, on either side. Our message must be very clear: Peace, stop the war. Yes, we need to see how Hamas and Hezbollah came to be unable to be disarmed.…

22

Oct

2024

RO Question

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Establishing the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism and providing exceptional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine (debate)

Sir, you said the seizure of Russia's assets was a theft. If your house were torn down by someone, would you want to recover your assets? Would you like to block the income of the person who... (The president interrupted the speaker) You said that Russia's assets were stolen by the European Union. I ask you, if your house were to be torn down by some guy, so, overnight, would you like to get your …