What Maria spoke about.

10 Feb

2025

RO Speech

Escalation of gang violence in Sweden and strengthening the fight against organised crime (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are discussing a sad thing and this is not the first time. I want to express my condolences to those who have lost their children, not only in Sweden. Let's remember what Christmas was like in Germany, what was recently in Brussels. Commissioner, I think we have to assume that we are telling the truth: Democracy has not been managed well. Dem…

10 Feb

2025

RO Speech

European Central Bank – annual report 2024 (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, Mrs Lagarde, I saw that you were congratulated by your colleagues and I was very attentive to what you said. Among other things, you criticized households for not spending more. Mrs. Lagarde, do you know how many people are in poverty? How can they spend more when they don't know what's going on, when they don't have enough money, than to pay for their light, their elec…

23 Jan

2025

RO Speech

Cryptocurrencies - need for global standards (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, for fear of evasion, we must not oppose innovation. Cryptocurrencies are the result of innovation. You said very well, we have regulation, we have directive, we think about international standards, because yes, we are not alone in the world, we have a global market. The problem is that, from my point of view, we must not prevent citizens from using their income, we m…

23 Jan

2025

RO Question

Combating Desertification: 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) of the United Nations Convention (debate)

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Dear colleague, you said only one theory. What would be your and your group's proposal for land restoration? Because, of all the debates, you oppose agriculture, you oppose industry, you oppose everything! We want food security. How do you see this?…

23 Jan

2025

RO Speech

Combating Desertification: 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) of the United Nations Convention (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, of course, we are debating a very important issue, it is a pity that there are so few Members of the European Parliament in the Chamber. As stated here, as in the declaration of the Convention, the land is degraded annually. 70% of the land has been converted from its natural state. Droughts cause damage and costs and damage, more than 300 billion …

22 Jan

2025

RO Speech

EU financing through the LIFE programme of entities lobbying EU institutions and the need for transparency (debate)

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Madam President, I see that many of you have forgotten the title of the debate. I am a member of the Committee on Budgetary Control and I think that we should now be debating how to finance the LIFE programme transparently, and we have seen all sorts of debates here, forgetting the subject. No one is saying from here and I don't think that any MEP doesn't want there to be NGOs. Yes, I have set up …

22 Jan

2025

RO Speech

Links between organised crime and smuggling of migrants in light of the recent UN reports (debate)

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Madam President, we have been debating migration for over 10 years. Unfortunately, we are looking at the effects and not the causes, and we are not looking at why every measure we have tried has not paid off. In the end, people die, either drowned or people who are attacked in the Member States. I think, Commissioner, that it turns out very well that it is harder to fix a wrong thing done than to …

22 Jan

2025

RO Speech

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

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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

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

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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

RO Speech

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)

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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

RO Speech

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

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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

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

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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

RO Speech

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

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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

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

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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

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

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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

RO Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

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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

RO Speech

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

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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

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

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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

Regional Emergency Support: RESTORE (debate)

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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

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

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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

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

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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

RO Speech

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

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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

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

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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

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)

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26 Nov

2024

RO Question

2025 budgetary procedure: Joint text (debate)

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