Speeches

Madam President, without any surprise, again against, convinced against this report. All due respect to my colleague Wieland, because again this report calls for the unanimity of the Council to be abolished, for it to be voted by qualified majorities, again imposes the federalist supranational framework to replace Europe as conceived by its founding fathers. As it should have been, a Europe of free, sovereign homelands that shares only a common market and that works for the prosperity of its citizens. Decisions cannot be made in Brussels. The people in this bubble, in this glass bubble in Brussels, live outside of living life. They do not see inflation, they impose policies that raise prices, they destroy small and medium-sized businesses, they liquidate the middle class in European countries, and for all this it is expected to be decided, in order to make a European supranational government, emitted by unelected people, imposing lobbying policies that are detrimental to citizens. Definitely against it! This is harmful and should not happen because it is contrary to the interest of the citizens and the Member States of the European Union.

Madam President, I have strongly voted against this report. As some of my friends and associates would say, a cruel story. A report on the legalisation of prostitution is being examined by the European Parliament. Other Zeusites would say that the European Parliament in one part may be in a conflict of interest, voting on this topic. categorically, any conversation that would turn prostitution into a profession is unacceptable, unacceptable and harms generations and harms societies, harms families. Such attitude and behavior are completely unacceptable and inexplicable. Not to mention that again in the report favorite LGBTI, K, plus, minus, 3.14, which are inserted in any such report, at all categorically ... Not to mention that the topic should be part of domestic legislation. Such a topic is related to what? It is related to criminal law, which is an internal matter, it is related to family law related to education. These are purely national issues and the desire of rapporteurs in the European Parliament to legalise and legalise prostitution at European level is startling. If they replace the word prostitution with a sex worker, they will solve this problem. Absolutely not! Insanity, just insanity.

Madam President, I voted in favour of the European Parliament's proposal for a regulation on a framework for ensuring and sustainable supply of critical raw materials and amending the regulation, because I believe that Europe must be able to have these supplies and not depend on external factors. But what I do not understand and what I do not like and what I will not tire of repeating is that the policy pursued by the European Commission, which is now leaving the House and by the European Parliament, largely called the Green Deal, will condemn the European Parliament, the European Union, to dependence, just as this policy has made Europe dependent on natural gas supplies, for example, outside the European continent, so it will make Europe dependent on, for example, China. For the most part, these critical materials mentioned in the report are sourced from the People's Republic of China and the People's Republic of China. And just as the European Union was dependent on China for production during the pandemic, this will happen again. Short-sighted, inconsistent, illogical, anti-European politics. That's it.

Madam President, I do not understand how it is that more and more billions are being given every year to combat segregation and discrimination, and that this segregation and discrimination is increasing more and more every year. The process should be reversed. When you spend the taxpayer's money on something, it should be repaired and removed, not increased. I mean, there's something wrong here. Either the money is spent incompetently and ineptly, or it is not spent properly, or it is spent for the intermediaries to be able to defend the same thesis, and to demand more and more money from the taxpayers, to spend it in a way that is not effective. That's the big problem. Targeted funds to combat segregation and discrimination go to intermediaries, non-governmental organizations, which are supported by working propaganda and working, signaling, alerting about problems that, of course, are important, but are not solved. And these people continue to want more and more money and go on this topic. Neither in the speech so far I heard, nor any, where is the responsibility of the parents? Where does the petitioner, where does the Commission, where do non-governmental organisations ask parents why they do not let their children go to school? Where do the Commission, where do honourable Members fight early marriages? How do you want to maintain the so-called tradition of marrying children of 13, 14, 15 years old and having them go to school? One contradicts the other. And since we are talking here about promoting these traditions and practices, this is exactly the opposite. If you want to fight this topic, it is important, all funds should be directed to schools, to societies, not to non-governmental organizations that earn from it and that work, and not to promote a tradition that harms - early marriages and others. That's it, Commissioner.

The report shows the following thing - the approach of the European Commission and the Union continues to be chaotic, two-faced, hypocritical, inept. The European Commission and the Union continue to fund Turkish dictator Erdoğan with billions, supposedly to stop the refugees with whom he blackmails us, and he uses them to impose Islamism and Islamize his schools along the border with Syria. Turkish President Erdoğan continues the war in Libya, continues a war in support of various separatists and other organizations throughout North Africa, Turkey continues to occupy Cyprus. Someone just said that Cyprus should join the European Union as one. Yes, it should, only that a single Greek should enter, as it is, because Cyprus is Greek and is occupied by Turkey. This must not be forgotten here. When you talk about how to become a member of the EU, where are the violations of human rights, children in prisons, journalists in prisons? Hypocrisy, hypocrisy and double standard. And that's why, as always, there are flowers and roses, and the reality is quite different.

Mr President, the Commission, the European Commission is neither transparent nor open. The European Commission is protecting, preserving and lobbying for questionable green policies based on unscientific claims based on lobbying that aims to change the way energy is produced on the European continent and the way European economies work. And this lobbying is against the interest of European taxpayers and European citizens, and of people who live and work, European entrepreneurs in the Member States of the European Union. That's a fact. When we ask the European Commission how much the Green Deal costs, it replies "Thank you for the question". When we ask the European Commission how much the vaccines cost, who ordered them, who paid for them, it replies ‘Thank you for your question’. When we ask what the carbon footprint of the production of an electric car is, it answers ‘Thank you for the question’. All this is lobbyism, all this is bureaucracy, all this is a wall that has been built by the Commission to prevent clarity of what will be the cost of the insane, suicidal greenist policy that will leave people out of work and that will make countries like Poland, Bulgaria and Romania dependent on external sources. It's a shame and a disgrace, but you know it.

Mr President, public access to documents is a right of citizens of the European Union guaranteed by the Treaties. According to Article 15 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, in order to promote good governance and ensure the participation of civil society, the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union must carry out their work as openly as possible to all citizens of the Union. And any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State must have a right of access to documents of the institutions, bodies, offices, agencies of the Union. The European Union clearly needs to work towards greater transparency in its activities. A good example of this is, for example, the contracts for the production and supply of medicines that were concluded with large pharmaceutical companies during the pandemic. European taxpayers' money has clearly been spent irresponsibly and without pardon in an unacceptable way, and the European Commission must bear its own responsibility. That is why I supported this report.

Mr President, I voted firmly against the resolution on the need for European Union action on search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean. This text encourages migrants and smugglers to continue accepting life-threatening journeys across the Mediterranean. It is this policy of open borders and invitation that has caused tragic cases. It needs to be radically changed. We must introduce a policy of zero illegal migration, active work with third countries to prevent such attempts to cross borders and repatriate after the identification of illegal immigrants and a court for those who organize this illegal activity. This is about smugglers, traffickers and people abusing the misery of travellers and the misery of those trying to reach Europe. This thing must end and there must be severe penalties. The Commission must also take a position on this issue.

Mr President, I voted in favour of the report on recommendations to increase transparency, integrity and the fight against corruption because I have seen clearly in the last year what is happening in the European Parliament, the only European institution directly elected by citizens. We witnessed outrageous interference in the work of our Parliament when the authorities in North Macedonia, a country that wants to be a candidate for membership of the European Union, and its institutions decided to exert pressure and lobbying, using their relations with colleagues and wanting to change already agreed texts and compromises. On national air, North Macedonia's Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said he was informed about the progress of the report and passed amendments to Macedonia's friends in the European Parliament. This is unacceptable, and I hope that there will indeed be transparency and a genuine fight against corruption at every level in this House, and not just an illustrative one linked to the so-called Qatargate. There's an old adage that says, "Who cares, who cares, and the price." This is how we will explain the position of some of our colleagues on certain issues and this should be very transparent.

Mr President, ten years after these guidelines on freedom of religion were adopted, one thing you must recognise is that if there is a repressed, repressed society that has its religious views, it is Christians, and Orthodox Christians in particular. Around Europe, in Africa, in Syria, in Egypt, in Turkey, everywhere, even in Central Asia, violence against Christians continues to increase everywhere, and there is no reaction from either the European Parliament or the Commission of which you are a part. What does that say? There is a double standard. You were even talking about LGBT people. This is not a belief, this is not a religion. Religion is faith in God, faith in God. If you want to protect the rights of every person to have their beliefs, protect Christians as well. We are no less than the rest, we are no less than atheists like Mr. Kohut, who on top there was a very ardent defender of atheism. No one prevents him from believing that. But what we need to know is that there must be protection for both Christians and Orthodox. Even the calendar of the Parliament is designed to respect the holidays of the Orthodox.

Madam President, Commissioner, it is a real pleasure to see you among us. Often our friendly country of Albania is seen in a package with North Macedonia and the country is often the victim of a lack of progress in its eastern neighbour, and this lack of progress is, of course, due to the unwillingness of the authorities in Skopje to implement human rights protections, but this is another topic. When this has happened, we have always pointed out that the joint consideration of the two applications is unfair. However, Albania needs to continue reforms in the areas of fundamental rights, rule of law and justice in order to make rapid progress on its path towards the European Union. The plans for a fiscal amnesty, which would allow up to €2 million to be deposited in the Albanian bank account without disclosing the origin of the funds, are a cause for concern. Albania can and must prove that it cannot be suspected of being the centre of any grey deals in Europe and Albania, and Tirana must make it clear that it is determined to tackle this problem and does not allow through a question of new policies the country to be a front for illegal activity. Only swift reforms and decisive steps in the fight against corruption and organised crime will lead to a swift completion of the negotiation process. The direction of recognition of the rights and legitimate interests of minorities in Albania, including the Bulgarian one, is correct and deserves congratulations. At the end of the day, Albania deserves to be a member of the European Union because it has completed its homework, because it supports pan-European policies, and because it ultimately shares what even a person like me understands as European values. So good luck to Albania in the negotiations with the European Union.

Madam President, the genocide in Srebrenica is without any doubt a war crime and a crime against humanity committed by Serb paramilitary units. This crime was part of the war waged by paramilitary Serb forces throughout the former Yugoslavia. Before Srebrenica was Croatia, before it was Slovenia, but this genocide and crime is also the result of a somewhat indecisive policy pursued in Europe regarding Serbian war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. Dear colleagues, there is no better metaphor for this policy than the indecisive actions of the UN peacekeepers who have imperceptibly betrayed the city to the invading Serbian war criminals. The victims of Srebrenica are victims of Greater Serbian chauvinism, always supported by the Kremlin. Don't forget that. Yugoslavia, this concentration camp of enslaved peoples, among whom, in addition to Bosnians, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonian Bulgarians, Macedonians and others, was too long perceived by Western Europe as a model of socialism with a human face. The collapse of this model showed the real ugly face of this regime. Again, don't forget where it was created and who has supported it so far. Genocide and ethnic cleansing followed the disintegration of Yugoslavia for any people who did not want to be part of the Serbian world or Serbian peace, do you make the connection, I suppose? Genocides in the former Yugoslavia did not start from Srebrenica, and maybe Srebrenica was the last, but before that it was Vukovar. I am graduating, Madam President, and the Macedonian bloody Christmas on 7 January 1945. The official authorities in Belgrade refuse to call the events in Srebrenica by their real names - genocide. As long as this remains an official Serbian position, we should not make concessions to the authorities in Skopje, again, directly related to the Kremlin and Moscow. Remember the victims of the Serbian genocide. The Eternal Memory! Remember Srebrenica.

Mr President, the Pandora Papers have shown a lot. First of all, the vulnerability of our systems to hide huge funds in offshore zones and tax havens. This is possible because the European Parliament and a number of European institutions are subject to external influence. That was Qatargate. That was what? External influence to modify European Parliament documents. I ask, however, when and where it will be seen and when the European Parliament, the European Union will begin to look more seriously at the external influences and the way in which external influences influence this House in order to modify the documents of this House. Because, honourable Mr President, I think it is time to look at the way in which drafts to change documents are received, such as the report that I spoke about just now. And I wonder after Qatargate if there will be a Skopje Gate, and I wonder if the Pandora Papers will show our colleagues somewhere who have to explain why and how they propose changes to some laws? Because unlike many colleagues in this Chamber, I think that human rights, like those of the Bulgarians in Macedonia, are not bilateral relations, but a European issue.

on behalf of the ECR Group. - Mr President, unlike the previous report on this subject, I voted with conviction in favour. Undoubtedly, the Ukrainian people and nation want to break away from a sphere of influence that is outside the European one and be part of the European Union and NATO. This process began 10 years ago during a time of government that had sparked very strong protests in this country, so both Ukraine and the people of Ukraine deserve to have the right to choose and live by that choice. For this reason, I voted in favour of this report and believe that when and as peace is restored in this part of Europe, it must be within the territorial borders of Ukraine, internationally recognised by the Budapest Agreement, the 1994 Budapest Protocol, because that is the will of the people living in Ukraine.

Mr President, I strongly voted against this European Union initiative for the victims of the global climate crisis. It's just another insanity to make a day for the victims of climate change. I think it's a hysterical, alarmist, false policy that tries to blame European societies for being industrialized, for making some progress, for producing something, for doing something. Even Mr Timmermans himself, who is very much missing in this Chamber, cannot, in my opinion, show us a single victim of climate change, but he should defend this insane idea here. What this act represents and what the climate policy alarmists are trying to sell us is nothing other than telling us once again how there should be no industry in Europe, how everything should go to China, how everything should go to Russia, how everything should go to Turkey, they should do whatever they want, not taking into account that we live on a single planet. And if it's polluting in China, it's like it's polluting everywhere. So I voted against it. And I would also like to tell you, honourable President, before you knock with the hammer, that I am firmly against the violation of the human rights of Bulgarians in Macedonia.

Mr President, it is sensible that the proposal should have a common policy towards the diplomats of the Member States of the European Union when it comes to hostages, such crises and a common policy that responds simultaneously, equally and in a coordinated manner, and that should be the common policy of the European Union. This is one of the sensible areas in which there may be such a common policy. But when we talk about such a common policy, what is reasonable, should we answer whether the European Union, the European Commission, the European Parliament have a common policy when third countries try to use their diplomacy to the detriment of some of the Member States? And I can tell you one such example. The example is the report to be voted on in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, which concerns the Republic of North Macedonia's progress towards the European Union. There you have literally held hostage people who identify themselves as Macedonian citizens or North Macedonian citizens with Bulgarian national consciousness, and the pressure on them continues, and the harassment of them continues, and they continue to be denied the right to self-identify as they want. And this right, the right to self-determination, is not only a European right, it is a fundamental human right in all charters, all documents. And here my question is what we are doing in this European Parliament and what the Commission is doing, what the High Representative for Foreign Policy is doing in terms of protecting the rights and legitimate interests of those people who are literally being held hostage by the authorities in a country that is much closer to Belgrade and the Kremlin than to any European position, a European orientation. And we are witnessing how in this Chamber there are our colleagues, who must also be held hostage by this power in one way or another, who propose and change texts in European Parliament documents. Much more outrageous than Qatargate, much more outrageous than any other interference in the internal affairs of the European Union, the Member States and this Parliament. How should we, as the European Parliament, react when our colleagues, hostages here, for some reason synchronizedly propose texts that want to erase the protection of human rights, the right to self-determination, to erase facts that are happening in the Republic of North Macedonia and in which we see a clear attitude towards people who identify themselves as Bulgarians despite having their own citizenship of the Republic of North Macedonia. This is something that should be paid attention to. Tell me, Mr. President, what have I done to make you angry? (the Chair takes the floor to the speaker)

Madam President, it is usually not necessary to utter the obvious truths, but yes, the management of water resources is extremely important. Important in view of the fact that the population and agriculture in the Member States of the European Union will require more and more quantities of clean drinking water and water for irrigation. We are witnessing anomalies such as prolonged droughts, followed by severe floods. Such were mentioned in Italy, and for several days this is the picture in Bulgaria. Cities such as Berkovitsa, Etropole are flooded with unusually high amounts of rainfall, which leads to severe flooding. Therefore, the resource must be managed wisely and wisely, and this is one of the areas where planning can be done at European level on how to water irrigation, how to organise agriculture so that those quantities of water that are currently being used are not spent and the necessary areas can be irrigated to meet the needs of the population for clean food produced here in the Member States of the European Union. This can and should be done. Of course, we must also take into account the role of staggering, such as the ‘Green Climate Deal’, so to speak, which has helped many Member States, including Bulgaria, to build many small hydropower plants on rivers where they can and cannot, where they should and should not. Small hydropower plants that break the normal flow lead to drought, and in the end, under the guise of something nice and natural, they actually do the opposite. Така че това е още един пример за това, че не винаги зелените утопии са полезни.

Madam President, on the one hand, and in the first place, all the institutions agree that the Ukrainian side has fulfilled the conditions for accession to this convention, and note, moreover, that it has fulfilled the conditions in the conditions of aggression against it and of war. That's something to be noted. On the other hand, Ukraine's accession to the Convention is politically necessary. This is an expression of empathy, solidarity and clear political support on our part. I see no reason for Parliament, the Commission and the other institutions not to approve this accession and not to work for it. Accession to the Convention is also important in terms of civil and commercial turnover. Mutual recognition of judgments will support links between citizens of Ukraine and citizens of Member States of the European Union. Mutual recognition of judgments will improve the way citizens of countries work with each other and help create the common commercial links that will be needed at a time when the Ukrainian state, infrastructure and economy are recovering. So this thing is necessary and deserves to be done, for which the participants in it deserve and congratulations.

Madam President, I voted strongly in favour of this document because interference by third hostile parties in the internal affairs of the Union and the Member States is unacceptable and inadmissible. We remember the Qatar Gate case, in which funds were taken to amend EU documents by our colleagues, European representatives. At the same time, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia boasts that he convinces our colleagues how to change Union documents related to the progress reports of the Republic of North Macedonia. He boasts in an interview that he gives suggestions for amendments to our colleagues. We see yesterday, during a meeting led by the shadow rapporteurs, how the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia here in Brussels gathers these colleagues of ours to take pictures with them and coordinate their activities with purpose and task. Without hiding, they say that the aim and task is to erase from the report all hate crimes against Bulgarians in Macedonia, the protection of the Bulgarian cultural heritage, and in general a change by a third hostile party against the interests of the citizens of a Member State of the European Union. This is unacceptable, unacceptable and must end. And this case needs to be investigated. Let's see if these colleagues have signed up for any lists, announced who they are seeing, etc.

Madam President, I voted firmly against this resolution because it is yet another interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and a call for witch-hunting. It aims to directly intervene at different bureaucratic levels in the EU in the internal affairs of sovereign states. Such interference, as we see in the recordings of the former Bulgarian Prime Minister, who agreed with the President of the European Commission, with the heads of the security services something unacceptable, violating national sovereignty. This is contrary to the idea of a union of sovereign states. The European Union is not a union of rainbows, propaganda, LGBTI, etc., etc. It must be a union of free movement, economic prosperity, freedom of movement and economic freedom. What is imposed through such false reports is totalitarianism, obscurity, Orwell and replaces the very idea of the European Union. Any such resolution is aimed at fighting against a democratically elected government. Will it be Poland's, Hungary's, Italy's, anything else? It's an attempt to crush common sense. This is an attempt to impose Orwellian propaganda and interference in internal affairs.

Madam President, I voted for the report on geographical indications for wines, spirit drinks and agricultural products because I think it is particularly important for our producers to be able to enhance the added value of products produced in designated protected areas. It is good that no amendments aiming to increase the products allowed outside the demarcated protected area for wines by 15% have been adopted. Currently, the 15% limit applies only to grapes, and the fraud aimed to extend it to grape must and wine. That they didn't go well is good for winemakers, winegrowers and farmers. That is why I supported both this report and our winegrowers and winegrowers in this sector.

Mr President, at this moment, on this day, the meetings of a Deputy Prime Minister of a country that is not even a candidate for membership of the European Union, who, however, conducts lobbying policy, summoning European representatives, taking pictures with them, placing them, this is Mr Maričić from the Republic of North Macedonia, continue. And he takes pictures with people from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, our colleagues, publishes them and tells them what to do in the next few days. This is very much like a Qatar Gate scandal. A non-candidate country uses European representatives. That is why I am asking you, Mr. President. Will you ask the colleagues in the photos in what capacity they were at these meetings? Who sent them there, what responsibility do they have? Why are they photographed with a person representing a country outside the European Union? And is there some kind of conversation, some kind of agreement between these people? Because there is a lot of talk about lobbying and we need to see what the cost of this lobbying is. You owe me answers.