Speeches

Mr President, honourable Members, dear Colleague. The Copenhagen criteria are the basis of so-called ‘European values’. Among them, the most important, for me at least, is that a country that is a candidate for membership respects and protects all human rights of all its citizens on its territory. You, as well as colleagues in Parliament, as well as the Commission, have repeatedly received information that people who feel themselves to be Bulgarians but are Macedonian citizens are being repressed by their government in Skopje. Don't you think that's the key issue that needs to be solved? This is not a bilateral relationship. This is a matter of human rights, these are European values. Don't you think it should be solved?

Mr President, Commissioner, I would like, in a personal capacity, to congratulate the rapporteur on the tremendous work he has done and tried to do. This file is extremely difficult for him personally and politically. And I understand him for the effort he's put in, so I congratulate him. Dear colleagues, you want Macedonia to start negotiations with the European Union. Oh, that's great. This can happen tomorrow, folks, tomorrow. To do this, it is simply necessary to change the Constitution tonight, to ban hate speech, to stop the humiliation of Bulgarian history and to solve all these issues. But you do not want Skopje to do it, you are pushing Bulgaria. Dear colleagues, are you ready to start these negotiations with a dubious outcome and outcome? Because not to be mistaken, you know it, of course, the government in Skopje is very compromising and very pro-Russian in its actions. Are you ready to lose 7-8 million? Because what is happening at the moment, the pressure, the unfair pressure on the Bulgarian society and memory pushes away the Bulgarians, disappoints them and makes them very Eurosceptic. In practice, this pressure on Bulgaria works for Putin and for the Russian column in Bulgaria and in the European Union. Is that what you want to achieve? I'm sure you know that. What is happening will be a catastrophe and a disgrace to be written on the European Commission. I hope you're listening, Commissioner, these are important things. I hope you're not messing with the phone. Obviously, you're digging through the phone, but that's another topic. But colleagues, what I'm telling you is this: there should be polite political pressure on Skopje to implement the treaty. Nobody wants anything else. That's it.

Madam President, I abstained from this report with great regret. Why? First of all, the report is necessary. The problem is real, it's huge, it's disgusting, and it has to be solved. On the other hand, however, it is absolutely inexplicable and absolutely unrelated to the topic and absolutely out of place. In this report, colleagues on the left, following their political left-radical Marxist line on the agenda, inserted texts that have nothing to do with the topic being talked about. They inserted propaganda, they inserted their narrative of changing societies, they inserted topics, part of their propaganda, which have no place in this report and which in no way help the people targeted by this report, namely the women and girls who have suffered from the war in Ukraine. For this reason, I regret to have abstained.

Madam President, I voted firmly, firmly and without any doubt against this resolution. This resolution is wrong, inept, superfluous, and I would even call it stupid at a time like this. Poland is currently the country providing the most assistance to Ukraine in the war against the occupier and the invader on its territory. Not only with the reception of hundreds of thousands of refugees, but also with humanitarian and military assistance. And it is at this very moment, when it has to really defend Europe, the European way of life and what you call European values, that a resolution appears that wants to punish and fine Poland, because someone here was dissatisfied with the results of the elections in Poland, with the results that the Polish people and the Polish nation have chosen to make in free elections. I remind you again that the elections in Hungary and Poland were free. You all worked against Orbán and Orbán punished you with a huge result. All of you, all of the political forces here, are working against this and you have seen the result. And now the European Parliament has suicidally insanely voted a resolution against those who protect Europe. I don't know what that's called, but it's neither normal nor right.

Madam President, I abstained on this report for a very simple reason. This report should give an account of the European Commission’s activity in Parliament in terms of competition in the period 2021. We cannot support a report that does not say and show all the bad decisions taken by the European Commission against competition in the European Union, against the free market and against free enterprise. I would like to remind you that this Chamber, against the rules of the European Union, against the idea of a free market, against the idea of free competition, has imposed the harmful and detrimental Mobility Package, which has caused and continues to cause serious damage to the transport industry in all peripheral countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Baltic republics, Spain, Italy, etc. I remind you that the Commission, which left and did not listen to the questions, has not yet answered the question: Are there countries in the European Union that agree with Russia to buy gas in rubles? What competition are we talking about here? For this reason, I abstained.

Madam President, Commissioner, it is difficult to find a more ridiculous debate in this situation. A situation where Europe is at war with the Kremlin, an invasion with the Kremlin. At the same time, we see a hybrid operation, led by both the Kremlin and Lukashenka, which relocates people who are brought by fraud, forced into Belarus and then thrown into Europe. And at this moment, when there should be unity and protection of the European interest, of all of you, here is the conversation about protecting the interests of the dragonfly, of the green euglena, of various locusts and the like, whose rights have been violated. Many times in history the term "useful idiots" has been used. Please check what this means and who used it and why they used it. I am very sorry to hear Putin's propaganda in this room against Poland's efforts to protect European citizens. Poland, which is currently hosting tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of refugees, which is really helping. And you condemn it because you support Kremlin propaganda. It couldn't be more schizophrenic. Or he could. Go ahead, surprise us. Obviously, you can think of something more. You should be grateful to Poland, to Spain, to Bulgaria, to all those who guard the external borders, and not to try to engage in Putin's propaganda.

Mr President, Commissioner, I understand that yesterday, at the meeting between Mr Michel and the President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, military aid to Moldova was also promised. This, of course, must happen and happen as quickly as possible, so that we do not again witness post-factual actions and the search for excuses, and so that this parliament and this hall do not become a place for bowing, pitying and reading sorrowful sympathies. What the European Union and the European Parliament must do, of course, is to pay attention as much and as quickly as possible to how Moldova can be supported both humanitarianly and with the necessary resources, and also by being given a path to the European Union. People are right to say that the government has made an effort. The colleagues are right, who say that not only the current situation should be the reason, but also the level of readiness at the moment of the country itself. But something else needs to be done quickly. There must be centralised organised humanitarian aid so that the Moldovan state can cope with the influx of thousands of women and children from Ukraine who need to be helped.

Mr President, the war in Ukraine caused by the Russian aggression has caused force majeure in all sectors. Undoubtedly, such sectors are transport and tourism. Fuel prices are breaking records, there is already a shortage of raw materials, and all this affects transport connections and transport relations. In this sense, the situation in which Ukraine finds itself today is particularly worrying, given that its sea and river ports are blocked and this hinders its exports and trade. However, in this room, some colleagues are doing their utmost to hinder the transport industry by constantly introducing new and new regulations and restrictions, as they did with the Mobility Package. I would like to draw attention to another serious problem. It is clear that both the Russian and Ukrainian markets will remain closed for the foreseeable future. I therefore ask the European Commission to take steps to ensure not only the supply of gas at European level, but also the supply of raw materials to all sectors of the European Union. Particular attention should be paid to the fact and the sphere of industrial production, the provision of a sufficient amount of cheap steel for the construction sector and, of course, access to cheap fuels. In conclusion, we must make sure that this insane war ends as soon as possible and ensure the maximum stability of these sectors in our societies.

No sir, with all my respect, I believe these people were Germans, Austrians, Hungarians, Italians, Greeks. And yes, we share this continent, and we need to live together and work together, but we have our differences and we have our own national identity and we must be proud of our identity – respecting the others, of course – but there is no such thing as a European one, because people are different. What was it? ‘United in diversity’? Isn’t that right? Yes, it is. So there is no European identity. There is a national one, and there is a European Union and we have to work together respectfully for each other.

I am very careful. My hands are over here, just so you know, because maybe someone will misunderstand my gestures. Dear colleague, it’s not about the people here. It’s about the so-called Conference of Europe itself. It was a charade. It was a Mickey Mouse fake organisation. This is the truth. NGOs ... who picked the people here? Please, I am answering here. Show some respect. Do you know how are organised, the people from the NGOs, here? Who picked them? No? You don’t know? Yes, of course you don’t. Nobody knows. That is the answer. Ah OK. Member States? No, it’s not true.

Honourable colleague, it was not a question; it is against the procedure, under the blue-card procedure you are expected to ask me a question, not to make a statement. No, it was not a question. Madam Chair, is it normal for the Member to take the floor for himself?

Madam President, it is extremely amusing to watch you try to justify the untenable clowning you have created and loudly called the Conference on the Future of Europe. What kind of conference, what kind of future for Europe? Where is your representativeness? A bunch of NGOs, a cheerful band called Detelinka. That was your representativeness. You should have invited Mickey Mouse, Duck Donald, Duck Yaki. They would be more representative and would accurately show what you did with this ridiculous clown you spent a lot of money on. (noise) (the speaker interrupts his speech and addresses the President) Madam President, would it be a good idea to ask this fellow Member to behave himself rather than as if he were in the stadium of his birthplace? Oh, thank you. I urge you to give me back my time. (speaker resumes speech) Colleague, you seem a little agitated to me, if you've calmed down, let's move on. The question is, how much money did you spend on this job? Who gave them and what did they go for? In fact, the truth is that we are fighting for a Europe of fatherlands: A normal Europe, with a normally organized society, a family created by man and woman, as the natural, good, good order of things goes. And because you are constantly talking about a European identity – which there is not, there has not been, there cannot be, I will quote to you a great European, Otto von Bismarck. Some of you who are fond of books may have met this name. He says: “I have always found the word “Europe” in the mouths of those politicians who wanted something from other powers that they did not dare to demand in their own name.” That's it, folks. It's a shame. This conference ended in disgrace. You need to see how much money you spent on it. (The speaker agreed to respond to three "blue card" interventions)

Mr President, I strongly oppose this report, of course. It is yet another proof and another example of how there are people in this room who live in a completely different place, outside of living life. This report clearly shows that we continue to think in the schemes of non-governmental organizations and to think in the direction of taking sovereignty away from nation states and giving it to the wrong organizations, giving it to people who are not responsible to anyone. Not to mention that this report also violates – categorically violates – the Treaties. It is possible that the number of European representatives from one country will violate and go beyond these treaties. This clearly shows one thing - here in this room you continue to think that the world revolves around you, which is not true. And the right to vote must remain in nation states, in national democracies and in citizens, because they are responsible, they choose, they live in their own countries and there is no need for anyone to tell them from outside how to live and how not to live. So I am categorically against this report, it is harmful and it is going to catastrophe.

Mr President, Members, we voted with our abstention group on this report for a very simple reason. There is no one who would not support the support of every single person fleeing war. In this case, we have an aggressive, unprovoked war that causes a lot of suffering on the territory of a sovereign state. We are all helping people fleeing Ukraine. We all help, even in a personal and physical capacity. What prompted me to abstain is the paragraph requiring that children fleeing Ukraine be treated as independent of their social, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, talent, citizenship or status. This is another case that is simply outrageously superfluous and outrageous. These are children who run away, they need to be helped. Why should these reports include propaganda that has no place in them? I therefore abstained.

Mr President, colleagues, the introduction of a right to repair electrical appliances is one of the main legislative initiatives set out in the European Commission's plan for this year. Its purpose is to extend the life of appliances and provide a longer guarantee to protect consumer rights by facilitating longer use of the appliances in question by the people who have to use them. This is a great idea, I support it, but I insist that the same idea be applied in the same way to those who produce, say, solar panels or electric cars. It is not bad to ask the European Commission, to make a question and ask electric car manufacturers, for example Tesla, what is the carbon footprint of the production of their car from the beginning to its implementation or those who make the solar batteries or those who make the fins, because it is good to know if this is as environmentally friendly as it is claimed. Because we think, suspect and are convinced that this is not exactly the case, that someone is lying to us and trying to fool us and trying through our way of life to conduct politics.

Mr President, Members, we voted against this report for a very simple reason. The subject of Schengen is the complete, absolute proof of the hypocrisy, hypocrisy and double standard of the European Commission. For years, the European Parliament, the European Union and the European Commission have known perfectly well that Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia have fulfilled all the criteria for membership in the Schengen area, but they do not allow us there. It's causing transport damage and it's causing damage to our economy. But these reasons are rooted only in the domestic political dramas of the countries of the heart of the European Union, such as the Netherlands. Because of their internal problems and causes, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Croatia have such border problems. Because they are on the border of the Schengen area. This is unacceptable and unacceptable, which is why we voted against.

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, this issue and this debate comes well in time after years of panic and hysteria in the media. After years in which citizens of the Member States of the European Union have been placed in a situation of anxiety and tension, it is clear that this will have an impact on their mental and mental health. Therefore, honourable Members, and above all to you, Commissioner, the question is as follows and the comment is as follows. It is clear that we have experienced two years of uncertainty, of panic, of tragedies. Something that hasn't happened within the last 100 years after the Spanish plague. The question is what has the European Commission done for these two years and more? What was her reaction, what were the messages sent by the European Commission, what were the actions taken by the European Commission to preserve, preserve, reassure the citizens of the Member States of the European Union? What were the funds that were spent on the different types of campaigns by those who drove people crazy every day, in every media, whether it was electronic, whether it was a social network, whether it was a print media, which talked constantly about a threat, about fear, about a pandemic, about an end, about something that is extraordinary and that is dangerous. Therefore, Commissioner, it is good to understand how much the European Commission's propaganda has cost during the pandemic and we will understand how this has affected citizens' mental health.

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, registration is a two-way process in a society. There must be a demand and desire from every part of society to fit into it. Why isn't this happening in the communities we're talking about? There are at least two reasons for this. The first reason is the reluctance of a number of political forces, including in this Parliament, to lose their electorate in the face of communities that can be easily misled on various topics. But the second, bigger problem, honourable Members, is the ambiguity, incompleteness and overgrowth of this process with a number of so-called non-governmental organizations that have been absorbing European funds for years and these funds do not reach in any case the people for whom they are intended. Can any of you in this room tell me how many tens of hundreds of millions of euros have been spent on the so-called decadences, integrations and inclusions, which are the organizations that have mastered them, what they have achieved besides the various festivals of cobblestones, badurches and I do not know what other crazy things and where this money has gone after all, because they have not gone where they should have been intended. This is the main reason why marginalization continues in these communities. National states have no interest in having marginalised communities on their territory. On the contrary, the interest is where the big corruption is, and the big corruption lies precisely in these otherwise very nice fairy tales, everyone is fighting in a fairy tale, everyone is very active, but in practice they organize fake events, under a false flag. And after all, those for whom the money is directed do not go there. And here we continue to speak hypocritically about this topic.

Madam President, Commissioner, there is nothing more absurd, more Kafkaish and more grotesque than asking this question at a time when hundreds are flocking to both Poland and Hungary, tens of thousands of refugees, and these two countries are doing everything they can and providing first aid. Poland was the first country to provide military assistance, while here we were still wondering what to do. Where are you going, how are you going to get to Kiev, Commissioner? You go through Poland, you stop there. Don't you see how these people work and help and take the first blow? And right now to blame Poland and Hungary, when Putin's influence in this room was growing through the wrong climate policy, through making dependence on Russian gas. Because here, when our energy was banned, Russian gas was being helped, and everyone knows that. And that was the result of that policy. There is another problem, Commissioner, and you know it very well. What annoys you is the policy of Poland and Hungary regarding family, tradition, family values, family planning. These things annoy you, and that's why you do these disgraceful things. They must be stopped and that must end. Long live the nation-states. I won't congratulate you, you know why.

Dear colleague Delly, do I understand correctly that you support that there should be no sanctions against an aggressor who commits war crimes? Do I understand correctly that your recipe for saving Ukrainian children is not to give them a weapon with which to defend themselves? Do I understand correctly that you justify a war crime with other wars that have happened long ago? If that's the case, it's disgraceful. And in conclusion, we are not a NATO instrument. We are NATO and we must protect every Ukrainian citizen.

Mr President, I voted in favour of this report. Strongly, the European Parliament and the European Union must pay attention to the recovery of food production and food chains in the European Union. A topic that has long been underestimated at the expense of imports from third countries. A theme that has been used through European subsidies to target certain sectors, which has struck or destroyed agriculture in a number of European countries, in its spheres as fruit-growing, as growing vegetables, as growing small domestic animals, etc. This thing needs to be addressed now that the Russian invasion of Ukraine threatens the supply of wheat, grain, maize not only to the European Union but to the whole world. The report is therefore timely and particular attention should be paid to this topic. That is why I voted in favour.

(...) I voted for this report because Moldova definitely needs help at this time when hundreds, tens of thousands of refugees from Ukraine are entering its border and the territory of this small country. Let me remind you that the territory of Moldova is occupied by Russian troops, the so-called ‘fake Republic of Transnistria’, which also poses a certain threat to the country of Moldova itself and to peace in the region. But in voting for this report, I would like to draw the attention of both you and all my fellow Members, Mr President, that attention must be paid to the Moldovan authorities on how to deal with humanitarian aid going to Ukraine. This Saturday and Sunday, I personally convinced myself by organizing a convoy of humanitarian aid vans travelling from Bulgaria through Romania and through Moldova to Ukraine, in the attempt of Moldovan customs officers, border guards, to create some difficulties when we were transporting food and medical aid through Moldova to Ukraine. So, please, pay attention. This help should go much easier.

Mr President, I voted in favour of the report on refugees in Europe for a very simple reason. We are facing the biggest humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II and all countries are obliged to show solidarity and support families forced by the Russian attack to flee Ukraine. So this report is necessary. The European Parliament and the European Commission are indebted to these people. Much more adequate and swifter measures need to be taken at the level of the European Commission and the European Union in order to alleviate both the diligence and the efforts of the Member States, especially those at the border. These are Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria in this case. In order to provide adequate assistance, accommodate Ukrainian refugees and enable them to work, to enable them to benefit from social and health systems. That is why I supported this report. He's reasonable.

Mr President, I ask you to monitor the order in this House and, when there are people who violate it, to take an attitude. This happened when my colleague Yaki was speaking – there was a breach of order in the room and you did not take a stand. Please do it. Now on to the subject. As far as refugees from Ukraine are concerned, we – Bulgarian society, the people of Romania, the people of Moldova – are already doing everything that needs to be done, and all that is being said here is about it. Dozens, hundreds of thousands of families are accommodated in guesthouses, in holiday homes, everywhere where there is something helping without speaking great empty words, without reading declarations and without trying to gain some political fame from this work. So you have to work more and talk less here. But the truth, honourable Members, is that there is hypocrisy again in this House, and that hypocrisy concerns real aid to Ukraine. Ukraine very clearly told you what it wanted already on 6 March 2022 with a letter from its Foreign Minister Kuleba. There are 20 points: a ban on the sale of oil and gas, no fly zone, Supply of weapons and materials. This is what Ukraine really needs in order to defend itself. There's no need for declarations, no need for fairy tales, no need for Eurovision. I don't think a dictator would be too worried about this, my dear. So if you really want to be useful, don't just repeat "glory of Ukraine’which, in principle, you should do with honor and dignity, not as an excuse. And take the real measures, because you can't order cheap oil and gas and be against it. This cannot and cannot happen. We need real solutions, real measures and real protection. Long live Bulgaria, long live Ukraine!

Madam President, colleagues, the Russian military invasion, aggression, war, occupation in Ukraine have shown many things – all of them inhospitable to the European Union and its leaders. We have seen what a leader means in the face of the President of Ukraine, and we have seen how some of the people who claim to be leaders here behaved, but we will talk about this another time. What is important, and what I would like to draw attention to today and now, is the result of the so-called "green deal" on the energy independence of European countries. What is the Green Deal doing now? The intention, desire and requirement to ban, for example, coal, which is our sovereign Bulgarian, Polish, German, makes us more dependent on the aggressor state, makes us more dependent on the Russian Federation, which is waging war in Europe. What we need to do, Madam President and colleagues, is immediately, immediately, to suspend this green deal, to produce our own energy from our own sources such as Maritsa East, to stop the conversation at all about stopping them and to be adequate to the situation. And let me do something at the end of this show. Europe must respond to Ukraine's request for protection. We have to vote for a no-fly zone here. Here we must ask this House to support the legion of volunteers to defend Ukraine. We owe it, it's not just declarations, and it's not just fairy tales. There has to be action. Long live Bulgaria, long live Ukraine!