Speeches

Madam President! 75 billion Danish kroner is what we in Denmark have so far contributed to Ukraine's freedom struggle. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen tells us that we must take the lead, so we have given the most of everyone in the world. We are leading by example for Europe. So let's see what kind of example we have shown. There are only two other Social Democratic heads of government left in the EU; Spain and Malta. Denmark has given 25 times more than Spain. 250 times more than Malta. And when we look at the NATO contribution, Spain is the only NATO country that is not willing to spend five percent of its GDP defending our defence alliance. When it comes to the frozen Russian assets, it is the Belgian government that is putting its foot down in the Council. A Belgian government that also has Social Democratic participation. So dear Mette Frederiksen, before pointing fingers at the Danes, point fingers at your friends in the EU, because that is where the real problem is when it comes to helping Ukraine's freedom struggle.

What I call it is that when parties in a ceasefire don't live up to the expectations, ceasefires cease and luckily the ceasefire has already now been re-established. What I call you is a Hamas apologist, a person who doesn't take a terrorist attack seriously, and who always is ready to apologise to the most vicious and evil ideology we have on this planet: the radical Islamism of Hamas.

Madam President, a ceasefire and the release of hostages should be a cause of celebration. Yet when I hear the debate in this Chamber from the liberals, from the socialists, from the Greens, you seem even more infuriated, even more angry than when the war was prosecuted. Why is that? Is it your hatred towards the Trump administration that takes over? Or is it that you have lost what you saw as a golden opportunity to align with Islamists and Hamas apologists in the West that has now come to an end? Please, be happy. We have peace. And when we have peace, the first and foremost task for any European government should be how to plan the return of Palestinian refugees residing here in Europe. Every man and woman has a duty, when there is peace, to go back and build up their home country and be grateful for the many services they have gotten here in Europe, but willingly return to the country of Palestine that you have helped proclaiming. So please, I am looking forward to seeing these plans, to see deportation starting, because, of course, we cannot keep refugees here that are no longer in fear of war and persecution.

Mr President, the so-called 'chat control' proposal is nothing less than an EU attempt to read every private message, monitor every conversation and decide what speech is acceptable. They claim it's about protecting citizens, but in reality, it's about controlling citizens. Once governments gain the power to scan your emails and your private chats, freedom of expression is gone – our democratic debate is finished. These essential freedom rights are now under attack from the EU – a Union who apparently have an ambition to build its own digital surveillance state, censoring dissent, and all doing it under the banner of safety. I say no bureaucrat in Brussels should ever have the right to spy on private communication for free Danish or European citizens. We must defend privacy, not destroy it. We must defend liberty, not sacrifice it to the technocrats. Threat control must be stopped before Ursula von der Leyen and Mette Frederiksen turn every smartphone in our pockets into government spyware.

Madam President! Yesterday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had to admit on Danish television that she had not done enough to prepare Denmark for the hybrid threat. This may otherwise be strange, because the Danish Prime Minister has been among the most aggressive advocates of conflict with Russia in the EU. So how three and a half years into the war you are unable to secure critical Danish infrastructure is a mystery to me. We have all in Denmark been behind the government when it came to donating seventy billion kroner to Ukraine. We have been behind a broad majority in parliament, where you have received the money for armament. But the truth is that when the threat came, Mette Frederiksen stood a week before and talked about buying long- and medium-range rockets that would explicitly hit targets in Russia, while a drone at Copenhagen Airport could shut down our critical infrastructure. I understand that the Danes have become frightened when you look at the Danish government's crisis management. And the Danish government now owes it to the Danes to get the situation under control. Stop holding bombastic press conferences and ensure our security, especially on the hybrid front, where a single summit in Copenhagen now requires the help of 10 European NATO allies in order to be carried out in safety. And to you, Ursula von der Leyen, you are very happy to say that everyone who disagrees with you is a Putinist. Sometimes action speaks louder than words. So let's look at your historical actions: You were part of Angela Merkel's government. Not only part; You were the Minister of Defence. You left Germany, NATO, defenceless in that period. More than that, you were an active part of moving away from nuclear power and into buying Russian gas and oil in the biggest energy consumer in Europe, Germany. So to stand here and lecture those of us who speak in a strong defence, who tried to avoid us taking the peace dividend when you didn't see Russia as a threat is simply historically false narrative. In the Danish People's Party, we assumed against leaving submarines in Denmark. We protected against being defenceless when it came to our territorial defence. We chose in favour of the National Guard, in favour of conscription, when your allies in Denmark wanted to give it all up, and therefore Denmark is marginally better now to defend themselves, even though we are falling hopelessly behind. But please face up to your action, instead of blaming everyone else.

Mr President, in 2020, a 15-year-old German girl was gang-raped by nine different migrants in a Hamburg city park. In October last year, a 12-year-old girl was murdered in Paris by a Nigerian migrant who had already been ordered to leave the country. And just eight weeks ago, a 16-year-old Ukrainian refugee was pushed in front of a train in Germany and killed by an Iraqi migrant under deportation orders. These are not individual examples. In Denmark alone, over the last 10 years, 1 in 3 women killed were killed by a migrant. Without mass migration, countless European women and children would still be alive today, spared from violence, abuse and exploitation. When will the Commission and the majority in this Parliament begin to take the side of the victims instead of the side of the perpetrators? When will you put the safety of our mothers, sisters and daughters above your failed ideology? I fear never, but already now it's too late.

No, I generally don't tend to believe Hamas, not when they claim how many victims there are, or when they decide how many of them are combatant and non-combatants, because I do not in general put my trust in terrorist organisations. But I recognise, just like you can in an autocracy like Russia, you can have polling done in a population even though it lives in an unfree society, just as well as we can today see how Germans felt about the Nazi regime in the 1930s, if you look at the historical sources for that. So, no, I don't believe that you can just pick and choose the facts, so believe Hamas when it comes to the number of their children, and not when it comes to the support in the general population. You have to pick a side.

The polls define it as extremist when you support horrific acts of terrorism, but I can't bear any more of your hypocrisy on the left. There are genocides committed in many places in the world, but it is only when it is the Jewish state, the only Jewish state in the world, the State of Israel, that you care. You even walk in demonstration, in capitals like my own in Copenhagen, with Palestinians using the Nazi salute. How can people from the S&D Group, from Renew and other places accept that kind of fanaticism in a cause you claim is carried out in the name of humanity? I am appalled.

Madam President, a March 2024 poll relieved a shocking fact: 71 % of Palestinians support Hamas's horrific terrorist attack on 7 October, and 59 % believe that armed struggle is the best way forward. These are not fringe views. They are a majority in a society based on fanatical Islamism and support for terrorism. Every Arab country knows this and recognises it. That is why neighbouring countries such as Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, or even the rich Arab oil states of the Gulf, have not taken any of these Palestinian extremists. But in Europe the naivety is without limits. Denmark has already seen the consequences. In 1992, 321 stateless Palestinians were granted residence by special law. Today, the results are clear: 74 % live on welfare; 57 % have criminal convictions; and for the children, the stats are even worse. This is not humanity. This is a generational betrayal. Europe must finally learn: importing radicalised people means exporting security and prosperity for the next generations.

Madam President! Ministers! If Ursula von der Leyen were to want to appoint her dream prime minister, the choice could very well fall on you, Mette Frederiksen. A prime minister who says one thing to his constituents and does the exact opposite when Brussels calls. You called common EU debt a red line. Nevertheless, the Danish government voted in favour of EU loans of 750 billion euros, and now the support is there for even more debt. You said: "We need a smaller EU budget", but now the Danish president is working on the largest EU budget in history and a gigantic extra bill for the Danish taxpayers. And on top of all that, we are now supporting a huge eastward enlargement with express speed, without the necessary thought or reform. This will have consequences: wage dumping, welfare tourism and organised Eastern crime. It is neither responsible nor national, it is federal, and it is dangerous. But you have not only failed politically, you have also failed democratically. While we are dealing with Ursula von der Leyen's Pfizer-gate scandal these days, you found the recipe for avoiding responsibility. When your government illegally ordered mink killing during the coronavirus crisis, the Constitution was broken. But instead of a trial and an investigation, we got deleted text messages and a central government that shut down the whole case. That's impressive! You delete and release. Ursula, she refuses and is hanged. So yes, Mette Frederiksen, you are truly "European by heart". At least if it masks an uncritical support for a federal monster that the EU has evolved into with your help. And the Danish leadership is not leadership, but submission, which is why Ursula von der Leyen is a happy woman today, when Denmark takes over the EU Presidency.

Mr President, before we open the door to yet another massive EU enlargement, let's take a sober look at the facts. We are talking about eight candidate countries with a combined population of more than 90 million people, and at extra cost for the European taxpayers of above EUR 75 billion. And all the countries are below EU standards in all key areas. Take corruption: according to Transparency International, these countries rank among the worst in Europe. Bosnia and Herzegovina is at 108th place, lower than countries like Algeria or Zambia. Ukraine and Serbia share 104th place, and Albania ranks 98th. By comparison, Denmark is number one! In terms of median income, these countries are light years behind: Ukraine has an average monthly salary of only EUR 380, Moldova EUR 330, and even the most developed, Montenegro, has an average below EUR 800. Opening the single market to these countries will only lead to massive social dumping and welfare tourism in Europe.

Mr President, we meet here today to discuss NATO and European security, but what is the value of those words if this Chamber refuses to name the real and rising threat to Europe? The greatest danger we face is mass migration and the following Islamisation of our societies. And behind these external threats stands one radical force: the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran is not just a middle eastern problem, it is a European problem. It has carried out assassinations and terrorist plots on European soil. It openly calls for war against the West, and it funds jihadist movements and sows division and violence on our streets. And now it's only a few weeks away from getting a nuclear bomb. With its long-range missile programme, it will have the means to hit the heartlands of Europe – Paris, Berlin, even Copenhagen. And yet, what is our response? Moral confusion, strategic blindness and European leaders that line up not to confront Iran, but to condemn Israel: the one nation that defends our values and does not lack the courage that we should have had long ago. Let's be honest, Israel is doing our dirty work. They are striking at Iran's terrorist proxies. They are confronting a regime that we know all too well is a root cause of instability. And for this we repay them not with applause, but with lectures and accusations. It is shameful and it is hypocritical. No European is safe as long as the ayatollahs rule Tehran. There will be no peace, no stability and no safety until the Iranian regime is overthrown and its nuclear missile programme is disbanded completely and for good. That must be our political objective: not appeasement, not dialogue with tyrants, but actions guided by principles and the hard lessons of history.

All centralisation, harmonisation of powers to the European Union creates infringement against the national Member States, and Denmark has an opt-out on this area, and I'm very happy to have that, exactly because the Danish police are at the forefront of fighting against child abuse and sexual exploitation of children. It is quite funny that Denmark, being the only EU Member State except Ireland who has this opt-out, has been asked by Europol to head several cases against child abuse. So, if Member States were so bad at this, why are you asking for our help instead of solving it in your centralised powerhouses? That is my question. I can see that Member States work, national control works and national police work, and I believe in them.

Madam President, let me be clear: this legislation is not only about fighting abuse, it's about harmonising criminal law and creating a brand-new EU agency. And we know exactly how this ends: where the EU has been given more power, it turns into a disaster. Look at anything from the Common Agricultural Policy to fisheries, or the economic disaster called the eurozone. More centralisation doesn't solve problems, it creates them. This is not only about helping children, this is a federalist power grab, an excuse to expand Brussels bureaucracy at the expense of national democratic control. But let me be clear: if it was up to me, sexual offences against children would lead to medical castration. That's a real deterrent, that's real justice. But oftentimes in Brussels, this is considered barbaric and the criminal must be understood and the victim is expected to quietly move on. We don't need another EU centre. We need local action, national laws and strong borders because child protection against child abuse begins at home, not in Brussels.

Madam President! Today marks the 80th anniversary of the capitulation of the Nazis. A historic moment when Europe's free nations and courageous peoples defeated one of the most brutal ideologies the world has known. It should be a day dedicated to those who fought, suffered and died for a free Europe. But instead, this house has turned it into an urge to promote your own federal project. Nothing symbolises it better than the grant you have given to the House of European History. A so-called museum, which you have spent more than 400 million kroner of taxpayers' money on. Here you are trying to write the story. It appears that the history of Europe begins in 1945 and that it is not the nation states that are the starting point for the civilisation, peace and prosperity that Europe has known. It is historical manipulation and ideological propaganda, and it is an insult to the generations that have built those nations for over a thousand years, fought for the freedom and created the cultural heritage that Europe represents. The EU is washing it all out in search of a federal superstate.

Madam President, let's be honest: Greenland doesn't have a million options to choose from. It has to be part of the Kingdom of Denmark, or absorbed into the United States of America. It is quite a clear choice between a universal welfare model with free healthcare and education, or a declining super power flirting with default. And they're still figuring out in the US whether they should grant democracy to their overseas territories and how to treat indigenous people. In Denmark, Greenland enjoys full self-rule. It's overrepresented in the Danish parliament, and it keeps control of its own natural resources. In the US, they would be lucky to have a non-voting Member of the Congress and a status with a military base and a gift shop. Sure, Washington loves to talk about freedom, but maybe it should try to give it to Puerto Rico and leave Greenland alone. Denmark isn't perfect, but we offer rights, respect and a real partnership. The Americans offer a slogan and an airstrip. So unless Greenland wants to be trading hospitals for hamburgers, the choice is quite obvious.

Mr President, once again, the EU has managed something truly incredible, spending billions of euros without being able to explain exactly how. I mean, it takes a certain talent, doesn't it? For 30 years, the European Court of Auditors has refused to fully sign off the EU accounts. In any normal place that would be a scandal – here, it is just an ordinary Tuesday. Imagine a small business owner in Denmark telling the tax office: 'sorry, we lost track of a few million, but trust me, everything is fine'. He would be in jail, but here in Brussels, we call it standing up for European values. And instead of fixing it, year after year the Commission just asks for more money. I mean, it's like rewarding my kid with candy every time he fails to do his homework. So here is a truly radical thought: maybe, just maybe, the EU should learn to count before it tries to govern.

Madam President, it's very nice that you can say that even before I said anything. This is a point of order under Rule 188. We have introduced amendments from the Patriots for Europe Group where we wanted not only to pause the very harmful directive we are voting on today, but abolish them altogether. It is a shame that this very, very young legislation that has not even entered into force, that we today cannot vote on taking back that initiative. And it is a shame that the Commission and the majority who adopted it will not allow us to show who is in favour of repealing it and who is not. But the point of order is in reality also going on the fact that even on the plenary website, the amendments are not shown, and we can see other amendments that have been rejected from the services are shown on the website. So we would like an explanation in our group on why we cannot prove to the people that the Patriots for Europe introduced these amendments. Why have they been taken away from the website? We are looking very much forward to get an answer from the services.

Madam President, there is not any real doubt that Russia have committed atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity during their occupation of Ukraine. The big question for this debate should then be, how do we hold them responsible for that? And the fact of the matter, when we look throughout history, is that we have not been able to prosecute war crimes unless there has been a military victory ahead of it. Lots of war criminals all around the world have gotten away with atrocities simply because conflicts have ended with their victory or with a frozen conflict of sorts. So, therefore, I think it's all very good that we can sit in this room, debate the issue, and agree that it would be good if all war criminals around the world were captured and kept responsible for their actions. but I think for this to matter for the Ukrainians on the ground, we should instead use our time debating how we are going to end up in a situation where that is possible. And at the moment, I don't see any realistic prospects of Ukraine invading Moscow. And in that sense, it becomes a little bit redundant to have this debate. So let's focus on helping Ukraine with preserving what they have instead of having lofty debates that will lead nowhere.

Mr President, Ursula von der Leyen wants to be remembered for her Green Deal, the migration pact and the ReArm Europe project. And yes, we will remember them, but not as a success. Her Green Deal has made European energy more expensive, especially after her own government shut down functioning nuclear power plants. The results: Europe is less competitive and Europeans can't pay their electricity bills. Her migration pact was sold as a solution. Yet just weeks after its adoption, even her own colleagues in the EPP turned against it. It was weak, inefficient and without real impact – just as expected. Her ReArm Europe plan is nothing more than a power grab – another attempt to centralise power here in Brussels. But let's not forget that Ms von der Leyen was the defence minister who ran the German military into the ground, and now she wants to rearm Europe. It's a joke! One hundred days were all we needed to confirm that her leadership truly means expensive failures, power abuse and a Europe that pays the price.

Madam President, in September, a 19-year-old girl was found raped and murdered in Paris. In January, a two-year-old boy was stabbed to death in a city park near Frankfurt. In February in Munich, a two-year-old girl and her mom were killed by a car terrorist. What do these events have in common? Every one of them and a 100 more were committed by illegal migrants who have arrived illegally to this continent, been denied asylum and not been deported. Time and time again, we have warned about the dangers of illegal migration, and time and time again we have been dismissed, ignored and vilified. How many more Europeans must die, be raped, robbed, attacked before you wake up? How many more grieving families must be left behind in sorrow and despair before we take this serious? For every victim, every shattered family, we must say: naïve policies cost lives.

Madam President, EUR 35 trillion in loans for the Ukraine Recovery Mechanism. EUR 100 trillion in Corona loans, EUR 750 trillion for the recovery funds. And now the Commission is considering EUR 150 trillion for rearmament. But none of this would have been necessary if we had a Commission that was more preoccupied with creating growth instead of bureaucracy. If you had a Commission that was willing to prioritise within the EUR 1.2 trillion budget. Ursula von der Leyen, you are making the Europeans into welfare junkies and you're doing it from borrowed money. So let me put this very simple. We want our money back! When we look at it from a Danish perspective, one has to say that the EU has done very little. Time and again, Denmark has supported Ukraine militarily and economically, and again and again we have seen how the largest EU Member States; Germany, France, Italy and Spain have not followed suit. So it's easy to blame Trump for the situation Ukraine is in. But if you really want to understand why, three years into the war, we have an EU that is incapable of defending itself, an EU that is incapable of defending Ukraine, then we need to look inward. There has been far too little action and too much talk, and unfortunately it continues.

Mr President! 13,000 new laws, regulations and executive orders, this is what we have managed to spray on the European business community since 2019. If you look at just three harmful directives, the Working Time Registration Directive has cost Danish companies two and a half billion kroner a year in administration. The ESG Directive seven and a half billion and the infamous GDPR Directive 8 billion. Then it is not a great surprise that European industry suffers. And what is the solution? It's putting the fox to guard geese. That the same European Commission that made this myriad of rules now says they want to simplify the rules. The truth is, there's one molbo story after another. The Packaging Directive has led a small Danish company to ask for data from 150 different suppliers in order to continue its operations. Now let's be honest; The problem in Europe is too much regulation, too much bureaucracy, and we only get rid of that when the European Commission takes a fundamentally different direction.

Mr President, well, isn't it marvellous? Marvellous to see the same politicians who have built Europe's economic future on politics from communist parties, from extreme green parties, now blaming the right for the lack of competitiveness in the European Union. But please, look within. You have explicitly, in election after election, day after day, in this House, removed us from influence, removed our input from being taken into account. And that is the reason Europe is at a standstill. The German economy is in ruins, the French economy is in ruins, and we are seeing the lack of prosperity everywhere in Europe and higher energy prices than in the US. You, my dear colleagues, have adopted and implemented 1 300 new laws since 2009. Four times more than the US has. Maybe that is the reason you are not able to compete. Maybe your ideological blindness, your stupidity in economy is the reason that you are not allowed to compete with the US, not the right that you never let in. But when we come into power, we will fix it. So take it easy.

Mr President! The situation in the Baltic Sea is quite serious. We have seen everything from the demolition of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to the damage that has now been done to critical infrastructure and submarine cables, that we as European NATO allies have been completely unable to monitor and defend our interests in the Baltic Sea. Unfortunately, it is a whole series of disastrous military decisions that make us so helpless in the situation that is currently taking place. In particular, we can point out from the Danish side that it was a monumental mistake to cut down boats on patrol vessels, but especially on the submarine weapon under the Danish Navy. This has meant that we don't have the eyes and ears we used to have to control what foreign powers did in our neighbourhood. Therefore, we can only hope that the NATO-aligned European countries around the Baltic Sea, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Baltic States, Poland and Germany come together in a much stronger naval defence. But at the same time something is nagging, and that is that we in the EU, on the Danish side, have not been able to impose sanctions on the Russian shadow fleet. It has emerged that Danish shipyards have an obligation to repair precisely ships from the Russian shadow fleet, despite the fact that they both help facilitate Russia's war effort in Ukraine with their exports of Russian gas and oil and are suspected in parts of these attacks. Let us now join forces and get the sanctions in place so that European and Danish shipping companies are not obliged to support this activity by repairing the ships.