Speeches

Mr President, we are voting in urgency today. I have to tell you, it's a real urgency. It is about our Swedish-Iranian doctor and guest lecturer at the VUB, Ahmadreza Djalali. He has been unjustly imprisoned in an Iranian prison for five years and was sentenced to death in 2017. And since then – when you see the photos, emaciated, skinny – his medical condition has deteriorated enormously. That's why I'm saying here today: It's an urgency. Actually, I only have one question: free Djalali! And I'm addressing that call to the president, to the newly elected president. Don't execute that death penalty! Let this doctor, this doctor, this father, this academic, this husband return to his family. And I repeat. Free Djalali! Free Djalali! In fact, we should only say two words here for an entire hour. Free Djalali! Free Djalali! Iran, if you want better relations with Europe, we ask you one thing now. Free Djalali! Free Djalali! Free Djalali! Free Djalali!

Mr President, Mr High Representative, putting members of the opposition behind bars on the basis of vague and unfounded accusations, banning opposition members from politics, replacing elected mayors with faithful members of the regime, attacking independent media: That is what is currently happening in Turkey, with the HDP as the biggest victim. And this is confirmed by Reporters Without Borders. They placed Erdoğan on the new list of ‘predators of freedom’. Colleagues, Turkey is still an EU candidate country, a country, Mr High Representative, with which we are officially still negotiating EU accession. And that's been 16 years. And after the European Parliament's critical report of a few weeks ago, the situation has only worsened. The constant attacks on the opposition confirm once again that Turkey cannot join. Because in a true democracy you fight your political opponents with the word, and not by banning them from politics. And this resolution sends a strong signal – both to the Turkish regime and to the Council and the Commission – that democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights cannot be negotiated. Not for accession, nor for a positive agenda. I wonder, colleagues, how this happens to the opposition in Turkey, that we offer the leader who silences them a positive agenda ... Is it not high time, colleagues, that we had the courage to say to Erdoğan: "Enough is enough!"

Mr President, Commissioner, it took eight months for the Council and Parliament to reach an agreement to better protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse on the internet. This was by no means Parliament's fault. Online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have not been allowed to use tools to detect child sexual abuse for almost seven months with the entry into force of the ePrivacy Directive. As many as 58 percent fewer images of child sexual abuse and illegal behaviour such as grooming have been reported since the directive entered into force at the end of December, while the number of reports of abuse and exploitation has increased exponentially in recent years from 23 000 in 2010 to more than 725 000 in 2019. Actively detecting and identifying victims and perpetrators is essential in our fight. I therefore call on everyone to vote with a convincing majority in favour of the derogation from the ePrivacy Directive and to take a stand against the sexual exploitation of children.