What Alexandra spoke about.

5

Oct

2022

DE Speech

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Countering the anti-European and anti-Ukrainian propaganda of Putin’s European cronies (topical debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Putin is waging his war against democracy on several fronts: in Ukraine with crimes against people in flesh and blood, in the rest of the world with propaganda and lies. And while Putin has to face defeat after defeat on the Ukrainian front, his propaganda war on the Internet is very successful, because he has two great allies. The first are right-…

4

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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Digital Services Act - Digital Markets Act (debate)

Mr President, the digital services act (DSA) is a landmark legislation with the potential to become a global standard. While it is not perfect, it is still revolutionary. Why is that so? First of all, it breaks with the paradigm of inevitability, and it puts democracy over private, monopolistic interests, because until now there was a feeling that big tech was too powerful to regulate, and now we …

3

May

2022

DE Speech

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Artificial intelligence in a digital age (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Artificial intelligence is seen by many, including myself, in many areas as a promise for a better future. But without clear rules, we risk a "back-in-the-future" effect, like Marty, the film hero who starts ambitiously into the future with his future machine in 1985 and then ends up in 1955. And this is what we are experiencing today: For example,…

6

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Data Governance Act (debate)

Madam President, fortunately data is not the new oil, because the planet really couldn’t support that. The IPPC has just reminded us that we only have three years to drastically reduce our CO2 emissions. Data is a lot better. It is the new soil from which wonderful trees can grow. And that means data is the source for climate-friendly urban transport planning or breakthroughs in medical research, …

5

Apr

2022

DE Speech

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Guidelines for the 2023 budget – Section III (debate)

Honourable Member! It is not a question of individual examples that I have to list here. The point is that if there is no system of separation of powers in a state, if the government itself controls who the judges are who watch over corruption, who watch over wrong spending of funds, then there is no independent scrutiny. Then it is also very difficult to teach these examples at all, because it is…

5

Apr

2022

DE Speech

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Guidelines for the 2023 budget – Section III (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Europe is staggering from crisis to crisis, from the pandemic to a terrible war of aggression. But yesterday the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reminded us once again that the worst crisis of all is taking place in the background. We must act now! Without immediate and drastic emission reductions, the 1.5°C target can no…

8

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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EU Gender Action Plan III (debate)

Mr President, on International Women’s Day, many people seem to know what women really need, but the answer is very easy. They need equal access to power, but also to money. And the good news is that the EU Gender Action Plan for external action is a very good step in the right direction. Eighty-five per cent of all new actions need to incorporate gender as a significant or principal objective. Tw…

8

Mar

2022

DE Speech

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Foreign interference in all democratic processes in the EU (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, In the course of the sanctions, the Russian broadcasters RT and Sputnik were also banned because they spread disinformation of the Russian government. Actually, it is surprising that in democratic states you have to restrict freedom of expression in order to defend yourself against Russian war propaganda. Who's looking at that? Almost no one in the analog wor…

16

Feb

2022

DE Speech

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The Rule of Law and the consequences of the ECJ ruling (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. Today's ruling of the European Court of Justice is a victory for democracy with a clear message: The values of Europe, the rule of law and solidarity underpin the identity of the European Union itself. And the Court thus reaffirms something we all know, except perhaps on the right side of the House, namely that fundamental rights apply throughou…

19

Jan

2022

EN Speech

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Digital Services Act (debate)

Mr President, the internet used to be a wonderful place: a place for sharing knowledge, discovering the world, meeting new people; a marketplace and a public square where everybody with a connection could take part in the conversation. What a marvellous invention. Today, we’re looking at the shambles of that marvellous world: the Rohingya genocide promoted on Facebook, teenage girls driven to anor…

15

Dec

2021

DE Speech

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State of play of the RRF (Recovery and Resilience Facility) (debate)

Madam President, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen. Europe is based on values and rights, and therefore no euro from the reconstruction programme can continue to flow to countries that are abandoning the rule of law. How should the financial interests of the Union be protected if independent courts on the ground cannot monitor the lawful use of these funds? But the EU's values and rights also in…

14

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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Digital Markets Act (debate)

Madam President, a popular German comedy TV show is calling for the expropriation of Facebook, and let’s face it, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is not fulfilling that expectation. It does, however, contain important first steps in the right direction: data silos, enforceable do’s and don’ts for gatekeepers and interoperability. But it falls short of breaking up the cartel in the advertising busine…

13

Dec

2021

DE Speech

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Combating gender-based violence: cyberviolence (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Violence against women on the Internet not only causes a lot of suffering, but it is part of a political strategy to try to silence women. It is an attack on our democracy. And that is precisely why I support the rapporteur in her call for the Commission to urgently put forward proposals to combat it. But we can put an end to a particularly perfidi…

6

Oct

2021

DE Speech

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The state of play on the submitted RRF recovery plans awaiting approval (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. The RRF, at the heart of the European recovery package, will make Europe greener, more digital and hopefully more social. And it can become a blueprint for Europe's strength: common financial and investment power, a common vision for the future. And in the digital and climate sector in particular, there are still major joint projects to be undertak…

5

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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Disinformation and the role of social platforms (debate)

Madam President, two weeks ago I met a very special woman. Her name is Frances Haugen and she is the Facebook whistle-blower who spoke out Sunday night on CBS. She did this because in the past she lost a friend to online conspiracy theories and did not want anyone to feel the pain that she had felt. Tonight, I want to honour her courage and her moral high ground by lending my voice to her words in…

14

Sep

2021

DE Speech

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Natural disasters during the summer 2021 - Impacts of natural disasters in Europe due to climate change (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Hundreds of people lost their lives in the flood disaster in July 2021, and many more are facing the ruins of their existence. In the German Ahrtal, shops and businesses are still closed, the economy is lame, water and gas pipes are destroyed, motorways and train routes are interrupted, schools and daycare centers are unusable. This is climate change! And that i…

6

Jul

2021

DE Speech

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The creation of guidelines for the application of the general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget (continuation of debate)

Mr President, Commissioner! In October 2020, 77 percent of European Union citizens said loudly and clearly in a survey: No European money for Member States where the rule of law is not respected! And that's exactly why we've had a law for seven months. This law must now be implemented by the EU Commission, without hesitation and above all without hesitation. If countries bring the free press to it…