Speeches

Madam President, President Zelenskyy, I wish you that you will be not only the president who led Ukraine through four years of war, but the one who led it to peace. You have spoken here with the greatest possible openness about the state of diplomacy. For us on the left, it is clear that there must be a lasting and just peace and that this peace can only be achieved if Ukraine is involved on an equal footing in the negotiations. That is why I would like to expressly encourage you, Mr President, to continue on the path of diplomacy, however difficult it may be in view of Russia's continued military aggression and the fickleness and threat of Donald Trump. It is about ending by diplomatic means the war started by Russia, which has been threatening Ukraine in its very existence for four years. A war in which the Ukrainian population suffers night after night from Russian bomb terror, in which vital energy infrastructure is deliberately destroyed, in short: Putin's army systematically commits war crimes and crimes against humanity. Therefore, it is necessary to impose targeted sanctions that affect the capacity for war and the war criminals. Even if Putin friend Viktor Orbán crosses paths once again and reveals the inability of the European Union to act: Europe stands in solidarity with Ukraine and, in particular, with the people affected by the war, including financially – this also includes a debt cut for us on the left! But now is the time for European politics to be guided by the idea of peace in Europe. Putin is building his own Great Patriotic War by hallucinating a fascist danger; The nationalist ideology of the ruling caste in Moscow attacks diversity, freedom of expression, openness and democracy. There is nothing more fearful of authoritarian rulers and dictators than democracy. But that is also why, Mr President Zelenskyy, my group has seen with concern that, after the outbreak of the war, democratic rights and workers' rights were also curtailed in your country. Time and again there are serious cases of corruption, which also affect European funds. These are the things Ukraine needs to correct on its way to the EU. To win peace and defend democracy: That belongs together for us.

Madam President, Mrs von der Leyen, I would have expected your speech to include an honest stocktaking so that you would not get lost in wishful thinking and headlines as so often. Honesty also includes the fact that the European economy has hardly been growing for years, but poverty is increasing sharply. Therefore, the sustainable and digital transformation of our industry with job security for the many millions of employees should be at the heart of European politics. Europe must invest massively if it is not to lose its economic strength, be technologically detached and continue to squander infrastructure. But instead, you have to deregulate, shorten, dismantle - and you have explained this in detail again today. What you call so trivial "omnibus" is first and foremost an attack on our social standards, data protection and environmental standards. Investments are almost exclusively for the defense industry. Public funds are thus privatized, shareholders rejoice at their growing wealth, and companies are relieved of their due diligence obligations. This policy, Mrs von der Leyen, is not an answer to the social and economic problems; It is not a response to geopolitical changes. This policy is an attack on the welfare state: Expensive rents, food and energy remain unaffordable for the working population. If you don't want to play in this wrong game, you will be pushed to the edge. There is no other way to understand your proposal for a two-speed Europe. They want to set the pace, but they keep running after Donald Trump. With this false policy, you are also dividing Europe. The alternative would be so simple, Mrs. von der Leyen: public investment in industry and jobs, affordable housing, health, rail, digital – that brings economic growth. Fair taxes for wealthy people and corporations, price caps for rents and staple foods – this brings social justice and people can finally afford life again.

Mr President! Kobane is under siege. The place, which has become a symbol of resistance and victory over ‘Islamic State’, is surrounded by the troops of the Syrian transitional government. The trapped people lack water and electricity; Medicines and food are scarce. And yet, transitional president and jihadist al-Sharah suddenly seems to have become the best friend of the European Union. In early January, Ursula von der Leyen travelled to Damascus to generously transfer €620 million in European taxpayers’ money to al-Sharaa, the very day his Islamist militias started their war against the Kurds in Aleppo and mass expulsions and live-streamed killings of fighters and civilians. This was not a bad timing, it is the result of a cynical policy whose sole aim is to deport the Syrian civil war refugees from Europe back to Syria as soon as possible. I was in Rojava and Kobane last year. I have met people who, regardless of their ethnicity or religion, want to build an equal, democratic and socially just society in Syria. These people need international help. Instead, we saw the betrayal of the US, the EU, France and Germany to our allies, especially the Kurds. We saw massacres of Alawites, Druze and the war of al-Sharah against Rojava. As a result, ‘Islamic State’ is thriving again, its fighters are being let out of prisons in droves. If you hide a murderous ideology under a suit, it remains a murderous ideology. The German government, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, is not allowed to roll out a red carpet to the jihadist al-Sharaa. We owe the Kurds the victory against ISIS. We owe people like Maslum Abdi and Rohlat Afrin the hope of a democratic and equal Syria. Rojava remains a beacon of hope in the Middle East. However, despite the ceasefire agreement, Kurdish self-government is being attacked by the transitional government of Syria. Therefore, there must be no blood money to al-Sharah. European politics must work for a lasting end to the fighting, the recognition of self-government and the rights of the Kurds. (The speaker closes his speech in a language that is not an official language of the EU.)

Madam President, Finally! After four years of the Russian war in Ukraine, the time of diplomacy seems to have come. The decisions made these days will shape the future of our continent for many years to come. Ukraine needs our support in this, and Russia must and should make reparations payments. However, the path you propose for this, Mrs von der Leyen, is legally highly risky. I honestly do not understand why the risks are not discussed here, because unlike the interest rates on frozen Russian assets and the assets of warring oligarchs, many member states, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund, warn against using Russian state assets. Instead, why not talk about civilian reconstruction bonds, which are given as loans to Ukraine and could then be repaid with Russian reparations? This would be legally clean and help the people of Ukraine. In addition, a debt cut, as the left has long demanded, would help them at this point. And security guarantees, which were not discussed today, must of course be integrated into a European security architecture. This logically requires the consent of both parties to the conflict and, to your surprise, if possible, a mandate from the United Nations. No one is talking about the need for a decision by the UN Security Council. But war and peace on European soil are not currently being negotiated in Brussels and Berlin, but decided in Washington and Moscow. And the embarrassing invocation of a transatlantic friendship, which has long since turned into a toxic relationship for the EU, only generates anger and foreign shame. Blackmail, humiliation, gaslighting – you say yes to everything the White House autocrat throws at you again. The EU needs politicians and progressive majorities who don't immediately kneel when Washington calls. The objective must be the strategic independence of the European Union. And this requires courageous investments in our jobs and industry, energy, the digital sector and, of course, in security. But Mrs von der Leyen, your proposal for the EU budget does not do justice to this. Again, you shy away from it, handing over and Big tech To tax honestly, while cutting generously in rehabilitating schools and kindergartens and in supporting social associations. Through its policies, the EU not only has no voice internationally, but inequality is also increasing. So neither state nor peace nor democracy can be made.

Mr President! This new digital package sacrifices existing high European data protection standards on the altar of corporate competitiveness. Access to public data for businesses, trade in sensitive personal data, more tracking, more profiling - all this should now be possible. One could say that the Commission sells our data protection. Even AI training with private data of workers now wants to allow you, Commissioner, to fuel the control of this workforce and the profit maximization of companies through a new form of exploitation. Competing with authoritarian regimes and AI and big tech giants, however, you are sacrificing not only our data, but also privacy in the social and workplace. This is simply undemocratic. Now would be the moment for the EU to take off and shape a better digital society through investment, innovation and data protection. Unfortunately, you fail in this task.

Madam President, Mrs. von der Leyen! The benevolent speeches and sparse applause cannot hide the fact that today your political future is on the agenda of this House. Because today will answer whether this permanently divided coalition of Conservatives, Social Democrats, Liberals and Greens still carries your policies at all or whether a majority in the centre-right is forming in this House. And that's because your core political task since that mandate has been to reverse, reverse your own policies of recent years. Today it is the due diligence of companies, tomorrow it is the digital European legislation and the day after tomorrow it is the Green Deal. Born from the fear of losing your own power, you bow to the pressure of the extreme right. This is pure opportunism. And Europeans expect the Commission to finally find solutions to the problems, the housing crisis, the expensive food, the expensive energy or to create job security in uncertain economic and trade times. Housing has become unaffordable for many Europeans. At last, it is thought, the Commission is no longer turning a blind eye to it. But then you want to answer the market failure in the housing market with even more market and thus pour oil into the fire of the housing crisis. In addition to social housing, we need a rent cap, the regulation of Airbnb and Booking.com Finally, stop speculative vacancy. And at the same time, more and more public money is being diverted into rearmament projects. This is your idea of economic development. And this policy means that less money goes to social compensation, to the regions, to agriculture and to the necessary restructuring of our industry. Their policy failure is a threat to the cohesion of our society.

Madam President, Wrong priorities, despondent, undemocratic - that is the Commission proposal in one sentence. This EU budget does not meet the growing social inequality, the worsening climate catastrophes or the changing world situation. And instead of involving large fortunes and companies in the social tasks, working families will have to pay the price for this despondency. Multis remain unscathed, no digital tax for big tech companies, no financial transaction tax. For this, Mrs von der Leyen, you are planning massive cuts in public spending in the regions, in schools, in kindergartens, in social infrastructure and among our farmers, because you are not putting the money into the competitiveness of our industry, but because the money is to be spent on rearmament. In addition, the European Parliament will then be curtailed in its democratic control function, its budgetary sovereignty. Unfortunately, this proposal, as it stands here, is simply unacceptable. And I hope you'll improve it, otherwise we'll do it.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Weber, Mrs Hayer, Mrs García Pérez! That a democratic vote of no confidence endangers democracy is really nonsense. In every sports club, the coach changes if the team constantly plays against the relegation. If the bankrupt vultures are circling over a public company or a private company, then the management must go. Only this Commission with its policy of continued failure do you want to give another chance and give another chance and give another chance. This promotes a loss of confidence in European politics, and this causes the real damage to democracy. Ms von der Leyen, you say you have to deliver for Europe, but you simply do not deliver – because your policy is characterised by fear, and fear generates mistakes. They submit themselves and the EU to a Donald Trump with a trade deal that will have fatal economic consequences and cost thousands of jobs in the EU. They conclude one free trade agreement after another, sacrificing our agriculture and the digital single market. The people of Ukraine and Gaza are also suffering because the EU has plunged under them into foreign policy insignificance. They fail in the defence of human rights and the rule of law, as well as in the fight against climate change. Among them, European politics has long since descended into the second league of world politics. Keeping you and your Commission in office for longer would be a political procrastination. Ladies and gentlemen, this Commission will not solve the social, economic or foreign policy challenges – and you know that, even if you have to express yourself differently today – it has already proved that. Therefore: If you want the much-needed policy change that you are talking about here all the time, then finally agree to our proposal!

Mr President! Commissioner, I think you really have a very specific positive reading of this trade deal. I think it would be good if you didn't lie to us here. Tariffs on European industrial goods of 15 percent, 50 percent on steel and aluminum, and in return American industrial products can be exported to the European Union at zero tariff or then imported from our perspective: This is, of course, an attack on our industrial base and will destroy many thousands of jobs. Colleagues have pointed this out, and you know that too. And this deal has not, as some have pointed out, been launched by the Europeans, this war, this trade war, has not been launched by the Europeans, but by the Trump administration. But they haven't fought back in this trade war, and that's why it's fair to say that this deal is a total defeat in this trade war. And an additional 750 billion euros will be invested in US fracking gas and oil; 600 billion euros will go to the U.S. military industry. While the EU is trying to strengthen its digital sovereignty with laws like DMA and DSA, and rightfully cracks down on companies like Google, the Trump administration is threatening massive tariff increases against countries that allegedly discriminate against US tech companies. This is the sell-off of the digital future, European energy sovereignty, security and climate protection. Commissioner, you are cementing permanent dependencies on the United States. Everything that is told by this Commission about a strategically independent European Union is obsolete with this deal. My group will not support this deal.

Madam President, If, like you, Mrs von der Leyen, you want to make politics with a coalition that ranges from conservatives, social democrats, greens to liberals, then you don't really need political opponents anymore. But my group will not do you any favours of political pity, because the trade deal you have concluded with the US is an attack on our industrial base and on many thousands of jobs – and to praise that here, too, actually requires a fair degree of cognitive dissonance. While Donald Trump is rapidly transforming the U.S. into an authoritarian state, you are subjecting European politics to U.S. economic and military interests. They sacrifice energy sovereignty, the digital single market, climate protection on the altar of the hollow phrase transatlantic partnership. This deal you've made is a total surrender! They conclude one free trade agreement after another – Mercosur, Mexico, now soon India – bypassing national parliaments and thus the basis of our democracy. But to fight overcapacity with more free trade is absolutely illogical; It's like throwing fire accelerators into the fire of the European economic crisis. Every month, 10,000 jobs are lost in steel in the EU. One in three Europeans lives in precarious conditions and has to turn every penny over because of the rip-off in rents, energy and food. Poverty in spite of work, old-age poverty and child poverty is not being combated with more free trade, Madam President of the Commission, but with courageous investments in industry, infrastructure and our services of general interest. But the only investments you seem to think of are 800 billion euros for rearmament and militarization. In return, your authority recommends brutal cuts in pensions, health and social benefits to the Member States. Their policies are dividing our society. We drew a red line here today, and we had to draw a red line, because you have been silent for far too long in the face of the humanitarian catastrophe and the war crimes committed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip. Your words are not enough. The killing must end immediately; The association agreement with Israel must be suspended in its entirety, arms deliveries must be stopped and the far-right ministers of the Netanyahu government must be sanctioned. For three and a half years, the EU has played no diplomatic role on the road to peace in Europe. Even though you have talked a lot today about sanctions against Russia and security guarantees for Ukraine, you cannot hide the current irrelevance of European foreign and security policy. Their record is one of social and economic failure, foreign policy double standards, and submission to autocrats. 60% of Europeans want you to step down – do them a favour!

Mr President, Commissioner! Before our eyes, the United States under Donald Trump is turning into an authoritarian and corrupt oligarchy. Trump uses trade policy, and in particular punitive tariffs, to enforce U.S. dominance and the interests of his oligarch mates. This is pure trade imperialism. Unfortunately, the Commission has so far distinguished itself in the Trump trade war through passivity and lack of strategy. Fear is disguised here as strategic patience. Let go of the shock stubbornness, Commissioner, and finally start to act strategically. The means to do this are all in your hands. The introduction of a European digital tax, which would hit big tech companies in particular, is long overdue. They, on the other hand, repeat old mistakes and move into a new energy dependence. This time not from Russian, but from US fracking gas. That's not smart. Smart is European energy independence – diversified and sustainable. It is irresponsible to throw the money of European taxpayers into the throats of American arms companies. We need an international, rules-based trade order based on fair trade, not free trade agreements that only serve the big corporations. Naivety about the democratic rationale of the Trump administration threatens our jobs. Smart policy means making a European industrial policy from a single source – with massive investments in our future that secure our locations and jobs.

Mr President, Commissioner! Before our eyes, the United States under Donald Trump is turning into an authoritarian and corrupt oligarchy. Trump uses trade policy, and in particular punitive tariffs, to enforce U.S. dominance and the interests of his oligarch mates. This is pure trade imperialism. Unfortunately, the Commission has so far distinguished itself in the Trump trade war through passivity and lack of strategy. Fear is disguised here as strategic patience. Let go of the shock stubbornness, Commissioner, and finally start to act strategically. The means to do this are all in your hands. The introduction of a European digital tax, which would hit big tech companies in particular, is long overdue. They, on the other hand, repeat old mistakes and move into a new energy dependence. This time not from Russian, but from US fracking gas. That's not smart. Smart is European energy independence – diversified and sustainable. It is irresponsible to throw the money of European taxpayers into the throats of American arms companies. We need an international, rules-based trade order based on fair trade, not free trade agreements that only serve the big corporations. Naivety about the democratic rationale of the Trump administration threatens our jobs. Smart policy means making a European industrial policy from a single source – with massive investments in our future that secure our locations and jobs.

Madam President, I very much welcome the fact that, in the run-up to the summit, on the occasion of half a century of European-Chinese relations, there has been a relaxation in mutual relations. Because there is a great chance that we can put the necessary cooperation on a common foundation. The changing world is challenging China and the European Union, and those who want to tackle the great issues of humanity – the fight against poverty, hunger and inequality, climate change, war or peace – must work for a multilateral, rules-based world order. To achieve this, the European Union must also do its homework on the road to strategic independence: Massive investments in the future, in our industry, digital infrastructure, in an independent and sustainable energy supply and in public services are necessary in order to be able to act on an equal footing with China and the USA. China is the EU's second largest trading partner after the US. Another trade war like the one with the US will only be harmful and threaten millions of jobs. We need fair trade in the interests of the people and unfettered free trade in the interests of corporations. But it must also be clear that we cannot enter into a one-sided dependence on China for future technologies, critical raw materials or strategic sectors. Therefore, Mrs von der Leyen, you should not only travel to Beijing with an idea for economic cooperation, but also with a concrete diplomatic initiative: Russia's war in Ukraine has been raging for almost three and a half years. Donald Trump seems to have no influence on Putin despite his phone calls, Xi Jinping probably already. If you want to make history, then go to China with a concrete proposal for a joint Sino-European peace initiative for Ukraine. China is the only international power that can move Putin to reason, and the EU must finally assume a key role for peace in Europe. Now is the time for diplomacy!

Madam President, The right, once again conspicuous by a corruption scandal, points its finger at the Commission and shouts ‘Keep the corrupt thief!’. This is the state of European institutions in 2025, and you, Mrs von der Leyen, have made this unworthy spectacle possible with your maximum opacity. Europe needs the courage for a policy change that seeks to establish social justice, achieve peace and protect the climate and the environment. You do not have that courage, ladies and gentlemen of the Commission, and that is why Europe needs a new political idea and, yes, a new political leadership. In the Trump trade war, you remain passive at the expense of our industry and jobs. Just make an announcement, for example, for the introduction of a European digital tax. But no, you're afraid to mess with European and US and Chinese big tech companies. The Green Deal, from you as Europe Man-on-the-MoonMoment designated, is unwinded piece by piece by your own party family in cooperation with the extreme right. Instead of talking more about climate protection, you should call your environmental programmes "Welcome to the climate catastrophe" in the future. Their migration policy violates human rights. They are incapable of enforcing the rule of law and let people like Orbán and Meloni dance around on their noses. European foreign policy is silent on the breaches of international law and war crimes in the Middle East and Gaza and plays no role in the Ukraine war, because your only idea of diplomacy is to drive up the profits of arms companies with hundreds of billions of public funds and thus force the majority of society into a new austerity policy. This is your disastrous political record! Ms von der Leyen, your policy means that these corrupt rights are performing their monkey theatre here every day and making democracy ridiculous. That is why we will do everything we can to deprive these people of their political basis. That is why, Mrs von der Leyen, your commission will continue to find its toughest political opponents in us for your wrong policy.

Madam President, We have learned from the media in recent days that an internal audit report by the European Parliament makes it clear that the former right-wing radical ID group here in the European Parliament allegedly misappropriated 4.3 million euros, spending it on companies close to them, on overpriced advertising or on promoting questionable organisations close to them. This shows the true character of those who always act as clean men over there. Underneath this image is illegal party financing and corruption. I think that Parliament should seize this opportunity to take a critical look at this misappropriation of public funds.

Madam President, Does economic and competition policy benefit the general public or, in particular, the boards of directors of corporations and their shareholders? We have to answer this question together. In recent years, we have experienced an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis – rents, food and energy prices have risen rapidly. In Germany alone, food prices have risen by a third since 2020, while the richest man in the country, food company boss Dieter Schwarz, has tripled his wealth at the same time. The Commission has failed to protect people from abuses of power and price-driving. We finally need stronger interference with corporate power, fair price controls and an additional tax on the excessive profits of powerful large companies. Companies that already make billions in profits must not be massively subsidized with taxpayers' money, only to then distribute fat dividends to their shareholders and even make mass redundancies. Volkswagen alone has invested more than six billion euros in recent years and has nevertheless announced that it will cut 35,000 jobs. Government support for businesses must therefore be linked to clear social conditions: good jobs, no distributions to shareholders and, above all, no mass redundancies. We need an economic and competition policy that serves the many working people and those with little money and not just a few super-rich.

Mr President! Donald Trump has managed to completely chaotic international trade relations in the first hundred days of his presidency. The consequences for the economy and the population are already foreseeable. Economic output will decline and at the same time prices will become more expensive. The mine for this will first pay the working population again and those who have little money in their pockets anyway. This policy is no coincidence. Right-wing populist Donald Trump is deliberately trying to assert the interests of his economic buddies, namely the US defense industry, US energy giants and US big tech companies. But the European Commission does not seem to have really understood this. Commissioner, we are in a global trade war and trade policy is being used as a weapon to enforce economic interests and define spheres of influence internationally. This must be countered by European policies with a clear strategy that protects the economy and jobs here in the European Union, and this can only be achieved with massive investments in our industry. This can only be achieved with the strategic independence of the European Union. Today, Commissioner, you too know that the Commission's initial 'it won't be so bad' head-in-the-sand strategy was a political denial of reality. Now you want to negotiate, to conclude a deal in the spirit of Donald Trump, and if that doesn't work, then there are supposed to be tough countermeasures. I hear a lot of offers from you, they are plentiful. Now even more US fracking gas will be purchased – instead of driving European energy independence and creating so many jobs, a new dependency on fossil fuels will be created. This is economically, socially and ecologically fundamentally wrong. But the pressure on the U.S. government is yet to be seen. Where is the introduction of the instrument against coercive measures? Where is the tough regulation of big tech companies? Where is the introduction of a European digital tax? Close your eyes and put your hands behind your back. Do you want to throw even more money and especially our private data into the throats of the richest companies and people like Elon Musk in this way? It is now time to work with partners such as Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, but also with China on a trade order that is rules-based, based on fair trade rather than unleashed free trade. And all that seems to come to mind for the European Commission are commodity agreements such as those with Rwanda, which is a major contributor to aggravating the war in the Congo, or digital cooperation agreements such as those with Singapore, which undermines our data security, or classic free trade agreements such as Mercosur, which Europeans have shown the red card to since TTIP because they are bad for social standards, the environment and agriculture. Their response to Trump is solely for the benefit of the US oligarchs and European oligarchs. We need a response that serves the majority of the population and democracy.

Madam President, Christianity and socialism might not share the closest link at first glance, but Pope Francis used his mandate to advance the Christian social doctrine that is also deeply rooted in socialist politics. The fight for social justice and against poverty – one of the cornerstones of Francis's pontificate – remains a central responsibility for both the progressive Left and the progressive Church. Pope Francis has all my respect for always taking sides for the vulnerable and for defending humanity and human rights for all, regardless of origin, status, colour or belief. And, in an increasingly hostile world, Pope Francis's voice has constantly been one of peace. Relentlessly, he called for an end of the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza. Every single day, he cared for the Palestinian civilians whose unjust suffering he felt painfully. Let us make his prayers for justice and peace a reality. Let's the end politics of injustice and division. And I wish his successor all possible success in transforming the Catholic Church into a Church for the 21st century. I'd like to conclude, in a rather secular way – I'm sure he would have understood – farewell, Francis.

Madam President, High Representative Kallas, world politics is moving rapidly and hardly gives us a breather, and it would have been very welcome if you had made one or two statements here before the European Parliament in recent months. Russia's war of aggression in violation of international law continues unabated and affects the Ukrainian civilian population as well as the country's infrastructure. Meanwhile, diplomatic talks between the US and Russia, on the one hand, and the US and Ukraine, on the other, are taking place in Saudi Arabia. I always wonder: Where is the EU? Why don't we sit, why don't you sit at the table? These talks are about a ceasefire in the Black Sea and an end to the attacks on energy infrastructure. I want to be very clear: Every step towards a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine and a lasting and just peace must be supported and supported by the EU. I have unfortunately missed this clarity, Mrs High Representative, in your statement. Putin's army is still on the rise, and he seems to have found an ally in the US president who is bringing him back to the political stage of the major powers. The authoritarian redistribution of the world is progressing rapidly, and in this case especially at the expense of Ukraine and also at the expense of the European Union, which is not even allowed to sit at the cat table, while the conditions for ending a war on European soil are at stake. That's really unbelievable. That's why I ask myself: Where is the European initiative to end this war, so that the EU can at least negotiate the European peace order? Where is your strategy, Mrs Kallas, for a peace order that does not start and end with tanks and drones and jets, but that protects and strengthens international law and international institutions? For a Europe that builds its security on economic strength, international cooperation and the credibility of its values. This is the idea of a Europe in which diplomacy is the weapon of choice and which does not secure its future exclusively through a barrel of guns.