What Abir spoke about.

4 May

2022

SV Speech

Use of the Pegasus Software by EU Member States against individuals including MEPs and the violation of fundamental rights (topical debate)

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Mr President, thank you very much. Pegasus technology was developed for governments to fight terrorism and prevent crime, but the government of Hungary has been spying on its journalists, the government of Poland has been spying on opposition politicians and now this list has also become longer, with countries such as Luxembourg and Spain and the Belgian police. I am very pleased that our own Libe…

8 Mar

2022

SV Speech

The deterioration of the situation of refugees as a consequence of the Russian aggression against Ukraine (debate)

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Mr President, thank you very much. Honourable Commissioner, honourable Members! I survived a war when I was ten years old that changed my life forever. I remember how my single mom grabbed me and ran. I remember how she tried to protect my body with her little body thinking she could make me live in case the bombs hit us. I also remember the little Syrian boy Alan, whose body was washed up on the …

8 Mar

2022

SV Speech

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

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Madam President, thank you very much. Dear Members, Commissioner, If we have ever hesitated in the face of the warnings that our liberal democracy is under attack, as well as our institutions, our political system, our European way of life, then Putin's war against Ukraine has shown its true face with full force. However, Putin's war is not only going on against Ukraine, but it is also going on ag…

7 Mar

2022

SV Speech

Shrinking space for civil society in Europe (debate)

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Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to thank you, Anna Donáth, for this important work. Even before the pandemic struck, we knew that some governments in our Union spent a great deal of time creating a narrative about civil society organisations that ultimately led to the dismantling of their activities. Right-wing populist governments, such as in Hu…

16 Feb

2022

SV Speech

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

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Madam President, thank you very much. Today, the verdict has fallen on the governments of Poland and Hungary. It was about time. Today's court decision is about us Europeans finally standing up for the peoples of Hungary and Poland, and not their governments. Today's court ruling shows that the human rights and freedoms of Polish and Hungarian citizens are important to all of us, concern all of us…

25 Nov

2021

SV Speech

The International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women and the State of play on the ratification of the Istanbul Convention (continuation of debate)

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Mr President, thank you very much. Even before the pandemic, violence against women was far too widespread here in the EU. One third of all European women have been subjected to some form of violence, i.e. one in three women in this room and across the EU. Every day, a woman dies from domestic violence. This pandemic has allowed domestic violence to flourish freely, and some conservative forces ha…

23 Nov

2021

EN Speech

Legal migration policy and law (debate)

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Madam President, we are 27 Member States in the European Union. Our region ranks as one of the most prosperous and wealthiest regions in the world. Our Member States are always ranked as some of the best countries to live in and work in worldwide. Our economies are strong thanks to our businesses and their workers, who continue to improve our daily lives. But the truth is our economies are facing …

21 Oct

2021

SV Speech

2019 Discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency (debate)

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Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, thank you very much. Dear colleagues, Today, the debate about the EU's external border authority, Frontex, is not about being or not being. We all recognise the importance of the existence of this authority, this European authority financed by European taxpayers' money. This is not an attack on the agency. This is a sensible way of demanding account…

19 Oct

2021

SV Speech

The Rule of law crisis in Poland and the primacy of EU law (debate)

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Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, thank you very much. The Prime Minister! What we're talking about today is your people. What we're talking about today is how your government consistently dismantles the rule of law and how courts are turned into political megaphones. How you and your party are dismantling media pluralism. It is you and your government who argue that Polish women do…

7 Oct

2021

SV Speech

The state law relating to abortion in Texas, USA

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Madam President, thank you very much. Madam Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you very much. Now the constitutional justice system in the United States has come to life and announced that this appalling abortion legislation is being temporarily stopped. Now let's hope that the Supreme Court also wakes up from its conservative hibernation and realizes that banning abortion i…

5 Oct

2021

SV Speech

Humanitarian situation in Tigray (debate)

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Madam President, thank you very much. Commissioner, thank you very much. What we see happening in Tigray is an unimaginable tragedy, an unimaginable evil and an unimaginable passivity from the outside world. Many times we have said: Never again, never forget. But equally, for almost a year we see how the civilian population of Tigray is attacked in cold blood, how rape is used as a weapon, how chi…

4 Oct

2021

SV Speech

The protection of persons with disabilities through petitions: lessons learnt (debate)

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Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, thank you very much. On my wall calendar it says the year 2021. Nevertheless, when it comes to the rights of citizens with disabilities, in some places the Union feels more like the 1950s. The coronavirus pandemic has hit our societies hard. But it has hit even harder a certain group in our Union, namely people with disabilities. And now that we are…

14 Sep

2021

SV Speech

Situation in Afghanistan (debate)

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Madam President, thank you very much. The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan is a failure of the free and democratic world. To call the international withdrawal led by the United States a failure would be the understatement of the century. whereas the terrorist organisation Taliban has already systematically and calculatedly started dismantling human rights, erasing women from public spaces, target…

7 Jul

2021

SV Speech

Breaches of EU law and of the rights of LGBTIQ citizens in Hungary as a result of the adopted legal changes in the Hungarian Parliament - The outcome of 22 June hearings under Article 7(1) of the TEU regarding Poland and Hungary (continuation of debate)

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Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen. When Poland and Hungary wanted to join the EU, you committed to certain values. You entered the European Union by fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria. It's not an entrance ticket. It is an agreement that must be complied with, day after day. You entered the Treaty of Lisbon with your eyes wide open, where the second ar…