What Irena spoke about.

25

Nov

2025

SL Speech

Watch

Digital Package (debate)

Mr. President! I absolutely agree: We need to adapt the legislation to make it more coherent, to eliminate duplications and to make it easier for our companies to do business. It's in everyone's interest. But the way you approached it is not suitable and, above all, will not have the desired effect. Because you combine certain things where they are incompatible. Otherwise, I am glad that you took …

21

Oct

2025

EN Speech

Watch

Polarisation and increased repression in Serbia, one year after the Novi Sad tragedy (debate)

(The speaker spoke in a non-official language) It's in Serbian, but something should sound familiar. That's what the regime in Serbia called the people on the streets: Nazis. Let that sink in. Do you know that Novi Sad literally means 'new now'? The protesters' wish is simple: a new future. Not tomorrow. Not after another round of no doings. Now. So now get this grotesque irony, this theatre of po…

21

Oct

2025

SL Speech

Watch

Delayed justice and rule of law backsliding in Malta, eight years after Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination (debate)

Mr. President! "There are crooks everywhere you look." This is a quote from Daphne Caruana Galizia and this quote gives a good description of the situation that still prevails in Malta years after her murder. She was telling the truth, exposing corruption, demanding accountability, everything that should be taken for granted in a democracy. And as her actions were resoundingly resounding, so is he…

21

Oct

2025

EN Speech

Watch

Recent peace agreement in the Middle East and the role of the EU (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, for years, many of you sat here watching Gaza burn, debating, condemning, expressing concern – doing absolutely nothing. You watched the genocide and didn't dare to call its name. You spoke of principles and delivered none. We failed the Palestinians. We failed the world. We failed humanity. 'Recent peace agreement' is the title of this debate – a peace f…

9

Oct

2025

SL Speech

Watch

World Mental Health Day - addressing the socio-economic factors (debate)

Mr President. Mental health is not a luxury. It is a fundamental human right and, above all, dignity. In the past mandate, the Commission presented a European strategy for mental health, which is not bad, but – frankly – not enough. Mental health doesn't start in hospitals, you know. It starts in societies that give people security, stability and opportunities. So we need real action: stronger soc…

7

Oct

2025

EN Speech

Watch

The EU’s role in supporting the recent peace efforts for Gaza and a two-state solution (debate)

Madam President, now or never. Not tomorrow, not next week. Now or never. This is the moment for everyone who still defends the atrocities committed by the State of Israel in Palestine, to prove that there remains somewhere inside – I hope – a spark of humanity. Sure, I welcome Trump's ceasefire plan, but only barely and only because it is less grotesque than the so‑called Middle Eastern Riviera p…

9

Sep

2025

HR Answer

Watch

Wave of violence and continuous use of force against protesters in Serbia (debate)

Thank you, I will do my best to speak in Croatian. I'm sorry, he's going to the other side, but I'll do my best. I never support nationalism. Never have. I do not support those who are ready for home, nor do I support any others who are so combative in their nationalism that they sometimes forget that in fact, this past is not the most important, but rather a more beautiful future for people. And …

9

Sep

2025

SL Speech

Watch

Wave of violence and continuous use of force against protesters in Serbia (debate)

Madam President. "We are following the situation in Serbia very closely and we are really very concerned." This is the official line of the leadership, i.e. the President of the Commission and the Members. But they're blinking. Waiting for it to pass? Somebody else dies, maybe? I don't know. But I know that there is no understanding, no responsibility, not even the slightest gesture of solidarity …

8

Jul

2025

SL Speech

Watch

2023 and 2024 reports on North Macedonia (debate)

Madam President! Listen to me, colleagues. This report is a report on the European path of one candidate country. The paths sprinkled with too many thorns, and the paths of the nation, which has been humiliated and imposed so many times, are still better than many within the Union. All honor to the exceptions. This report is not a report on the right to the existence of the Macedonian nation, the …

8

Jul

2025

SL Speech

Watch

State of play of implementation of the European Media Freedom Act in the Member States (debate)

Mr. President! The European Media Freedom Act is one of our greatest achievements from the previous mandate. It was also caused by the attacks of the Janez Janša government in Slovenia on the STA and on RTV. I'm sorry. And if you experience this, you know how important it is to have European safeguards. But the problem, as is often the case, is that the law is not enforced as it should be. It is p…

7

Jul

2025

SL Speech

Watch

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Madam President. Wars are raging around the world, genocide, the liberal order of the world order is falling apart, rights are disappearing, equality is a myth. Free from Draghi: a slow agony awaits the Union without change. What are your colleagues doing on the right? Using abusive procedures, they bring to the European Parliament a historically inaccurate resolution that would rewrite the post-w…

18

Jun

2025

EN Speech

Watch

Stopping the genocide in Gaza: time for EU sanctions (topical debate)

Madam President, finally, with the title of this debate, this Chamber is officially acknowledging what some of us have been shouting for years: what's happening in Gaza is genocide. To those of you still refusing to see it and still hiding behind courts or legal formalities, you are not only complicit, you are shameless hypocrites. You are dismantling the very legal principles you so proudly aim –…

17

Jun

2025

EN Speech

Watch

Situation in the Middle East (joint debate)

Mr President, the Middle East is gripped by conflicts, genocide, suffering, injustice, driven not by ancient rivalries, but by ongoing impunity, military aggression and systematic denial of human rights. Israel's ongoing assault on the people of Gaza, the legacy of its attacks on Lebanon, and its aggressive posture across the region are not isolated incidents of self-defence. They form a broader p…

17

Jun

2025

SL Speech

Watch

The Commission’s 2024 Rule of Law report (debate)

Madam President. Our Rule of Law Report for the past year has all the key highlights necessary for the functioning of democracy and trust in our institutions. So: independent justice, anti-corruption measures, media freedom, free functioning of civil society, equality before the law. And yes, the reports on the rule of law are great - on paper. It usually stops at recommendations instead of follow…

21

May

2025

SL Speech

Watch

Improving mental health at work (debate)

Mr. President! Boosting the economy for greater competitiveness – this is the main political direction of the current mandate. All well and good, but, dear colleagues, the economy stands on people, on the work these people do every day. And if we do not take care of them, we are faced with burnt-out workers and workers who remain at home, with a health system that covers the consequences, and with…

21

May

2025

EN Speech

Watch

The EU's response to the Israeli government's plan to seize the Gaza Strip, ensuring effective humanitarian support and the liberation of hostages (debate)

Madam President, colleagues, nothing – and I mean nothing – justifies the human suffering in Gaza. The starvation, the killings, the genocide; no one should be able to turn away from that. Yet, that is exactly what has been going on. In the world, in Europe, in this House, the majority stood by while the situation in Palestine got worse and worse and worse. Meanwhile, some of us insist, and some o…

7

May

2025

SL Speech

Watch

Malta's Golden Passport scheme circumventing EU sanctions against Russia (debate)

Mr President. Gold passport schemes, i.e. investments in return for citizenship, have also been a practice in the European Union. It seems to me unacceptable that this was even possible, let alone that it could take so long. Cyprus abolished it in 2020, Bulgaria two years later. Malta, the last country to use it, must now put an end to it. And that's it - at last. What has been done with these sch…

6

May

2025

SL Speech

Watch

2023 and 2024 reports on Serbia (debate)

Mr President. Systemic corruption, worsening repression, sound cannon, expulsions, police violence, arbitrary arrests. Regime attacks, therefore, targeted at those who are simply fighting for the values that we in the European Union are supposed to embody. I do not support the rule of law, justice and democracy on paper. Do not underestimate the seriousness of the situation. Do not allow authorita…

2

Apr

2025

SL Speech

Watch

Topical debate (Rule 169) - Social Europe: making life affordable, protecting jobs, wages and health for all

Mr President. What do a resident of one Nordic Member State and a resident of, say, one Mediterranean Member State have in common? Both are citizens of the European Union and both should be guaranteed equal social security. Well, it's not. This is because the Union does not have sufficient competence in this area. A truncated sentence, but unfortunately true, until in some other areas it is not. W…

1

Apr

2025

SL Speech

Watch

Safeguarding the access to democratic media, such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (debate)

Mr. President! The United States has decided to strike a severe blow to liberal democracy by ending the financing of independent media. Radio Free Europe, but also Voice of America, Russian Medusa, Belarusian Belsat and many others, just where people need it most. Why do the U.S. do everything it does? With such questions, even if they are in place, we do not solve anything. Let's try this. How ca…

12

Mar

2025

SL Speech

Watch

100 days of the new Commission – Delivering on defence, competitiveness, simplification and migration as our priorities (topical debate)

Madam President! Dear colleagues! The first 100 days of the new Commission were marked by a turbulent geopolitical environment. The new US administration has shaken the rules-based order of the world. I really do not want to be too critical because I firmly believe that we urgently need to work together in the European Union, but these last 100 days have once again confirmed that we need radical r…

11

Mar

2025

EN Speech

Watch

Deteriorating situation in Gaza following the non-extension of the ceasefire (debate)

Madam President, and then there was darkness. And then we reached the point where a person – a human being at least – has no words left. Not even someone who, despite the darkness, clearly sees what is happening. Someone who will never turn a blind eye, who will never sway their position, who clearly and loudly speaks about facts. The fact is that after Israel once again cut off electricity to Gaz…

12

Feb

2025

SL Speech

Watch

Honouring the memory of Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová: advancing media freedom, strengthening the rule of law, and protecting journalists across the EU (debate)

Madam President! I will again pay tribute, in this case Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová, because they absolutely deserve it. Seven years ago, they paid the highest price, the price of living, for one thing only: exposing corruption through investigative journalism. Unfortunately, they're not the only ones. You act in the public interest, you die because of the narrow personal interests of corrupt…

11

Feb

2025

SL Speech

Watch

Political crisis in Serbia (debate)

Madam President! (microphone switched off at the beginning of the speech) It's a blockade. An opaque crowd – growing in size and determination. These are the streets of Serbia today. This is Serbia, which will no longer be silent, except for those stunning fifteen minutes of silence, which has never been so loud. A message that has never been so clear. Young people are the driving force of change.…

11

Feb

2025

EN Speech

Watch

Wider comprehensive EU-Middle East Strategy (debate)

Madam President, there are no words. No words that would sufficiently express how absolutely appalled I am by the statements from the American President. Throughout history, American involvement in the Middle East has only worsened the situation by prolonging conflicts with military engagement and lack of coherent strategies. Meanwhile, the EU has been, rather unsuccessfully, trying to resolve res…