What Irena spoke about.

17 Jan

2024

SL Speech

Rule of Law and media freedom in Greece (debate)

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Madam President! Greece, the cradle of democracy, which today, unfortunately, presents itself in a completely different light. Media freedom is strongly influenced by deep-rooted systemic barriers stemming from the lack of media pluralism and the oligarchic ownership structure of media outlets dictating their editorial policy, not to mention the political and economic pressure on journalists and t…

13 Dec

2023

SL Speech

One year after Morocco and QatarGate – stocktaking of measures to strengthen transparency and accountability in the European institutions (debate)

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Mr. President! It has been one year since some colleagues received suitcases of money from third countries to influence Union policy. The affair has seriously damaged the credibility of this Union. People have lost trust. Justified. In fact, I also wonder how much corruption is still undisclosed, especially after the last posts in Politico. What is the impact of illegal lobbying or partial interes…

13 Dec

2023

SL Speech

EU strategy to assist young people facing the housing and cost of living crisis (topical debate)

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Mr President. How many of you here have ever made fun of young people, such as 30-year-olds and -year-olds, who still live with their parents? Or have you heard those jokes about the "Mom Hotel"? Probably a lot of people. Such remarks are sad to me. The circumstances facing young generations today can only be ridiculous in satire, which is not the real situation. Lack of real estate, record inflat…

21 Nov

2023

SL Speech

Job creation – the just transition and impact investments (short presentation)

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Madam President. The Green Deal. Achieving climate neutrality and committing to a sustainable and, in particular, just transition. All this follows the realization of a single goal, ensuring a long and carefree future for the next generations. We have adopted a number of pieces of legislation to preserve the environment. But we also need to preserve jobs, protect them and create them. There is gre…

21 Nov

2023

SL Speech

Continuing threat to the rule of law, the independence of justice and the non-fulfilment of conditionality for EU funding in Hungary (debate)

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Madam President. We are talking again about the violation of the rule of law in Hungary. After all the resolutions that have been passed, the debates that have already taken place, we are here again. There was speculation about some agreement by the Commission with the Hungarian government to partially release the blocked funds to them. The suspension of Hungary's voting rights under Article 7, a …

8 Nov

2023

SL Speech

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 26-27 October 2023 - Humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause (joint debate - Conclusions of the European Council and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause)

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Madam President. In the next minute, I will criticise the State of Israel for the most part, and I will not allow anyone to equate what has been said with anti-Semitism. I will allow even less to be assimilated to support for Hamas. I condemn everything these terrorists do. I condemn all killings of innocent people. I condemn the violation of international law. I condemn our eternal concern and ou…

18 Oct

2023

SL Speech

Fighting disinformation and dissemination of illegal content in the context of the Digital Services Act and in times of conflict (debate)

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Mr. President! Among the greatest victims of any war are innocent people and truth. Proverb, cliché. Call it what you want, but we all know that this sentence is accurate – especially in these times. We all know the unprecedented speed at which videos, photos, comments go online – especially in these times. Does everyone, as a society, know how many manipulations there are up there? Is he lying? I…

4 Oct

2023

SL Speech

Decent Housing for All (topical debate)

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Madam President! There are 700,000 homeless people on the streets of Europe. We have set ourselves the goal of eliminating this problem by 2030, but the homelessness rate has increased over the last ten years, rising by 70 percent. Meanwhile, millions of employed young people cannot afford their own housing at all. Emphasis is placed on employed young people. On top of that, all the crises of rece…

3 Oct

2023

SL Speech

European Media Freedom Act (debate)

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Madam President. The defence of the rule of law in the European Union has always left the media behind, although we know that their independence is a key condition for the functioning of our democracy. In some Member States, we have well-functioning media systems and, unfortunately, in many cases, their complete subordination. There, they became the main tool for manipulating people to maintain th…

13 Sep

2023

SL Speech

The future of the European book sector (debate)

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Dear Sir/Madam, The books. Without them, we would not know history, without them there would be no social progress, revolutions, research, innovation. Ironically, without them, there would be no technological development and digitalisation, today two major threats to the book sector, not only from the point of view of the existence of new book formats, which may completely replace printed books in…

12 Sep

2023

SL Speech

Combating the normalisation of far-right and far-left discourses including antisemitism (debate)

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Madam President. Now I could read you a palette of hateful comments I get on a daily basis. I don't mean critical, I mean evil, dangerous comments, but I won't. Because in this case, I'd have to talk all night, and most of all, because I'm not the only one. Alas, far from it. We all have to deal with the issue of the normalization of extreme discourse. Normalization leads to acceptance. Acceptance…

10 Jul

2023

SL Speech

Protection of journalists and human rights defenders from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings (debate)

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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Journalists, civil society, NGOs. These are three groups that are invaluable for a healthy, democratic society. And these are the three groups that are constantly under pressure from strategic lawsuits to seek the truth and warn the rulers of irregularities. It's the mechanism of repressive politicians, by the way. I am therefore pleased that the directive includes legal s…

14 Jun

2023

SL Speech

Implementation and delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (debate)

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Madam President. Since the signing of the Sustainable Development Agenda, the Union has sought to become a frontrunner in achieving the objectives set. We want to reach them by 2030, don't we? And during this mandate, we have taken steps in the right direction with the Green Deal. There was a pandemic. And we have established a joint solution to health problems, but war has entered the continent a…

10 May

2023

SL Speech

Update of the anti-corruption legislative framework (debate)

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Mr President. The LuxLeaks affair, the Galvin Report affair, the so-called ‘Money for Influence’ affair. The most prominent, the Cresson affair, which led to the resignation of the whole Commission and is currently the most topical, Quatargate. These are just a few high-profile corruption scandals at European level, and there are even more at Member State level. They all challenge our democratic v…

19 Apr

2023

SL Speech

EU Global Health Strategy (debate)

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Madam President. We needed a pandemic for the Commission to present a renewed Global Health Strategy after thirteen years. But, well, at least we got it. And it is well designed and, if successfully implemented, will put the Union at the forefront of health on a geopolitical scale. I unequivocally support this, especially since the strategy is labelled as an external aspect of the European Health …

19 Apr

2023

SL Speech

Keeping people healthy, water drinkable and soil liveable: getting rid of forever pollutants and strengthening EU chemical legislation now (topical debate)

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Madam President. Clean water, safe food, unpolluted soil, clean air. These are basic goods that should be taken for granted. It is true that these are areas in which the Union is doing a great deal. But somehow we are forgetting about the regulation of chemicals, where there have been no serious changes since 2006, when the still current REACH was adopted, the renewal of which the Commission has a…

29 Mar

2023

SL Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

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Thank you very much. Every decent man takes responsibility for his actions, doesn't he? If it proves to be illegal, it takes responsibility. Get out of here. And what does the management of RTV Slovenia do? Director-General Andrei Grah Whatmough is – proven in court – unlawfully in office. He won't resign. Former TV director Natalija Gorščak was – proven in court – unlawfully dismissed. Her succes…

15 Mar

2023

SL Speech

Cross-border adoptions from third countries (debate)

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Mr. President! Children are our future. I know, it sounds clichéd, but it's really that simple. At the same time, as the most vulnerable part of society, these children are left to our decisions to take measures to ensure their safety. International adoptions are undoubtedly very noble and it is right to provide the right conditions for them. If this is not the case, we allow for the possibility o…

15 Mar

2023

SL Speech

More Europe, more jobs: we are building the competitive economy of tomorrow for the benefit of all (topical debate)

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Mr. President! More Europe, more jobs. Faster development of the economy, better competitiveness. Creation of new professions, adequate education. All of this goes hand in hand, but there is nothing without proper education and training. I emphasise this in particular because this year, as we have heard many times today, is the European Year of Skills, and we must take into account the need for ad…

15 Feb

2023

SL Speech

The erosion of the rule of law in Greece: the wiretapping scandal and media freedom (topical debate)

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Madam President. Threats, attempts to control, silence, subjugate. To deal with this in journalism, unfortunately, is not new. But in recent years, it has only intensified, even gaining new momentum: New control technology. There are many methods, but we need to address them comprehensively. It is also happening in Europe. There are no ‘mere’ threats, ‘mere’ attempts, ‘mere’ surveillance, murders.…

14 Feb

2023

SL Speech

Establishment of an independent EU Ethics Body (debate)

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Mr. President! Integrity, transparency, accountability. Zero tolerance for corruption. Without this trust in our work, there is and will not be. Some rules already exist, that's right. But we have different codes of conduct across the institutions, which is why the standards are then patchy, the investigative powers are insufficient, so that I do not even talk about flawed, often unconvincing sanc…

18 Jan

2023

SL Speech

Situation of journalists in Morocco, notably the case of Omar Radi

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Madam President. Right to information and freedom of expression. It is enshrined in the Moroccan Constitution. For nothing obvious. Journalists are extremely limited in their work, forced into self-censorship. The right to report on corruption, the status of the monarchy and the status of Western Sahara is, to put it mildly, severely curtailed. Because if no one reports government corruption, it c…

17 Jan

2023

SL Speech

New developments in allegations of corruption and foreign interference, including those related to Morocco, and the need to increase transparency, integrity and accountability in the European institutions (debate)

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Madam President. It's a shock. It's a horror. Shame on you. And there's something else to be found to describe the corruption scandal that's been going on in this house. Yes, of course, third-country interference is unfortunately also happening – which is unacceptable to understand. And it is right to stop this – but... will that be enough? Rules need to be tightened in all areas, at all levels, f…

14 Dec

2022

SL Speech

The Commission’s reports on the situation of journalists and the implications of the rule of law (debate)

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Madam President! Thank you! Ensuring the safety of journalists is a prerequisite for effective media freedom, which is one of the cornerstones of the rule of law. To ensure their safety at Union level, we set standards in all reports, action plans, legislative proposals, more or less successfully. We also often mention the quality of reporting, which affects the credibility of the information prov…

13 Dec

2022

SL Speech

This is Europe - Debate with the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob (debate)

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Madam President-in-Office, Honourable Prime Minister, Honourable Colleagues, Honourable Colleagues, the European Union has grown from a peace political project into a true political community in seven decades. Together, we set global standards for people in climate policy, digital rights, healthy food, democratic values. Is everything perfect? It's not. During this political evolution, an overcomp…