What Viola spoke about.

15 Mar

2023

DE Speech

Strengthening the EU Defence in the context of the war in Ukraine: speeding up production and deliveries to Ukraine of weapons and ammunitions (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! By signing the UN Charter, all countries commit themselves in Article 2(4) to refraining from violence in international relations. Article 51 reinforces the right of states to self-defense. For me, the situation is absolutely clear. We support Ukraine in its right to self-defense. As Greens, it is still somewhat difficult to communicate, but it …

14 Mar

2023

EN Speech

EU-Armenia relations (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, Armenia is a remarkable European country surrounded by foes, geographically isolated, and struggling with an armed conflict, losing lives every day, and still its democracy is thriving. However, Armenia’s bright future will be built on the shaky ground of its tragic past and a difficult present. As an eye-for-an-eye leaves everyone behind, there is no o…

14 Mar

2023

EN Speech

The challenges facing the Republic of Moldova (debate)

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Mr President, the Kremlin’s playbook is as rigged as it is predictable. If you cannot win the hearts and minds of the people in a neighbouring country, threaten them with a war. If blackmail fails, destabilise the country from within. The ploy disclosed by the Moldavian Government has Putin’s fingerprints all over it. It is an old KGB trick to take advantage of social hardships of the people. Send…

14 Mar

2023

EN Speech

Situation in Georgia (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, all masks are finally off. The government of Georgia is determined to sabotage the country’s European path. Thankfully, the people of Georgia are not taking it. There is no way back to the Russian swamp. There’s no way back to the curtailed freedoms and autocracy. There’s only one way forward: to Georgia’s European future. The people of Georgia are so u…

16 Feb

2023

DE Speech

The further repressions against the people of Belarus, in particular the cases of Andrzej Poczobut and Ales Bialiatski (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Belarusian dictator Lukashenko is just as brutal as Putin. Both are from yesterday, one with nuclear weapons and one without. No one is surprised when Lukashenko allows Russian troops to use Belarus as a staging ground against Ukraine. Why should he have more mercy on Ukraine than on his own people? He has been terrorizing and torturing his civilia…

15 Feb

2023

EN Speech

One year of Russia’s invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

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Madam President, HR / VP Borrell, President of the Commission, dear colleagues, a year ago, I stood here warning Putin that the attack on Ukraine would be the end of Russia as we know it, that the imperial overstretch would doom Russian hopes of regional domination. The war that Putin aimed to last three days has been now waging for a year. A dying empire is desperately trying to destroy the Ukrai…

2 Feb

2023

EN Speech

Preparation of the EU-Ukraine Summit (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, we have now watched 12 months of Russia’s brutal war and 12 months of Ukraine’s brave resistance. Against all odds the people of Ukraine prove to the world that they can and will win this war. For their victory, Ukraine needs our continued support. We must increase the pressure of sanctions on the Russian economy and provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs. The …

19 Jan

2023

DE Speech

The Global Gateway Initiative (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Until Xi took office, there was hope that cooperation with China would be a win-win situation for everyone involved. Since 2012 at the latest, however, China's desire to massively import resources for its own economy, similar to other countries, has been unmistakable due to a different self-image and a new anchoring in world politics. Emerging hung…

18 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Humanitarian consequences of the blockade in Nagorno-Karabakh

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Mr President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, violence only promotes more violence. The best time to end the century—old hate in Nagorno—Karabakh was 30 years ago. The second best time is now. Why should the Caucasus be a land of hostility when it can be a land of prosperity? Imagine all the possibilities. A train running from Baku to Yerevan and beyond, old friends who became enemies becoming frie…

18 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2021 (debate)

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Madam President, colleagues, and also a big thank you to you, Madam Commissioner, for your warm words regarding the unbearable tragedy which we have seen today in Ukraine. But of course, the war we are facing now is affecting our work and our life everyday. It’s not easy to come back to this rather technical topic now regarding the annual report of the EIB’s activities in 2021, which was very deta…

17 Jan

2023

EN Speech

The EU’s response to the appalling attack against civilians in Dnipro : strengthening sanctions against the Putin regime and military support to Ukraine (debate)

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Madam President, colleagues, Commissioner, in a yellow kitchen, an apple bowl sits on the dining table and a father is waiting for his family to return – a picture that could be from any house, even yours or mine. Except that this is not a regular kitchen anymore; it belongs to the family of Mykhailo Koronevsky. It is now buried under the rubble of a Dnipro apartment block. A Russian missile has h…

15 Dec

2022

DE Speech

The humanitarian situation in Ukraine due to Russia’s attacks against critical infrastructure and civilian areas (debate)

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Mr President! We talked about it here today: The brutality of the Russian regime is almost unimaginable. What Russia has not yet done with military power has first tried with hunger, then they have tried with energy, now they are trying with freezing to death. They want the people, the civilians, to freeze to death. But if you're talking to Ukrainians right now, you'll hear one thing: They will no…

15 Dec

2022

EN Speech

90 years after Holodomor: Recognising the mass killing through starvation as genocide (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, it was acorns and pigeons that Vasyl Sieber’s family had to eat to survive the winter; he was six. Olesya Sunopol was 10; she remembers people eating tree bark, frogs and even earthworms. Fedir Putyanskyy remembers a boy admitting to eating the flesh of his own mother, who died of starvation. They were just children when the man-made famine killed million…

14 Dec

2022

DE Speech

Defending democracy from foreign interference (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Admittedly, we do not earn badly in the European Parliament. Why is that so? Why do taxpayers give us this relatively generous amount? So that we are incorruptible and do not have to keep ourselves afloat with third-party funds. Incorruptibility is a great asset in politics. Trust in women politicians is the basis for our mandates, the foundation o…

13 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Annual implementing report on the EU association agreement with Georgia (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, it is hard for me to admit but Georgia, once a poster child of the Eastern Partnership, is now a captured state. Democratic backsliding continues to accelerate. The justice system is ruled by clans, while prominent cases are politically motivated, like the unjustified imprisonment of Nika Gvaramia. The government has borrowed a page or two from Putin’s di…

13 Dec

2022

DE Speech

Suspicions of corruption from Qatar and the broader need for transparency and accountability in the European institutions (debate) (debate)

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Mr President! Transparency, integrity, anti-corruption, fairness, human rights: We have been discussing these issues for months, especially in connection with Qatar. First it was about FIFA and football, now it's about our democracy in Europe. But the demands are the same. We must stand up for our values here together. As an institution, we must fight against external influence and now we must tak…

13 Dec

2022

DE Speech

Question Time (Commission) - “Protection of strategic infrastructure from China's influence”

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What consideration is given to new technologies that do not yet fall into the category of sensitive research? You may be able to comment on this again.

13 Dec

2022

DE Speech

Question Time (Commission) - “Protection of strategic infrastructure from China's influence”

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Mr President! What does an unattended child do in the confectionery store? It makes use of quite unabashedly. And that's exactly what China is doing right now in the European Union: It has been greedily stuffing its pockets for years. Here the port of Piraeus, there the Portuguese shares of the national transmission system operators and then a Finnish antibody manufacturer. Today it says: the same…

23 Nov

2022

DE Speech

The continuing repression of the democratic opposition and civil society in Belarus

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! It is important that, despite Russia’s brutal war of aggression in Ukraine, we do not forget the situation in Belarus, because the fates of these two countries – Belarus and Ukraine – are closely linked. Only when Putin is defeated will Lukashenko's rule come to an end. Just like the people of Ukraine, the people of Belarus are true fighters. They …

21 Nov

2022

DE Speech

Situation of human rights in the context of the FIFA world cup in Qatar (debate)

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Madam President, How many people have to die to spoil the fun here? How many hidden accidents, desperate families, how many suffering migrant workers, how many suicides are okay? FIFA President Infantino said three people had died. According to Amnesty International, 15,021 people have died. But isn't every life lost just so we can cheer on our teams one too many? Whether three, 30 or 3 000 dead, …

20 Oct

2022

DE Speech

Cultural solidarity with Ukraine and a joint emergency response mechanism for cultural recovery in Europe (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! In one survey, 64% of Ukrainians surveyed had named Taras Shevchenko, the national poet and founder of modern Ukrainian literature, as the most outstanding figure of all time. This shows quite impressively the importance of cultural identity and cultural heritage for the self-image of Ukrainians, especially and despite the war. The entire cultur…

19 Oct

2022

DE Speech

Lukashenka regime's active role in the war against Ukraine (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Viktoria and Bogdan, a young couple from Kiev, were expecting their first child. Both were killed two days ago along with their unborn child. The drone that hit her house probably came from Belarus. So on the subject: Lukashenko and Putin are in no way inferior in their crimes. You have to deal with them by the same means. Lukashenko is terroriz…

19 Oct

2022

DE Speech

EU-Western Balkans relations in light of the new enlargement package (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! 2022 brought enlargement back on the agenda. That's good news for now. We have even promised EU membership to other countries in the East. But how realistic is this perspective? In the end, it must be said that enlargement has become a pure farce, and many are to blame for this. We have deceived, deceived, deceived all those in the Western Balka…

19 Oct

2022

DE Speech

Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report 2021 (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! First of all, congratulations also from our group to the new President of the European Court of Auditors. We are very pleased about your choice. With the NextGenerationEU recovery plan, we have practically double the budget. However, these two parts of EU spending – the MFF on the one hand and the recovery plan on the other – follow completely d…

18 Oct

2022

DE Speech

Recognising the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Terrorism is, I quote: the unlawful use of violence against civilians to pursue political objectives. Nothing describes Russia's actions in Ukraine better than the word terrorism. Terrorism is when hundreds of Ukrainian civilians are tortured, raped, murdered and thrown into mass graves in Irpin, Butsha and Isyum. How else will we call it when R…