What Viola spoke about.

16

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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Forced labour in the Linglong factory and environmental protests in Serbia

Mr President, it is nothing new that Serbia is a captured state with a very weak reform track record. The Serbian regime has widely opened its doors to Chinese investment, but has no respect whatsoever for labour and environmental rights and, above all, human dignity. What is, however, new is the way Vietnamese workers are treated in Serbia, while working on the Linglong tyre factory construction …

15

Dec

2021

DE Speech

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The proposed Council decision on provisional emergency measures for the external border with Belarus based on article 78(3) TFEU (continuation of debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! We have often spoken here about Belarus and external borders. There are hardly any words for what refugees have been experiencing there for months. Lukashenka is covering his country with a wave of repression. Terrorism against its own people has long been unrestricted. By exploiting the weaknesses of the asylum system, he has also carried terror a…

14

Dec

2021

DE Speech

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Cooperation on the fight against organised crime in the Western Balkans (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner! First of all, all the best to our rapporteur Lukas Mandl after Austria. When we want peace and security in our house, we have to make sure that our doorstep and our inner yard are safe and secured. The Western Balkans is precisely that doorstep for many EU Member States and the inner yard for the whole Union. These six countries are the major trans…

14

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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Situation at the Ukrainian border and in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, we have seen this before. A bully blackmails its weaker neighbours while the rest of the world watches. We have seen this in April, we have seen this countless times in the history of mankind, and history teaches us that appeasing a bully is a very dangerous strategy. It is immoral and counterproductive. As we speak, 100 000 Russian troops are mobilised on the Ukrainian border. Their…

25

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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Human rights violations by private military and security companies, particularly the Wagner Group

Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, it is high time to speak aloud about the paid mercenaries who kill across the globe. ‘Death is our business and business is going well’. These words were patched on the arms of the 33 Wagner Group fighters arrested in Belarus last year. Russian mercenaries were on their way to another mission in Africa. They were walking into a planned operation by t…

24

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report 2020 (debate)

Madam President, President Lehne, Commissioner, colleagues, the biggest share of EU taxpayers’ money goes for the CAP, and therefore we must be most discerning and careful when using it. However, the Commission had not carried out an impact assessment for the Common Provision Regulation. Regarding the CAP proposal, a comprehensive set of reasoned evaluations covering all aspects was not available …

23

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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Situation in Belarus and at its border with the EU and the security and humanitarian consequences (debate)

Mr President, 900 political prisoners, 40 000 arrested protesters, 280 liquidated NGOs, hundreds of shut-down media, journalists thrown into jails, lawyers stripped of licences. This is the reality of people of Belarus. Only because we do not hear these stories any more does not mean that the terror in Belarus has stopped. On the contrary, the terror is finding new ways to oppress and crush everyo…

22

Nov

2021

DE Speech

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EU sports policy: assessment and possible ways forward (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, dear rapporteur! Sport is not so often on the agenda here in the European Parliament. That is why I am particularly pleased that we can discuss our joint report here today. Sport accounts for 280 billion in the EU, with six million jobs. However, this economic importance and the many central roles in society also oblige us to look closely at what is happening in spor…

10

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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The escalating humanitarian crisis on the EU-Belarusian border, in particular in Poland (debate)

Madam President, Lukashenko has reached another low of inhumanity: after beating, torturing and murdering his own people, Lukashenko has now started using the desperate hope for a better life of people from outside, feeding them with false promises, to trap people on the Belarus—Polish border. It is naive to think that Lukashenko is acting alone in his despicable campaign. Without backing from the…

21

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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The outcome of the Western Balkans summit (debate)

Mr President, the European promise made to the Western Balkans in 2003 never seemed more distant. It relied on the premise that the EU was a club of best democracy standards, where the rule of law is upheld and fundamental rights are protected, and that such a club has a place for them once they meet the criteria. Neither we are that club anymore, nor does the Western Balkans have incentives to un…

19

Oct

2021

DE Speech

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Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! I too would like to thank the rapporteur and my shadow rapporteurs very much for their good cooperation. As always, the outcome of the negotiations is a compromise and, by its very nature, not perfect, but I am very satisfied with what has been achieved. A single basic act and horizontal provisions applicable to all partnerships were a step in t…

6

Jul

2021

EN Speech

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Foreign interference in democratic processes (debate)

Madam President, for far too long, the EU has watched idly while malicious foreign actors spread disinformation and interfere in our elections. They went on with co—opting our civil servants, buying up our strategic infrastructure and spreading hate, so they gradually erode our democracy. In the digital era, malicious actors have learned fast how to weaponise algorithms and manipulate social media…