What Assita spoke about.

14 Jun

2023

EN Speech

Investigation of the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware - Investigation of the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware (draft recommendation) (debate)

Watch

Mr President, dear colleagues, dear Commissioner, they say ‘dance like nobody is watching, but text and email like it will be displayed on Instagram someday’. Perhaps we should not only see this as a joke, it is serious. Today, not only Big Brother is watching you, but also Little Brother – to censor or to feed disinformation, to influence or to destroy. How can our democracy survive and human rig…

13 Jun

2023

EN Speech

This is Europe - Debate with the President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides (debate)

Watch

Mr President, it means so many different things to so many people. For me, it was, and it still is, a dream. A promise of freedom and equality between women and men. A promise of freedom to think and express your opinions without fearing for your life. A promise of having your voice heard on the global scene. A promise of peace. Europe, this promise is showing more and more cracks because we forge…

10 May

2023

NL Speech

Externalising asylum applications and making funding to third countries conditional on the implementation of return agreements (topical debate)

Watch

Mr President, migration and asylum policies are being challenged all over Europe, but if you want to talk about solutions, you are the far right. If you want to muddle on, you're a hero. What are we doing? I have been talking about the hypocrisy of the left and of certain NGOs, and I have been talking about the taboos that stand in the way of real solutions. How many more people have to die before…

19 Apr

2023

EN Speech

Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCa) - Information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets (recast) (debate)

Watch

Mr President, colleagues, thank you very much for this debate and for all the excellent points you have made. Let me just pick up one or two issues: throughout the negotiations, some people kept insisting that crypto is actually much safer than traditional finance because of the transparency of the blockchain and, therefore, regulation was not really necessary. I disagree with that. The blockchain…

19 Apr

2023

EN Speech

Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCa) - Information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets (recast) (debate)

Watch

Madam President, dear Commissioner and dear colleagues, the last few years have been quite a wild ride in the crypto world. Sometimes – and my colleagues would confirm that as well – it felt like a wild ride also here in this Parliament when we are negotiating the Transfer of Funds Regulation. We started work on this file just after the total crypto market cap hit its third trillion. Trading was f…

15 Mar

2023

NL Speech

Deaths at sea: a common EU response to save lives and action to ensure safe and legal pathways (debate)

Watch

Mr President, I have listened carefully to Commissioner Johansson's speech and I sincerely believe in her good intentions. But with good intentions alone, we can't get there. At the end of February, 16 people drowned off the coast of Italy. Five days ago another 14 people drowned just off the coast of Tunisia. This time without much media coverage and without statements of support from EU Commissi…

15 Mar

2023

EN Speech

International Women's Day

Watch

Madam President, ‘I am very grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life.’ That’s what Dr Maya Angelou said, and I totally agree with her. In particular, being a Western woman is really good. I can say that because I know what other kind of lives are. We all know what is happening in Iran. We all know what is happening in so many countries where women and girls are bloc…

15 Feb

2023

NL Speech

EUCO conclusions: the need for the speedy finalisation of the Road Map (debate)

Watch

Mr President, which of us is proud of our migration policy? Who could look a victim of human trafficking in the eye and say: “We are doing well”? Thousands of people have drowned in the Mediterranean since 2019. However, migration policy has not changed in practice since then. Nothing has changed since the 2015 migration crisis. We have met, asked questions, conducted interviews and pointed the fi…

14 Feb

2023

NL Speech

Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence: EU accession (continuation of debate)

Watch

Mr President, Saman Abbas was a teenager in Italy. Her body was found at the end of last year in a condition that allowed her to be identified only with her teeth, because she wanted to be free and loved whom she wanted. This happened here, on European soil, within her own family. This is a form of extreme violence that women still face today. But women also suffer on other levels. Not only throug…

1 Feb

2023

NL Speech

Preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February, in particular the need to develop sustainable solutions in the area of asylum and migration (debate)

Watch

Mr President, tomorrow we shall be voting on the lifting of the immunity of Mr Nadine Morano, who is being charged in her own country, France, because she dares to say that rescuing illegal migrants in the Mediterranean and then taking them to European soil is tantamount to complicity in human smuggling. I agree with her and even go a step further. If we allow this, we will not only be complicit, …

17 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Presentation of the programme of activities of the Swedish Presidency (debate)

Watch

Madam President, Mr Prime Minister, I would like to congratulate you for your government. It’s what the Swedish people want, and usually we call that democracy. I thought we needed to remind that after what we all heard this morning. I also want to say that a new year usually comes with new resolutions and better decisions. But apparently not for the EU. Every year we face the same problems and ev…

14 Dec

2022

NL Speech

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

Watch

Mr President, the EU is the moral knight of the planet, but here too the rule of law is under enormous pressure. Because of corruption, for example. Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed in Malta by a bomb placed in her car. Because of crime. Dutch crime journalist Peter R. de Vries was shot dead on the street in Amsterdam. Because of Islamism and too much tolerance for intolerance. The cartoonists of…

13 Dec

2022

NL Speech

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

Watch

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, corruption, money laundering, criminal organisations, so much cash that people have had to count all night. This isn't about drug gangs or the mob. This is about Members of this Parliament and their assistants. Like everyone else, I am angry and extremely disappointed at so much selfishness, unscrupulousness and contempt for democracy and our fellow citizens. Wh…

12 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Order of business

Watch

Madam President, I would like to request to vote again on the proposal about Qatar, because it was very confusing. We could vote, for example, first on the title and then on the decision. Otherwise, it will give the impression that some Members who wanted another title are against the idea of having a debate on a resolution. Could we vote again in a more clear way, please, Madam President.…

12 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Order of business

Watch

Madam President, of course, I don’t want to speak against, but the ECR Group has an idea – oh, are you surprised...don’t be – so, the ECR Group would like to propose another title, namely ‘The corruption allegation against Members, staff and former Members of the European Parliament’. We support the initiative, but we think it’s quite clear that there has been corruption and we don’t want to speak…

23 Nov

2022

EN Speech

The need for a European solution on asylum and migration including search and rescue (debate)

Watch

Mr President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, we have all kind of opinions about each other in this Parliament, but at the end of the day we are all good people with good intentions and just different ideas. We must remember this when we speak about difficult topics, we must recognise together that until now none of our actions solved the migration crisis. Instead, they have allowed more and m…

10 Nov

2022

EN Speech

Racial justice, non-discrimination and anti-racism in the EU (A9-0254/2022 - Evin Incir) (vote)

Watch

Madam President, my name is Assita Kanko indeed, and my life was full of seemingly impossible things. If I had listened to all those who said things were impossible, I would not be with you here today as a colleague. Imagine if I had listened to those who told me the path I wanted was too difficult and that I should aim lower. Imagine if I believed them and accepted the low expectation adapted to …

10 Nov

2022

NL Speech

Racial justice, non-discrimination and anti-racism in the EU (debate)

Watch

Mr President, I support Evin Incir's attempt to identify and address the problem of racism. The report contains a number of very important elements, including a paragraph on women's rights, in particular female circumcision, marital imprisonment and honour killings, to which I have contributed. Nevertheless, the report falls short in a number of areas. In this way, the European institutions are gi…

17 Oct

2022

EN Speech

The Rule of Law in Malta, five years after the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia (debate)

Watch

Mr President, of course, we are here today for justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist who was just doing her work and who was murdered in Malta, with a bomb in a car. She was killed with complicity of the state and of some rich people. Today, only those who executed the orders are in jail. What about those who requested and who called for the murder? Why is her family still a target of S…

17 Oct

2022

EN Speech

Order of business

Watch

Madam President, is what Josep Borrell said smart? Am I a big fan of Mr Borrell? No. Am I often unhappy when I hear what he says? Yes, but I can only say that what he said about Europe being a garden and the rest of the world being a jungle has nothing to do with neocolonialism, and people in Africa are not the rest of the world. There is also China. There is also the US. There are plenty of other…

5 Oct

2022

NL Speech

Russia’s escalation of its war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Watch

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the EU and NATO are at risk of being drawn into a spiral of escalation due to Russia’s attitude in Ukraine. Illegal annexation, sabotage of pipelines, use of energy as a weapon against our citizens and our industrial fabric. And now the threat of a nuclear weapon. Western Europe had been lulled to sleep, while Putin had been waging a hybrid war for a long time. …

4 Oct

2022

NL Speech

The situation in Burkina Faso following the coup d'état (debate)

Watch

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Burkina Faso means: The land of honest people. And so it is. Et ce n'est pas dans mes habitudes, mais je vais dire quelque chose également en français, parce que nous avons vu, au Burkina Faso, une très bonne collaboration, pendant longtemps, avec la France, et aujourd’hui une nouvelle colonisation, comme ma collègue Nathalie Loiseau l’a dit, qui s’installe: cel…

4 Oct

2022

EN Speech

The death of Mahsa Amini and the repression of women's rights protesters in Iran (debate)

Watch

Mr President, dear colleagues, the women who are now rising up against the Islamic brutality in Iran know what freedom is and why we must protect it. Those who defend the headscarf in Europe should take a good look at these women and learn what real courage is: it is not in the veil. It is also not inside a dependent man. A dependent man is a healthy man who cannot cook his own meal, who cannot do…

3 Oct

2022

EN Speech

Order of business

Watch

Madam President, dear colleagues, as you all know, there is a new coup in Burkina Faso and jihadists are taking over – more than 40% of the country for the moment. Russian influence is getting visible and Western interests, like the French Embassy in Ouagadougou, have been under attack. This is not a local issue, but a geopolitical one. Several times I have already drawn the plenary’s attention to…

13 Sep

2022

EN Speech

This is Europe - Debate with the Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin (debate)

Watch

Madam President, Prime Minister, dear colleagues, perhaps we should tell this secret to everyone: politicians are normal people. They use the bathroom like everyone else. They get sad or scared when something happens. They make love – even when they are not French; this is how they too make kids. We are just normal people, not robots. But some people pretend not to know this, especially when it is…