Speeches

As a pediatrician by education, I am particularly close to the situation of children, which I follow every day. I know that much has been done in the initial phase of the war to relocate children suffering from oncological diseases to Poland (and other countries neighbouring Ukraine). However, we must be aware that the number of available places in hospitals is limited and constantly decreasing. Given that every day of discontinued oncological therapy increases drastically the risk of treatment failure and ultimately death, I call on the Member States and the European Commission to launch emergency procedures and offer special protection to patients with oncological diseases. I also call for all refugees to have access to free healthcare and free medicines. At the same time, I am sensitising to the situation of patients in Ukraine, whose transport to EU countries is not possible due to their state of health. I know that hospitals there are struggling with a lack of medicines, including oncology. Union assistance mechanisms should therefore be put in place to address these shortcomings. On both of these issues, we need to act immediately.

Mr President, thank you very much. Ladies and Gentlemen, As parents, we know how much mental illness affects our children. We, as paediatricians, know all the more. As politicians, we also seem to be aware of this problem. Question: Are we doing something really effective about this? 80 million people in Europe need support to treat mental illness every year, costing us €600 billion. How much money have we spent as Europe? 1 billion 200 million in the 2021-2027 perspective. This shows the extent of negligence in this matter. And I think that the voters in Europe are tired of supporting, supporting, pinning themselves in the navies, the world day of this or that. Either we do the work and acknowledge that Europe is responsible for the health and lives of its citizens, or we do not. We are constantly hearing that, when it comes to cancer, mental health, health is in the hands of the Member States and the European Commission, the European Union cannot. So I declare that he can. And Europeans expect decisive, real action from us today. Less pinning in the navy, more saving people.

Madam President, thank you very much. If you want to see pictures of incredible human solidarity, watch pictures from the Polish city of Nysa, where hundreds, thousands of ordinary people together with firefighters, policemen, army defended their city. If you want to see the cities, which despite the crazy defense of people lost to the element, look at the pictures from Lądek Zdrój or Kłodzko. Devastated, destroyed cities, but also destroyed people's lives. I'm a doctor and I've worked in an ambulance for years. And I know that in order to save people effectively, three things are really needed: the ability to make a decision, Commissioner. The second thing: Time and speed to make a decision. Third point: tools to save people. And these tools are in our hands today, because ordinary people, rescuers, firefighters, policemen, soldiers in solidarity went to help other people, save people. Today is the time for us, for the European Union. These people have devastated lives, cities, homes. And if we want to be a real community, we must first of all have compassion in the community, show empathy, but above all save people. That's what we're here for.

And what do you think, PiS MPs have fled to the last benches? Shame on you, huh? Do you think that Europe and Poland will not see you there? Everyone sees you there. If you were afraid of protozoa, if you were afraid of worms, if you were afraid of rape, murder, and then you opened stalls with Polish viewers for money, it must be a shame! And everyone can see you. I have a question for the Commission: Is the Commission aware of the scale of this process of corruption and mafia trade in Polish viewers? In how many countries has this happened? How many migrants, how many thousands of migrants have entered Europe illegally? Finally, I would like to ask the Commission what is perhaps the most important thing: Do you know if among those migrants who bought Polish visas at African and Asian stalls, there were people who pose a threat to Europe, to Poland, to the United States? Does the Commission have such knowledge? Last question to the Commission: Is it true and do you know that the United States already reported about the illegal process of trade in Polish visas in 2022?

With a brief question to you: Did you know that under your government, criminals brought millions of tons of grain from Ukraine to Poland? To this day, it has not been explained who did it. How many warehouses have you built for farmers? How many ports have you converted? How much did you ensure that this Ukrainian grain, which entered Poland thanks to criminals, did not devastate the lives of Polish farmers? What did you do about it?

Madam President, I'm sorry. Dear Commissioner, What happened on the Oder in Poland over the last year was the biggest ecological disaster we have seen in Poland over the last few decades. It was a dramatic sight. I live in Szczecin, a city around which we have seen thousands of kilograms, and throughout the country hundreds of tons of dead fish. Anglers, NGOs, services, all alerted the government that the Odra River was being poisoned. After all, this unimaginable catastrophe has occurred. The sight of anglers, ordinary citizens who fished for dead fish with their own nets, the ones that flowed out, was a shocking sight. I remembered the silence over the Oder after its poisoning for a very long time. To this day, we have no explanation as to who, why and how poisoned the Oder. The media report that large companies, perhaps state-owned ones, may be to blame – this has not been explained to this day. It has been many months since the first poisoning of the Oder, and meanwhile it promises that we will have a repeat of this tragic situation. According to an inspection carried out by members of the Polish parliament, Dariusz Ionski and Michał Szczerba, the first degree of danger of gold algae was recorded on the first of March this year, and two days later it was already the third degree. Dead fish were also observed, the first 200 kilograms in the old town of Odra. Control in Polish waters revealed as many as 1122 illegal departures to the Oder. Only 117 were temporarily closed. 151 cases were reported to the police. Note: Since September of that year, 138 new legal permits have been issued for the discharge of industrial wastewater into the Oder. All this shows that the government is not coping with this situation, which has affected the Oder, our river, but also the common river. That is why I appeal once again to everyone: Let's do everything we can to save the Measles. I also ask the Commission to clarify this matter as a matter of urgency.

Madam President, I'm sorry. Commissioner, thank you very much. I think that the pandemic has shown all of us, politicians and, above all, citizens, patients, that the Union can no longer be ashamed to cover its eyes and, being able to build roads and stadiums together, to run a common agricultural economy, to look calmly at how, in one part of Europe, a breast cancer patient has to die and, in another part of Europe, the same patient with the same breast cancer has a chance of survival. Because here there was no access to modern technologies or modern medicines. This time has to end. And I think something has already happened, because since the European Parliament has set up a special committee on the protection of human rights, the European Parliament has set up a special committee on the protection of human rights. The fight against cancer, in which we took part, a special report was created for the common fight against cancer, that is, we have taken a step forward. There has also been a pivotal historic moment in the European Parliament in recent weeks. For the first time in the history of this institution, a special Subcommittee on Public Health was established. Tomorrow it will hold its first meeting, to which you are cordially invited, at which we will see each other tomorrow and start working together. I think the expectations for us are very high. 500 million people want a community that builds roads together, that builds agricultural policy together, to finally tackle cancer, health and life together. We need to start with what we have already practiced in the pandemic. If we managed to buy vaccines together, negotiate prices, then we need to start a joint process of buying state-of-the-art medical technologies. To be available to the patient in the east and west, south and north. And we need to prevent shortages of medicines in Europe, because this is something that we cannot afford in the modern world. See you tomorrow, Commissioner!

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, I'm sorry. Cancer has been proving to us for many years and every day it continues to prove that without a common fight against cancer, a European fight against cancer, a global fight against cancer, we have no chance. This was proved by the pandemic, during which hundreds of thousands of people died. It has proven that without common action we are not able to save people's lives. And this is the moment when we have to decide on what we talked about in the Special Committee on Cancer. This is the moment when Europe must say "enough" and Europe must start joint price negotiations for medicines for Europeans, joint purchases of medicines. In Europe, we need to create a system of stockpiling critically needed medicines, so that there is no situation where more waves of the virus are coming and people run helplessly from pharmacy to pharmacy all over Europe and cannot buy medicines. Politicians are here to save people's health and lives. Europe can build roads, schools, bridges. Europe must face the fight against diseases and the fight for medicines for people. I often hear that health is in the hands of the Member States. It's all true. But you can either look at it passively or disagree with it. If the rules prevent you from saving people, you have to change the rules to save people. We need to start buying medicines together and we need to build up European stocks of critically needed medicines. Otherwise, people will die, and we will not be able to watch it passively. I call for it, Commissioner. We've talked about it many times.

Madam President, I'm sorry. Dear Commissioner, What has happened on the Oder in Poland in the last few weeks is the biggest ecological catastrophe we have seen in the last few decades in Poland. It was a dramatic sight. I live in Szczecin, a city in and around which we have seen thousands of kilograms and hundreds of tonnes of dead fish across Poland. For many weeks, ordinary anglers, non-governmental organizations, local government services have alerted the government about the fact that someone poisons the Oder. And then there was this catastrophe. And the sight of anglers, ordinary, private people catching dead fish with their own nets – the ones that came out because hundreds of tons lie at the bottom – was a shocking sight. Many weeks have passed and to this day we do not have an explanation, we do not have information about who contributed to this. The media reports that the blame for this situation may be large companies, perhaps state-owned companies that have poisoned the Oder River. Today we have a situation in which the Polish government is actually silent, doing nothing. The European Commission should clarify this matter: Who and how poisoned the measles? Why in Poland today such a large river as the Oder River is a completely dead river? You should all – we should – hear this dead silence over the Oder. There was always the cricket of birds, the movement of animals. Today is dead silence. And we have to explain what happened there so that it never happens again. And that's our job here.

Mr President, thank you very much. There, on this radical right side, sits the team that rules Poland today. Do you know what they said when they were asked about Pegasus? That they bought it because they have to go after the terrorists. That's what they were after. The main terrorist of Poland, the head of the campaign to the European Parliament of the main opposition party. They were chasing the main terrorist of the Polish Giertych, attorney-at-law Donald Tusk. They were chasing the terrorist prosecutor Wrzosek, one of the few who was able to stand up to this team. You know what else they said? That they bought Pegasus, and whoever's honest doesn't have to be afraid of him. This hypocrisy is poured out in these speeches. So since an honest man doesn't have to be afraid, I invite you here in front of the rostrum of Jarosław Kaczyński, the former Polish prime minister and the whole Orbán team, and let them say: “We did not prosecute the opposition, we did not prosecute the prosecutors, we did not prosecute the democratic opposition.” Let them just say it, since honest people have nothing to fear. We invite you, Mr. President Kaczynski. An invitation to you is already being written.

Madam President, I'm sorry. It's not just a cancer report, it's a life and death report. This is a report about our parents, about our grandparents. This is a report about our children. This is, after all, a report about ourselves. This is also a report on courage, with the question: Do we have the courage as Europe to change the situation where in one part of Europe a breast cancer patient dies and a thousand kilometres away the same woman with the same cancer survives? This is a question of courage. Do we have the courage to change the situation in which in one part of Europe a mother with tears in her eyes begs for money for a medicine for her child, and 500 kilometers away the same child has a chance of survival? This is the question: do we have the courage to change the situation in which people lack medicines in Europe, medicines for cancer, or can we jointly buy medicines for cancer? This is also a question for all those who say: we cannot fight cancer together because of the Treaties. If the Treaties prevent us from fighting cancer, then we need to change the Treaties. This is also a report about hope, about the hope for life that a potential cancer vaccine gives us, about which so much is already being said today. People sent us into politics to fight for their health and lives. People sent us into politics so that we could have the courage to change the world. And that we give them hope. Hope that they can live healthily and peacefully, safely. It takes courage to do that.

Mr President, thank you very much. Yesterday in my country, in Poland, a man was strangled every two minutes. And he suffocated. More than 660 people died in Poland yesterday. The virus knows no borders. The virus is not known in the Schengen area. What if Peter Liese says that in Germany today, in fact, without a vaccine, you can not enter anywhere. All you have to do is cross the bridge and you can go anywhere. If we do not coordinate European efforts to fight the virus, we will lose. Efforts and hardships to buy vaccines, covid passports will be of no use, since they do not apply everywhere. It is not the fault of people who get cancer, die of cancer because they cannot get to the hospital, because there are people with COVID and people with COVID die, that they have a government that kneels before the virus. It is not the fault of doctors and paramedics that they cannot deal with people with COVID just because they have a government that kneels before the virus. That is our responsibility. People have sent us here, to politics, to the European Parliament, to protect their health and their lives. And a covid passport must become a binding document, because it is not the fault of people that they have irresponsible rulers. And that is our responsibility. Today there is a covid passport in Europe, and in some parts of Europe it simply does not exist. And that one bridge that I was talking about to Peter Liese, that's the bridge that people die for.

Mr. Prime Minister, I'm sorry. I asked you to be the last to understand, here in the heart of Europe and in front of the whole of Europe, what I have and what we have to tell you. Mr. Prime Minister, we will not allow you to rob our children in the future. We, the Poles, will not allow you to do this. We will not allow you to rob millions of Poles of their dreams. And we will not allow you, Prime Minister, to put our parents, our families, grandparents and grandparents in danger. Behind your back, Putin rubs his hands. Today you are fighting the rule of law, you are fighting the courts, you are fighting the tribunals. You know why? Because you want to go unpunished. But the time will come, the day will come when you will stand before these courts, tribunals and judges.

Commissioner, I'm sorry. This is an absolutely crucial moment for Europe. Whether we, as politicians, will decide that we really want to protect the health of Europeans, or whether we will continue to hide behind the treaties and the fact that health is in the hands of the Member States. I think that COVID has really exposed, it has shown – and thousands of human deaths have shown – that Europe was not prepared to face such a difficult challenge. But from every evil there must always be good. We also need to learn from this situation. Do we need a special agenda to fight threats? Of course we need it. Do we need an official, bureaucratic structure to replace such an agency? No, we don't need that. If we are to effectively fight the threats, the real health crises that face us, the agency must be strong, effective, professional, well-equipped financially, with good competences, but also transparent, so that it does not lose the trust of our citizens. Such an agency must solve the crises that will come, come, but also anticipate crises. Commissioner, we have talked on several occasions during the work of the Special Committee on Beating Cancer in Europe about, among other things, shortages of key medicines, e.g. for cancer treatment. These are also crises, and such an agency must have the competence to face hochsztaplers who want to earn money during pandemics or other threats, but also must rescue citizens of those countries where, for example, medicines are beginning to be lacking. We should anticipate this and counteract it. In this regard: competence, strength, professionalism, money and transparency.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends and colleagues! Commissioner, I'm sorry. The pandemic has shown our strength, but it has also exposed our weaknesses. The European Medicines Agency must become the most effective and efficient post-pandemic authority in Europe. The European Medicines Agency must follow with full determination and knowledge the potential shortages of medicines, because if medicines are lacking, people die. We are here to serve people. But monitoring and preventing medicine shortages is not everything, Commissioner. I think we need to try to take up the challenge. For four years, as the Minister of Health in Poland, I managed price negotiations with pharmaceutical companies on the prices of medicines. I think we need to take up the challenge of creating a list of critical medicines that are critical to the health and lives of our patients. And start negotiations with the companies on maximum prices. It cannot be that in one part of Europe patients have access to this medicine, because it is well negotiated and they can afford it, and in another part of Europe it is not. We should draw up a list of critical medicines for which we, as the European Commission, as Parliament, should guarantee our citizens a minimum price. To keep patients safe. But it's not just about critical drugs. I believe that it is also about innovative drugs, new drugs entering the market that give chances of survival, e.g. for oncological patients. We should negotiate their prices and availability together, otherwise we will be watching patients fighting for their lives on social media raising money for innovative medicines for a long time to come.