Speeches

Madam President, I'm sorry. It is very good that the EU imposes further sanctions on Russia. Closing EU ports for Putin's ships, freezing the assets of Russian oligarchs. But could a common European response be more painful for the Kremlin? Of course, it could, if not for the main brake – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. It is he who is blocking €500 million in EU aid to Ukraine. He was the one who blocked the oil embargo. And it is he who has a very powerful tool in his hand – the veto! It is time to deprive Orban of his right to decide on the most important matters for the Union – Article 7! And finally, very good news from Poland. There will be no more Budapest in Warsaw. On October 15, the people of Poland removed from power those who held Putin's friends. The toxic alliance between the Morawiecki and Orban governments is coming to an end. It ends thanks to the cooperation of the opposition and a strong civil society that has defeated the populists and the entire power machine. The fifth largest country in the world is back. It is coming back and it will build a common, stronger and safer Europe.

Mr President, thank you very much. Mr. Commissioner, I'm sorry. A stronger and more integrated European Union is a deadly threat to the Kremlin. Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova or Georgia are just a few Eastern European countries that want and hope to join the European Union in the short or long term. That is why Putin and his supporters in Europe have devised a strategy to scare the world of European values and human rights. And so populists in Europe, very often embarrassed by Putin or even worse financed directly or indirectly by the Kremlin, attack women's rights, the Istanbul Convention, LGBTI rights or further European integration. We can't agree to that. We need to respond to anti-European hate speech and organised disinformation online. We must be slaves of rights to be free, Cicero once said. I would add from myself: we must be slaves to human rights, but we also need more funding for the Erasmus programme, the extension of the Citizens’ Rights and Values programme. We need reliable European and civic education across Europe. The best panacea for populism and nationalism is education.

Madame Prime Minister! Stop pissing on people. You are using a serious problem that affects the whole of Europe – migration – as an electoral fuel. Your entire media apparatus spends seven days a week on refugees and migrants. Why didn't you get extra money for Ukrainian refugees from the European Union? Is it your lack of competence or a deliberate policy to build political support on emigrants and refugees? Is that Christian? And I would just like to remind you that at the same time you traded Polish visas at stalls. Because for you, a good refugee is one who gives you a hand.

Mr President, thank you very much. You are not patriots, you are patriots for money. Europe has never seen such a brazen gang of hypocrites as the one sitting here. You have the nerve today after all this, after the revelation of the visa scandal, after the issuance of the left documents for half a million, after the stalls in front of the Polish embassies, you have the nerve to continue lying here like your Prime Minister Pinocchio. You feel sorry for refugees and immigrants in the government media, but at the same time you are letting these people into Poland for bribes. The same ones you pushed into Belarus. Only pigs make money from someone else's misfortune. This is disgusting. And it's certainly not Christian. But people in Poland have had enough of you. On Sunday, a million people took to the streets of Warsaw and we will not stop. We're not afraid of you. We, the democratic opposition in Poland, united in diversity. October 15 will end in Poland.

Mr President, thank you very much. Three months ago, we saved 130,000 jobs in Upper Silesia here in Strasbourg. The opposition together with the Germans, with a friend of Silesia, Jens Geier, changed the methane regulation. We prevented the catastrophe caused by the PiS government. Because the agenda of the opposition in European politics is pragmatism and assertiveness, not swinging a saber and insulting. Now we have another challenge ahead of us – taking care of the interests of the Silesian industry, which must be strong to meet the energy transition. It is from our coking coal that steel is produced for the production of windmills or for the development of railways. It is this coal that meets almost 30% of the demand of the entire European Union. The transition is a necessity, but it must be adequately supported financially, which is why coking coal should be on the Union's list of strategic raw materials. Superpolitically, with Prime Minister Buzek and MEP Kloc, we tabled an amendment on this matter and we ask for your support. Protecting and supporting European industry is in Europe's interest.

On 21 March, at the meeting of the Committee on International Trade, the question of extending duty-free trade with Ukraine was raised. Then our representative, Prime Minister Marek Belka, talked about the threats. There was no one from you from PiS. Where were you, writers, when farmers in Poland needed you? Where was your colleague Dominik Tarczyński, a full member of this committee? What was more important to him than Polish grain? Octopus or Brussels mules? Because that's what your job really looks like here. Once again, Polish citizens suffer because of your writing incompetence.

Mr President, thank you very much. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Therefore, the state should also be secular. Therefore, an alliance between the throne and the altar is unacceptable. Believers and non-believers have had enough of what is happening in Poland today. We are tired of stuffing the cable to Rydzyk, a charlatan from Toruń. We've had enough of the party president on the pulpit. We have had enough of the embarrassing dances of the politicians of the ruling parties at masses. We are tired of the clergy interfering in the lives and health of women. We are tired of making gifts to the clergy out of our public money. We are tired of covering up pedophilia and the state, which can do nothing about it. And we share a common goal – a secular state where every religion is respected at the same time, a state where there are fair rules between the state and the church. Time for a secular state! And finally, the words of Professor Joseph Tischner: At the moment, left-wing terrorism [...] has gone into the past, while it raises its head, right-wing terrorism makes itself known. And I think that this is [...] a danger, because this right-wing terrorism very often has the full mouth of religion. He legitimizes himself with noble, beautiful Christian values. Worth considering.

Madam President, I'm sorry. For the last eight years in Poland, PiS, the so-called good change, because these national populists define themselves as such, completely paralyzed the Constitutional Court, politicized the National Council of the Judiciary, turned public media into propaganda straight from the Kremlin, persecuted independent judges and prosecutors, used Pegasus cyberweapons to fight the opposition and journalists, dismissed and appointed court presidents for purely political reasons, tried to destroy the Supreme Court, thereby blocking huge European money for Poland. The list of sins of PiS is very, very, very long. The rule of law also means security in these difficult times. Without the rule of law, there is no sovereignty, there is a dictatorship. Kaczynski and Orban, taking our countries out of the European Union, play in Putin's orchestra. We can't let them do that.

Mr President, thank you very much. Democracy always dies in the dark. He dies where there are no difficult questions to power, where there is only government propaganda, where there is no free media. Because freedom of speech is not just the right to articulate one's beliefs. Freedom of speech is access to honest information, not propaganda. There is no independent media in Poland of Kaczyński's dreams. In it, the Moczar doctrine applies: ‘whoever is not with Miecie is swept away’. There are many examples: Lex TVN, huge penalties on TOK FM, the takeover of the local press by Obajtek, harassment of Wyborcza and Onet journalists with lawsuits or the last attempt at personnel changes in the editorial offices of Wirtualna Polska and Onet. And the constant, endless propaganda of TVP straight from the Kremlin, which disgusts the European Union and the opposition 24 hours a day. Are these European standards? The EU has failed once. It allowed the destruction of independent media in Hungary. Now it is time to act in the face of every attempt to destroy free media in Poland.

Mr President, thank you very much. Kaczynski promised a second Bavaria in Poland. In the meantime, the GDR is doing us a bis. This man with Honecker's mentality gave his green light to spy on Polish patriots: Senator Brejza, Prosecutor Wrzosek, President Karnowski and many, many others. They were treated by PiS with weapons to fight al-Qaeda. Today, the same hypocrites from this neo-Bolshevik party will tell stories that they are using Pegasus for security. What safety are you talking about, how you have not been able to find a Russian rocket for six months? How safe was it when your minister attacked the Polish generals? What are you two talking about? Here is the Union, here is Poland, not Staasiland. Here are the rules. You're not shouting the truth. Eavesdropping is at the heart of the Soviet order. There in the Kremlin, the government also thinks that it can do anything. You have something to be afraid of. You will be chased and settled in the autumn, because Poland is not PiS.

Dear Mr. President, The European Union is writing its own story. The EU finances arms purchases for warring Ukraine. The EU imposes sanctions on the Kremlin. The Union is strengthened through close integration. And this process must be accelerated, because it is in the interest of our community and in the interest of our countries that decision-making mechanisms be more effective, that they be able to react quickly. It's time to lift the veto on foreign policy. It is time to break national egoisms that threaten our security. It is time to end the liberum veto that destroyed Poland in the 18th century. It's time to put an end to Orban's and other populists' arrogance. Mr. President, I'm sorry. As shadow rapporteur of the report on the accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the Schengen Information System, I am pleased to have been able to play my part in connecting your homeland and the European Community.

Mr President, thank you very much. I would like to speak here, in the temple of European democracy, on behalf of the inhabitants of Palowice, Mikołów and other towns in Silesia. The construction of the Central Communication Port in Baranów is a megalomaniac mockery and an attempt by the ruling party to stuff the pockets of its people. In Mikołów, in the last proposed variant, the railway traction crosses the city in half. Upper Laziska and Orzesze are extensive expropriation of the population. Palowice and Szczejkowice are villages in the Palowice Lake District, the green lungs of Silesia. Once again, it turned out that from the capital, from Warsaw, you can not see Silesia and its problems. That is why we are counting on the EU. It was in the Silesian Voivodeship that the percentage of people voting for Poland's accession to the Community was the highest. This is the last moment to react. Support for local communities and protection of the natural environment in Silesia. I call on the European Commission to act on this matter until it is too late. I have sent a detailed letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and I look forward to your response.

Mr President, thank you very much. Look what you've done with Poland. You PiS, your ally Ziobro and your pen Duda. What you are doing is pure Sovietization. Even the U.S. State Department has responded. Your camp is a neo-Soviet band that dreams of leaving Poland from the European Union. Putin does not dream of anything else, of the dissolution of our community. What is allowed power in Russia? They're free to do anything. Putin monitors when he wants and who he wants. Putin decides who gets elected and who doesn't. These Russian standards are introduced in Poland by PiS. The Verification Committee is the clearest example of this. A party body that will intimidate and take away civil rights. Jesteście w stanie poświęcić sojusze, byleby wygrać wybory, byleby dopaść Tuska, i to kosztem pieniędzy europejskich dla obywateli. Today you have crossed all boundaries. You have used the victims of Nazism for your propaganda, to fight your citizens who have had enough of you. All the more reason not to be intimidated. This Sunday we are going with thousands of Polish citizens to march in Warsaw and we are going together as the whole democratic opposition, because Poland's place is in the European Union and your place is before the Tribunal of State. Poland is not shit.

Mr President, dear colleagues, this is a truly great day. Now I know that it was worth going into politics. This is a good day for the European Union and for all those fighting for a stronger community and more integrated European Union. Last but not least, this is a great day for all women, Europeans, all those affected by domestic violence, but also for those who, thanks to the Istanbul Convention, we will be able to protect. Could there be anything more crucial for the politicians to do? I am fully aware that today’s vote on the accession of the European Union to the Istanbul Convention is a matter of simple human sensitivity. So don’t be afraid. Do it for your grandmothers, mothers, daughters and wives. Let’s make the European Union a better place to live.

Madam President, I'm sorry. Ladies and gentlemen of Law and Justice, watch and learn, learn normality, learn negotiation, learn Europe. In Parliament, I worked side by side with Arba Kokalari from the Swedish right on the Istanbul Convention report. It is also thanks to the determination of its conservative party that the accession of the Union to the Istanbul Convention becomes a reality. Because they, unlike you, are normal right-wingers. They don't put political interests ahead of women's interests. Only in Poland or Hungary is the right equal to superstition. Conservatives from Lithuania are also different from you. They have courage. Moreover, Mr Jaki, even MEPs from your group support accession to the Istanbul Convention. Respect for Mrs Kanko. Patricia the What! You were alone again. Hand in hand with Orban and pro-Kremlin fanatics, ID freaks. 27 to 1 again. You are a total opposition, and we, whether you like it or not, will join the European Union as a whole in the law that protects women. Tomorrow is a vote and a very important day for millions of women in the European Union. I appeal to all Members: Do not be indifferent, vote for the accession of the Union to the Istanbul Convention!

Madam President, I'm sorry. Commissioner, I'm sorry. It's a really big day. It was worth going to politics for such days. This is a good day for the European Union and for all those who are fighting for a stronger community and a more integrated European Union. , this is a great day for all women, Europeans, all those affected by domestic violence, but also for those who, thanks to the Convention, will be able to protect us from violence. Could there be anything more specific to be done by politicians? I am fully aware that tomorrow's vote on the accession of the entire European Union to the Istanbul Convention is a matter of mere human decency. Anyone who votes against the convention is in favour of tolerating domestic violence. This situation is really black and white, which is not common in politics. Thanks to the Istanbul Convention, Kremlin standards, such as the fact that the first beating in the family is not classified as violence, cannot exist. Tolerating violence, turning a blind eye, sweeping under the carpet is also evil. Gender-based violence is the biggest unresolved problem in Europe. One in three women in the EU has experienced sexual or physical violence. Every third, 62 million European women. This data speaks for itself. No need to comment on them. From this place one must probably ask right-wing hypocrites, what is the value of a family when a mother is abused by her father? What religious good is more important than the life and health of a mother, wife or child? Which one? The Istanbul Convention is about health and safety, not politics. By joining it, the highest standards of protection against violence will apply in European law. The Convention will thus reach countries that have not yet adopted it. It will also become part of the legal order of Hungary or Slovakia. It will thus reach countries that, like Poland, are reached by thousands of women from Ukraine. Women who are at risk of further trauma. By adopting the Convention in the Union, we open the EU anti-violence umbrella over them. However, we must recall that individual accession by the rest of the countries is essential for full protection. And we'll look at your hands. Czechia, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Latvia – don't be afraid. Secondly, thanks to the accession of the Union to the Convention, we will unify protection through a binding instrument to overcome the different policies in the Member States and to promote international cooperation against violence, gender-based violence. It is not about money, but it shows the scale of the problem we are facing. The estimated cost of gender-based violence in the Union has increased by one third. Every year we spend 366 billion euros for this purpose. Thirdly, what is important, from the Polish perspective, we gain an additional fuse for the validity of the convention in the country, the second umbrella. As long as Poland is in the EU and bound by EU law, the Convention will protect Polish citizens. At the same time, by adopting the Convention, we strengthen Poland's integration with the European Union. I'm very happy about that. That's why I went into politics. We must secure our mothers, wives, partners, daughters and friends for a dangerous time of populist rule, both in Poland and throughout the European Union. It's Europe's big day. And in the end I would like to thank Arba Kokalari, the Swedish presidency, and all the others who work with us. We made the European Union a better place to live. Thank you very much. And in the end I would like to thank Arba Kokalari, the Swedish Presidency and all the others who work with us. We made the European Union a better place to live.

Mr President, thank you very much. It is often the case that those who have God on their lips, in fact, have the devil in their heart. These are the men who set up hell on earth for their women – they set up Afghanistan. Because it is on the example of this country that we can best see how the alliance of the throne with the altar ends: denying access to education, spreading ignorance and persecuting education activists. It is also on the example of this country that we can see how the last stage of arbitrary decision-making on the fate of women looks like: limiting access to contraceptives, taking away employment opportunities, forced marriages. On this earth, you lose at the start by being born a woman. From this place I would like to express my deep respect and solidarity for the persecuted Afghan women. I believe that the moment will come when they will be freed from this nightmare. The state must be secular. The secular state is not the enemy of religion, but the alliance of power with the altar is always the enemy of freedom.

Madam President, I'm sorry. Commissioner, thank you very much. Today, Europe is writing its new story. Finland has joined NATO and Sweden will soon join. The EU finances arms purchases for a valiantly defending Ukraine. We are becoming stronger in Europe because we see that only by acting together, decisively, can we do more. We must not change this course. We need to strengthen this course – through close cooperation with the United States, but also through stronger integration of the European Union itself. In the face of Russia's and China's imperial policies, but also America's possible isolationism, if Donald Trump comes back to power, we must form a strong European federation of states. The establishment of an EU RDC is a step in the right direction. The Union must have the tools to respond to crisis situations. We must not commit the sin of omission. It is our duty to think about the future and to build a European army. Ultimately, we also need a common foreign and defence policy. Only then will we be more integrated and just safer. Let us use this difficult moment in history to build a stronger European Union.

Commissioner, I'm sorry. The development of energy infrastructure is key to the challenges we face today. We must be fully prepared both to fight for our climate and to build energy independence. The Union's efforts on energy storage are a step in the right direction, but concrete measures for Member States on renewable energy, as well as on renewable energy storage, must come from Brussels. To achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, we need to be able to store six times more energy in Europe than we do today. This is a huge infrastructure challenge. Let's fight for our environment, but let's fight for it wisely. We can not pour out the baby with a bath, as in the case of a harmful metal regulation. Let's fight for our environment, but let's fight for it wisely, I repeat again. And I appeal from this place for a reliable information policy of the Union on this matter, because populists unfortunately love disinformation, just like the Kremlin.

Mr President, thank you very much. Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to thank all those who took part in the great celebration of Upper Silesia in the European Parliament. They thank you beautifully. It was amazing when, after the monodrama of the Korez theatre ‘Mianujom mie Hanka’, the history of Silesia daringly personified by Grażyna Bułka, more than 200 people cheered and cried at the same time. Yes, the history of Silesia is a real rollercoaster. I am all the more pleased that in the panel ‘Silesia in Europe’ preceding the performance, the case of Silesia gained strong allies from Warsaw. Editor Adam Michnik and Dr Hanna Machińska supported the recognition of Silesian as a regional language and Silesians as an ethnic minority. It is high time to recognize Silesians as an ethnic minority, which will automatically legalize the Silesian language. Let us build a strong, united Europe, but let us not forget the regions and people's rights to their own identity.

Madam President, I'm sorry. A bunch of hypocrites from PiS, who took away our women's freedom and security, today brazenly lies about worms, about taking away freedoms by the Union. Take Patrick Jake, for example. It's because of him and his guys that women in Poland are being persecuted. Yes, you're the reason they're being persecuted. One of them is Justyna Wydrzyńska, punished for helping. No one will tell me that it is normal to be prosecuted for handing over the pills ‘the day after’. I live right on the border with the Czech Republic, 22 kilometers. There, the ‘day after’ tablets are available not only in the pharmacy, but also in the drugstore. Polish citizens are intimidated by the authorities. Childhood falls due to the policy of the PiS government. Highest birth rates – France and Czechia, more than 1.8 births per woman. Abortion is legal there. Poland far, far behind – coefficient 1.3. The EU must intervene when the state fails! In my report on the Istanbul Convention, we call for support for women’s rights organisations. Istanbul Convention – for the whole Union, as soon as possible!

Mr President, thank you very much. Photo of the symbol of a man with a European flag physically attacked in Tbilisi. Pro-European demonstrators drenched in water and harassed, alleged to be foreign agents. That's bullshit. Georgians want the European Union, they want freedom and prosperity, they want our European values. For them, as for Ukrainians, the EU flag is a symbol. These two nations in the East are united by the fact that they set their necks for this flag and for these values. Supporting Georgia is in the interest of our security, but it is also a matter of decency, as is strengthening and building a stronger European Union. For eight years, Polish and Hungarian public television have demonised European integration. Poland PiS and Hungary Fidesz are doing the same as the Kremlin in the information layer, threatening the European Union, threatening Germany or Soros. The European Union must be stronger, more integrated and open to Ukraine, Georgia or Moldova.

Madam President, I'm sorry. Mr. Commissioner, I'm sorry. At a time when inflation is raging and fertilizer prices are the highest in the history of Poland, Minister of Education Czarnecki distributes villas to foundations that are connected to the power camp. Why am I talking about this? Because firstly, it is simply indecent, and secondly, we in this difficult situation need a stronger Union, more international cooperation, contrary to what your political environment says and what state propaganda does. The pandemic showed it well. Buying vaccines together was a big deal. That is why I would like to ask you, Commissioner, whether the Commission is planning to jointly purchase fertilisers for the Union, so that we can buy more together and at a lower price? Will there be subsidies for farmers? The higher price of bread must be paid by the regimes of Putin and Lukashenko, not by the people of Europe. And just to remind you, Poland has its commissioner, Janusz Wojciechowski. And every time Ziobro or TVP attack the European Commission, they attack Poland. Commissioner, I am not envious.

Mr President, thank you very much. The year of Putin's invasion of Ukraine is a year of great tragedy and even greater sadness. Millions of people have fled their country and thousands have been killed, brutally killed, like a 14-year-old with his dog murdered while walking in Bakhmuta two weeks ago. The photo was sent to me by a photographer from Silesia, who documents the crimes of the Russians at the scene. Volodymyr Klitschko, who was one of the guests of my panel in Brussels, said that this is a civilisational war, that Russia treats Ukraine as something worse and therefore wants the total elimination of language, history, culture and society. We want peace. I define myself as a pacifist, but it's hard to be a pacifist when there's an unjustified war right next to our borders. The only peace we can accept in this Parliament is Ukraine's victory over Russia and more weapons for Ukraine. Now, until it is too late, long live a free, sovereign and European Ukraine.

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, I'm sorry. Thank you for a very good debate. The Istanbul Convention is also a choice of civilization. Governments blocking decisions in the Council must answer the question, where is it closer to them? Whether to the murderers from Turkey, who recently denounced the convention, or to Ukraine, which is being shelled, it has signed this anti-violence law. Joy of Courage! Democratic leaders must not be held hostage by populists who are loud but in the minority. It is time to ratify the Istanbul Convention. When Member States fail, the Union must act, the Union must protect its citizens. Mrs Kempa, these tools that you mentioned are thanks to the Istanbul Convention. Learn, not rely on Kremlin propaganda from Ordo Iuris. I would like to thank Arba Kokalari and all the rapporteurs, as well as the advisors, for their constructive and hard work. We have proven that women's rights can be beyond the political dispute of democratic parties in Europe. History is happening before our eyes. At the same time, I would like to dedicate this moment in history, this report, to all those who have fought so bravely for women's rights and democracy in Poland for eight years. It is a great pride to represent you here. Thank you also to the two women who are no longer there: my mother Grażyna and my grandmother Irena, without whom I would never have been here. And they two, Silesian strongwomen, with their whole life proved that a woman can very, very much. And despite the hard experience, it can reach its peak.