What Łukasz spoke about.

15

Dec

2021

PL Speech

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Stocktaking of the European Year of Rail (debate)

Mr President, thank you very much. The end of 2021 is the European Year of Rail, an initiative that promotes this mode of transport. But there are places in Europe where you don't have to convince anyone to go to the railways, like the Silesian metropolis. Getting to work by train, cugiem (it's in Silesian) is everyday life for thousands of employees. And I'm proud of it. Unfortunately, as a Union…

15

Dec

2021

PL 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, thank you very much. Two weeks ago, together with four MEPs, I was on the Polish-Belarusian border. We saw people left behind – helpless, frozen, frightened, wandering in the woods. It's indescribable. And it is impossible to show, because the media cannot freely inform about their fate. Humanitarian organisations also do not have free access to them. Fortunately, there are residents…

15

Dec

2021

PL Speech

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Plans to undermine further fundamental rights in Poland, in particular regarding the standards of the European Convention of Human Rights and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (debate)

Madam President, I'm sorry. Commissioner, thank you very much. You have asked me many times here in the European Parliament how it is possible that Polish society, which is more than 80% pro-European, allows for the rule of lawlessness and injustice. And it's really very simple. In Poland, for 30 years, there was no reliable civic education, but propaganda and disinformation have reigned in the go…

14

Dec

2021

PL Speech

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New orientations for the EU’s humanitarian action (debate)

Mr President, thank you very much. It is very good that we are talking about the future of the European Union. However, we must not forget that it is the present that creates the future. Unfortunately, even in this room there will be those who do not want to help desperate people fleeing violence, who tolerate the removal of migrants to the forest to the frost, who are afraid of decisive action to…

13

Dec

2021

PL Speech

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Combating gender-based violence: cyberviolence (continuation of debate)

Madam President, I'm sorry. Commissioner, I'm sorry. Today, exactly 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, we are talking about gender-based violence in the European Parliament. These topics were brutally intertwined after the war, in my native Upper Silesia. In 1945, when the war ended for many liberated from the camps, for thousands of Silesians, hell began: Babies raped, mutilated, ki…

25

Nov

2021

PL Speech

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The International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women and the State of play on the ratification of the Istanbul Convention (continuation of debate)

Mr President, thank you very much. It's 2021. Gender-based violence should have been a thing of the past a long time ago, but unfortunately it is not. This is commonplace in many European homes. The accession of the whole Union to the Istanbul Convention is blocked. Meanwhile, the Polish prime minister referred the convention to the pseudo-Court. Let's have no illusions, as soon as they get the ch…

24

Nov

2021

PL Speech

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State of the Energy Union (debate)

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, thank you very much. Prime Minister Morawiecki was very keen to reappear in the European Parliament – he wanted to defend the Polish border here and join the successes of the European Commission. I very much regret that he did not want to come today to talk about Polish coal and the energy transition. He could explain to us why he had given up EUR 3…

23

Nov

2021

PL Speech

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Condemning police violence against Romani people in the EU (debate)

Madam President, I'm sorry. Commissioner, I'm sorry. Protectionist treatment, mockery and even violence - this can be experienced by any ethnic group, national group and any minority. Regardless of latitude, there will always be those who have been poisoned by hatred, nationalism or xenophobia. We Silesians experienced this when after the war our Silesian language and our culture were ruined by th…

10

Nov

2021

PL Speech

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Strengthening democracy, media freedom and pluralism in the EU (debate)

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, I'm sorry. 160 lawsuits in the last five years alone. Lawsuits brought by authoritarian authorities against free media in Poland. Dozens, hundreds of cases against citizens – fighting in Poland for EU values, human rights and the rule of law. And that's what we're talking about in our SLAPPs report. That is, lawsuits, the purpose of which is not to …

20

Oct

2021

PL Speech

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Pushbacks at the EU's external border (debate)

Madam President, I'm sorry. This story happened in Poland last week. After midnight, a group of Kurds were detained by the Border Guard. Migrants declared that they wanted to apply for international protection, but they were deported, pushed towards the forest on the Belarusian side. The ground temperature oscillated around minus five degrees Celsius. Among the migrants were four children: Alaa, A…

19

Oct

2021

PL Speech

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The Rule of law crisis in Poland and the primacy of EU law (debate)

Mr President, thank you very much. Madam President of the Commission! Mr. Prime Minister, I'm sorry. The Lord came here today and spoke a lot, but not to us at all. The Lord spoke only to his electorate, which you created for Kaczyński out of the disgusting propaganda of the national media, dehumanizing your fellow citizens and the whole united Europe. This Europe we all wanted so badly to reach: …

7

Oct

2021

PL Speech

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European Union Agency for Asylum (continuation of debate)

Mr President, thank you very much. Mr Brudziński strongly prefers the title "Hi Uncle". But to the point. From the beginning of the 20th century, from my region, from Silesia, some people fled, and others sought refuge in it. After World War II it was similar: Many went to Germany while others, from eastern Poland, came to us. That is why we Silesians understand well what a drama it is to run away…

6

Oct

2021

PL Speech

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The Council's lack of will to move the European cross-border mechanism forward (debate)

Mr President, thank you very much. Thanks to the Union, we do not feel that we have internal borders. We pass without border controls, phones immediately catch roaming at no cost. In practice, we have no physical or virtual boundaries. But it doesn't work that way for everyone: there are people who cross the border to work every day – cross-border workers. We have discussed the improvement of thei…

6

Oct

2021

PL Speech

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European solutions to the rise of energy prices for businesses and consumers: the role of energy efficiency and renewable energy and the need to tackle energy poverty (debate)

Madam President, I'm sorry. Commissioner, I'm sorry. I came here to the European Parliament from Silesia. Silesia has been exploited for years, not to say colonized by various countries. We have been deprived of our autonomy completely unlawfully – by a single communist decree. Despite the fact that we were mocked before the plebiscite of glass houses and economic independence. Upper Silesia is st…

5

Oct

2021

PL Speech

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EU Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority: ensuring a coordinated EU approach for future health crises and the role of the European Parliament in this (debate)

Madam President, I'm sorry. New times require new solutions. We have finally started to build a common European army, but beyond defence there is something more important or equally important: the health and lives of our citizens. Health policy and security on our continent must undoubtedly be implemented transnationally and, ultimately, should be within the competence of the EU institutions. Why …

4

Oct

2021

PL Speech

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The impact of intimate partner violence and custody rights on women and children (debate)

Mr President, thank you very much. I am very worried that almost all MEPs are involved in the previous debate on violence against women, and it is our duty to stand on the side of women, to be a wall behind women. Being a feminist is sexy. Feminists are also needed for information balance. And it might seem that some things are no longer happening in the 21st century, but unfortunately domestic vi…

15

Sep

2021

PL Speech

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Identifying gender-based violence as a new area of crime listed in Article 83(1) TFEU (continuation of debate)

Madam President, I'm sorry. I can't imagine how a raped woman feels. I can't imagine how a woman feels when she's afraid to go back to her own home, to a place that should be her refuge. I can't, and that's why I'm angry and damn determined. Ratification of the Istanbul Convention is frozen in the Council. It is an act of international law and some Member States that only fight domestic violence w…

15

Sep

2021

PL Speech

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Media freedom and further deterioration of the Rule of law in Poland (debate)

Madam President, I'm sorry. I always wonder at a time when, here in the heart of European democracy, there are debates about Poland, why do you, united in the demolition and occupation of Polish democracy, right-wing, who by all chance change the word "patriotism", bring about this? What has this democratic European and civic Poland done to you that you hate it so much that you are causing it to c…

7

Jul

2021

PL Speech

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State of play of the implementation of the EU Digital COVID Certificate regulations (debate)

Mr President, thank you very much. Mr. Commissioner, I'm sorry. The Digital COVID Certificate project can only be fully successful if we really all get vaccinated. I know it sounds obvious, but I think it's often forgotten. Vaccination rates in the EU are far too low. Disinformation and anti-vaccine movements further aggravate the situation. We, the public, have a strong responsibility to persuade…

6

Jul

2021

PL Speech

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Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund 2021-2027 - Integrated Border Management Fund: Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy 2021-2027 (debate)

Madam President, I'm sorry. Commissioner, I'm sorry. Almost 70 years ago, the international community matured to see people in refugees – people fleeing persecution and death. Same as everyone else: with the right to live, to live free from hunger and fear. Today, as the European Union, we are creating the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund, a fund to help those forced to leave their homes, the…