What Gwendoline spoke about.

14

Mar

2023

EN Speech

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Implementation report on the Agreement on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU - The Windsor Framework (debate)

Madam President, 20 years ago, the Good Friday Agreement was signed. This major step will be commemorated with the importance it deserves. Sadly, for more than a year now, the Assembly in Northern Ireland has not been sitting. In its absence, citizens in Northern Ireland have struggled to access health care and financial support for energy bills. Polling shows that those in favour of restoring the…

15

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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The erosion of the rule of law in Greece: the wiretapping scandal and media freedom (topical debate)

Madam President, Greece, State of Play, 2023. Eleni Touloupaki, former head of the corruption prosecutor's office, has been attacked by her own government after an investigation about the scandal involving the Novartis Pharma company. And now she suspects that she was spied on as many others were in the Greek political context. Meanwhile, the wiretapping scandal, we know, is ongoing. Giorgos Karai…

14

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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Establishment of an independent EU Ethics Body (debate)

Mr President, transparency and accountability are easy and simple requirements to put in place and so it remains a mystery why it is taking us so much time to make it happen. We have been cowardly and weak, because at the same time we were very eager to ask for transparency and accountability from others – from businesses, corporations, lobbyists, democracies, countries, institutions and now NGOs.…

14

Dec

2022

FR Speech

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

Madam President, press freedom and media pluralism, without which there is simply no democracy, are no longer protected in many Member States. European provisions are therefore needed. Let’s take a look at it. Hungary, 85th out of 180 in the 2022 Reporters Without Borders ranking. The KESMA Foundation brings together 500 national and local media in the blind service of the government, in total opa…

14

Dec

2022

EN Speech

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Defending democracy from foreign interference (debate)

Mr President, we already knew about the terrible influence of China in our universities. A Senate report in France has clearly documented it. Chinese student spies or some officials are monitoring research to impose their narrative on the issues of the Uyghurs or Taiwan. Some researchers were even pressured by the heads of the universities to delete criticism towards the Chinese Government and to …

14

Dec

2022

EN Speech

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Defending the European Union against the abuse of national vetoes (debate)

No they’re not because they did it with good faith. I’m serious! I’m serious! When vetoes are used when the country is not interested in the real content of the policies and it’s just using it to have deals on another topic, that is very problematic. That’s why I think that those that are using it in good faith are weakening their own work, and that’s why I’m saying that they are good enough now t…

14

Dec

2022

EN Speech

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Defending the European Union against the abuse of national vetoes (debate)

Mr President, dear smaller Member States, by size or by population, I know you have always fought fiercely for national vetoes and I simply do not understand it. We have all witnessed recently how national vetoes have dramatically been to the advantage of the few bad guys in the room. National vetoes have been used in bad faith against European interests. They have been an instrument to pressure y…

21

Nov

2022

EN Speech

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Assessment of Hungary's compliance with the rule of law conditions under the Conditionality Regulation and state of play of the Hungarian RRP (debate)

Madam President, there cannot be – in no place in the world because it’s just not possible – a true, efficient, anti—corruption system where there is not independence of the judiciary. And it feels bizarre to have to say it out loud, but because we have to state the obvious, let’s imagine. Let’s imagine a Member State where the son—in—law of the leader of the country has just been awarded a tender…

19

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Whitewashing of the anti-European extreme right in the EU (topical debate)

Mr President, far right is seeking normalisation and we are giving it to them. First, they had to disguise their fascist legacy, their most frightening symbols and their worst racist, violent rhetoric. Second, they asked right—wing and liberal centrists to open the door, to let them in a bit, accessing little places of power in Parliament, even in government, and spreading this false narrative tha…

17

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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

Madam President, Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered five years ago, and yesterday, on the anniversary of her death, everyone seemed to want to honour her life. But are we truly entitled to do so? The truth is, that story is ugly and dirty, and it has left a long—lasting stain on Malta’s democracy, Malta’s society and that government’s legacy. But it is also a very depressing story because it has …

4

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Commission proposal for measures under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation in the case of Hungary (debate)

Madam President, I would ask what you do if you want to take big chunks of European money for your own benefit or to enrich those around you? Well, you go into government, then you create very loose public procurement rules – rules that you know you will not respect anyway – you manage to channel most of your funds to your son—in—law, for example, who will not build with this money what he is supp…

15

Sep

2022

FR Speech

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Statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations (debate)

Madam President, should European political parties and foundations be exempted from the rules we demand from the rest of the world in terms of transparency and gender equality? There is a lot of talk about foreign interference and the interference that could take place, especially through parties and the money given to them. Yet it has been very difficult in these texts to go much further on trans…

14

Sep

2022

EN Speech

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Existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values on which the Union is founded (debate)

Mr President, if Hungary had been a country outside of the European Union, we would have defined very precisely the regime that is in place years ago. We did not because we feel trapped in this situation and we are very uncomfortable. I think that indulgence was given to Hungary more than the contrary. I also wanted to say if a Member State of this European Union has structural deficiencies in one…

14

Sep

2022

FR Speech

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Existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values on which the Union is founded (debate)

Madam President, this report is the culmination of the work of five out of seven groups in this Parliament, a work which is extremely coherent, responsible and of high parliamentary quality, and which will remain for a long time as a memory of what can be done intelligently in this Parliament. This report, which has already been voted on in the LIBE Committee and which, I hope, will be voted on by…

6

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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Presentation of the programme of activities of the Czech Presidency (continuation of debate)

Madam President, I say to the Prime Minister, I am now going to do my very, very, very traditional and boring speech about the Article 7 procedure, which I do every new Council presidency, because this procedure is now in your hands and we have to rely on you to make things happen. It was four years ago that this European Parliament launched Article 7(1) of the Treaties against the Hungarian Gover…

4

Jul

2022

FR Speech

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US Supreme Court decision to overturn abortion rights in the United States and the need to safeguard abortion rights and Women’s health in the EU (debate)

Madam President, abortion is an eminently political issue, a witness and instrument of societal choice, throughout women’s history. It is not only a private matter and a major public health issue. This is even less of a moral problem. When a government introduces or reintroduces laws restricting or prohibiting abortion, it is never by chance. This is because an authoritarian trajectory, the danger…

9

Jun

2022

FR Speech

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The call for a Convention for the revision of the Treaties (debate)

Mr President, last month we were talking about the Conference on the Future of Europe and Citizens' Involvement, yesterday the right of legislative initiative for this Parliament, and today Article 48 and revision of the Treaties. Because indeed we need to change the Treaties, which do not allow us to have effective and fully democratic institutions, because of this famous problem of unanimity. Th…

8

Jun

2022

FR Speech

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Parliament’s right of initiative (debate)

Mr President, the European Parliament must be recognised as a co-legislator. The Commission's quasi-monopoly on legislation is harmful to our democracy and completely unjustifiable at this stage of our European history. The European Union remains an immature democracy, not least because of this democratic deficit. The European Parliament is not yet a real parliament. It must become one, become a l…

6

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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2021 Report on Turkey (debate)

Madam President, this is a very good report and a strong report and so it needs to be followed with strong actions. This report highlights that our approach so far has failed to seriously address the human rights crisis in Turkey that is becoming extremely dire alongside the erosion of democracy and the rule of law. The Turkish authorities have constantly disregarded the rulings by the European Co…

4

May

2022

EN Speech

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The case of Osman Kavala in Turkey

Mr President, was the trial of Osman Kavala and his co—defendants the last chance for justice in Turkey? We know that there are so many victims of the repressive regime in Turkey, but the case of Osman Kavala is one of the most unjust of all. This businessperson and human rights advocate was sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of release. But since the very first day he was imprisoned fo…

4

May

2022

EN Speech

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Use of the Pegasus Software by EU Member States against individuals including MEPs and the violation of fundamental rights (topical debate)

Mr President, has deeply invasive surveillance become the new normal? Depuis les révélations de juillet 2021, le feuilleton de la surveillance généralisée semble avoir plus de retournements de situation, de suspenses improbables et de complots qu’une très mauvaise série à rebondissements. Résumons. Les gouvernements européens, et pas seulement en Pologne et en Hongrie, surveillent leurs opposants …

3

May

2022

FR Speech

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The follow up of the Conference on the Future of Europe (debate)

Madam President, when we built this Conference on the Future of Europe, a number of us in this Parliament insisted on having a strong involvement of citizens. There was reluctance from parliamentarians who thought that democracy was only representative, and above all, there was resistance in the Council. Yet, as every time a dialogue has been initiated with citizens in Ireland, Germany and France,…

3

May

2022

FR Speech

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Ongoing hearings under Article 7(1) TEU regarding Poland and Hungary (debate)

Madam President, indeed, we are here again to discuss these Article 7 procedures. They are always a little bit the same in the room, with the notable absence of the Council, which is indeed a great sadness and cause for concern. There has been a tendency in recent years to say that the culture of the rule of law has finally developed and that both the rule of law and the economy are being talked a…

2

May

2022

FR Speech

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Election of the Members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage (debate)

Mr President, can we not learn from history and the present? The war in Ukraine that concerns us all, this inextricable energy crisis, the warnings in the IPCC report that show the absurdity of thinking about solutions within the limits of nation states, this is the sixth planetary limit that has just been crossed out of nine and our living conditions together are seriously endangered. But this Eu…

6

Apr

2022

FR Speech

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Ongoing hearings under Article 7(1) TEU regarding Poland and Hungary (debate)

Madam President, the situation is known: Four years ago, this Parliament triggered the Article 7.1 procedure against the Hungarian government, but it has been 12 years since an autocracy took shape in the European Union. And the inaction of the European institutions is such that it can be considered that this has partly contributed to legitimising this autocracy and, above all, to feeding it finan…