Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, modernising the European economy and adapting it to the climate crisis is one of the most difficult challenges of our time. The more I value the direction we are setting here, because heating and air conditioning, on the other hand, account for a third of Europe's energy consumption and produce a third of Europe's greenhouse gas emissions. So we're going on a path of investment that comes back to us richly and naturally, because simply a better insulated building consumes less energy. But what bothers me a lot are the populist attacks on this proposal. So please, first of all, Baroque palaces and Gothic cathedrals as historical monuments will get an exception. Secondly, it's certainly not that it should rip real estate out of the hands of the most vulnerable families. All Member States are given enough money and freedom to help them in such a situation. And it won't hurt the tenants either, because it's just the biggest help for them, they won't have to pay such high energy bills. The list of lies that pertain to this proposal is long. But please, let's not believe it. Let us support this proposal, because this is a way in which we can significantly improve our climate and economic situation. We can all win, let's not spoil it.

Madam President, a European digital identity is certainly an important part of a digital Europe. It brings, in theory, the possibility of significantly simplifying everyday life for our citizens and businesses. Unfortunately, there are also some privacy and security concerns. As shadow rapporteur, I have tried to address these problems, especially with regard to compulsory certification and the so-called unique identification number, which could be misused for dangerous surveillance of citizens. Thanks to our efforts, certain guarantees have been achieved. We have optional data sharing, we have partially open source. The digital wallet should be used voluntarily. These are certainly important victories, but unfortunately there are still risks, because the design, as it is built, would still need to be worked out. There are parts that could be used to monitor the privacy of our citizens. And this can be a big problem, especially in states that are scorched by the rule of law, such as Hungary or Slovakia. Unfortunately, we cannot support this final proposal. I believe that the implementation will go well in the Czech Republic, because I have full confidence in our Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalisation, but I would very much like the rest of Europe to have the opportunity to finalise this text.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we are here to discuss how unfair competition affects European photovoltaic production. It is admittedly experiencing very bad times, because we currently produce about 1% of the world's production, while 78% is produced in China. It is quite common for different states to focus on different things depending on what is appropriate with regard to local conditions, the nature of the industry and so on. But we could produce solar panels in Europe, because it is already a relatively primitive technology. At the same time, this production is of huge strategic importance, because it is the fastest and cheapest way to provide new energy. And if we want to shift supply to the level of individual households, decentralize our network and generally make it more resilient, solar energy is the right way to go. I think we have all the key components for this and it doesn't have to be just direct investment. I can imagine that the ‘Buy in Europe’ rule will simply apply to public procurement in Europe, just to support domestic industry. So please let's do this, it's not such a big step.

Madam President, first of all, let me thank you, because, as chairman of the Tibetan interest group, I feel special gratitude for the fact that we managed to convince all of you to discuss this topic. I believe this is very important because the atrocities committed by the Chinese authorities in Tibet undermine the very core of Tibetan identity and are a danger to the future of Tibetans as a nation in the future. Since the age of four, a million children have been involuntarily separated from their parents to attend state boarding schools. In those schools, the government takes away your children, makes them speak Chinese, forget their upbringing, reject their own culture and the religion of their ancestors. China is thus educating Tibetan children to be loyal citizens loyal to the Chinese Communist Party. This policy is aimed at destroying the rich and unique culture of a country that is very different from China's, which is also rated as the least free in the world. So I'd like to ask you one thing. Please impose sanctions on those Chinese officials who have proposed a boarding school program and demand unrestricted access to Tibet for foreign journalists to report on what is happening in the country.

Madam, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that a very important part of the functioning of the rule of law is that all crimes are properly investigated and prosecuted, and my first and most important concern in this situation is that President Fico ensures that this works in Slovakia, because he is disrupting it.

Madam President, Prime Minister Fico's plan to abolish the elite branch of the Public Prosecutor's Office in an accelerated hearing is revenge for the criminal prosecution of himself and his party colleagues by the SMER and close friends of the oligarchs. This followed their involvement in the murder of corruption journalist Ján Kuciak and his partner Martina Kušnírová. As a Czech citizen, I am terrified that Slovakia, our closest neighbour, is moving away from democracy and the rule of law. We cannot allow a neighbouring country to become a base for mafia and corruption that will spread to us or to other European countries. And as a European citizen, I am very concerned that this proposed reform makes it impossible for offences against the European budget to be criminalised in Slovakia. European money cannot remain unprotected and the door cannot be opened to further fraud and corruption. That is why I, as well as other Czech and Slovak Pirates, will focus on ensuring that, on the one hand, this strange reform does not pass and, on the other hand, that the European Public Prosecutor's Office in Slovakia is given the full opportunity to operate and sanction offences against European financial interests. (The speaker agreed to answer the blue card question.)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the report of the European Court of Auditors shows us that this year the European Union's error rate, that is to say, payments that should not have been paid from the European budget, has risen to 4.2%, which is almost twice as high as last year. The Court therefore gave an unfavourable opinion on the expenditure side. This is mainly due to poor financing and non-compliance with the Public Procurement Directive as well as State aid rules. Unfortunately, as we saw in the previous Czech government of Andrej Babiš or, for example, in the government of Viktor Orbán in Hungary, fraud with European funds is very easy for leaders in conflicts of interest. So if we want more transparency and less waste of public money, we need fully digitalised budgetary control. The second thing that worries me a lot is the high debt ratio of the European Union, which increased to EUR 344 billion in 2022, with market interest rates rising from 0.14% in 2021 to 2.6% in 2022. And this is a problem, because the repayment of NextGenerationEU loans must be completed by 2058, and paradoxically, this money will have to be repaid by the next generation of Europeans. So we need to work honestly to reduce inflation and interest rates across Europe to protect our future and our economy.

Madam President, dear colleagues, the reality of our current climate challenge and the other environmental challenges poses a major threat to how we as humankind operate, live our lives and realise our potential. That is the simple reality that we should take in every single time we vote on all related topics in the European Parliament. This is the major challenge of our lifetimes, and this challenge simply can’t be tackled only by public funds, and it can’t be ever solved without the deep investment and participation of the private sector. Even more importantly, we can’t realistically think that we are going to save the climate if at the same time private funds would be flowing into projects that are great for the bottom line of the investors in the short term but disastrous to everybody else in the long run. So yes, the final version of green bonds leaves a lot to be desired. Transparency is lacking and should be strengthened. The flexibility pockets should be much smaller, if they need to exist at all. But it’s a major step forward, because the European green bonds have potential to be a critical enabler for the green and digital transition.

Mr President, dear colleagues, unfortunately, this Parliament did not learn any lesson from the COVID pandemic when it comes to so—called intellectual property on vaccines. If we want to face the next pandemic, which will surely occur because of the climate change, we need to allow patent waivers to facilitate global treatment. The current system is disadvantageous to developing countries because it only benefits the interests of pharmaceutical companies. It is proven that the vaccine patents reduce production capacity and limit competition, which leads to higher prices, slowdown in vaccination and the further development of mutations. The COVID vaccine would not have been possible without government and philanthropic direct funding and years of prior effort by researchers at public universities, and citizens should not have to pay the same thing twice. International voluntary cooperation on public health development and funding is needed more than ever. The EU should promote the sharing of patents worldwide with the aim of achieving affordable and effective vaccines for all as quickly as possible.

Madam President, Madam Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen. Unfortunately, the Commission's proposal, which concerns a new ethics body, is very disappointing for me, because it does not fulfil its purpose at all. The Qatargate scandal has shown us that the EU institutions are unable to avoid and sanction corruption. Although we already have a number of rules to deal with similar situations, the problem is that no one follows them. And the problem comes from the fact that there is a conflict of interest between those who control the rules and those who are controlled by the rules, because they are mostly colleagues from the same institutions. Pirates and I have been calling in the European Parliament for over three years for the establishment of an independent ethics body to eliminate this conflict of interest and to have the power to investigate and sanction those who abuse the system. Unfortunately, we have been presented with another plan to create a toothless institution that will remind us of such a non-binding discussion forum. And that really won't solve the problem. What is even more sad is that the proposal targets only a small proportion of the institutions and none of the staff, as it will affect only about 4.7% of the people working in the European institutions. So if this was a solution plan, unfortunately it isn't.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we certainly need large transport structures for the development and accessibility of European regions, as well as for ensuring better connectivity between east and west and north and south of Europe. The development of our railways will also help us to get closer to the climate goals and their fulfillment. That is why I am pleased that this report includes, among other things, recommendations to increase the availability of international night trains, which are a more sustainable transport alternative, for example to flying. But we should also talk about how to secure funding. We critically need to accelerate construction in strategically important directions, e.g. through the Czech Republic to Poland and further to Ukraine. The problem, however, is that in countries that systematically undermine the rule of law, some transport projects are becoming more expensive and expensive just to fill the pockets of local corrupt politicians and oligarchs. However, as a result, such projects lose added value for citizens and it is just an unnecessary waste of European money. The European Court of Auditors confirms that the control of costs and revenues in the selection of projects is not sufficient and the Commission does not carry out any retrospective evaluation of projects or their actual results. So what we need is not only funding, but also a more transparent way of controlling the money that we are already spending.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, while the anti-corruption package presented by the Commission is a step in the right direction, it is far from achieving what is necessary. Europe can no longer be a safe haven for corrupt officials and their dirty money, especially as a result of Qatargate and the number of Russian oligarchs trying to circumvent sanctions. Finally, this legislative proposal gives Europe the opportunity to sanction corrupt officials from outside the Union, long demanded by the European Magnitsky Act. It also extends the definition of corruption and the standards for criminal offences and minimum penalties. However, we must first ensure that the European Union institutions sweep their own doorsteps by setting up an independent ethics body with genuine investigative and enforcement powers. In order to truly fight corruption in Europe, the Commission must also make better use of the existing rule of law conditionality mechanism, which allows the freezing of European subsidies in the event of a serious breach of democratic values. Countries other than, for example, Hungary should be equally targeted by the mechanism. Finally, Europe should strengthen the role of the European Public Prosecutor, who is key to protecting the European Union budget from large-scale fraud and corruption, in order also to intervene in the area of circumvention of sanctions and environmental crimes. The fight against corruption must be taken seriously.

Madam President, dear colleagues, thank you all for your contributions in this debate. I am glad to hear that we mostly share the same goal to ensure the sound management of the EU institutions. We strive to make them more accountable and transparent to the public. As said earlier, 2021 remained a challenging year where the pandemic was still requiring crisis responses and adaptations of working conditions. I am glad to note that all of the so-called nine other institutions managed to achieve high budget implementation, maintain and ensure full business continuity, switch to digital solutions, secure their networks, improve remote working conditions and carry on recruitments. Therefore, I encourage the shadow rapporteurs to adopt the discharges of all the other institutions, except for the Council and the European Council who refuses to participate in the discharge process. For the year to come, I would like to encourage our newest institution, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, to continue its important work on investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the EU budget in order to protect EU’s financial interests and recover defrauded funds. I believe this new institution is crucial and should be entrusted with larger resources to fulfil a broader mandate, especially in the light of the current Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Madam President, dear colleagues, I would like to start by thanking all the institutions who participated in the exercise for their cooperation and the information they provided. I would also like to thank the shadow rapporteurs for their valuable cooperation in the discharge reports. The year 2021 remained a challenging one, with the pandemic still requiring crisis response and adoption of working conditions. I am glad that all the other institutions, as they are called, managed to achieve high budget implementation, maintain and ensure full business continuity, switch to digital solutions, secure their network, improve remote working conditions and carry on recruitments. I also recognise the challenges those institutions were facing, mostly when it comes to lack of sufficient resources to deliver fully on their respective missions. For the Luxembourg-based institutions, the additional challenge remains the correlation coefficient, which hampers their attractiveness in comparison to the private sector. As this year’s rapporteur, I highlighted a number of recommendations for the future, especially concerning: performance under the modified working regime; sustainability and environmental impact of the institutions and long-term ecological strategies; digitalisation and cybersecurity, particularly given the high increase in use of IT tools and remote working conditions; ethical framework and transparency, particularly with regard to prevention of harassment and conflict of interests; and gender and geographical balance. This year was the first discharge of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Although the EPPO has become fully operational only in the middle of 2021, they have already demonstrated a successful track record of effectiveness. The EPPO’s mission is crucial to protect the EU’s budget and recover defrauded funds. What negatively affects its operation is the fact that five Member States still refuse to participate in its activities, namely Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Ireland. I note with satisfaction the improved cooperation with the European Court of Auditors and welcome the efforts of the new management aimed at improving the internal processes, strengthening the code of conduct and improving stakeholder relations. ECA is a key partner for the European Parliament. I welcome the efforts by the Committee of the Regions in strengthening their code of conduct, promoting their work and achievement in the field of sustainability and green agenda. The Committee of the Regions achieved the best results in terms of sustainability and switching to environmentally friendly infrastructure. I also want to highlight the important role of the Ombudsman, Court of Justice and Data Protection Supervisor that they play in ensuring transparency and accountability, even more during the digital transition. In particular, I welcome their increased attention to the field of cybersecurity and their efforts to use and promote decentralised, free and open-source social network alternatives to the very large online platforms for communicating their activities. I note the internal reforms adopted by the European Economic and Social Committee, and I am satisfied with the improved communication and cooperation with the European Parliament. However, my report stresses the need for culture reforms in the institution and more timely reactions to staff compliance and well-being. It is not acceptable that requests for assistance by staff members take more than three-and-a-half years to be handled. As we have been currently living in the new reality of war taking place at our borders and diplomatic efforts play a crucial role, it is important to recognise the work done by the European External Action Service. We need to evaluate the situation of the many delegations, with particular emphasis on the budget effectiveness regarding security and communication. Finally, I deeply regret that yet again, the Council and the European Council refused to participate in the discharge procedure. I also tabled a new amendment highlighting the recent scandal of extensive use of private jets, even for short travels, and all the negative implications this phenomenon presents. I hope all the political groups will be able to support my recommendations for the sound management of the so-called other institutions.

Mr President, Commissioner, the scope of the Rule of Law Report should be extended to respect for fundamental rights, because it directly affects the lives of Europeans, and therefore primarily minorities, such as the LGBTQI+ community. In Hungary, the so-called anti-LGBT law directly restricts minors' access to basic information about sex education and prohibits any content, even with the slightest reference to homosexuality. This medieval censorship is really dangerous because it promotes homophobic moods in society and attacks on LGBT people are increasing. A few months ago, two young people were murdered in Slovakia. The Commission has taken some legal action, but that is not enough. I think that Member States violating European values should simply not receive European money. That is why, together with the Pirates, we call on all European countries, including the Czech Republic, to live up to their international obligation to protect human rights. Please join the lawsuit against the illegal anti-LGBT laws in Hungary. Our governments have time to show that we live in the 21st century.

Mr President, I speak very often in the European Parliament about how to be transparent, how to fight fraud and corruption, and how to protect whistle-blowers. But instead of what Parliament should be doing, it is not doing much. Naši kolegové tady plní novinové titulky rozsáhlou korupční aférou a my přitom nedovolíme našemu vlastnímu úřadu pro boj proti podvodům, aby vyšetřoval obviněné europoslance. We do not disclose, at least not everyone, how and for what office compensations are used and we do not protect our own employees when they point out any misconduct. This has to change. We have good ethical rules, but nobody actually follows them, because nobody controls their observance. So these are all the reasons why we need an independent ethics body to ensure that we strictly follow the basic rules of the game across all the European institutions. And the fact is that the European Parliament has been talking about setting up an ethical body since about the time I was elected MEP, but that was four years ago, so it is time to finally deliver on the promises we made to our constituents.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, not all politicians are corrupt. It's not normal to take bribes. It is not normal to go on unannounced paid missions that are reminiscent of a vacation. And it's certainly not normal for prime ministers to steal public funds. This is what we have been working on with the Pirates for many years, and that is why we have hope for a better Czech Republic and a better Europe. The protection of European financial interests is also the protection of national budgets. OLAF investigates hundreds of cases of fraud and corruption every year, but only 35% of them end up in court because there is simply no political will in the Member States to deal with them. Thanks to the new European Public Prosecutor's Office, however, we are now finally able to recover a significant amount of stolen funds without having to deal with lengthy national proceedings. In the first six months of the Office’s operation, we recovered some EUR 147 million. That is to say, for about every euro we invest in its operation, we will get four euros back. It is no surprise that governments such as Poland and Hungary continue to refuse to cooperate on this instrument, probably because they themselves have a lot to hide. Finally, we need stronger measures to protect public institutions from corruption. The scandal that hit the European Parliament last month is another example of the need for more transparency and stronger protection Whistleblowers. And to help, my colleagues and I are preparing to set up a common ethical body for the institutions of the European Union.

Madam President, dear Prime Minister Golob, last year I had the opportunity to visit Slovenia on a mission as a member of the Budgetary Control Committee. Under your predecessor Janez Janša, Slovenia was suffering multiple rule of law crises. The issue that resonated with me mostly was the intimidation of the controlling authorities, as well as the lack of media freedom. Budgets were cut and critical investigative journalists were victims of organised attacks. And of course, we can’t forget his efforts to politicise your radio broadcasts at Radiotelevizija Slovenija. But you are the head of a new government and I hear that the situation has improved already. And your legislative initiative to restructure the governing bodies of Radiotelevizija Slovenija is a welcome one. I hope that that will indeed lead to a less hostile public media landscape. However, it appears that there are some branches of the government where the political influence is still creeping back in. So recently we have witnessed your Interior Minister resigned over the ... (The President cut off the speaker)

Mr President, I would therefore like to take this opportunity once again to thank both the Commissioner and all my colleagues, the rapporteurs, Mr Kelleher and all the others who have been involved in the preparation of this document, as well as all of you who have now spoken in the debate. I believe that European citizens will appreciate this, because this is one of the most important documents for ensuring the security of our financial sector and contributes significantly to it, as is unquestionably unusual in the rest of the world.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, DORA may seem, at first glance, to be something quite technical, but in fact it is quite an interesting package and brings quite significant progress in our common cybersecurity. It is harmonisation that has the potential to save quite a lot of money, so it is one of the good examples of why we actually need the European Union to ensure the security of our financial sector and why the European Union is making it significantly more resilient. So what have we achieved? On the one hand, we found agreement on several basic principles because the rules require clear management and defined responsibilities in IT management and mapping critical and ancillary functions. Regular tests and clear conditions mean not only certainty of resilience, but also harmonised rules across Europe. For example, banks will now not have to deal with demanding and expensive testing over and over again for each national branch, but they can rely on this common framework. What I consider essential: shifting from type safety must never penetrate anything to a more realistic model of endurance, resiliency. We ask for minimum times after which the service must be ready to work again. We commit banks to report attacks quickly, allowing other actors to prepare for new types of strikes. At the same time, we protect the rights of banks to quickly replace an unreliable or otherwise compromised service provider. One area where there is room for improvement is the sharing of experience. This fast and standardized reporting is a good first step, but we should definitely want more, because we encourage individual players to share information, but we should want to go even further and want a single reporting center within the European Union that would allow for a faster response to threats and provide a platform to share those sensitive issues on neutral ground. The text does not yet have any evaluation of these options, but we can certainly hope that in the future we will embark on them and unlock further savings and increased security, because transparency and trust help and certainly help reduce risks in the banking sector. Therefore, especially given the current security situation, rules for IT service providers are essential. Simply put, if companies are to credibly provide security to European banks, they must have a clear presence in Europe, because we simply cannot entrust our critical infrastructure to untrustworthy actors. We have reached a proposal for rules on the safety of financial institutions in the single market. Certainly there are points in it that will be re-evaluated after a few years. And it's hard to say at this point what it's going to be like, because DORA is the first document of its kind in the world. Americans and others have nothing like this. And that, I think, is essential for European solutions, because we have found a compromise that moves us forward. In a few years, we will definitely continue to evaluate and improve it, but at the moment, it is simply a very significant step that makes our financial sector one of the most advanced and safest in the world.

Madam President, many people are afraid of new technologies, unfortunately. It is a reason for them to try to ban cryptocurrencies, complicate their use or try to push them out of the market. However, such an effort will always be very costly, whether in terms of money, administrative complexity or invasion of privacy. I believe that we have a better choice, because if we can set basic fair conditions and rules regarding cryptocurrencies, a lot of possibilities open up for us. Those contracts that can be created thanks to blockchain are the way to a new decentralized finance, the financial sector, which may no longer be dominated by a few big banks with huge legal departments, but which can enter a bunch of programmers associated in a startup. Blockchain transparency – the fact that all of its content is stored independently of many devices at once opens the way to cheaper and more efficient tax collection. If this prevents tax evasion, it can be a step towards a fairer society, where the same conditions apply to small entrepreneurs and giant multinationals. So do not be afraid of new technologies, if they have use, it will turn out. If they don't, people will stop using them.

Mr President, dear colleagues, as a Pirate I can only describe the Digital Services Act as a missed opportunity which fails to protect our fundamental rights online. Our privacy won’t be protected by the right for anonymity or encryption. Data retention, browser tracking and surveillance advertising will unfortunately remain the norm. Freedom of expression online won’t be ensured, as platforms will still be able to use arbitrary censorship tools, and politically influenced courts will still be able to take down legal content. However, I will vote in favour of this regulation today because, for the first time ever, big—tech platforms will have to report back to a common European public authority. They will have to put in place an effective redress mechanism and conduct regular risk assessments and independent audits. We also managed to impose strong transparency obligations and the possibility for users to choose non-profiling-based options. Many opportunities were missed. The worst problems have been avoided. I am very grateful to all my colleagues who worked together with me in the ECON Committee. However, the fight for digital civil rights continues.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I regret to admit that I see this as a complete failure on the part of the European Commission, because instead of upholding its commitment to defending the rule of law in Europe, it has cowardly and unfightingly left it at the mercy of the Polish authoritarians. The Polish government is far from fulfilling the conditions for disbursing money from the Recovery Fund, but instead of listening to its own experts, its own members and the European Court of Justice, the Commission has decided to hand over the money to Poland. Yes, I and all of us around here are grateful for the Polish response to Russia's war against Ukraine and for the help that ordinary Poles provide to refugees. But we cannot close our eyes to the fact that the PiS government is systematically destroying the judicial system there, because the judicial system is a fundamental element of democracy and the rule of law, and if we do not defend the rule of law, Poland will become what Russia is today, that is, a kleptocratic dictatorship. I stand by the fact that the Commission guarantees the money of European citizens and ensures that Member States play by the rules they have voluntarily committed to. We do not need a Commission that cannot do this, and we may have to figure out where to find a more capable one.

Madam President, the rule of law is not a luxury. It has to be the same everywhere, both in Hungary and in Poland. Because we cannot let Europe fail because of corruption, judicial inequality and media censorship. And today, especially more than ever, we must defend these values, because European civilization is built on them. Poles, including many Ukrainian refugees, need access to fair courts, objective information and protection of basic human and civil rights. That should be self-evident. I wanted to thank you, both the rapporteur and the whole Parliament, who support this report, because, once again, the European Parliament has proved to be more courageous than a number of Member States, including my own. I would therefore like to ask the European Commission to clearly identify the measures to be taken and, above all, to ensure that they are implemented. It also broadened the scope of the report to cover democracy and fundamental rights. Because the rule of law always comes first and without it we end up somewhere in Russia – in corruption and chaos.

Madam President, it has been about two years since our last resolution on the decline of the rule of law in Hungary and Poland. However, I regret to say that there has been no significant improvement since then. Both governments continue their relentless attacks on judicial independence, media freedom and the individual rights of women and minorities. In the case of Hungary, I am very relieved that the Commission finally listened to Parliament's recommendations and decided to trigger the conditionality mechanism, thank you for that, because Viktor Orbán will no longer be able to build a dictatorship in the country for European money. In any case, it would be a great mistake to forget about the deteriorating situation in Poland. I understand that this is a bit overshadowed by the war in Ukraine at the moment, but it must be resolved, because we simply must not let Polish justice be destroyed. Especially now, at a time when millions of people are actually fleeing Ukraine, we must see to it that the rule of law functions properly in the European Union and protects people from arbitrariness and discrimination. So I would ask the European Commission to take further steps to protect democracy and just bring it to an end.