Speeches

Mr President, you, our Heads of State or Government, are the real power, not the only one, but the most decisive, and by far. Then speak true! Speak true, because the situation requires it, from Ukraine to Gaza. First, say that nothing is excluded, nothing in our determination not to let aggression prevail in Ukraine. Don’t be afraid to scare Putin. Don’t be afraid to scare Putin! Let our 450 million citizens see and understand that we are at war because this despot has declared it to us, by wanting to redraw in blood the borders of our continent to reconstitute by the sword a fallen empire. Then say that, with or without the United States, we will not let it happen, and at the same time say that the abject massacre of 7 October cannot justify these atrocious weeks of bombing of a population without food or shelter. Be Europe, make it live and hear. Make us proud of our Union!

Monsieur le Président, mes chers collègues, le courage a un nom: His name is Navalny! The courage that this man has shown – the courage to brave death with laughter, smiles and irony, to change history by defying a tyrant, a war-monger, a liar and a murderer – calls on us Europeans not to fail. We must tell these elected Trumpists that every day they cover themselves with a little more Ukrainian blood, that history will soon have put them in the camp of cynicism and cowardice, and that they shamefully betray their country and the indispensable solidarity of both sides of the Atlantic. We must immediately deliver Taurus and Mirage missiles to the Ukrainians. We must work day and night for our common defence, for this European shield, which alone can ensure our security and the triumph of freedom. We must put Alexei Navalny’s killer out of harm’s way!

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we do not have one, but two emergencies. The European Union must not only arm Ukraine and rearm itself, it must also make its voice heard in the Middle East, where it does not count politically, even though it is economically all there, being both Israel’s largest trading partner and the largest donor of aid to Palestine. Even though it is the most ardent defender of the two-state solution, the EU remains - we remain - in words, without taking decisive initiatives in favour of peace. Even worse, our passivity makes us accuse ourselves of standing alongside the strongest, alongside Israel against Palestine. Everything must lead the Union to meet the challenge of the only possible peace, that of the coexistence of two states. As soon as the fog of war has fallen, we will have to seize the levers at our disposal: our agreements with Israel and our assistance to the Palestinian Authority.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, he was planning to enter Kiev in three days and what is the state of play? Two years later, Vladimir Putin holds only 17.5% of Ukrainian territory and controls neither the Black Sea nor Crimea. It is called a defeat, but how can we help the Ukrainians turn it into a victory? Well, it is up to our 27 leaders – we must – to tell our nations that we are at war, not on the eve of marching on Moscow, but at war for the freedom of our peoples and the stability of our continent, and that this war requires heavy sacrifices, a common defence and a will to defeat that we will not succeed in mobilising without our voters knowing who is with whom. So finally say it, you extreme rightists, in which camp are you really: Putin or freedom? Under these conditions alone, Ukraine will prevail, as this power of thieves and incapacitators is not invincible.

Mr President, for us, peace is not just a moral duty, it is also a necessity. We owe peace to the Israelis and the Palestinians, but we also owe it to our 27 peoples, since this war is being exported to the EU, it is frustrating the necessary co-development on both shores of the Mediterranean and it is fuelling instability in our neighbourhoods. So, it is no longer enough to hammer: “Two States.” We can help impose this solution, because the development, trade and economy of Israel and Palestine largely depend on our agreements and support. Our honor is to fight for values, but we are also the second largest economy in the world, a power that must defend the security, borders and interests of its citizens. Because we no longer want wars, blood, broken mothers and children, because we want peace, let us dare the means to achieve it.

Mr President, in our 27 capitals, in Washington and in all the countries of the Arab League, we are talking only about the two Israeli and Palestinian states. Many do not want to believe it, but Palestine will indeed emerge alongside the State of Israel for the simple reason that there is no other solution to this 100-year war. But who, it is said, will expel the 500,000 settlers? Well, a minority will try to resist in vain, most will return to Israel and others will become foreign residents in this new state. The problem is not there. The real problem is that reason no longer has enough defenders on either side. And that is why peace, a just and lasting peace, will have to be imposed from the outside, as the sharing of 47 was by the United Nations. Our Union will have a fundamental role to play in this, and rather than arguing over the words ‘truce’ or ‘cease fire’, our Parliament must now, as a matter of urgency, fully prepare for it.

Mr President, I want to believe that we will be unanimous in voting tomorrow for this joint resolution on the Israeli and Palestinian tragedies. I hope so, although this text is too long, too long, because we actually only have three things to say. The first is that we are repulsed by this Hamas killing. The second is that the punishment of a crime cannot be collective punishment. The third is that so many horrors, those of last night, compel Israelis and Palestinians to reopen without delay the negotiations leading to the only possible peace: the coexistence of two states. Colleagues, it is our duty today to impose – I repeat: to impose – these negotiations, to offer security guarantees to all and to say loud and clear that we are ready to reverse our aid and trade agreements if everyone continues to refuse the compromises that are essential to the end of this ‘One Hundred Years War’. In this Parliament, there must be neither pro-Israel nor pro-Palestinian. In the EU Parliament, there must be only supporters of peace, of a just and lasting peace.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let us say the obvious: no single economic sanction against any regime has ever brought an economy to its knees. This is now true of Russia as it was of South Africa, but international sanctions are nevertheless one of the most daunting weapons, as they stifle industries, multiply financial difficulties and force their targets to a permanent quest for random and very expensive crossing paths. This is the case of Mr Putin’s Russia, and that is why it is absurd – totally absurd – to talk about an inefficiency of the economic costs we carry with it. Putinism is hurt. Putinism suffers, but there are obviously loopholes in our system, new measures to be taken, better targeted and that hurt the aggressor even more. We have to take stock of what worked very well, didn't work well or didn't work at all. This is what our Parliament will do next month by calling on the Council and the Commission to do even better, even more and even faster. Because the end of this aggression depends on it.

Mr President, the most extraordinary thing is that in Chechnya, in these lands of absolute arbitrariness, torture and political assassination, there are still people as courageous as Mrs Moussaïeva to stand up against Ramzan Kadyrov, the man-eater whom Putin has made his watchdog. Because no, she's not alone. There are also her three sons, her husband, a former judge of the Supreme Court, and many others, ready to give their lives to defend the principles of the rule of law. With this resolution, it is before you, Madam, that this Parliament bows down, but also before the approximately 1 500 citizens of the Russian Federation, those heroes whom the Kremlin despot has had thrown into prison since the beginning of his war. Yes, Madam, through you, it is to all these brave men, women and adolescents that we pay tribute today. Knowing that of a nocturnal graffiti, a postcard sent to prisoners, a t-shirt in Ukrainian colors or the pain of exile, well over a million Russians, the vanguard of this country, have already said no, Mr Putin, to you and your aggression.

Mr President, why so many gibets? Why was Iran already at 250 hangings at the beginning of the summer? Why does this military theocracy continue to kill at such a rate? This regime is afraid. He has every reason to be afraid, because for 26 years, since a reformer, Mohammad Khatami, was elected President of the Republic, the protest has never stopped in that country. The repression has never stopped the Iranians from taking to the streets again and again. But for the first time, the mobilisation has been going on for more than a year. Women continue to come out naked and are supported and applauded. The social basis of this scheme is obvious. The only hope of this dictatorship is now to conclude a truce with the Gulf monarchies. It no longer even claims to carry a revolution in Islam. It has simply become the most vicious of the pillars of the great conservative alliance, the one that unites it in blood in Moscow and Beijing.

Mr High Representative, contrary to popular belief, the Mediterranean Sea is not a sea. The Mare Nostrum is an inland lake, an Eurafrican lake that unites indissolubly, sometimes tragically, our two continents. To this extent, we are forced to perform miracles. You said earlier: "you ask me to do...", well yes! You are asked, we ask; we ask ourselves to work miracles and, of course, to consider laying the foundations for this indispensable co-development, which has been talked about for so long, but which nevertheless remains the only solution to be considered. So, I am well aware, alas, we are well aware that there are few credible interlocutors to consider this co-development. But my question is very simple: Can we be both Europe and Africa in the force of proposal? Can we put proposals on the table and call not only African governments, but African elites and populations, to respond, to bounce back on that? And can we hope to develop this indispensable dialogue?

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, please give me a minute’s attention. I just wanted to tell you, for those who don't know it yet, that Milan Kundera died a few moments ago. Milan Kundera is certainly one of the greatest writers of the second half of the 20th century. It also embodied the unity of Europe. He was one of the great figures of the Prague Spring. He was one of the great figures in the denunciation of communist totalitarianism. If the President agreed, a moment of silence, a moment of tribute would be welcome.

Mr President, yes, but one day. Yeah, but later. Yeah, but not now. NATO, led by the United States, was much more reluctant yesterday to open its doors to Ukraine than the European Union is going to do. While the EU did not commit to anything, in addition to granting candidate status to Ukraine more than a year ago and the last Council being particularly clear about the willingness of the 27 to stand with this aggressed people, there is no doubt that the EU will open accession negotiations with Kiev before the end of this year. The EU is right and the US is wrong. Ukraine needed a stronger commitment on its vocation to be part of the Atlantic Alliance. This has been an excess of caution on the part of the United States, which must lead us to accelerate our march towards a common defence, towards a European pillar of the Atlantic Alliance that gives us, if necessary, the means to defend ourselves and to weigh ourselves.

Madam President, we admire the courage, the heroism with which these two men, Alexei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Mourza, brave Vladimir Putin to make Russia’s voice heard. But that is not the only reason why we defend them and demand their release. These men are not only valiant, they are also indispensable: their country, Europe and the world. For, if this war lasts, Russia will soon be threatened with fragmentation and chaos. That day will see a new era of unrest threatening the largest of countries, and the whole continent – ours could be destabilised. On that day, we will all need, in Russia as elsewhere, the experience and wisdom of these men, whom the Kremlin despot wants to kill in his dungeons. So we tell you, Mr Putin: you are an accountant of them. You have to make sure they live and give them back their freedom.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I wanted to express the wish, on my own behalf and on behalf of my group, that our vote in support of this draft resolution be as massive as possible, perhaps unanimously. Let's dream. Because 25 years in prison for a crime of opinion, a desire at the highest level of the state that a political prisoner does not come out alive from his detention, we cannot admit it, this Parliament must not admit it.

Mr President, it is so sad that it would almost be ironic. Ironically, it could be said that here it is. Israel is finally integrating into the Middle East, as its parliamentary majority only aspires to replicate the political model of the regimes around it. But no! Unfortunately, there is no irony, because this state, which our Union supports because it is the only democracy in the region, could now take the path of illiberal democracies, those where people continue to vote while counter-powers are attacked and destroyed. The situation is so serious that two out of three Israelis, right and left, are fighting for the survival of their democracy. So, as everywhere, we must support the rule of law, say which side we are on and not hesitate, if necessary, to use all our weapons, political of course, but also economic.

Madam President, in all latitudes, all criminal codes say so: It is a crime, Mr Putin, to detain an innocent person between four walls, an innocent person, moreover, who had been vainly tried to poison. Yes, your crime has been established, but now you are committing an even more serious one. With isolation, harassment and denial of medical care, you slowly assassinate Alexei Navalny. This opponent who does not know fear, this fighter who challenges you, you want him dead, you want his head, because you fear him. So know, Mr Putin, that just as the world will not forgive you for the martyrdom of Ukraine, we cannot forgive you for the murder of your opponent, the freedom fighter. We could not because we admire it. We couldn't because he's admirable. We could not because, on the day that history turns your dark page, Russia will need Alexei Navalny and all those who resist you today. Without them, Russia would have no standards behind which to rally, stand up and refuse this new time of unrest that your war threatens. Russia needs a Navalny, and if you deprive it, you will destroy it.

Mr President, Tunisia is no stranger to us: it is so closely linked to the history of France, Italy and all of Europe that we owe it the same duties as we owe it to a sister or brother. Before leading the way in the Arab Spring of 2011, Tunisia had been able to negotiate its independence without resentment or violence. Habib Bourguiba, its liberator, then had to give Tunisian women the most liberal status in the Arab world and allow a powerful trade union centre to take root, which was always a factor in social and political balance. So close to our shores, so close to our hearts, Tunisia could be one of us, and that is why we need to speak loudly and true to the man who made it so quickly go back. We have to tell Mr Saïed that our assistance budget is not meant to break the independence of the judiciary, but, on the contrary, to strengthen it. We have to tell him that there are too many dictatorships on Earth for him to create a new one and that we love Tunisia too much to resign ourselves to. Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, we have to call a cat a cat, and Mr Saïed a man with whom we will not deal, because he leads his people to misfortune and further destabilizes both sides of the border. Mare Nostrum.

Madam President, why is he hanging so many young people? To scare, of course. To dissuade men and women, parents and children from taking to the streets shouting their rejection of his regime. But that is not all. If he needs terror so much, it is because this cornered old man, with his back to the wall, no longer has any other cards to play. The most distant provinces are as mobilized as the largest cities. The youngest are as young as the oldest. White collars are as much as blue collars and, naturally, men as women. Iran wants to live free, in peace and in this century. Iran, the whole of Iran, has revolted. Iran no longer wants you, your regime, your Revolutionary Guards, your tartufferie or your murders. The more you hang, the more your days will be counted. Because they are numbered, Mr Khamenei, Mr the executioner, Mr the murderer.

Madam President, there will never be any normalisation in Iran. It is now impossible to return to the status quo ante because the protests have become too widespread and the repression too harsh for this regime to take matters into its own hands. Theocracy is in agony, but tomorrow? It is not impossible that the scenes of fraternisation between demonstrators and police officers will multiply and this power will collapse brutally. Most likely, however, is a phase of militarisation of the regime that would see the custodians of the revolution take precedence over the clergy. This is the most likely hypothesis, but this military phase would have only a time, because the Pasdarans would then face the double opposition of the population and the less obscurantist part of the clergy who would want to limit the retreat of the faith. A new page opens in Iran, that of women, of life, of freedom.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the question today is where we stand. On the Ukrainian side, the counter-offensive was a tremendous success, since after the advances from the East, the liberation troops were now advancing towards Kherson. On the Russian side, on the other hand, a political debacle is added to the military debacle. Senior regime officials are publicly accusing each other of negligence. This is unprecedented in Putin’s Russia, and it tells us that the chain of command and the president himself are no longer untouchable. This is the beginning of a general disintegration also marked by the rejection of mobilisation, the first signs of emancipation in Central Asia, the success of our sanctions and the strange and constant affirmation of Mr Prigojine, the boss of a powerful militia fuelling his ambitions. Twilight falls on an aging tsar. It is all the more dangerous, but it will lose.

Mr. Speaker, 500, 800, 3,000 or more dead. We know alas that you will not skimp, you pasdarans and other bassidjis to keep your power. Yes, this popular revolt, this revolt of women defending women and freedom can probably be crushed by your weapons. But it's not said. And beware, beware of you, profiteers and defenders of this regime! For remember, remember the crowds gathered by the 1997 presidential election when your people were able to vote for a candidate for change. Remember the months of revolt against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's fraudulent re-election in 2009. Remember the scale of the 2019 and 2020 protests. Remember the 8 million signatures against the executions of political prisoners, remember, and you will see that Iranian anger continues to grow against your dictatorship of bloodthirsty incapable. Remember, and you will see your end approaching.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Kiev is not Hong Kong, Taiwan is not Ukraine, China is not Russia. As we all know, this is a matter of course. But beyond these differences of nation, geography, culture, let us see reality. The reality is that in both Beijing and Moscow we face regimes that want to destroy democracy, that want to ensure the triumph of dictatorship over freedom, that want to ensure the triumph of the moral, police, social order, against what they call decadence and what we call freedom. So, Cardinal Zen, rest assured: we will defend you and we will defend through you the cause you embody, that of China’s freedoms, with as much determination, tooth and nail, as we defend Ukraine’s freedom.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the outburst of barbarism we are witnessing today in Ukraine is unfortunately not new in the 21st century. Let us remember what happened in Aleppo. Let us remember what happened in the whole of Syria ruled by an ally of Mr Putin. It was the same, it was the same. And that is why today, when we lay the groundwork – because that is what we are doing – for a new international justice against war crimes, we are not just expressing our solidarity with Ukraine and our indignation. We also remember Aleppo and we are trying to prevent more crimes tomorrow in other countries, on other continents. We are laying the foundations, Commissioner, for a new European Union action against war crimes.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Erdoğan believes himself to be strong. He believes that he is immune to our criticisms, protests and pressures, because he believes that the Russian aggression against Ukraine has made his country an ally, which neither the European Union nor the United States could or should in any case do without. He is not wrong, but what he does not see, on the other hand, is that we are not unaware of his internal difficulties. The situation of the Turkish economy is such and next year's elections look so difficult for Mr Erdoğan that he needs us much more than we need him. This man cannot lock himself in a one-on-one relationship with Russia, let alone break with the Atlantic Alliance. So let us not be afraid of him, and let us make it clear to him that he will have to pay a heavy price for this life sentence against an innocent man, whom our Parliament salutes, applauds and defends.