What Markéta spoke about.

19

Apr

2023

EN Speech

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Children forcibly deported from Ukraine and the ICC arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, Commissioner, the war does not have a human face nor spare the lives of anyone, including children. However, after the atrocities of the 20th century, we made a social contract and set the lines of international law that shouldn’t be crossed. Nevertheless, it seems that for the Kremlin, history is not something we should learn from. Children are forcefully taken and …

18

Apr

2023

EN Speech

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Adoption of the Cyber package proposals (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, dear Commissioners, our single market has the power to set global standards by the force of its size and by our first—mover advantage. Cybersecurity as a requirement for digital products and software is becoming ever more important for our citizens. As attacks increase rapidly, vulnerabilities in US and Chinese digital goods are equally unacceptable and create a g…

18

Apr

2023

EN Speech

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The need for a coherent strategy for EU-China Relations (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, ‘China is a big country and you are small countries, and that is a fact’ – that’s what China’s foreign minister said in 2010. And because, individually, we are 27 proud but small countries, formats like 14+1 and flashy state visits of national presidents are playing right into the hands of Beijing. And if the Commission President or High Representative are coming alo…

14

Mar

2023

EN Speech

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EU-Azerbaijan relations (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, Commissioner, I believe that EU—Azerbaijan relations need to be updated. However, I must underline that any deepening of ties with the EU must be conditional. That is not happening. There is no progress in respecting citizens’ rights and freedoms, no improvement in ceasing repression of the political opposition and civil society, and no advancement in the rule of …

14

Mar

2023

EN Speech

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Situation in Georgia (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, I have to say that after four years intensely working on getting Georgia closer to us, knowing it is also something that the citizens want, I am at a loss with the situation now. It seems that whatever we do, it’s a reason for Prime Minister Garibashvili to accuse us of foul play or for other representatives of the government to personally attack each of us. Now, aft…

16

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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The further repressions against the people of Belarus, in particular the cases of Andrzej Poczobut and Ales Bialiatski (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, since Lukashenko has installed himself in power again in 2020, we voted for six resolutions related to Belarus and its systemic repression of any opposition. That is quite an unprecedented number, let me say. Our attention to the people of Belarus is unwavering in this House. But it also shows that our hard power is obviously not sufficiently used. Are the sanctions …

15

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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The recent deterioration of the inhuman imprisonment conditions of Alexey Navalny and other political prisoners in Russia

Madam President, arrested, imprisoned and poisoned for his political activism and yet he returns to Russia and continues to fight for what he believes in, risking his own life. Aleksei Navalny and all political prisoners are the visible symbol for the millions of Russians who want a better future for themselves and for their country. This symbol grows every day, and as a paranoid 70—year—old tries…

13

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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Corrigendum (Rule 241) (action taken)

Madam President and colleagues, I want to bring to your attention the situation in Moldova. Moldovan President Maia Sandu just revealed that the Ukrainian intelligence services intercepted a document clearly showing Russia’s plan for a coup d’état in Moldova. Putin has an apparent goal to forcefully change the legitimate power from Chișinău to an illegitimate one, while also destroying Moldova’s E…

2

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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Situation of the former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues and dear Georgians who are listening, there are far too many challenges ahead of Georgia. The Commission will be now evaluating the 12-point recommendations and how the Georgian authorities were able to fulfil them. At the end of the road, there might even be a candidate status waiting for them. Yet we already know that there are some persisting issues, although we…

2

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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Preparation of the EU-Ukraine Summit (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, I am an unapologetic fan of EU enlargement, which is why I welcome Presidents Zelinskyy’s commitment to reforms – changing legal, social and political reality to align with our European acquis, even during wartime. I have high hopes for the upcoming summit to bring Ukraine even closer to the EU family. In the European family, they already are. Furthermore, the sum…

18

Jan

2023

EN Speech

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Humanitarian consequences of the blockade in Nagorno-Karabakh

Mr President, dear colleagues, the problem is quite clear: the current blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh leads to many people being left without the basic needs, causing a severe medical situation, risking starvation and endangering any agreed commitments. Whatever the reasons for the blockade, no protests should deny Nagorno-Karabakh residents their access to freedom of movement and necessary goods. M…

14

Dec

2022

EN Speech

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Defending democracy from foreign interference (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, Commissioner, foreign interference in all democratic processes, including disinformation. That is what our name INGE (Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union, including Disinformation) stands for. Now Europe shakes in its core due to these issues. The Chinese police stations in our Member States are yet to become a …

13

Dec

2022

EN Speech

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Annual implementing report on the EU association agreement with Georgia (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, Georgia is one of our most important partners, which is close to many of our hearts. We have been pointing out for years that the areas of democracy, rule of law, fundamental freedoms and human rights in Georgia have significant issues without improvement on many elements, which is why the report on Georgia is somewhat critical. Implementing genuine and t…

23

Nov

2022

EN Speech

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The continuing repression of the democratic opposition and civil society in Belarus

Mr President, dear colleagues, when I say 1 400 political prisoners in Belarus, do you imagine a face? I do. I will probably never forget Kasia Budzko, now 21 years old. She studied to become a teacher and now, for two years of her still so very brief life, she is in a penal colony because of challenging the authorities. I have the same activist nature. I can’t stand oppression and injustice. If I…

23

Nov

2022

EN Speech

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Amending Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027 - Amending Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 as regards the establishment of a diversified funding strategy as a general borrowing method - 'Macro-Financial Assistance+' instrument for providing support to Ukraine for 2023 (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, Minister, Commissioner, I welcome this proposal, and especially now that we are discussing – or we already discussed – Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, and this package for Ukraine. We are being cyber—attacked by a pro-Russian hacker group – they already admitted it – so I think we do not really have to discuss here very thoroughly why we are doing it and why …

22

Nov

2022

EN Speech

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Resilience of critical entities (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, dear Commissioner, the geopolitical climate for Europe is getting harsher and we step up our efforts to secure vital entities in our single market as a whole. We respond to the growing impacts of climate change and to gaps and vulnerabilities that opened up in the pandemic. And this directive really well complements our new DORA Act on financial services and our newl…

10

Nov

2022

EN Speech

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A high common level of cybersecurity across the Union (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, Commissioner – really difficult to go after this amazing speech, by the way – thanks to this legislation the number of essential and important entities we will need to protect just in my country, the Czech Republic, will be around 6 000. Currently we protect 350. Now imagine other Member States. The scope and enforceability of this regulation is unprecedented and …

19

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Lukashenka regime's active role in the war against Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, Commissioner, do you remember the rigged elections in 2020? Those massive protests in civil society and international organisations claiming Lukashenko is not a legitimately elected president. So here we are now, two years later, talking about Lukashenko’s helping a regime, a war criminal, and dragging Belarusian people to the war, just to please his puppet master…

18

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Question Time (Commission) - Protecting critical infrastructure in the EU against attacks and countering hybrid attacks

Thank you very much for the answer. I do understand that, of course, the European Union cannot have its own intelligence services. And I thank you for the information about the cooperation for national Member States. But if we were very specific and let’s say there was a Russian spy in the European Commission, who is the one who would uncover that?…

18

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Question Time (Commission) - Protecting critical infrastructure in the EU against attacks and countering hybrid attacks

Mr President, Mr Commissioner, well, of course, we know all that this debate we are having today is partially because of the Nord Stream attacks, but our critical infrastructure is vulnerable and has many vulnerabilities towards other means rather than physical attacks, also coercion, sabotage, espionage, etc. And partially because some colleagues already covered, let’s say, the physical aspects, …

5

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Countering the anti-European and anti-Ukrainian propaganda of Putin’s European cronies (topical debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, Commissioner, Minister, two interesting reports came out recently. One is from a Europe—based NGO, another one is from the company Meta, and they are together painting quite an ominous picture of how we are not tackling Russia’s propaganda. First, let’s talk about Google and Twitter. There are thousands of tweets, YouTube videos and posts flagged as Russian propagand…

4

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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The death of Mahsa Amini and the repression of women's rights protesters in Iran (debate)

Mr President, ‘Women, Life, Freedom!’. I observe with deep admiration the breathtaking courage with which Iranian women stand these days against the dictatorship of Khamenei and his morality police. The message of the Iranian protests is universal and resonates across the world. It is heard by women in Poland and the US, who are denied the right to their own bodies; it is heard by women in Italy, …

15

Sep

2022

EN Speech

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

Madam President, do we find it democratic that, for instance, the Pirate Party, active in 14 Member States and counting four MEPs in this Chamber, is not permitted to register as a European political party? I don’t. Genuine and inclusive citizen representation can only be achieved once we lower the threshold for registration. However this report does not mention it. Do you find it transparent enou…

6

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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The relations of the Russian government and diplomatic network with parties of extremist, populist, anti-European and certain other European political parties in the context of the war (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, Russian tactics to get into European democratic institutions are not very secret, nor are they very elaborate, if we look at the evidence we already have. Last Monday, Ms Le Pen and Mr Salvini, together with other lesser-known Russian finest members, were roaming this House and advocating for Russia’s interests. Of course, this practice is ongoing, even aft…

8

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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Violations of media freedom and safety of journalists in Georgia

Yes, thank you very much. I would like to make an additional statement, which is also connected to, let’s say, the position of S&D, so I do hope that Mr Cozzolino doesn’t mind to follow up on him with that. It concerns an amendment that will be upcoming tomorrow in relation to the resolution. And I really just want to make a personal statement towards Georgian friends, towards the government and t…