What Markéta spoke about.

8

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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Violations of media freedom and safety of journalists in Georgia

Madam President, dear colleagues, friends of Georgia, Georgian citizens, if you are listening. The media situation in Georgia has been dire. Journalists are violently attacked in unprecedented numbers. There are cases of intimidation, threats and persecution of journalists, and many criminal investigations against media workers and owners. Moreover, I’m very disappointed that the government and ot…

7

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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Security in the Eastern Partnership area and the role of the common security and defence policy (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, upgrading the Eastern Partnership is a necessity, and I believe that it’s imperative to develop a strategy to address better security aspects of the EU’s Eastern Partnership policy, taking the security needs of the relevant partner countries as a starting point. The EU must strengthen the security dimension of the Eastern Partnership, make closer coo…

18

May

2022

EN Speech

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EU Association Agreement with the Republic of Moldova (debate)

Mr President, the Republic of Moldova has had challenging times in this unprecedented crisis. Combined with the effects of the Russian war of aggression that raised energy and commodity prices, it has all had a detrimental impact on Moldova. Hence, the EU’s help and assistance are crucial in this situation. The country certainly needs its reforms improving decentralisation, crucial reforms conside…

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, dear colleagues, this House started to draft a regulation on trade in spyware eight years ago. I had the honour of being the one to conclude the dual—use regulation on behalf of Parliament, where we achieved unprecedented transparency on spyware exports. Allow me to address Mr Tarczyński, who lacks information apparently on this, because actually do you know why it is that after eigh…

3

May

2022

EN Speech

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EU preparedness against cyber-attacks following Russia invasion on Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, I’ve seen many, many people cheer on the ‘hactivist’ group Anonymous when they wage their own war against Russians. When some of my friends travelled to Ukraine to help Ukrainians flee the country, others sit down behind a computer and show their heroism through ones and zeros. The same goes to other entities. Ukraine built resilient cyber defence capabilities. The UK and US support …

6

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Human rights situation in North Korea, including the persecution of religious minorities

Mr President, in many ways we know even less of what is happening in North Korea today, since the country has completely shut its borders using the COVID pandemic as a pretext. What we do know is that the humanitarian situation of the population has worsened on average and that starvation and famine are a growing reality. We also know who is keeping Kim’s head above water: the neighbour who profit…

5

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Outcome of the EU-China Summit (1 April 2022) (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, and unfortunately not Mr Borrell. After this summit, the Chinese leadership has shown to be in a dilemma. It intends to continue the extremely profitable economic relationship it has with us in the EU in order to keep its economy out of recession. At the same time, China signals support for Putin and his war in order to balance against NATO. China is also the coun…

23

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Macro-financial assistance to the Republic of Moldova (debate)

Madam President, I tried to catch the eye, but I was unsuccessful so I will waste a little bit of my precious seconds to just remind a few of my colleagues that the MFA so very important for Moldova is not related to the refugee crisis and to the war. Thank you. And as for the remarks I promised on the Commission and our role, first, I still stress the need for the Commission to include policy ref…

23

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Macro-financial assistance to the Republic of Moldova (debate)

Mr President, in the last few years, the Republic of Moldova has faced an exceptional triple crisis, namely the COVID—19 pandemic, the energy crisis and the prevalent fight against systemic corruption and nepotism that caused significant weaknesses in several sectors, including limited administrative capacity. While Moldova is still one of the poorest countries in Europe, the economic recovery pla…

8

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Foreign interference in all democratic processes in the EU (debate)

Mr President, in many ways, Putin’s war has changed everything, but it has also reinforced what we found in our over a year—long investigation into malicious interference. Dictators exploit our untransparent financing and lobbyism laws to buy themselves into our political system. Dictators buy our state—of—the—art intrusion software to spy on anyone who could expose their crimes and corruption any…

16

Feb

2022

CS Speech

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EU-Russia relations, European security and Russia’s military threat against Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we are meeting in this plenary on a date that many have speculated in the last week as a day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Not only people who have experienced war, but also those who would like to miss this experience in their lives, clench their throats with such a possibility. If we look at the list of security threats over the past few years, we would …

15

Feb

2022

EN Speech

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Implementation of the common foreign and security policy – annual report 2021 - Implementation of the common security and defence policy – annual report 2021 (debate)

Madam President, I want to focus on two issues in the report that I believe are of structural importance to our security. Firstly, qualified majority voting (QMV) in the Council. A flexible and credible operational system is necessary. The Council should start with the low—hanging fruit on this, and introduce QMV in the adoption of statements on international human rights issues and human rights—r…

19

Jan

2022

EN Speech

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Situation in Kazakhstan

Mr President, it is unfortunate that already, at the beginning of the new year, we are debating grave violations of human rights happening worldwide here, and Kazakhstan is in the spotlight. The citizens of Kazakhstan have spoken clearly before. They want to have a more democratic country, where inequalities in the rich fuel-producing country would fade away, and freedom of speech, the right to pe…

19

Jan

2022

EN Speech

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Violations of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong

Mr President, coercion, violence and force are methods we reserve for the most severe situations. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has chosen to deploy these methods against millions of its own citizens daily. Hong Kong is a stark reminder of how much prosperity, freedom and human dignity the Chinese regime is able to destroy. If we want to protect our friends in Hong Kong, or the brave Member St…

14

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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Situation at the Ukrainian border and in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, unfortunately we are sitting here again while sensing another war in Europe. The Russian unprecedented military activities and build-up in the proximity of the Ukrainian borders are clear evidence that Russia is willing to escalate the crisis. The US promised unprecedented sanctions in case of Moscow’s escalation. What will the EU promise – a direct neighbour and partner of Ukrain…

10

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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The escalating humanitarian crisis on the EU-Belarusian border, in particular in Poland (debate)

Mr President, listening to this whole debate, I decided to dedicate the first half of my speech to silence for the victims of dictators who are manipulating human lives. (Silence) Now to business. I urge the Member States to extend the sanctions against Lukashenko’s regime, as well as other enablers of this unacceptable human trafficking, and to start discussing activation of Article 4 of the Nort…

19

Oct

2021

CS Speech

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EU-Taiwan political relations and cooperation (debate)

Mr President, Taiwan is a successful democracy. That is why they deserve our attention, our economic and political support and, above all, our commitments. For too long, we have been relying on Taiwan to protect the so-called silicon shield from China's expansion. But the CCP's actions, whether they are hybrid attacks or airspace violations, are clear. This shield won't last forever. Our partnersh…

5

Oct

2021

CS Speech

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Disinformation and the role of social platforms (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, exceptionally today I will address the plenary and you in Czech. The upcoming laws on digital services and the digital market are a glimpse of hope that steps will be taken on disinformation, but this cannot replace the comprehensive approach we need. We would also not start the debate on traffic restrictions with whether to drive 130 km/h or 180 km/h on motorways if…

5

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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State of EU cyber defence capabilities (debate)

Madam President, information warfare intensity seems to be growing as fast as global computing capacity. Zero-click-spyware and ransomware attacks are exposing how vulnerable our infrastructure, our businesses and our private lives are in the digital realm. In our report we define European rules of engagement in the digital domain that are anchored in international law and we name state actors tha…

15

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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The Pegasus spyware scandal (debate)

Madam President, the NSO Group sold spyware to every dictator with money and created a global security risk for every democracy and every free person. We put a law in force just last week to stop European companies from doing just that. This law, the Dual-Use Regulation, will stop companies like NSO from exporting its spyware, thinly disguised via Cyprus or Bulgaria, but it is not enough. Spyware …

14

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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Direction of EU-Russia political relations (debate)

Mr President, ever since Mr Borrell’s unfortunate visit to Moscow, a clear, strong stance on EU’s relations with Russia and Mr Putin has been awaited. In today’s ever-changing security environment, the EU either needs to talk with a unified voice or to cross out the word ‘common’ from its foreign and security policy. Russia has increased its interference via disinformation campaigns that seek to u…

6

Jul

2021

EN Speech

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Foreign interference in democratic processes (debate)

Madam President, I would like to welcome Mr Borrell and thank him for joining us. The EEAS has proven to be a very valuable asset when addressing disinformation, Mr Borrell, however, I need to raise several issues. First and most important, in my view, is the brain-drain which has been going on in the StratCom Task Force over the past year. If we do not have motivated, adequately valued experts, d…