Speeches

Today, we not only commemorate the 35th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, but we also have a responsibility to ensure that these rights are truly realised in Europe. Children's rights should not be a mere declaration: They require concrete action. The European Union and its Member States must use all means to protect children from poverty, violence and discrimination. It is unacceptable that one in five children in Europe and one in three in Hungary now live in poverty. The EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child and the accompanying European Child Guarantee are good foundations, but we need to ensure adequate resources and effective implementation at Member State level. In Hungary, it is particularly worrying that the underfunding of education and the social system threatens the future of children. A well-functioning, inclusive education system in which teachers are valued and all children start out on an equal footing is a prerequisite for achieving the goals of the UN Convention. The future of Europe and Hungary belongs to children. Therefore, we must act here and now: invest in their education, health and safety. Remember the message from 35 years ago: Every child has the right to live in love and appreciation.

The EU has faced unprecedented challenges in the recent decade: an economic crisis; a refugee crisis; a health crisis, and now it is witnessing a war in its immediate neighbourhood. The EU has always managed to find solutions and overcome the challenges. Throughout the year, citizens, civil society, politicians and EU institutions came together to dream: to dream of a shared future for the European Union, a way forward. More than 40 proposals and 300 measures were put down on the table. Citizens want a more social, secure EU based on solidarity, where the rule of law prevails. Our duty now is to translate these proposals into action and be brave and open the Treaties where needed.

Dear Madam President, Do you want to fight poverty? Then instead of statistics, data, tables, look into your eyes. That's what I do. Last Monday in Dunaújváros, the once prosperous industrial city of Hungary, an elderly 89-year-old woman with bird bones came to me, who lives with her disability pensioner daughter, and her daughter's pension is less than 100,000 forints. I'll translate it: a little over 200 euros a month and tells me that Klara, I'm so sick, everything hurts, I'm tired and I don't dare to die. These are words of cruel hopelessness. And if you, colleagues on the right, think that by reducing taxes on big corporations, multinationals, billionaires, this woman will have more money, then that is not the case. If you think that if we take that opportunity away from the big companies, the multinationals, you will have to follow fewer rules in terms of occupational safety and environmental protection, and then this woman will have a better fate: They know it's a lie. A strong state on the side of the poor, on the side of the rich, on the side of the weak, on the side of the strong. This is the left's agenda, this is the solution to poverty.

Dear Madam President, There is a sentence, a Hungarian proverb, that you can get to know a bird by its feathers, a man by his friend. Let's see who Robert Fico's best friend is. Viktor Orban. We can also see what connects them. Why are they such good friends? First of all, they both love to talk about the nation, but when you have to do something about it, you somehow run out of action, you run out of words. Both of them scold the European Union loudly, they are playing Brussels with insane force. Of course, European taxpayers' money comes in handy, especially when kissers or relatives need to be enriched or made rich. But perhaps their most important point in common is that they both want unlimited power. They're both seeking absolute power. Orban has already succeeded, and unfortunately we see Fico on this path. And there is no fairy tale that wants to have power alone for a long time, that wants absolute power without limits, that must be an enemy, that must always hate someone, because without hatred and an enemy it is impossible to keep this unlimited power, the monopoly. And, of course, they threaten, mock, imprison or threaten to imprison civilians, journalists, opposition politicians in order to maintain their own power. These have become commonplace in Hungary, but I can see that they are going further. They're threatening people who don't think the way they do. By being imprisoned in Slovakia for criticizing the Beneš decrees, they stepped on it or were already running very far along the road to Orban. And behold, Viktor Orbán, who regards himself as a great national hero and the savior of the Hungarian people, is as quiet as a rabbit in the grass. He wouldn't criticize Fico's friend. Learn from the Hungarians! Total power means the impoverishment of millions and the enrichment of a couple. No power should be given to Fico or Orban.

Madam President, I'm sorry. Competitiveness, deregulation, simplification on the Hungarian and European right, these words have been flying back and forth in recent months. But somehow in the end, this whole debate is always about how to make it worse for the workers, how to pollute the environment better, how to make more profit for the capitalist. Work more for less. – the company is immediately more competitive, so it will immediately make more profit. We are free to pollute our water, our air, our land. Simplification is achieved at that moment, there is no need to comply with all sorts of rules. Do you really want this world? And I see that you are moving in that direction. The right, the European right and the Hungarian right are moving in this direction, which is why they voted down the directive on the just transition, which is why they are going against the Social Fund. Do you remember him? Years ago, we were told that your goal was to build an economy that serves people. Well, what they're doing right now is making people the servants of the rich. We on the left won't let that happen.

Madam President, dear fellow Members, everybody can see how fast our world is changing around us. Natural disasters, artificial intelligence taking away the jobs of millions, wars. And just look what Donald Trump has done in the last two weeks, it's a disaster as well, even if it's not a natural one. In times like these, politicians have actually two options. First, what we do on the left and the progressive side: we are looking for solutions, protecting people, preparing them, preparing society for the future. The second one is the populist right's way: Orbán, Bardella, Weidel, you name them – what they are doing. They are exploiting the situation to gain power. They are plotting people against each other, distracting their attention from injustice, from environmental crisis and everything in the interest of those billionaires who are financing them. Climate change and digital revolutions are here around us, it's here already. What the right is forcing upon us, but with the name of competitiveness, simplification, or however they call it, is an updated recipe of the last century. Dismantling the welfare state, weakening workers' rights, freeing large corporations from their social responsibility – come on, we have seen this, and I will call it for what it is and its name: it's a simple surrender to 'big capital'. It will lead to the most savage and most brutal form of capitalism. It will lead to those forms of capitalism that we wanted to overcome already. Come on, people, this is not us – Europe is a continent of humanity and freedom and justice. So we, on the left, are united behind the just transition directive. Now I am looking at the European People's Party. Are you with us, with the people? Or with the billionaires? It is your turn now.

Madam President, I'm sorry. This debate, for us, is not just about principles and not about an abstract concept, but about our everyday life, about the security of our everyday life. The rule of law causes us gastric insecurity every day, and the absence of the rule of law ruins our lives. We became the poorest country in Europe in 15 years because a one-party, two-thirds majority destroyed our country and took away the rule of law, which is why we got poor. That is why today Hungary has become the poorest country in Europe, and that is why it hurts me when I see that the Hungarian right does not seem to regard the rule of law as important. We are accustomed to Orbán, we are accustomed to Orbán, he talks a lot about the fact that this is just a rude stick that Brussels is using to take away European Union funds. I remember how many more yachts and castles they could buy for the pereputty and the Orbán family. But it hurts and hurts that the opposition right, the Tisza Party and its leader, Péter Magyar, also see the rule of law as not so important. Let me quote: “No matter if it is a democracy or a rule of law, I don’t like these words, they are completely useless,” they say. Is it completely unnecessary? If there were a rule of law in Hungary, Orbán would not be able to govern without parliament, the offices would not be able to mess with the people, the bosses would not be able to eviscerate the Hungarian people and the Hungarian workers everywhere. The Orbán family could not steal Lake Balaton, Lake Neusiedl, castles and lands, and hundreds of thousands of Hungarian foreign currency borrowers could be compensated according to the ruling of the European Court of Justice. If there were a rule of law in Hungary, it would not be the stolen European Union billions or the filthy pedophile criminals who would come to everyone's mind about the Fidesz-KDNP government. The rule of law is about our lives.

Dear Madam President, Let me tell you a story, especially to my fellow Members on the right side of the European Parliament. Viktor Orbán has been telling us about competitiveness for 15 years. On the altar of this, he sacrificed the Labour Code, created the "Slave Act" and supplied Europe's cheapest and most vulnerable workforce, primarily to billionaire corporations. It has virtually eliminated environmental protection. The world’s dirtiest battery factories are polluting Hungarian agricultural land, land and water almost without limits and, for example, are not introducing the euro to help multinationals compete with a weak forint, I want to say its profit. So he's been talking about competitiveness for 15 years. You have taken all these steps, and I see that sometimes you are also preparing. So we can ask the question: but you did it? And my answer is no. Total failure, total failure. 15 years ago, Hungary was one of the coolest countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Today we have become the poorest country in Europe, and this is all due to right-wing economic and social policies. That is why I would propose to the European Parliament that tomorrow they follow the path of the left, the proposals of the left: decent salaries, pensions, housing, healthcare, education. This is what makes Europeans competitive. Instead of big companies, let's be on the people's side.

Dear Madam President, On June 28, the last summer of the Orbán regime began. Nothing will be more like it was before, as the streets of Budapest were filled with an unprecedented crowd to show that Orbán is not the same as Hungary, and that this squeezed-out right-wing ideology has not yet utterly infected the souls of the Hungarian people. A lot of people have done a lot of things to make sure that this is not the case. The ruling right has banned the Pride. Members of the European Parliament are sitting here. Well, hundreds of thousands of people laughed in our faces that day, happy, liberated, and did not ask for a ban. But the opposition right also tried to slip away and did not mobilize for Pride. And I am really shocked to see that we are discussing the rights of Hungarian LGBTQ people in the European Parliament for the second time, and for the second time, representatives of the Tisza party are missing from this meeting. That's not gonna work. The Hungarian people showed in Budapest that it is impossible to slip away. Hundreds of thousands have shown that human rights, freedom, free love, are not rubber bones, and a Democrat must stand up for these rights. Ladies and Gentlemen! The last summer of the Orbán regime started on Saturday, and I can promise you that even though summer was hot and it will be hot, autumn and winter will be just as hot politically.

Dear Madam President, The majority of the European Parliament has stood up for the freedom, rights and democracy of the Hungarian people countless times, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart, because perhaps it is because of them that we European Hungarians and Democrats feel that we are not alone. But I must also tell you my disappointment, because I feel that in recent times, when we are talking about support for Europe, we are talking primarily about support for the left-wing, green and liberal parties. They are the ones who speak their minds boldly and decisively, and I see that there are more and more people who seem to snuff out these debates. Because of the right-wing factions in Parliament, it was not possible to include gay rights in the title of today's debate. It's just about freedom of assembly, they say. They are the ones who think that talking about the rights of LGBTQ people is divisive, maybe losing votes. And so the right-wing President of the European Commission, I see that he does not dare to turn to the European Court of Justice to ask for immediate intervention in order to save Budapest Pride. I can tell you that what you often call real politics, whether on the European or Hungarian right, is nothing more than cowardice and self-surrender. And they know that if a power makes people believe that it can only be defeated by self-surrender, that power has already won. That is why we leftists will never surrender, we will never be willing to give up our principles, and we will not be willing to give up the people who, I see, can only trust us today. We'll be at the Pride. Leftists, Greens and Liberals. Dear colleagues of the People's Party, right wing, will you be at the Pride?

Madam President, I'm sorry. Today I just wanted to be happy that the agreement on strong European defence was reached last week, but unfortunately for us Hungarians, last week the world became a more dangerous place than before. Because while Europe has joined forces, because it understands that only here can its citizens be safer, in the meantime Viktor Orbán has taken another step towards leading our country out of the European Union. It is no longer enough to disintegrate it from within, to reject everything that is about supporting Ukraine on the basis of Putin's instructions, but last week a bill was initiated that will allow Hungarian citizens, civilians and politicians who do not like the government to be banished from the country. This would mean the immediate withdrawal of my country from the Council of Europe, which is a huge step towards leaving the European Union. But we will not let it happen: Europe will be stronger, and thus Hungary will be stronger without Orbán.

Dear Mr President, I love my kids. Yet the moment comes when they must be let go, because an independent life, an adult, responsible life requires an independent dwelling. You can't have children, plan a family, or even think about the future when you don't have a place to live. And yet I see that for the masses of young people it remains only a dream. I was shocked to hear the representatives of the Hungarian government beating their chests about the fantastic things they had done on the subject of housing in Hungary. Well, I would like to tell them that they may live in another country, but real estate prices in Hungary have tripled under the Orbán government. Check your salary to see if you've kept up with it. It is therefore time for Europe to step in, for the right to decent housing to be a European right, and for all financial assistance to be provided. The people of Europe, including Hungarians, are counting on us, and I am counting on you.

Dear Madam President, Well, I can tell you, Prime Minister, that was awkward. It was awkward to listen to him try to explain, but there's something he's right about. European citizens, European politics and the European Parliament are not interested in the programme of the Hungarian Presidency. He doesn't care, because he is considered frivolous, because we have heard clichés – and the ceiling has not been torn off from lies – from which we have already known you in the past. You know, sometimes it's my job to listen to Orban's speeches. It's not very easy. And what I've seen in recent years is that he's constantly moving away from reality. He fights imaginary enemies, created by him, while ravaging his true friends and allies. But the biggest problem is that it devastates them from my country, it devastates Hungary. And while he is fighting his imaginary enemies, there is one thing in these Orbán speeches that has been recurrently lacking in recent years. And this is the problem of people, ordinary people, because quite simply you do not care about it. The history of a country is made up of the everyday lives of ordinary people. That's what you never talk about. You don't care if tens of thousands of Hungarians go to hospital with stomach cramps from anxiety, if they get out alive at all. You don't care about pensioners, you don't care about babies who are hundreds of them in health institutions and hospitals because you have destroyed the social institution. You simply don't care about these things. However, in recent years the Hungarian people have been living worse and worse under the Orbán government, not because there is some kind of secret international conspiracy, not even because there is some kind of special Hungarian misfortune, but because you govern badly. And you govern badly because you don't care about these things, you don't care about them, so you won't be able to govern well. And of course, the question arises: if it is good for a prime minister not to try to make people's everyday lives easier and better, then what does he do? Because there's something that you're dealing with quite intensely. This cannot be said in the Hungarian Parliament because the Fidesz Speaker takes the floor. But I can tell you that what Viktor Orbán is dealing with extremely intensively is how he can betray our European values and how he can betray Hungary. How do you tell the Russians, while vetoing not for the Hungarian people, but for the Russians, for the Russian oligarchs. How do you tell Putin when we're the only country that's even increased expensive Russian gas and energy imports, and that's how you're financing Putin. There may be Russian citizens all over Europe, but I'm sure they don't have access to the State Department and secret service systems, because that's what's happening here. A crowd of agents invaded the country through spy banks. So I can tell you, Prime Minister, that nobody really cared about your programme, because it is frivolous. We look forward to the end of your presidency. But there's one question for everyone: So many prime ministers have met Putin in Europe, and none of them have become his loyal servants. Answer a question you did not answer yesterday to 19-year-old Hungarian municipal councillor Márton Gyekiczky. Tell me, because that's what everyone's asking, but more politely, what are the Russians blackmailing you with?

Madam President, I'm sorry. The first word is thank you. Thank you to the many people out there, especially the tens of thousands of volunteers. Because we always know, see and feel that we cannot protect our houses and homes alone. We need neighbors, friends. Sometimes we need complete strangers. And that's why this flood shows how much we need each other in Europe. We can close ourselves off to large European nations, we can say that everyone should stop at the border, we can say that we are only counting on ourselves, and we will solve everything on our own. But try to tell the Danube, in the vicinity of Hegyeshalom, to stop. That is why we in Europe have a much more important task than just looking at what is happening at home. We in Europe need to show that the people of Europe can count on common European help. Just as a home cannot be defended alone, no country can be defended alone. That is why we have work to do here in the European Parliament. Solidarity Fund, Civil Protection Cooperation, Emergency Aid, all this is now needed by the Hungarian people as well. We will not let them down, Europe will not let them down!

Dear Mr President, Almost half of 14-year-old children in Hungary are functionally illiterate. I'll say it another way: Nearly 50 percent of children finish eighth grade without understanding what they are reading. And this has dramatically deteriorated under Viktor Orbán's administration. Ladies and gentlemen! We can talk here about a European educational space, where we give all European children the same opportunity, but as long as there are governments in Europe for whom free education is only a threat – every dollar, every penny that is spent on education is missing from where they want to steal – we will not succeed in this. That is why I propose that if we have reached an agreement on minimum wage regulation in Europe, we have reached an agreement on a global minimum tax, we have moved towards the Energy Union and, I might add, we have laid the foundations of the Health Union, then we should start talking about the European minimum education, so that every child in Europe, including Hungarian children, has the opportunity to live a happy and successful life.

Madam President, I'm sorry. You know, we Hungarians can sometimes perform very special miracles. Nothing proves this better than the fact that today the Hungarian researcher Katalin Karikó was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Katalin Karikó, whose research has helped us to fight the coronavirus pandemic, and the years to come will show how many more millions of lives on Earth will be saved by her patents and those of her fellow researchers. What a great favor and what a help they have been to humanity. It is a special pride for me that Katalin Karikó is the first female Nobel Prize winner among the 16 Hungarian Nobel Prize winners. I think that not only as Hungarians, as women, but also as Europeans, we can be proud of Katalin Karikó and grateful for her work. I think he deserves a round of applause here in the heart of Europe.

Dear Mr President, When we talk about the far right, we usually have very important ideological debates about democracy, xenophobia, racism and authoritarianism. Let me shed some light on the far-right, illiberalism, on the other hand, as Hungary has been governed by the far-right, illiberal Orbán for 12 years. And look what he's done in 12 years. Tens of thousands of teachers, students and parents are protesting on the streets because of the collapse of education. Our social situation has never been so bad. Inflation has skyrocketed, and the forint has never reached such a weak, historical weakness. When the far right, illiberalism, comes to government, it can't protect the people, it can't deliver. That's why he does one thing, because he knows one thing: to incite hatred. This is their policy, and therefore our task is to defeat the far-right in order to provide people with a decent and free life. That's what I'm fighting for.

Mr. President, please. Dear fellow Members, We're making history! Years from now, this House will be looked back on as an end to an unjust world in which the countries of Europe competed with each other to make the labour force ever cheaper and ever more vulnerable. It was you, it will be you, and I think we can be proud of ourselves, proud of the European Parliament. But let me speak first of all to my Hungarian compatriots. We promised, we did it! There is a European minimum wage regulation, one that is binding on governments. I know, I know, that the Hungarian Prime Minister is going against everything that is Europe, I know that he will also face this, but I think that in the last few days, in the last weeks, we will see what is happening to those who are messing with history, who are confronting Europe, total collapse in all areas of life. Our job is to ensure that Hungarians also have fair European wages. We'll do it.

Dear Madam President, How to govern well, how to make good decisions? Every honest politician has to answer these questions. I propose to you, fellow Members, that when you vote, you have before you the faces of those Europeans, the faces of the millions who, living on wages and salaries and distributing their monthly incomes, struggle every month to pay every bill. The faces of those who do not buy an electric car or do not live in a passive house not because they do not want to, but because when the gas boiler breaks down, repairing it or even buying new shoes for children is also a problem. When we want to make decisions, we have to make them with their faces in front of our eyes. Just because we will be successful in the fight against climate change, we will be successful in creating Europe's energy independence if we think about them, if we fight with them, if we go along this path with them. The creation of a European Social Climate Fund is also a historic act in this respect. It is a historic act because it also shows that Europe has learned from its mistakes, from the economic crisis of 2008-2009, that the only way to build a strong, competitive world is to directly help people to be competitive and strong. That is why I am asking you to vote in favour of the creation of a European Social Climate Fund and to create it in such a way as to help people who have problems paying their daily bills in everyday life. Let's help them and not put the burden on them. This will be a historic test for us and we will be able to govern well. This is how we will be able to make good decisions.

Dear Madam President, We've had enough! My fellow Members here in the European Parliament and, perhaps more importantly for me, millions of Hungarian citizens have had enough. We are tired of the pointless and bypassing debates about exactly where, when and how much breaches of the rule of law damage the budget of the European Union. I want to be clear, please understand. The essence of breaking down the rule of law in Hungary, its ultimate goal is theft. Theft of public funds and accumulation of private assets. The restriction of the independent press, so that it is not possible to know, it is not possible to find out who, from where, why and how much has been stolen. The occupation of the Constitutional Court so that laws permitting theft can survive. The occupation of the Public Prosecutor's Office to ensure that cases affecting Fidesz's top circles or the Prime Minister's family do not reach the point of indictment. The goal, essence and meaning of breaking down the rule of law in Hungary is the theft of public funds. Stealing taxpayers' money from the European Union, you don't want to help corrupt governments with that, do you? I would like to contact the Commission. Stop the barren debates. Take action at last! Finally, get results! This is what this House expects from you, and more importantly, it is what millions of European citizens, including several million Hungarians, expect from you.

Dear Mr President, As shocked as war aggressors are to us, they surprise us with their war, the war is never without precedent, we only notice the signs late. War aggressors always start in their own country first. That's where oppression begins. The independent media will be eliminated, and what remains will be used for the party's propaganda purposes. They brand civilians as agents, they try to intimidate opposition politicians, independent institutions, courts, prosecutors, constitutional courts, they try to place them under party control, and state-organized theft and enrichment of oligarchs takes place. Yes, I'm talking about Putin, but from here I tell all the illiberal little Putins in Europe that we will never be blind again. That this House, the European Parliament, will never again allow the rule of law and democracy to be trampled underfoot. Because if there's one thing Putin's war has taught us, it's that the rule of law and democracy are the only things that protect the peace of the people of Europe.

The next item is the debate on the report by Dolors Montserrat, on behalf of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, on the proposal for a pharmaceutical strategy for Europe (2021/2013(INI) – A9-0317/2021)

The next item is the report by Tomasz Frankowski, on behalf of the Committee on Culture and Education, on EU sports policy: evaluation and debate on the report on a proposal for possible way forward (2021/2058(INI) – A9-0318/2021). Members are reminded that no catch-the-eye or blue card will be accepted for any debate in this part-session. In addition, as in previous meetings, interventions are expected remotely from Parliament’s Liaison Offices in the Member States.