Speeches

Madam President, the death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and degrading anachronism. The brutality with which the Iranian regime has responded to the peaceful protests of men, women, young people, who on the streets cry out for freedom, life, democracy, cannot be tolerated. What is happening in Iran, with the use of the death penalty and condemnations of it as a mechanism of terror, must call for an unequivocal response from the European Union. It is therefore necessary to strengthen the sanctions adopted, integrating a wider range of actors involved in these brutalities, and to support activists, journalists and all those currently in need of international protection, as well as to strengthen support for civil society from the different diplomatic representations. We call for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard to be included in the list of terrorist organisations. We demand the unconditional release and return of Europeans detained in Iran. To paraphrase Victor Hugo, I also say: death to death, live life.

Mr President, we are looking at this report at a disturbing moment for democracy and human rights in the world. 75% of the world’s population has experienced a deterioration in the human rights situation in their country in recent years. Many authoritarian regimes have become radicalized. The conflict has not slowed down. And all this makes the need for protection even more pressing for those who fight for peace, democracy and human rights. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Let us seize this moment to strengthen the action of the European Union. The rule of conditionality on democracy and human rights must be applied de facto in all trade agreements. due diligence You have to move forward definitely. Human rights dialogues can no longer remain mere cross-monologues for diplomatic record. More than ever, the European Union needs to be swift and effective, moving to qualified majority decision-making in these matters. Only in this way will we honor this cause that belongs to all of us.

Madam President, after attending Xi Jinping's enthronement ceremony as supreme leader, what seemed impossible happened. Yes, there will always be hope as long as there are men and women capable of revolting against any form of tyranny and calling for freedom and rights. The Chinese people's protests over the Covid-19 measures, calling for freedom and even Xi Jinping's departure from power, demonstrate the will of the people to fight and have forced the Chinese government to back down on the lockdown measures. Yes, it is possible. So let us draw the conclusions and make the human rights dialogues something effective and not just an expedient. Let us be consistent in defending human rights in China. Let us not close our eyes to the atrocities committed in Xinjiang and Tibet. Let us not remain impatient and serene in the face of the process of adoption in Macau of a national security law equal to that applied in Hong Kong, laws that violate the freedoms and guarantees inscribed in the Sino-Portuguese and Sino-British declarations. Let us not close our eyes to the way in which technology platforms have cooperated for the repressive control of the Chinese people. And stop the extraditions to China once and for all between the Member States.

Mr President. No, no. Counter-terrorism cannot be used by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for electoral purposes to conduct indiscriminate airstrikes in northern and north-western Syria and the Iraqi Kurdistan region. Let's be clear. With the attacks on vital infrastructure and civilian populations, Erdoğan only seeks to scare away the Kurdish people and thus take the space for his plans for social and political reengineering in the region. No, no. The international community cannot remain impatient and serene in watching the interventions that only generate more instability in Syria and the region and deteriorate the security situation, bringing more suffering to the already martyred populations. As in Ukraine, all humanitarian aid is vital in Syria to ensure the survival of the population. I therefore call on the Member States to defend at the United Nations the maintenance of the operation of the Bab al-Hawa humanitarian corridor.

Mr President, arbitrary arrests, searches, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment are a constant feature of the Lukashenka regime. There is an extensive list of opponents, activists and protesters who are on the blacklist of more than 1,500 people removed from the most elementary civic rights. Long is also the list of banned media outlets and non-governmental organisations. Intimidation and the imposition of prison sentences through politically motivated trials, such as in the cases of Mikalay Autukhovich and Palina Panasiuk, among many others, remain a constant for those who have the courage to challenge the situation in the country. We therefore call once again for the speedy and unconditional release of all those who find themselves in these conditions. But we must go further, we really need to go further, and so we call for the strengthening and swift and effective implementation of sanctions against Lukashenko and his supporters. These are urgent measures that we demand are implemented by the European Union.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to begin by congratulating Mr Goerens on the approach taken in this report. As draftsman of the opinion of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, I would like to stress the importance of the revision now introduced into the European financial architecture for development, given the multiple demands that the present one places on us and those that are envisioned for the future, opening this architecture to the participation of all Member States and the joining of efforts of the public and private sector. We believe that the European financial architecture for development should have a character that enables it to function as a vehicle for promoting the visibility and values of the European Union. But this can only be achieved by strengthening the orientation of the decisions of this architecture and their consistency and coherence with the political action of the European Union through the Team Europe, using it in the implementation of initiatives such as the Global Gateway or Green Deal. Finally, I would stress that we consider it essential for the European Parliament to be involved and scrutinised, as the Commissioner has stressed.

Mr President, seven years after the tragedy of 2015, and after more than 25 000 lives lost in the Mediterranean, we are once again discussing the need to implement an effective migration and asylum policy and to create a search and rescue mechanism. It will certainly not be by repeating solutions such as enhanced cooperation with Libya, a vast field of human rights violations contained in the action plan presented two days ago, that we will make something change. Rather, we need to develop a sustainable and holistic approach, based on mandatory solidarity between all Member States, on the sharing of their responsibilities under international law, whether in the area of rescue or in the area of international protection. And let's not be naive: saving lives, managing migratory movements and combating trafficking will only be effectively possible with the creation of humanitarian corridors and legal channels allowing safe and orderly movements, with full respect for human rights. Not with the solutions we are moving forward with today.

Madam President, may I congratulate my colleague, Mr Tonino Picula, on this very clear report in defence of what is one of the most successful and important instruments of our foreign policy. The political framework dictated by the war and the decisions taken this summer on enlargement are of particular strategic importance to this document. It is now up to us to work on ensuring the continuity of the line of success, to learn the lessons from the less successful steps, because there are also those, and to create conditions that allow us to avoid frustrations and discontents produced by the dragging of processes. It is crucial to ensure effective progress towards accession, on merit, in the reforms implemented, the degree of commitment to EU values and foreign policy alignment highlighted by each country. But it is also essential that we do our homework here within the European Union and that we reform the institutional, budgetary and accession decision-making mechanisms so that we do not invariably end up hostage to the interests of one Member State or another.

Madam President, it is clear that it is important to strengthen our dialogue and engagement with partners in the Middle East. But this involvement and this dialogue cannot be maintained at any price. It must be maintained with full respect for the rule of law, democracy and human rights. This is the only way to achieve the desired dialogue and cooperation. And in this context, I want to express here my deep concern about the instability in the region, in particular the situation in Lebanon, which threatens to turn into yet another failed state. The European Union cannot afford to allow a failed state situation to arise in another country in this region. And because the situation in Syria is very worrying, increasingly worrying, without a solution, I want to say here, Commissioner, that the role of the European Union cannot be left solely to the role of humanitarian aid. More needs to be done, and we need to do it now, by putting a brake on Mr Erdogan's intervention, driven by purely electoral interests, in northern Syria, which is seeking to create greater instability.

Madam President, Lukashenko’s usurpation of power is not new and did not only occur in 2020. We all remember the 2010 elections in which Andrei Sannikov ran against Lukashenko and how those elections were manipulated. And like many, many Belarusians ended up in detention, due to the protests that took place on the streets of Belarus. Again, the phenomenon was repeated in 2020. Once again, Lukashenko remained ahead of the destinies of Belarus, in a total usurpation of power and an absolute manipulation, because yes, yes, Lukashenko has always been Putin's hand man and puppet. Let us now also talk about a time when the drums of war sound and the attacks come from Belarusian territory. It is time to lift the sanctions regime. It is time to clearly sanction Lukashenko and his followers. But it is also time to look at those like Paulina Panasiuk and Bialiatski and the more than 1300 political prisoners in Belarus and help Belarusian civil society, once and for all, to free itself from this dictatorial regime.

Madam President, the return of war to Europe and the decisions taken this summer on enlargement make this a strategic report, perhaps the most strategic in recent years. Therefore, it cannot just be a monitoring tool, it has to assume a clear role of political definition and Serbia's positioning has to be definitely clarified. We are not just a community of economic interests, we are also a community of values. What happened with Albania, with North Macedonia, whose cases ended up being held hostage by internal disputes within the European Union, cannot be repeated. We have to learn lessons. Accession processes must not be made easy, but neither must they drag on indefinitely. The reforms undertaken by the countries must have a clear response and an expeditious response from the Union. Commissioner, it is not enough for us to continue to say that the Western Balkans are part of Europe and that we do not leave them alone, the citizens of the Western Balkans want to be full citizens of the European Union.

Mr President, the fight against the far right does not allow for naivety, oblivion or postponement and must be carried out with the strictest respect for the rules of the democratic rule of law. Particular attention needs to be paid to funding radical movements through corruption, money laundering and cryptocurrency schemes, but also the clear fight against racism, xenophobia, homophobia, hate speech and the call for fascist values. The progressive normalisation of the far right by the centre right and the liberals, which we have been witnessing in the European Union, is no longer a mere threat. We see their effects in Hungary and Poland, we see them in Italy and Sweden and we also begin to see them in Portugal, where, in the Azores, the PSD, whose deputies sit here on the EPP bench, has gone hand in hand with the far right to rise to power in the Regional Government. It's not enough to slap your hand in the chest and talk about democracy. It is time to separate the waters.

Mr President, the scale of the tragedy that has befallen Pakistan is unquestionable and calls for our full solidarity and for the European Union to step up its humanitarian aid. We know very well that what has happened is the result of the climate change we are going through and the importance of combating it. But in the emergency, more needs to be done. Given the many examples of extreme situations that climate change poses to societies, with increasingly catastrophic results, such as Pakistan, the European Union needs to lead the global movement to adapt our urban structures and prevention plans to this type of threat. The European Union must encourage this project, to which all experts must be called, in order to try to be one step ahead of the problems, instead of always reacting to the tragedy.

Madam President, Commissioner, I have listened very carefully to your speech and it is essential to promote stability in the Horn of Africa in order to promote stability throughout the region and security and stability also in Europe. But I have not heard you speak about a very important issue at the moment, which is, exactly, the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which is crucial for energy flows, for European energy security and for the stability of security in the region. We all know the kind of criminal practices that exist in this area, and so I would like to hear from you about the very worrying non-renewal of the United Nations Resolution on Piracy and Operation Atlanta, which was of crucial importance in promoting security in this area. I would also like to hear about the European strategy to address the growing dependence of African states on Chinese investment and also on the Russian presence, the presence of Russian mercenaries that increasingly create instability in the region. This is a strategy for which we must count on the cooperation of the African Union and African states.

Madam President, Minister, Commissioner, we are talking here about a long road of denunciations of corruption, attacks on the rule of law, attacks on freedom of the press and freedom of expression. And here we are talking about a long way in building a mechanism capable of protecting the European budget from such attacks. We come to a time when we can't admit to half-paints, nor can we be halfway there. It is our credibility, it is the credibility of all of us, the European Union, the European Commission and the European Council that is at stake. Our voters, European citizens, our taxpayers will not forgive us if we take measures that are halfway through and that are mere promises and mere make-up operations not to cut European funds and not to implement this mechanism. Gentlemen, time is running out. It's now or never!

Madam President, Commissioner, in less than three years, this Parliament has adopted five resolutions on the deterioration of the situation in Nicaragua with regard to human rights and the rule of law. Corruption, the promiscuity between political power and the judiciary, the arbitrary detention of political opponents, journalists, human rights defenders, the persecution and closure of non-governmental organisations and the media, as well as attacks on the Catholic Church, are portraits of the disturbing state of restriction of fundamental freedoms and of the fear in which Nicaraguan citizens live underwater. The case of the persecution of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who ended in his house arrest for disagreeing with government decisions, is yet another in an increasingly long list of cases. A case that also resulted in the closure of the radio stations that broadcast the bishop's words and the arrest of some clerics who accompanied him in his parish. We ask for all of them to be released quickly, without any kind of conditions, because we do not accept any kind of conditions. We call for freedom for all of these and for all political prisoners in Nicaragua. There are no good and bad dictatorships, they are all simply deplorable and violations of human rights and the rule of law are all just that and can only be fought vehemently anywhere. In the case of Nicaragua, there is no way to deceive. The Sandinista guerrilla Ortega became a grotesque caricature of the dictator Somoza, who helped fight. Sad portrait. The Sandinista revolution has succumbed and, on reaching this route, it is up to us only to extend the list of those sanctioned to Ortega and all his followers, and to strengthen support for civil society within the country and for all those who are forced to flee and seek protection outside Nicaragua.

Madam President, since the Bolsonaro government took office in 2018, the pace of deforestation in the Amazon has increased by about 75%. During this period, attacks and killings of environmentalists, human rights defenders, journalists and indigenous peoples, as well as cases of police violence, attempts to legitimise illegal mining and examples of disrespect for minorities have also increased. The brutal murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira cannot go unpunished. But we have to go to the root of the problem. We can't just stand by the judgment of its performers. These crimes are also one of the effects of President Bolsonaro's aggressive and intimidating rhetoric and policies, which have ruined the defense of indigenous peoples and opened the Amazon to the wildest economic exploitation. Something that will get even worse with the application of the infamous law of devastation. There is a real ecocide and ethnocide going on in the Amazon. We can't be silent. We have to stop him. Nor can we silence the constant threats to Brazilian democracy.

Madam President, on 10 July the UN Security Council will vote on the renewal of the Bab al-Hawa humanitarian aid corridor, the only way for support from international organisations to reach the Syrian population after Russia blocked the other three corridors in 2020. Every month, hundreds of trucks pass by with goods essential to the survival of the people of the Idlib region. In May this border was crossed by more than 1 000 trucks. There is a well-founded fear that, due to the current geopolitical situation, this authorisation will be challenged by Russia in retaliation against the sanctions imposed due to the invasion of Ukraine. We call on the European Union to condemn a priori and strongly oppose any attempt to politicise humanitarian aid to the Syrian people. The survival of 4 million people is at risk. We cannot close our eyes to this tragedy. The Syrian people cannot be abandoned.

There is no contradiction. There is clarity, there is firmness and there is no misunderstanding, in saying that this is not an easy process, in saying that we should not create false expectations, but also in saying that we should give a European perspective. All the rest are interpretations by Mr Rangel. With all due respect.

Mr President, where Mr Rangel sees hesitation, we see consistency, clarity and firmness in the intention to give a European perspective to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. But we do not forget the Western Balkans and, not forgetting the Western Balkans, we do not forget here the fact that North Macedonia and Albania have fulfilled all the conditions imposed on them by the Council to have their first intergovernmental conference scheduled and, to this day, they are still standing still. They have been waiting for two years, although everyone recognises that all the conditions have indeed been met. Yesterday, we received a letter signed by 1000 young people from the Western Balkans. Mr Minister, I hope that tomorrow, in the Council room, if you do not listen to each other's voices, or to our voices, you will at least listen to the voices of those 1000 young people from all the countries of the Western Balkans who, together, have called for the first intergovernmental conference to finally be given a green light.

Mr President, the atrocities that we have witnessed in Bucha and throughout Ukraine, committed by the Russian invading forces, remind us of scenarios that we have already seen in Chechnya, Syria and many other places. And they are very much the mirror of the state to which impunity has been leading us. And this is a fight we all have to do: the fight against impunity! To this end, it is essential that Europol and Eurojust are given the means and mandate to act vehemently and in full efficiency in gathering and protecting evidence and that we support the International Criminal Court in its action. But this is not enough. It is not enough to judge war crimes and crimes against humanity. The crime of aggression must also be tried and this crime of aggression can only be tried in a special court. That is why it is important for the European Union, here too, to play a clear and evident role in supporting the creation of this court. But we also need to take care of the victims, of the women raped and guarantee them access to abortion and access to their sexual and reproductive health under conditions that defend their dignity.

Mr President, at the end of this debate, it is clear that this House agrees on a fundamental idea: Albania fulfils all the conditions for the appointment of the First Intergovernmental Conference and for the rapid continuation of its accession process as soon as possible. Albania, as has already been said, is a country that has been going through a lot of difficulties. It has experienced an earthquake, COVID, like all of us, but, despite all this, it has not slowed down on the path of accession reforms. There is one thing that is very clear to all Albanians: their belonging to the area of the European Union and their desire to belong to this area of peace, democracy and progress. We cannot deny them that right because Albania has already won that right. That is why, Commissioner, I now reaffirm to you, after listening to all my colleagues, even more authoritatively, the support of this House for what has been the work done by the Commission to continue the accession process. And here I challenge the chairs, unfortunately left empty by the Council, so that the Council responds favourably to the challenge that is being posed to it here. I would like to remind you that, after all this time, Members from different parliamentary groups and from different countries have spoken here and they have all said unanimously: Albania has all the conditions for this process to continue definitively.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, the European Commission has repeatedly stated, since the end of 2019, that Albania has fulfilled all the necessary requirements to move to the new phase of negotiation in its process of accession to the European Union. In the Commission’s report for the years 2019 and 2020, the recommendation to mark the First Intergovernmental Conference, a recommendation also shared by this Parliament in the subsequent report adopted in 2021, is clear. We recognised at that time that, despite the need to continue implementing reforms, the criteria for marking the first conference had already been met. Despite this, we are almost halfway through 2022 and Albania is still waiting. Since then, the country has not been standing still. It has continued to progress on its path towards European integration, but the blockade on the Union side has created a sense of frustration among the population and the authorities, which threatens to affect the country and the very deepening of the European project. It is time to put an end to this impasse. The First Intergovernmental Conference must be scheduled until the end of the French Presidency of the Council and I regret that the Presidency is not represented here in this debate. It was very important for that to happen. In this report, which we will vote on tomorrow, I stress the importance of moving forward in the accession process, so as not to defraud the expectations that have been created and to encourage the continued implementation of reforms in the country. This text, enriched by the contribution of my fellow shadow rapporteurs, whom I thank for their excellent collaboration, was adopted in the AFET Committee with more than 90 % votes in favour, which strengthens the recommendations contained therein. Of these recommendations, I would like to highlight the attention paid to relations between the different actors in Albanian society, first of all with regard to the dialogue between the different political parties and actors in the country, which has seen considerable progress since the last elections, but which can and must improve. The role of media and civil society should be strengthened and any legislative initiative on media should follow the guidelines of the Venice Commission. I would also like to recall the need highlighted in the report to address, before the next general elections, the remaining shortcomings in the electoral process, acting in line with OSCE/ODIH recommendations. The report highlights the importance of the developments already made and what still needs to be done in the energy and environmental protection sectors, among others, as well as the efforts that have been made in the fight against trafficking in human beings, arms and goods and good cooperation in these areas with European agencies. I would remind you that Albania is the only country in the region that has signed cooperation agreements with all the European Union Agencies in the field of justice and home affairs. I would also highlight, as does the report, the work of the Special Structure for Combating Corruption and Organised Crime, as well as the progress made in implementing a comprehensive reform of the justice system, with the implementation and continuation of an unprecedented verification process and the restoration of the functioning of the Constitutional Court and the High Court. Finally, I would like to underline the fact that Albania has demonstrated over time that it is a reliable foreign policy partner. This has happened again recently in support of Ukraine, in sanctioning Russia and in monitoring the positions of the EU Member States in the UN General Assembly, as well as in their membership of the Security Council. Albania and North Macedonia will still have to go through a long process of reforms, it is true, but it is an unwavering fact that all the conditions imposed for the marking of the First Intergovernmental Conference have already been met. Albania's accession process must not be held hostage to parallel discussions. It's time to move on.

Madam President, unfortunately, it is impossible to talk about China without presenting a long list of human rights violations. Systematically and commercially forced organ harvesting is yet another atrocity for which evidence is accumulating and whose victims are widely imprisoned on death row and prisoners of conscience who often end up succumbing during the organ harvesting operation. A crime against humanity to which members of the Falun Gong movement, Tibetans, Uyghurs, Muslims and Christians are subjected, fueling transplant tourism. The European Union cannot condone these practices. You have a duty to fight them. We must demand the independent investigation of these crimes and practices and transparent action by China. But we must also do our homework and the European Union and the Member States must take the necessary measures to combat this type of organ trade, which is truly illegal and an atrocity that shames us all.