What Dragoş spoke about.

17 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Implementation of the common foreign and security policy - annual report 2022 - Implementation of the common security and defence policy - annual report 2022 (debate)

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Mr President, we can take pride in these reports and I congratulate the rapporteurs and the shadows for their work on them. They capture the complexities of our posture in foreign affairs as well as in building a stronger architecture for security and defence. If I am to think about all the pressing issues that lie ahead and select only one long-term goal to solve them, I would make a pledge for a…

17 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Presentation of the programme of activities of the Swedish Presidency (debate)

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Madam President, dear Prime Minister, many priorities: Ukraine, energy, migration, economy. Many important debates and decisions to come. I’m confident you will fulfil your objectives and, together with many of my colleagues, you have our support for doing that. But I wish to put on your political radar, just like my colleague did a few minutes ago, the issue of Schengen for Romania and Bulgaria. …

22 Nov

2022

EN Speech

EU-China relations (debate)

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Madam President, High Representative, dear colleagues, making choices in politics is never easy. We have indulged for decades in economic past dependencies. We pretended that ideologies do not matter, that half democracies are fine. And look what we have achieved. Russia, our biggest energy trading partner, is bombing civilians every day. At our doorstep in China, our largest trading partner overa…

5 Oct

2022

RO Speech

The accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, I join unreservedly those who support here, in this house, the integration of Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen, and, moreover, this Parliament has always been consistent on this file. I also welcome the European Commission's statements, the Council's statements, but let us not forget that we have had such debates before. There have been such moments, we have had…

5 Oct

2022

EN Speech

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

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Mr President, dear colleagues, this is what history will remember of this war: a mad dictator invaded his neighbour, caused death and destruction, but failed in the face of bravery and solidarity. Ukraine wins, Putin loses and Europe grows more united. There is but one problem, and it remains horrible: Putin’s lackeys are still here around us. They continue to poison our societal debates. They con…

6 Jul

2022

EN Speech

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)

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Madam President, dear Vice-President, dear Minister, dear colleagues, Russian diplomacy has been for long synonymous with propaganda. What is new now, and by far more effective, is its ability to manipulate our democracies, aided by the digitalisation of all social interaction. The thousands of emails we get every time we have an important vote in this House are mainly generated by Russian bots an…

5 Jul

2022

EN Speech

The EU and the defence of multilateralism (debate)

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Madam Chair, Commissioner, dear colleagues, democracy does not just happen and freedom is not a given. We fought – and are still fighting – wars for the rules—based order. To strengthen it, we created multilateral institutions, and to this day they have kept us interconnected, provided us with an opportunity to solve issues through diplomacy and dialogue, and were meant to keep rogue regimes accou…

22 Jun

2022

EN Speech

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 23-24 June 2022, including the meeting with Western Balkan leaders on 23 June - Candidate status of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia (debate)

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Mr President, dear Vice-President, dear colleagues, true political leadership doesn’t come easy, and certainly doesn’t come often. It requires long—term, steadfast vision as well as the ability to take agile, bold decisions when such decisions are necessary. We are now living one of these moments in history when true political leaders must rise up to the task. We are at a time when the balance bet…

6 Jun

2022

EN Speech

The EU and the security challenges in the Indo-Pacific (debate)

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Mr President, the world was already split before the war in Ukraine. Democracies respecting a rules-based world order on one side are increasingly at odds with autocracies with no regard to international law, territorial integrity, no consideration for human lives or basic rights and freedoms. But we still operate on the world scene with the naive impression that trade and economic interdependenci…

19 May

2022

EN Speech

The fight against impunity for war crimes in Ukraine (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, war is back in Europe in its most dehumanising form – a war which has gone past the battlefield, past tanks and guns, past any logic of combat. People queuing for breads are shot dead. Families waiting for a bus or waiting for a train are being bombed. Children are being raped. Women are being raped. Old men are being raped. All these people are innocen…

18 May

2022

EN Speech

EU Association Agreement with the Republic of Moldova (debate)

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Mr President, I concluded my first introductory remarks by thanking the colleagues, thanking the shadow rapporteurs, for their work and for the united vision. I can only thank them again for confirming this through the addresses that they’ve made today. I also want to thank the Commission. I didn’t do it in the first round, but I want to thank them really for how they’ve handled the numerous emerg…

18 May

2022

EN Speech

EU Association Agreement with the Republic of Moldova (debate)

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Mr President, I cannot think of a better timing and better sequence to debate and vote on our report on Moldova. We have just heard from the President of the Republic, Maia Sandu. Her powerful words are the words of the majority of Moldovan citizens. Through the hardship of multiple crises, and through the kindness of their solidarity with Ukrainian refugees, the Moldovans have spoken to us today …

5 May

2022

RO Speech

State of play of the EU-Moldova cooperation (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, the Republic of Moldova, through its citizens and through what it represents politically, has made its European choice very clear, and the courage to remain loyal to its commitments and values, in a geopolitical situation that directly threatens national security, is admirable and cannot leave us unanswered. The resolution we are voting on today acknowl…

3 May

2022

EN Speech

Strengthening Europol’s mandate: cooperation with private parties, processing of personal data, and support for research and innovation (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, criminals do not stand still. In fact, they are often faster, more agile, more innovative in deploying new technologies for criminal purposes. In the real world this translates into innocent people being trapped into fraud, children being exploited for sexual purposes and terrorists achieving their goals. We therefore need law enforcement that is competitive in the digi…

3 May

2022

EN Speech

Artificial intelligence in a digital age (debate)

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Mr President, first and foremost, my congratulations to you, Axel Voss, and to the shadow rapporteurs for the very important work that you’ve done with this report. It was my privilege to serve as Chair of the AIDA Committee for the duration of this mandate, and I am very proud about the way in which we have achieved our objectives. As Chair, and even before, when negotiating the mandate of the co…

6 Apr

2022

RO Speech

Cooperation and similarities between the Putin regime and extreme right and separatist movements in Europe (topical debate)

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Madam President, there are choices that may seem simple: solidarity or division, prosperity or war, democracy or dictatorship, Europe or Putin. But there are political parties in our democracies for which these options are not at all obvious. The Putin regime has invested in them money or troll farms, and they have assumed in return an agenda built on fear and manipulation. Liberal rhetoric is bas…

23 Mar

2022

RO Speech

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

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Mr President, the Republic of Moldova has unequivocally assumed the European path, values and objectives, has assumed the idea of solidarity and unity that underpins our Union. Citizens and state authorities have proved these assumptions not only declaratively. They are doing so, at this moment, in the most concrete way possible, in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees, …

8 Mar

2022

EN Speech

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

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Madam President, war kills people – not a distant figure of speech but a cruel reality which Putin has brought to our doorstep. But there are many ways to kill. Autocrats with a skewed vision of the world have also learned to kill critical judgment, to poison people’s minds and souls for political gain. This kind of war can be as effective in annihilating enemies, in subduing societies and determi…

16 Feb

2022

RO Speech

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

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Madam President, dear colleagues, I join those who have advocated here solidarity towards Ukraine and its people and maximum determination towards Putin. Putin has always been there. Putin has been testing our responsiveness and political will for years. He tested us in Georgia, he tested us in Crimea, he tested us by supporting other dictators, like Maduro or Bashar Al-Assad. The question is what…

11 Nov

2021

EN Speech

The outcome of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) (debate)

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Mr President, I was also in Washington last week as Chair of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (AIDA) and with colleagues from across this aisle – an outreach mission, which we had wanted to do since the inception of the AIDA mandate. Our aim was to set the basis of a dialogue with the US Congress on artificial intelligence in the impact of frontier tech on the worl…

5 Oct

2021

EN Speech

The situation in Belarus after one year of protests and their violent repression (debate)

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Mr President, does anyone still remember the outrage we felt when we heard about the hijacking of a Ryanair flight? Can anyone still relate to the terror a young freedom fighter must have felt when he found out that the plane he was on would be landing in Minsk? Our foreign affairs agenda moves on but, unfortunately, for those imprisoned in Belarus the terror is still real. The torture has been go…

5 Oct

2021

EN Speech

The future of EU-US relations (debate)

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Mr President, this very comprehensive report speaks to Europeans and American friends alike about our privileged relationship and about the benefits of building a world shaped by the values that unite us. As shadow rapporteur, I fully share its optimism and its level of ambition. I am a firm believer that a technological partnership between the EU and the US based on shared democratic values is a …

4 Oct

2021

EN Speech

Artificial intelligence in criminal law and its use by the police and judicial authorities in criminal matters (debate)

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Mr President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, the use of artificial intelligence in law enforcement is a political decision, not a technical one. Our duty is to apply our political worldview to determine what are the allowed uses of artificial intelligence and under which conditions. Europe is built on a set of values. They constrain the realm of the possible, dictating what we cannot do. And …

14 Sep

2021

EN Speech

Situation in Afghanistan (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, I will not dwell on how big of a disaster we left behind, but it will be even bigger if we learned nothing from it. We said it will be geopolitical, so let’s be geopolitical on the short, medium and long—term. First, we must aim to secure some form of presence and leverage on the ground, and we have little choice but to work within the UN Security Council for that…