Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the far right is killing. The far right is killing democracy. It kills the rule of law and it kills American citizens on the streets of Minneapolis. Renee Good and Alex Pretti are names, fates, deaths that tell us, remind us, even cry out to us, what the truth of the far right is once in power. And the American lesson, that of the rapid tipping of an old democracy into the abyss, applies to us in France and Europe. While many are resigned to a victory of the Rassemblement national in France in 2027, I solemnly want to recall here a simple and basic thing: The seizure of power by the far right is never a classic alternation, it is always a brutal counter-revolution. And if you doubt it, you don't need to open a history book. You just have to open your eyes, turn on the TV, watch what's going on in the United States, see the Minneapolis murders, read the tweets Trump justifying these murders and observing, morning, noon and evening, far-right MPs in Europe justifying the entire policy of Donald Trump. While the US administration has just announced that it will finance in our countries the think tank and organizations ideologically aligned with it, we need a patriotic surge of Europeans. Yes, we are proud of our democracies, we are proud of our rights, we are proud of our Union. Yes, we have a different model in Europe. Yes, we still believe in freedom. You can have the statue, we have the flame and we will cultivate it.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the time has come for European independence. Yes, the time has come to put in place a battle plan for Europe's sovereignty. The time has come to stop the curves and assume the balance of power with Trump, by activating the anti-coercion instrument and targeting the major American platforms. The time has come to make sovereignty the horizon of all our European policies. Defense, energy, digital, strategic industry, culture, in all areas it is time to get out of our dependencies and build this autonomous European power that alone will allow us to live free. There are two fates open to us: be the doormats of Trump, Putin, Xi or finally build a sovereign and autonomous Europe. Let's not be empire mops. And then we will find in ourselves the strength to be truly free.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let us not forget the Iranian people, let us not forget their courage or their suffering. The regime wants to massacre behind closed doors and turn a great nation into a vast cemetery. Let us be here the echo chamber of the voices that the dictatorship wants to stifle and let us finally act. We demand in this Parliament the inclusion of the Revolutionary Guard Corps on the list of terrorist organisations in the European Union since January 2023. January 2023 and still not done. Three years and some countries still block, including my own, France. Let's be clear: This is a disgrace and must change immediately. Yes, the guardians of the revolution are terrorists: They are terrorists in Iran, they are terrorists throughout the region and they are terrorists even on European soil itself. Our message to European governments is therefore simple: enough, enough passivity, enough softness, enough weakness. Finally, support this heroic people whose only crime is to want to live free. Target these executioners and put the Revolutionary Guard Corps on the list of terrorist organisations in the European Union. Long live free Iran!

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is midnight minus one for Europe. In the face of the Russian war, in the face of American treason, in the face of the Chinese offensive against our productions, the time has come to assert European sovereignty; the time has come to build our military sovereignty, our energy sovereignty, our industrial sovereignty; the time has come to impose European preference in all our public policies and to assume a true declaration of European independence! In this moment of tipping, we must confront the voices of capitulation that resonate in the heart of this chamber. Yes, you, on the far right, are jackass patriots, who, since the beginning of this debate, have been advocating submission to Trump and Putin. You are the puppets of foreign powers, but you will not pass, and we will build together this Europe that your masters hate so much!

Mr President, as in all serious moments, important debates show where each of us stands. What we have seen in this debate is that you have supporters of the spirit of submission and defeat at the very heart of our institutions. First of all, on the far right of this House, you have dirty patriots who reject the text that introduces European defence preference for the first time. How can we be sovereignists and refuse the affirmation of European sovereignty in defence to face Putin and no longer depend on Trump and Vance? And you have on the far left of this Chamber pseudo-pacifists who confuse peace with submission, who refuse to give democracies the means to defend themselves against tyrannies; Pseudo-pacifists who explain to us that they are humanists, but who are ready to give in, give in and still give in to tyrants who violate international law and who flout human rights. So, between these two extremes, you have European patriots, deputies, citizens who have the general interest of our continent at heart, and it is on them that we count to get EDIP adopted. This is just the first step. Freedom is built, freedom defends itself. If we want a free Europe, we no longer have the right to weaken. We no longer have the right to procrastinate. We must be worthy. We need to be strong. And it is at this price that we will have peace.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in this moment of historic change, when everything seems to be shaking around us, let us ask ourselves a simple question: Can we trust Donald Trump and J.D. Vance to defend our nations from Putin? No, no. The answer is obvious and it involves dizzying changes in Europe. Delegating its security to a foreign capital is in itself madness. Delegating his safety to a foreign capital that cares so little about your interests is suicide. Freedom, ladies and gentlemen, rests on the mastery of one's destiny. And if Europe wants to remain free, it must regain control of its security. We are now so dependent on the United States, for aid to the Ukrainian resistance as well as for our own security, that we live under the constant blackmail of Donald Trump. We lower his hand, we tolerate his insults. We smile foolishly at his attacks, hoping that our flogging will lead him not to sacrifice Ukraine and us with it. But let's face reality. We Europeans are alone. Alone in the face of a Russian regime that is waging war on our continent. A war that threatens us directly. Let's measure what our security services tell us. Let us listen to Bruno Kahl, the head of the German services, when he warns the Bundestag about the risks of invasion of a member country of the EU and NATO before 2029. Let us hear the French Chief of Staff, General Mandon, when he warns of the need to prepare for a direct military confrontation with Russia. In the face of this existential threat, what are we going to do? Burying our head in the sand hoping it will pass? Do we just organize demonstrations for peace? Marrying the tyrant's cause so you don't have to suffer his thunderbolts? No, no. We will strengthen ourselves and prepare ourselves. We want peace. We don't want war. But to avoid it, precisely, we must deter the enemy from triggering it. We must prepare ourselves morally, strategically, materially, show everyone, and especially Putin, that Europe no longer rhymes with powerlessness, or democracy with weakness. Ladies and gentlemen, the programme for the European defence industry will be the basis for the common and sovereign defence that we must build. The logic behind our work is simple. It is based on two principles: sovereignty and cooperation. Sovereignty first. For the first time, it is established that European funds will finance European productions. Yes, EDIP will reserve European money for European industries, those that produce in Europe and employ in Europe. All industrial and strategic decisions will be taken in Europe, by Europeans and for Europeans. Today we are finally seeing the birth of European preference. Cooperation, then. EDIP will encourage our states to move away from purely national logics, to invest and produce together. We are Europeans, we have to work as Europeans and we will do it with the Ukrainians. The Ukrainian resistance is the first line of defense of our continent, and the Ukrainian defense industry is the spearhead of this resistance. With EDIP and the Ukraine Support Instrument it contains, we will strengthen the cooperation between our industrial base and that of Ukraine. This is an important step for Ukraine and an important step for Europe. Colleagues, this day will be a landmark. But let's be clear: EDIP is just the beginning. It is an embryo that is still underfunded in the face of the scale of the challenge. And today I warn the Commission and the Member States: we need to quickly increase the allocated budget. With EDIP, we are laying the foundations for an adult Europe capable of defending itself. We are laying the foundations for a free, sovereign and powerful Europe. There's not a minute left to lose. Slava Ukraini and live a free Europe!

Madam President, ten years ago, Islamist terrorism hit France, and Paris fell into horror. On this tragic night of November 13, 2015, 130 women and men who came to listen to a concert, attend a football game or have a drink on the terrace were murdered by blood-drunk fanatics. Time suddenly froze that night, and everyone in France knows exactly where they were and what they were doing. I want to pay tribute to these broken lives here today in the heart of this Chamber, a symbol of European democracy. I see the radiant face of 17-year-old Lola Ouzounian, passionate about circus and music, who came with her father to the Bataclan. I am also thinking of the 131st victim, Guillaume Valette, who escaped from the concert hall without ever really leaving it and succumbed much later to incurable internal wounds. Their memory forces us. That night, the terrorists targeted France, freedom, joy, encounters, partying, mixing, music, sport, happiness, everything that embellishes life. They killed and killed again, but they did not win. Faced with the jihadists, France stood up straight, and Europe with it. Together we manifested our sadness, our mourning, our anger, but also our visceral attachment to everything that was targeted that night. I want to pay tribute here to the men and women who protect us tirelessly: our law enforcement and security services, but also first responders, caregivers, magistrates, teachers, all those who carry the Republic every day. We all know what we owe them. We know that democracy is stronger than terrorists think. We know that freedom is a struggle and that we will fight it relentlessly, without weakness and without ever weakening.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, what Mr Trump, Mr Orbán and the relays of their governments in these benches call peace is only capitulation. When you yield to the tyrant who starts wars, you do not bring peace, you only stir up his appetite and you only hasten the next aggression. But there's nothing to expect from you. On the other hand, there is much more to be expected from European leaders. Because yes, they are right to worry about Donald Trump, Viktor Orbán. But what are they doing? Are the 210 billion Russian public assets in Europe seized as I speak? Are Taurus missiles delivered? Has Total ceased to be the world's largest importer of liquefied natural gas from Russia? No, no. So if we really want peace in Europe, we have to be consistent and support the Ukrainian resistance even more than we do, because its fight is also ours.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, are we ready? As Russian planes and drones daily violate our airspace, are we ready to defend Europe against the present and future attacks of Putin's tyranny? And are we ready to do it alone? Yes, alone, that is, without depending on the wishes of an American president who only needs a phone call from the Russian tyrant to forget Ukrainian sovereignty and European security. The time has come for Europe to become sovereign. The time has come to free our defence industry from its structural dependencies, to strengthen our autonomous production capabilities, to develop genuinely European drone, missile or cyber defence programmes. The agreement reached on EDIP is a first step on the road to European sovereignty. European funds must now benefit European industries. Decisions on European security must be taken in Europe, by Europeans. This is the only way to ensure our security and live free.

Mr President, Commissioner, let us be direct: you have accepted this deeply unfair agreement against an illusory promise of stability and security which will unfortunately be breached very quickly. The President of the Commission went to Scotland as we go to Canossa and Trump took great pleasure in humiliating her, and us through her, between two rounds of golf. So, let's never forget: We are the first market in the world. We have the means to engage in a balance of power with the United States. And if no one has an interest in a trade war, by refusing to engage in this balance of power, we have prepared Trump's future blackmails and incited the various predators of this world to despise our principles as well as our interests. Let's wake up! Trump won't help us. Not about Ukraine, not about anything. He'll walk on us if we let him. So the only way to be respected and finally build our power is to believe in our own strength. When you're trying to soften an opponent, he usually takes it for weakness and Trump doesn't tolerate any weakness.

Madam President, Madam President von der Leyen, you came to tell us this morning that Europe is in an existential struggle, and you are right. It must be said that Europe is under threat and must fight. But is it fighting to submit commercially to Donald Trump in Scotland? Is it a fight to still not seize the 210 billion Russian public assets in our banks? Is it fighting to let X or Tik Tok destabilize our democracies? Is it a fight to refuse to apply the DSA firmly? Is it fighting to let Gaza be reduced to ashes without European action? Is it a fight to let Orbán and Fico trample on the rule of law within the Union itself? Is it a fight to propose a multiannual financial framework with so little ambition and so little justice? "Words, words, words," Hamlet said in Shakespeare. Well, today we need more than words. If you want to turn these words into deeds, we will stand by your side, including against the Council and against the far right. But if it's just words, then in this case, Europe is off to a bad start.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, wherever they attack rights and freedoms, we will have to be there, and we will be there. So when Viktor Orbán decided to ban the Budapest Pride, we decided to go. On 28 June, we saw more than 200 000 Hungarians defy its ban, march with determination and joy, and once again make the heart of Europe beat in Hungary. The Orbán regime bans prides, stigmatises LGBTQIA+ people, carpets his country with anti-Ukrainian and anti-European posters, tramples on universities, instrumentalises judges, gags journalists and acts like Putin’s Trojan horse – (to the extreme right of the Chamber) like you, in our institutions. And what are these institutions doing? They are weak in their defence of the European ideal. It is time to show infinitely more firmness and send a message to both these far-right MEPs and the Orbán regime that Putinism has no place in Europe and never will!

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, wherever they attack rights and freedoms, we will have to be there, and we will be there. So when Viktor Orbán decided to ban the Budapest Pride, we decided to go. On 28 June, we saw more than 200 000 Hungarians defy its ban, march with determination and joy, and once again make the heart of Europe beat in Hungary. The Orbán regime bans prides, stigmatises LGBTQIA+ people, carpets his country with anti-Ukrainian and anti-European posters, tramples on universities, instrumentalises judges, gags journalists and acts like Putin’s Trojan horse – (to the extreme right of the Chamber) like you, in our institutions. And what are these institutions doing? They are weak in their defence of the European ideal. It is time to show infinitely more firmness and send a message to both these far-right MEPs and the Orbán regime that Putinism has no place in Europe and never will!

Mr President, in accordance with Rule 60(4) of the Rules of Procedure, I would like to request referral back to committee for the opening of interinstitutional negotiations.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Vladimir Putin simply does not want peace. Why? Because war is the foundation of his regime. Russia has been in a state of war since 1999 and its coming to power: Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, Ukraine. Each country is only one stage in this long Putinian war and it is a war that targets us. So the white flag you mentioned today is not the flag of peace, it is the flag of betrayal. It is the one you have been raising in the ranks of the far right since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. And this flag will not bring peace to Europe. On the contrary, it will bring war, destruction and the end of the European project. Hoping to exchange peace for territories is both a dishonor and an illusion. So, with or without Washington, we must do everything to arrest Putin in Ukraine. Trump is betraying Europe, that's a fact. But are we ourselves up to our rendezvous with our own history? It is not Trump who refuses to seize the 210 billion frozen Russian public assets. It is not Trump who refuses the Kallas plan of 40 billion euros in aid to the Ukrainian resistance. "Slava Ukraini" and live Europe!

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States is a bully who sees the world as a playground and, faced with a bully, looking down is useless. Hoping to pass between the drops is also useless. We must show that Europe is strong. So rather than a classic approach, "you tax my wine, I tax your whiskey," an approach that would be too expensive for our businesses and too predictable to deter Trump, let's show that we're willing to target, if necessary, the core of his power: American digital services, the pillars of the famous Trumpist "broligarchy". By finally using the strength of our market, let's apply our digital laws, work together on sovereign European alternatives to Amazon, Facebook, X and others. The historic moment we are going through is the emergence of a sovereign European power in terms of trade, defence or industry. A power whose very birth certificate is also an act of divorce. The choice we make now will define the nature of Europe for decades to come. The status quo is impossible, so you have to move forward.

Madam President, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I sometimes wonder whether we are all really aware of the gravity of the moment we are going through today. The German, Danish, Estonian and Polish services all say the same thing: Putin’s Russia could invade a country in the European Union before 2030, and every word, every decision, every step of Donald Trump confirms something new: We are alone to ensure our own safety. So I have questions. Why? Why are we unable to deal, in the face of such a threat, with what we have faced in the face of a pandemic? Why is the big common loan for defense still blocked? Why only propose national solutions? Why is the only truly European defence programme, EDIP, funded at this ridiculous EUR 1.5 billion? And why is the Ukraine Support Instrument, which comes with EDIP, funded to the tune of EUR 0? The current crisis will be the cradle of European power, or it will be its tomb. We have little time to act.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is commendable and necessary to repeat that we will support the Ukrainian resistance for as long as it takes, but it is even better to prove it. The Europeans must send a powerful signal to Moscow and Washington that we can make up for the fragile American support. Europeans know this: this support is not simply an act of solidarity with Ukraine; it is an act that will ensure the security of our continent. So how do you explain that 210 billion Russian public assets are still frozen in Europe right now? The legal argument against their seizure does not hold, because international law provides for legitimate countermeasures provided that they are proportionate and reversible. Russia will have to pay reparations: it is therefore a down payment, which is perfectly proportional. The only reason for our inaction is our political weakness, which Moscow and Washington have understood extremely well.

Madam President, it is actually a point of order. It's a point that will show that we have solidarity among ourselves as Members of this Parliament. Yesterday evening, on Russian TV, Vladimir Solovyov, the main propagandist of Putin's regime, attacked, insulted, threatened one of us: Pina Picierno, Vice-President of this House, has been assaulted with terrific violence on Russian TV. And then you had campaigns of trolls and bots inside our own territory. So today it's time for us to show solidarity in front of fascist propagandists ...

Madam President, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the great writer and fighter of Free France Romain Gary wondered why the French elites had not followed General de Gaulle to London in 1940. Was it because they were violently anti-Semitic? "No, not really," Gary tells us. Pro-German or pro-Nazi, then? No more. The reason was more sadly commonplace, according to Gary: because they liked their furniture too much. Great storms require breaking the habit, and now is the time for us too to get rid of our furniture. Russia threatens us directly, and the United States abandons us cowardly. Well, this is Europe’s moment of truth. It is now up to us and to us alone to massively help our first line of defence, the Ukrainian resistance. The European Council affirms this, but this means taking strong decisions, which our states are still backing down on, such as seizing the 209 billion Russian public assets frozen in Europe and allocating them to Ukraine. It is also now up to us and ourselves to ensure our own security and build an autonomous defence. Our leaders say so, but that means going further than what was announced on Thursday. Let us launch a joint loan financing European programmes and make sure that this money is used to develop European industries – not to stack the F-35s. We need to act more, and more as Europeans. Слава цкра ⁇ н ⁇ (‘Slava Ukraini’)! Long live a free Europe!

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, three years ago we all said here that the Russian war against Ukraine is a war against Europe. We were right to say so. But have we acted accordingly? Ukrainians astonished the world with their heroic resistance, but did European leaders rise to the occasion? Are the 200 billion Russian public assets frozen in our banks seized as I speak? Have European imports of liquefied natural gas or French cooperation with Rosatom ceased? Have we delivered all the weapons that the Ukrainian resistance needs and run our factories at full capacity to equip it? No, and it's a strategic bankruptcy. In Mar-a-Lago, Ukraine may seem far away and Trump may think he's playing with Putin. But not us. For us Europeans, it is our security and our freedom that are at stake in Ukraine. For us Europeans, the Ukrainian resistance is our first line of defence. So let us not listen to the voices of capitulation and submission that once again rotted this chamber this morning. Let us not listen to Vladimir Putin's servants and say forcefully that the survival of Ukraine is the freedom of Europe.

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States is deciding on tariffs that will hurt our production, that will hurt European industries. And what do the pseudo-Patriots do? Instead of advocating resistance to their new hero, what they are doing is attacking the Green Deal, the Pact on Migration and Asylum, and they don't have a word to defend European productions against the one who is hurting them right now, that is, Donald Trump. Yes, Donald Trump whose affiliates you are in this chamber. So, we who are really patriots, we who really want to defend European industries, we ask the Commission to be much firmer. We have the instruments to deal with this balance of power imposed by the new US administration: Instrument for the exercise of customs and Union rights, Anti-Foreign Subsidies Instrument, Coercive Instrument, Digital Services Act. We have the tools to resist and we, as patriots, will defend the interests of Europeans against the US administration if necessary.

Madam President, Boualem Sansal will be sleeping in prison again tonight. So it's been 69 days and 69 nights that the great writer is locked up in a jail, for speaking, for writing. 69 days and 69 nights of shame for his jailers. Colleagues, the Algerian regime, like all authoritarian regimes, is afraid of feathers, afraid of free men. Remember how he trembled in front of his people during the Hirak, this great popular revolution that showed, once again, the courage of Algerians. The regime then responded with repression and today Boualem Sansal shares the fate of many other prisoners of conscience, such as Mohamed Tadjadit, the Hirak poet, who has just been sentenced to five years in prison for denouncing state violence and social misery. So, Commissioner, Europe can help, it must help to secure Boualem Sansal's release. Do not remain silent, do not remain apathetic, put pressure on his jailers, repeat with us that we are not free while Boualem Sansal sleeps in prison.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Bruno Kahl, the head of the German secret services, is a calm, measured and cautious man. When he announces to the Bundestag that Putin is preparing a war against an EU member state before 2029, he should perhaps be taken seriously. But are European leaders doing this? Do they take our security services seriously? I doubt that. If not, how can we explain this slug rhythm in the construction of European defence or in helping the Ukrainian resistance? Let's stop betting everything on an American umbrella that can close at any time. Do we really want to make all our security dependent on Donald Trump or Elon Musk? No. So there is no more time to waste to integrate our defence industries, invest together, buy together, develop defence systems together and innovate together, as we have faced the pandemic. Finally, as Europeans, let us raise the necessary funds and pool our orders and our productions! The first duty of a political leader is to ensure the security of his city. Failing to do so means plunging into nothingness. And we simply have no right to fail.