What Raphaël spoke about.

22

Jan

2025

FR Speech

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Case of Boualem Sansal in Algeria

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 Hir…

22

Jan

2025

FR Speech

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Uniting Europe against actors hostile to the EU: time to strengthen our security and defence (topical debate)

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…

21

Jan

2025

FR Speech

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Further deterioration of the political situation in Georgia (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, despite repression, Georgians are demonstrating for freedom, for democracy and for Europe. And what are European leaders doing to respond to their calls? Nothing. Nothing or almost nothing. For ten years, this European passivity has allowed Putin to place his men in Tbilisi. She let a French-passported oligarch, Bidzina Ivanichvili, buy a country o…

21

Jan

2025

FR Speech

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Need to enforce the Digital Services Act to protect democracy on social media platforms including against foreign interference and biased algorithms (debate)

Madam President, Madam Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, Europe is not a Chinese colony, and it will never be the 51st American state. When you want to operate with us, well you have to respect our laws. It’s simple, it’s basic. The Digital Services Act was adopted here in this House by an overwhelming majority of Members and by the unanimity of the Council. But what good is it to have laws, n…

18

Dec

2024

FR Speech

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11th year of the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation and the deteriorating human rights situation in occupied Crimea, notably the cases of Iryna Danylovych, Tofik Abdulhaziiev and Amet Suleymanov

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Crimea is the laboratory of Russian colonial expansion. Those who dare to claim that it has always been a Russian land only slavishly repeat the propaganda of an imperialist regime, whose specialty is the rewriting of history. And if there is one people that is systematically erased by this rewriting, it is the Tatar people, an indigenous people oppressed by the…

17

Dec

2024

FR Speech

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Misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms, such as TikTok, and related risks to the integrity of elections in Europe (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, a few figures: 85 000 cyberattacks, 8 million subscribers of the more than 100 influencers who were mobilised to promote the campaign of the pro-Russian candidate Georgescu, 25 000, i.e. the number of active accounts on which the information manipulation strategy was based. Credited with 1% of the voting intentions four weeks before the election, t…

17

Dec

2024

FR Speech

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Toppling of the Syrian regime, its geopolitical implications and the humanitarian situation in the region (debate)

Mr President, High Representative, ladies and gentlemen, in Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Damascus, Syrians are celebrating the end of a long night of blood and tears, a night of ashes and death. So yes, the future is uncertain, and I share some of the concerns that have been expressed here. But let us be honest, ladies and gentlemen, who listened to the Syrians when they were dying under Putin's bombs o…

27

Nov

2024

FR Speech

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The arrest of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal and the call for his immediate and unconditional release, and the repression of freedom of speech in Algeria (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, Boualem Sansal is in prison. This absurd sentence alone condemns the power that encloses it. What is the crime of Boualem Sansal? A terrible crime, an unforgivable crime: His crime is to write, to think, to speak, to dream as a free man. And that is enough to constitute, I quote, an "attack on territorial integrity". A betrayal that makes you incur…

27

Nov

2024

FR Speech

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Presentation by the President-elect of the Commission of the College of Commissioners and its programme (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, there was a pro-European coalition to support you in July. Why, then, should Fratelli d'Italia be included in the group of Vice-Presidents who are leading the Commission politically? Nothing compelled you to do so and we do not accept it. And why is the EPP allying itself with the most radical far-right to dismantle the deforestation directive? Democratic pol…

26

Nov

2024

FR Speech

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Reinforcing EU’s unwavering support to Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression and the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia (debate)

13

Nov

2024

FR Speech

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EU-US relations in light of the outcome of the US presidential elections (debate)

Madam President, High Representative, ladies and gentlemen, let us not be ostriches. Don't worry, Putin is not going to invade Ukraine – and Putin has invaded Ukraine. Trump was just a parenthesis – and Trump is coming back to power even more powerful than before. And now we're gonna hear: No, but Trump is not going to do what he said. Well if, think again, Trump is going to do what he said and we…

23

Oct

2024

FR Speech

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Tackling the steel crisis: boosting competitive and sustainable European steel and maintaining quality jobs (debate)

Madam President, steel was the foundation of European integration. Yet everywhere in Europe today, our steel mills are under threat and hundreds of thousands of jobs can disappear. Why? Largely because China is flooding the world with high-emitting steel, massively subsidized and dumped at low prices in all markets. Because it produces far more than it consumes and because, mainly, global overcapa…

22

Oct

2024

FR Speech

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Situation in Azerbaijan, violation of human rights and international law and relations with Armenia (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, you can therefore lock up opponents and journalists, you can jeopardise the lives of people as courageous as the D.r Ibadoghlou, you can stab your opponents in the streets of our cities, you can carry out ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and constantly threaten your neighbour, Armenia, you can bypass European sanctions against the Putin regime …

22

Oct

2024

FR Speech

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Establishing the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism and providing exceptional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, at last! Finally, this mechanism starts to make the aggressor pay. But, let’s say, it’s, as usual, too little and very late. For the past two years, we have been doing everything in the European Union to keep Ukraine afloat. But we are not doing enough to allow him to win the war. So the question is simple: When will we finally seize the 200 billion Russian public assets frozen in ou…

9

Oct

2024

FR Speech

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The cases of unjustly imprisoned Uyghurs in China, notably Ilham Tohti and Gulshan Abbas

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, ten years ago Ilham Tohti was arrested by the authorities and sentenced to life imprisonment. Gulshan Abbas was also arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Ilham Tohti and Gulshan Abbas are the faces of these millions of persecuted Uighurs, kidnapped from their families, locked up in camps, forcibly transferred to work in factories, and s…

9

Oct

2024

FR Speech

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

Madam President, Prime Minister, we are here at the heart of European democracy to tell you one simple thing: You and your friends will not pass. Pressure on the press, stranglehold on justice, nepotism, corruption, attacks against LGBT people, stigmatization of exiles... Mr. Orbán, the more you strive to dismantle the rule of law in Hungary, the more we will defend it everywhere on European soil.…

8

Oct

2024

FR Speech

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The democratic backsliding and threats to political pluralism in Georgia (debate)

Mr President, Madam Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, the heart of the Georgian people is beating for Europe. In the streets and squares, the country's youth waved the starry blue flag as a standard of freedom and dignity. We must stand by his side. The European-loving Georgian democrats look at us and expect us to be infinitely firmer in the face of the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili and his co…

18

Jul

2024

FR Speech

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Statement by the candidate for President of the Commission (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Putin is attacking our democracies, Trump is in danger of becoming President of the United States again, and everywhere in Europe, everywhere, we are seeing their far-right allies progress. We are living in a time of change and our collective responsibility is immense. We European Social Democrats will be there. We will be there to block the way for the enemi…

10

Apr

2024

FR Speech

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New allegations of Russian interference in the European Parliament, in the upcoming EU elections and the impact on the Union (debate)

Mr President, Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, Putin’s war did not start on 24 February 2022 and is not limited to Ukraine’s borders. This war, in its hybrid form, has been targeting our democracies for too long. And in this war, Vladimir Putin found relays within our institutions, starting with far-right MEPs and European nationalist leaders. They claim to be nationalists, they claim to be d…

27

Feb

2024

FR Speech

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Closer ties between the EU and Armenia and the need for a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, ethnic cleansing of Karabakh was not enough. All of Armenia, its freedom and sovereignty are now under threat. The Aliyev regime refuses to recognise Armenian territorial integrity and threatens to attack. While Putin's is stirring up chaos by trying to turn the population against his democratic government. Why? Because the Armenian government, and first of all …

7

Feb

2024

FR Speech

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Commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Abbé Pierre's appeal on addressing homelessness in the context of persisting poverty and social exclusion (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, on 1 February 1954, just seventy years ago, Abbé Pierre made a radio call to French citizens. In the face of their brothers dying of misery, only one opinion must exist between men: the desire to make it impossible for it to last. That call was a shock. An immense stream of solidarity arose, an admirable national mobilization. But, seventy years la…

6

Feb

2024

FR Speech

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Russiagate: allegations of Russian interference in the democratic processes of the European Union (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, plenary sessions follow one another, and so do our debates on the attacks of authoritarian regimes on our democracy. Our institution is under attack, targeted by various foreign actors. Once again, we are ashamed of the behaviour of some members of this House. Let's be clear: Working for Russian interests is a betrayal of Europe and a betrayal of democracy. The …

6

Feb

2024

FR Speech

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The need for unwavering EU support for Ukraine, after two years of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we believed that Europe had awakened from its long geopolitical sleep, that sinister 24 February 2022. We had hoped that, after so many mistakes and weaknesses, our leaders would finally open their eyes and understand. But sleepwalkers continue to wander, haggard, condemned to perpetual lethargy. It's been two years. Two years! So how is it that the 200 billion …

6

Feb

2024

EN Answer

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Conclusions of the European Council meetings, in particular the special European Council meeting of 1 February 2024 (debate)

Mr Bütikofer, I would really support it, and I am supporting it, because when I’m looking at the Kiel Institute ranking – ranking the help to Ukraine – I’m ashamed. I have to say I’m ashamed. I am ashamed first of my own government. Because when you see that France is in terms of help to Ukraine, it means that in Paris people did not understand what’s at stake. As you mentioned very clearly, it’s …

6

Feb

2024

FR Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meetings, in particular the special European Council meeting of 1 February 2024 (debate)

Madam President, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, fortunately Viktor Orbán has not succeeded in killing European financial aid to Ukraine. But, honestly, there is no point in poaching, because this aid is not enough, and it will be even less enough if the Americans elect Donald Trump in November and leave us alone. So where to find the necessary funds in Europe to massively support Ukraine even…