Speeches

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 subjected to re-education programs and forced sterilizations. What crime did they commit? None, except the crime of being born Uighurs. Colleagues, the violence of Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party does not stop at China's borders. Those who escape repression and raise their voices to denounce these crimes are hunted down, intimidated and chased to our cities, to our streets, by agents of the Chinese regime, such as Gulbahar Jalilova, recently in the streets of Paris. I call on the European leaders who so often court Beijing's tyrant to get out of their complacency and indolence. Chinese regime agents acting on our soil must be punished. Products made by slaves must be banned. The architects of Uyghur oppression must be punished. Ilham Tohti and Gulshan Abbas embody human dignity. Now is the time to show that Europe stands by them.

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. The more you collaborate with Mr Putin in his war against Ukraine and against Europe, the more we will support the resistance of the Ukrainian people and the more we will build European defence. The more you support the interests of the Chinese or Azerbaijani dictatorships, the more we will defend the general European interest. You and your friends from the European far right are today the faces of capitulation in Europe. You are not patriots, you are Trojan horses of hostile foreign interests, determined opponents of who we are and who we want to be as Europeans. You are strong only of our weaknesses and this weakness must end today, now!

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 convicts, who are undermining the foundations of Georgian democracy. We need to make this clear: you cannot do business with the Kremlin and get closer to Europe. We cannot increase the number of liberticide laws or anti-LGBTI attacks and get closer to Europe. We cannot keep Mikheil Saakashvili in prison indefinitely and get closer to Europe. With the so-called Georgian Dream threatening to plunge this beautiful European nation back into its old Russian nightmare, it is time for Europe to make itself heard and stand with its allies, the democrats of Georgia.

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 enemies of democracy, to build a powerful Europe that ceases to depend on China or the petromonarchies of the Gulf. A Europe that defends the Green Deal and accelerates the green transition. A Europe that plans its reindustrialisation, a Europe that puts in place a great plan for housing, a Europe that promotes equality between men and women and defends the rights of minorities. Finally, a Europe that is ecological, supportive and democratic. To build this Europe, we will be there and we will be intransigent, not tolerant of weakness or compromise. And we will make sure that the means, the investments, the actions follow the words. We will be, in this Chamber, the artisans and fighters of this great democratic, ecological and European power that we so desperately need.

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 defenders of our nations, when in reality they have been working for years for a foreign tyranny, hostile to the principles and interests of Europe. I chaired this Parliament’s special committee on foreign interference for more than three years and I can tell you that corruption is, together with information manipulation and cyber attacks, a central element of this hybrid war. Two months before the European elections, Russia multiplies its attacks with a goal: destabilising our democracies, making the valets of the Rassemblement national in France or the AFD in Germany triumph. We must fight these interferences firmly. There are times in history when showing any weakness is criminal. We are living in one of those moments.

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 its Prime Minister, Mr Pashinyan, and the European aspirations of the Armenian people, pose a threat to all dictators in the region. In Baku, Moscow and Ankara, the autocrats are seeking to destabilise the country, and in the face of these attacks, France and the European Union must be on the side of democracy and Armenia, forcefully and consistently, without the ambiguities of the past. France multiplies its aid to Yerevan. The EU needs to monitor and increase its support. We must encourage and support the European perspective of the Armenian people, increase humanitarian support tenfold, liberalise visas, help the Armenian army to defend its territory, and above all no longer bind us to Baku through an energy partnership that resembles handcuffs. There must be no more doubt. We are on the side of the Armenian people.

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 later, it is clear that the French and European public authorities have failed to make it impossible for this to last. During the Nuit de la solidarité, held in Paris last month, more than 3,500 homeless people were identified. Among them, 450 children, who sleep every night on the street. And it lasts. Around 900 000 people are homeless across the European Union. And it lasts. Millions of European families are in a situation of absolute precariousness, fail to find shelter, heat, or are forced to skip meals regularly. We are the richest, most stable, most educated continent in the world, they say. Colleagues, how can we tolerate this lasting? I want to pay tribute here to all these volunteers, all these organizations, all these women and all these men who are mobilizing with the poorest. They are admirable, but their task is endless, and they fill the absence and bankruptcy of public authorities. It lasts and it must not last. In Paris, Barcelona, Berlin and Prague, foreign private investors and pension funds buy residential buildings and convert them into Airbnb apartments for rent at night and at golden prices. Housing has become a speculative asset, bought and sold for profit. This must stop. Housing is a right. European public authorities must tackle the causes, regulate investors in the real estate market and tourist rentals, invest heavily in the construction and renovation of affordable housing. Finally, the housing model first introduced in Finland needs to be generalised across Europe. The European Union is not just a peace project, it is a justice project, and democracy is not just a set of institutions, it is a solidarity regime.

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 war launched by the Putin regime did not start on 24 February 2022 and is not limited to the borders of Ukraine. It aims, in its hybrid form, at the very heart of our democracies. While in four months' time the citizens of the European Union are called upon to take part in a huge democratic meeting with themselves, this new case highlights the extent to which European democracy is a fragile edifice, to be defended, cultivated and constantly protected. So let us not let go in the fight against foreign interference and against the corruption that allows it. Let's not let it go. For four years, we have warned daily about the risks of interference in this institution and in democracies in general, and we have repeatedly said the same thing: If we do not get out of our apathy, we will witness, like impotent Roman senators, the fall of the common democratic house. Being a Democrat or a pro-European of comfort is no longer allowed. We must once again become democrats of conviction and struggle.

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 Russians frozen in our banks have still not been seized? How can we explain the dropping of these weapons and the shortage of ammunition that is hitting the Ukrainian resistance? Where is the war economy promised every fortnight? It has been two years, and France is now proud to deliver 2,000 shells a month while Russia fires 10,000 shells a day at the front. All this is pathetic. We act as if we are supporting Ukraine out of solidarity, while it is realism and awareness of our vital interests that drive our support. Putin’s war is not a war for Donbas or Crimea. It is a war against Europe, against our democracies, against us. The clock is ticking and the alarm clock is still ringing. Slava Ukraini! Long live Europe!

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 not out of generosity that we are helping Ukraine. It’s because it’s our security, our sovereignty, our stability that is at stake, and it’s high time for capitals to understand it in Europe.

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 though European taxpayers are already in a difficult situation? Well, this resource exists, we have it in front of us for two years: More than €200 billion of Russian public assets are immobilised in European banks. Yes, more than €200 billion is kept warm until the war is over – and probably returned afterwards. This is completely absurd. This 200 billion is to be seized and then allocated to support Ukraine. Such a decision, taken with our G7 partners, would be a legitimate countermeasure against an aggressor state and an anticipation of the reparations that Russia must pay. It does not cost European citizens a euro and it finally sends a clear message to Moscow: there will be no turning back. Why don't we do it? Why are Paris and Berlin so strongly opposed to this option? We need answers. (The speaker agreed to answer a blue card question)

Madam President, Commissioner: A, S, A, P. ASAP. As soon as possible. “As soon as possible” – if I am not mistaken. I still wonder today, at that time, what the Member States did not understand in ‘As soon as possible’. One million rounds of ammunition promised to the Ukrainian resistance, 300,000 delivered. Meanwhile, North Korea alone is delivering 1 million shells to Russia, and Putin is reorganising its productive capacities. We, our stocks, are shrinking, and we are struggling to produce. I welcome your personal efforts, I welcome the Commission's efforts, but it is clear that the Member States are not following suit, as if they had not understood the seriousness of the moment. Their leaders talk about war economy, but they do nothing. The instruments adopted this year are moving in the right direction, but the resources allocated are laughable. In September, the President of the European Commission promised a new major programme, therefore. Yes, of course, but what means? When, at the heart of the pandemic, the European Union made it possible to place bulk orders for vaccines, a colossal effort was produced in common, and it worked. So why are we unable to do in response to Putin's war what we did in response to a virus? More than ever, we need our industrial capacities and, above all, a mental revolution in the Member States!

I will stop to be weak. And that’s what we have done with Orban for ages. We gave him the power to actually hold us hostages. So now it’s time for him to understand that if he blocks it, it’s not that we will not give him some candies, is that we will make sure that we break his power and we expel him. That’s what I will tell.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Vladimir Putin can now smile. He made two bets in 2022: the first bet, which he completely lost, was the complete collapse of the Ukrainian state. But the second bet, which was to believe that our European societies, that our European and Western leaders were unable to make a sustainable effort in the medium and long term, that bet is winning. Our weakness and pusillanimity are proving him right. Western military aid has never been so low. Financial aid is hostage to corrupt leaders like Orbán, or Republican representatives in the US Congress. This Council is decisive; decisive for the future of Ukraine, but also for our continent as a whole. Because why do we need to open these negotiations and why do we need to increase aid to Ukraine? Not just out of solidarity with the Ukrainian resistance, but for ourselves, for the future of our continent. President Zelensky, at the beginning of the conflict, quoted Hamlet's question, "To be or not to be," and he said: “We Ukrainians have answered we want to be.” The question is now for you Europeans. Well, this is the question we need to answer now: We want to be. (The speaker agreed to answer a blue card question)

Mr High Representative, dear Josep, you are surely familiar with Lenin's famous phrase: “The capitalists will sell us the rope to hang them.” This is an excellent summary of 30 years of European and American capitalism with the Chinese communist regime. We have allowed this regime to take over our technologies and know-how until we become fully dependent in strategic sectors. Take, for example, solar energy: Fifteen years ago, we had in Europe industrial champions of photovoltaics. Today, almost all panels are produced in China, mainly through coal, massive subsidies and enslavement of the Uyghurs. What happened? We have allowed Chinese manufacturers to ratiborate our production because of completely unfair trade policies. And solar is just one example. Our dependence on Beijing is such that we put our flag in our pocket when we address its leaders. In this debate, it is not an opposition between "rights-of-the-hommists" and realists. It is now realistic to reduce our dependence on the Chinese regime, realistic to repatriate our critical industries, realistic to filter Chinese investment in Europe, realistic to ban the products of slavery and impose corporate due diligence on multinationals. Our principles and vital interests, when it comes to China, come together, so we have to defend them with much more conviction. It is not about morality, it is about politics.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, in May the first Chinese airliner, the C919, made its first commercial flight using European technology. We are well aware of this scenario: The Chinese regime decides to dominate a global market, creating a state-owned company, Comac. It relies on our companies, who supply it with our technologies, and nobody cares about anything. After two decades, Comac will have taken Europeans out of the Chinese aviation market, before going on to conquer the European market, even threatening Airbus. The C919 engine is supplied by the French company Safran. Safran too, which, together with Comac, is developing the aircraft’s electrical circuit, transferring its technology to the Chinese military aircraft in the process. It is always the same story of greed and stupidity, from electric cars to nuclear power, from solar panels to all strategic sectors. Always the same choice of short-term profit against the general European interest in the long term. It is time to change this scenario that leads us to decline, dependence, vassalage. That is why this strategy for economic security is so important. It must create a tipping point that will benefit the whole of Europe.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, democracy is neither natural nor eternal, it is a political project that is extinguished if it is not defended forcefully, a fragile historical construction that collapses if it is not cultivated. For too long, our indolent elites have rhymed democracy with impotence and Europe with weakness. As war has returned to our lives, as authoritarian empires find more and more relays at the very heart of our cities, the time has come to put an end to this criminal naivety. With Parliament's special committee on foreign interference, we have been calling for strong measures for months and years. This package for the defence of democracy is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. The Directive proposed by the Commission does not prohibit anything, it just imposes transparency. Forgive me, but this is the basis of the base. We must finally know who is financed by whom in our public debate, and the organisations that accept the money of the enemies of the open society must assume it before the Europeans. Russia, China, Qatar and others must understand that our democracies are not supermarkets in which to shop. We are at a crossroads. Being Democrats out of habit will no longer be enough. We have to be combat democrats.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, three years after Samuel Paty’s infamous beheading, the school, this sanctuary of our Republic, has again been targeted by an Islamist terrorist attack. This Friday morning, October 13, Dominique Bernard, professor of letters at the school city Gambetta-Carnot in Arras, was brutally murdered. By getting in the way of the terrorist, he protected his students and colleagues and reminded an entire country of what courage meant. Dominique Bernard is the face of the fight against obscurantism. A teacher who cared about his students, he conveyed the beauty of the French language and the love of literature. Teach, enlighten, train: There is nothing more valuable, more fundamental in a society that makes individual and collective emancipation its horizon. This is what fanatical jihadists hate and attack. That is what we must defend together. Colleagues, in an atrocious international context, our nation is once again on "emergency attack" alert. It is up to all of us to be worthy of the courage of Dominique Bernard and Samuel Paty, to continue their task. Let us never give in, let us not accept any compromise. Let us stand together, everywhere, against the enemies of knowledge, exchange and freedom. This struggle will be long, it will be difficult, and we will have to fight it together, regardless of our origins, religions or opinions. While Belgium and Sweden are again bereaved, let us work here to ensure that the fight against terrorism is finally a priority for the European Union. Let us go much further in preventing radicalisation. Let’s fight the spread of terrorist content, hate speech or disinformation online much more effectively. Let’s stop all forms of irenism and naivety. Our democracy is fragile. It is a political, ideological construction, and one that is unravelled if we do not defend it, if we do not invest it, if we do not let it be strong. His enemies know it. It's up to us to understand it and fight for it.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, High Representative, war in the Middle East, war in the South Caucasus, war in Ukraine: history, as we see it every day, is not over and remains tragic. The earth has not become flat, and trade does not appease customs. All the myths of the 1990s are ending up in the trash cans of history. These myths have long structured our institutions and our worldview. Now is the time to equip ourselves with the tools of power, to become adults and get out of childhood, to transform this vast market that is the European Union into a political power. It is therefore time to move away from the dependencies that undermine us and prevent us from being truly free. Today we are a consumer continent: security consumers produced in the United States, consumers of goods – in all strategic sectors – produced in China, consumers of energy produced in oil tyrannies – for 20 years Putin’s Russia, but today Aliyev’s Azerbaijan, Qatar and all those cheerful regimes that hold us by the rope, simply because we are so addicted to hydrocarbons. So what is at stake? The challenge is to become a continent of producers. If you want to become a geopolitical power, you have to become a continent of producers again: producers of our security, hence the imperative of a Europe of defence, producers of goods, in all strategic sectors, producers, too, of energy, with the green transition. Close your eyes, just make an effort of imagination. It is 5 November 2024, Donald Trump is elected President of the United States and decides to swing overboard the Euro-Atlantic security architecture. Well, we're alone: we are alone in the face of Putin, we are alone in the face of the dangers that weigh on our borders, we are alone in the face of the threats, external and internal, that weigh on our democracies. This debate that we have today, the discussions that we are having, it is not simply a desire of Europeanists who want Europe to assert itself, it is the absolute necessity, if we want to survive as a democracy.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are not going to do this. I know all the efforts that the European Commission is making, but the problem is the Member States. The problem is that Belgium refuses an embargo on diamonds. The problem is that France refuses a nuclear embargo. The problem is that we therefore have loopholes in our sanctions, linked to interests defended by the European Member States. We had all hoped that the general interest of Europe – which is the defeat of Putin’s regime – would outweigh these particular interests, and here we fall asleep. Liquefied natural gas imports are breaking records. We have not yet taken any real sanctions against states that circumvent our sanctions against the Putin regime. If we continue in this way, we will water down the impact of our decisions and allow the Putin regime to continue its criminal war, which targets not only the Ukrainian people, but also the entire European security architecture. We need an embargo on Russian hydrocarbons now, we need to seize and confiscate Russian property and assets in Europe now. The time has come to finally be coherent and effective in our confrontation with Vladimir Putin.

High Representative, 'Woman, Life, Freedom'. A year ago, the assassination of Jina Mahsa Amini triggered the incredible uprising of the women and people of Iran. One year of heroism, one year of fierce repression, one year of European procrastination. Despite the barbarity, blood and tears, Iranian women continue to fight, struggle and die. And they're counting on us. Any return to normal with Tehran's executioners would be treason. We must not only prolong sanctions, but strengthen them. This Parliament has overwhelmingly called for the Revolutionary Guards to be placed on the list of terrorist organisations. Where are we on this topic? This regime terrorizes Iranians. This regime is terrorizing the Syrians. This regime terrorizes the Lebanese. This regime is terrorizing Ukrainians by providing Putin with the drones that are ravaging their cities. This regime, finally, kidnapped Europeans and held them hostage. When are we going to name a cat, a cat and a terrorist, a terrorist? Let us have just one hundredth of the courage of the Iranian women, and then we will be credible and powerful. Woman, life, freedom (speaker speaks in a non-official language).

Madam President, last night in this House the limits of decency were crossed. Last night, the small telegraphers of the Kremlin peddled to the very heart of our institutions the "fake news" coming from Russia. Last night, during the plenary debate on the report on recommendations for the reform of the European Parliament’s rules on transparency, integrity, accountability and the fight against corruption, Mr Rougé, a member of the National Assembly and of the Identity and Democracy Group, made offensive and defamatory remarks against me and my ex-wife Ekaterine Zgouladze. He peddled a false information born in Russia, accusing her of having been arrested with millions of dollars, without any form of foundation. We traced this misinformation. It goes back to one of the pillars of Putin’s regime, Mr Zakhartchenko, who is under sanctions, and to the Kremlin’s media, which were then relayed by the conspiratorial sites of the French far right. Thus, having regard to the provisions laid down in Rule 10(4) of the Rules of Procedure, I request that the Bureau of the Parliament examine the facts and take the necessary sanctions. This chamber cannot echo the Kremlin’s ‘fake news’. We cannot tolerate such methods, false attacks on members' families. Where do we go if we tolerate this? You did this to impress me, to make my head lower. I will not lower it and I will fight your methods and ideology to the end. We will not let go and democracy will prevail against the puppets and Trojan horses of Vladimir Putin’s tyrannical regime.

Are you ashamed of yourself or not? You're despicable. You are what you have always been throughout history. What you have just peddled will have legal consequences of one. Second, it comes from a Russian site taken over by Fdesouche and far-right conspiracy sites in France. This is completely unfounded and you have just proven that you have never changed. You are always the same type of character, you are always able to slander, you are always inclined to this type of behavior. You should be ashamed. In any case, this chamber is ashamed to hear such defamations.

Madam President, Madam Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, corruption is not just about bags of tickets being handed over to hotel rooms. Corruption is also a conflict of interest. It is working for a large oil group when you are an MEP. Corruption also means selling your address book of chancellor, president, minister or elected official to interests hostile to our democracies as soon as your term ends. And corruption is not just an ethical or moral issue, it is a matter of public safety for our democracies. So, ladies and gentlemen, the words of Altiero Spinelli must guide us more than ever. It is now necessary to know how to get rid of old burdens that have become cumbersome. The old burdens of habits and comfort, carelessness and indolence, blindness and impunity must now be removed. It is today that we need to show courage, change our rule and mindset, find in us the strength to confront these foreign actors who threaten us, penetrate our institutions, attack our hospitals, finance our most anti-European parties within our political classes, pervert our debates on social networks and buy our former leaders. This is the last debate of the Special Committee on Foreign Interference, which I have the honour to chair. Over the past three years, our work has helped identify and map threats, diagnose EU vulnerabilities and make concrete recommendations to rearm our democracies. Our mandate is coming to an end, but foreign interference will not stop. That is why our work must not disappear. We must prevent the fight against interference from drowning in one of those institutional black holes of which our European institutions have the secret. That is also why, Madam Vice-President, we look forward to the presentation of the defence of democracy package that Mrs von der Leyen announced in her State of the Union address, a package that has already been postponed twice, even though an overwhelming majority of this Parliament is ready to take it up. Our citizens need to know that we have turned the page on helplessness, that we will no longer let foreign tyrannies wipe their feet on our sovereignty and that we will be able to counter their Trojan horses and useful idiots at home. Finally, before leaving the chair of the committee, I would like to thank all those who contributed to its work and say one simple thing: The defense of our democracies is the battle of my life and I will continue it here, relentlessly, everywhere, always, with you. Let’s stop being democrats out of inertia or comfort. Let's be combat democrats.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Vladimir Putin's bet is that we will get used to his crimes. Vladimir Putin's bet is that we will be too tempted by a return to business as usual. So let us show him that there cannot be, that there will be no return to business as usual, that compromises are over, that the sacrifice of the sovereignty of nations in exchange for gas contracts is over, that this veto right granted to Moscow over the fate of its neighbours is over. I still have in mind the proud smile of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy at the Bucharest summit in 2008, when they complied with Moscow’s demands and sacrificed the action plan for Ukraine’s and Georgia’s NATO membership. The result of this act, which was committed not to offend Moscow, was the tanks that swept over Georgia and Tbilisi. Whenever we sought to appease the tyrant, he advanced further. So, from now on, we must rebuild this peace on a clear basis. Each country is free to choose its own destiny and has the European Union at its side for its integration into the Euro-Atlantic family.