What Raphaël spoke about.

15 Feb

2022

FR Speech

Human rights and democracy in the world – annual report 2021 (continuation of debate)

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Mr President, Mr High Representative, ladies and gentlemen, 'Words, words, words...', Hamlet repeated. "Words, words, words..." We talk a lot about human rights, but the question before us is simple: What powerful interests are we willing to offend to give our words the weight they lack? We condemn forced labour, but our multinationals have their products manufactured by Chinese suppliers who expl…

19 Jan

2022

FR Speech

Presentation of the programme of activities of the French Presidency (continuation of debate)

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Madam President, Mr President, there are apparently crimes too great and criminals too powerful to find any place in your long speeches. You have sung about human rights in general, but you have again ignored the worst crime against humanity of our time: deportation and eradication of the Uyghur people. But what are human rights worth without the courage to defend them? Courage is not to be silent…

16 Dec

2021

FR Speech

Continuous crackdown on civil society and human rights defenders in Russia: the case of human rights organisation Memorial

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– Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Vladimir Putin is afraid. Admittedly, its power is not immediately threatened. Admittedly, it controls weapons, money, the media, civil servants. But he will be afraid as long as there are free consciences in Russia. And there he is afraid of Memorial, afraid of law and truth, afraid of every light that illuminates the dirty night of thieves a…

14 Dec

2021

FR Speech

Situation at the Ukrainian border and in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I had planned a speech, but it is no longer useful because after hearing Mr Mariani and Mr Krah, the French far right and the German far right, it is time to come here and say how tired we are. We're tired of seeing these useful Kremlin idiots come to squeeze out Russia's propaganda elements every time. Putin invades Georgia, it is the fault of …

25 Nov

2021

FR Speech

Human rights violations by private military and security companies, particularly the Wagner Group

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, let us be clear, the Americans, by privatising the war, have opened Pandora's box. The Russian government has engulfed itself in this flaw in its own way – opaque, secret, outside of any legal framework. The Wagner Group, which has no formal existence in Russia, is waging wars that Moscow does not declare. Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Central African Republic, etc.…

5 Oct

2021

FR Speech

Disinformation and the role of social platforms (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, on 22 February, you came to exchange views with the members of the Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union, including Disinformation (INGE), to discuss the progress of work on the legislative proposal on digital services. Shortly before that, Mrs Jourová had presented the European Democracy Act…

5 Oct

2021

FR Speech

State of EU cyber defence capabilities (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in 2020, more than 700 cyberattacks targeted strategic sectors in Europe, 75% more than in 2019, and this is just the beginning. We must learn to defend ourselves collectively and impose a cost on those who attack us. Less than two weeks ago, I visited the European Cybersecurity Agency in Athens with a delegation from the Special Committee on Fo…

5 Oct

2021

FR Speech

The future of EU-US relations (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, you have talked a lot about marriage, but what is the secret of a happy marriage, if not equality between spouses? However, this is not the case. From the unilateral and chaotic withdrawal from Kabul to the removal of the contract of the century at the expense of France, the US administration does not consult us, it does not consider us. Donald Trump was not jus…

15 Sep

2021

FR Speech

The Pegasus spyware scandal (debate)

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Madam President, Minister, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, a foreign power, Morocco, is spying on the French Head of State without anything happening. Israeli company NSO’s Pegasus software is used by dozens of states against European citizens without anything happening. This cannot continue. And the Pegasus scandal, revealed this summer by Forbidden Stories journalists, is still in its infanc…

14 Sep

2021

FR Speech

A new EU-China strategy (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is 14 September 2021 and millions of Uyghurs are still parked in concentration camps in China; Not for what they do, but for what they are. I will no doubt tire you of constantly reverting to this crime against humanity, but these camps have existed for five years. Five years of greedy multinationals benefiting from the slavery of a people. F…

6 Jul

2021

FR Speech

Foreign interference in democratic processes (debate)

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Madam President, Mr High Representative, what is common between the financing of the Brexit campaign, anti-abortion associations, cyberattacks against the European banking authority or against health structures, mass disinformation campaigns on social networks, the purchase of strategic European infrastructure such as the port of Piraeus, Gerhard Schröder working for Gazprom, Yves Leterme working …