Speeches

Mr President, the situation on the Belarusian border is appalling. We should be grateful to Poland and Lithuania for continuing to fight the ongoing hybrid attack on the Belarusian regime at the EU’s external border. The influx of migrants organised by Lukashenko is criminal. Turkey and Morocco have also recently used these barbaric methods. The EU should provide financial assistance to Poland and Lithuania for the construction of a permanent fence. The EU's external borders must be hermetically sealed. Why does the European Commission financially refuse to facilitate the construction of a physical barrier at the EU's external border, as requested by many countries and citizens? After all, we all know that under the current rules it is almost impossible to get rejected asylum seekers out of the EU once they are inside. I would also like to raise the issue of the Convention on Refugees. We are increasingly seeing illegal migration being used as a weapon to disrupt our society. It is therefore high time to revise the Refugee Convention. Anyone who takes an illegal step on the territory of the EU should be blacklisted and should never be eligible for asylum again.

President. This week, the European Council will exchange views on vaccination strategies in the European Union. The vaccination strategy of this Parliament recently became clear: After offering voluntary vaccinations, which I am very much in favour of, the EP is now moving to vaccination coercion. Vaccination is a right, not a duty. In order to gain access to work, Parliament's assistants and Members are required to undergo tests or to be vaccinated at all times. A negative test result is not enough. A QR code is required. This Parliament, the House of Democracy, is closing its doors to those who have questions about these steps towards a control society. Dear representatives of the Commission and the Council, is this an example for the rest of the European Union? Does everyone have to have a QR code in order to work? I call on the Commission and the Council to be vigilant. Please no division of society and no control society. Freedom under conditions is not freedom.

Mr President, today we are discussing a Polish court decision saying that, in cases where the EU has no competence, Polish law applies. This should not be controversial. Last year, the German Constitutional Court came to similar conclusions. The truly controversial decision was made in Luxembourg, with European judges interfering in the organisation of the Polish justice system, which clearly falls outside the authority of the European Treaties. You, colleagues, always choose European institutions over national authorities, out of a misguided sense of pro-European sympathy. The true European should accept the division of powers between Member States and Brussels. The true European should accept that the European Union is not a superstate, but an alliance of sovereign nation states, and the true European should accept our unity in diversity. Today should have been a lesson in humility and democracy, not an encouragement to continue this undemocratic attack on the Polish Member State.

Mr President, today we are discussing the sky-high price of gas with a high risk of energy poverty. According to Mr Timmermans, ‘the irony is that if we had previously switched to renewable energy sources, we would not be in this situation now’. The real irony is that it is precisely climate policy that has ensured that coal and nuclear power plants have been closed down and gas extraction has been minimised. There is less supply and therefore the price rises. The Commission does not seem to understand market forces – and I have already noticed this for a number of colleagues here. Energy demand must now be supplied by subsidised renewables. I prefer to call them ‘unreliables’, because last summer the wind turbines did not produce what was expected, and therefore the gas price skyrocketed. France is self-sufficient with nuclear energy and does not know these problems. Minister Bruno le Maire is right. Nuclear energy should be included in the taxonomy as clean energy as soon as possible. And for now, the rapidly rising price of CO2 allowances must be removed in order to financially relieve citizens and businesses.

Mr President, the EU is a wonderful addition to Europe, provided the right decisions are taken. The euro should be a choice for Member States. Current monetary policy is creating bubbles, making housing, among other things, unaffordable for our children. The EU must stop giving free money, because that makes people lazy. However, it must maintain the original rules that we agreed in the Stability and Growth Pact. This has led to the reform of weak economies. We use clean nuclear energy without air pollution and CO2 emissions. Our beautiful nature is preserved and we have security of supply, making energy affordable. This is important for a healthy economy. We protect our borders and our beautiful cultures. We help people in danger. But we also protect our welfare state by only allowing people who add value to our society. We empower our children by teaching them to think critically at school. And finally, the EU respects sovereignty. The EU is 27 Member States, a great diversity.

Mr President, the ‘Fit for 55’ package is an irresponsible experiment with our economy. According to the Commission, the proposals will cost EUR 1300 billion, but according to more realistic estimates this will amount to between EUR 4 and 5 000 billion. What result do we achieve with that? Only 0.004 degrees Celsius less warming, four thousandth degree. An immeasurably small result. What the package makes clear is that the European Commission has definitively lost its confidence in the free market. ‘Ready for 55’ is the next step towards a planned economy. Our earned assets and our purchasing power are put at risk with rising costs and even more regulations. Europe is already a world leader in improving the living environment and the environment. We have been successfully investing in a better future for decades and we must continue to do so without idealism. Politics must set realistic and technologically neutral goals. Leave the execution to the market. Only then will there be innovation and progress.

Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, two weeks ago, migration was on the agenda of the European Council. I took this opportunity to call on European leaders to embrace the Danish immigration model. Handling asylum applications in safe locations outside Europe seems to be a very promising way to stop disruptive migration flows of often hopeless asylum seekers from safe countries at the source. However, the conclusions of the Council meeting show that there is no interest whatsoever in real solutions to the migration problem. Hollow phrases and generalities prevail. Protecting our Western society and preventing humanitarian disasters is clearly not a priority. An African population explosion is coming at us and a third of the sub-Saharan Africans want to emigrate. There's no time to lose. The Danes offer a solution that should at least be investigated and discussed. The United Kingdom is now joining in. I would like to ask Mrs von der Leyen, who is apparently not interested in the opinion of the parliament and is already gone, and Mr Michel: When will the EU follow?