What Tineke spoke about.

15 Sep

2026

NL Question

The recent hybrid attacks and instrumentalisation of migrants in Ceuta and the need for a coordinated response to protect EU’s external borders (debate)

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Mr Azmani, you were rapporteur for the Return Directive. You were a strong supporter of returnhubS, but with that returnhubs We are creating even more dependence on third countries, where autocratic regimes often also have power. How are you going to prevent that? How can we avoid even more in such situations? blackmail, intimidation and instrumentalization?…

15 Sep

2026

EN Speech

The recent hybrid attacks and instrumentalisation of migrants in Ceuta and the need for a coordinated response to protect EU’s external borders (debate)

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Mr President, Council, Commissioner, the tragedy in Ceuta should have triggered European solidarity, as was promised by the pact, but this promise proved to be hollow. Governments rushed to blame Spain, Italy unlawfully reintroduced border control and right‑wing populism seized the humanitarian crisis for cheap political gain. Hardly anyone commemorated all those deadly victims. Exactly this respo…

16 Jun

2026

EN Speech

An EU future for the Western Balkans (joint debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, Albania is working hard on meeting the criteria for accession, and its progress is really encouraging. But Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have exposed the Albanian Government to some weak spots in their system. They let money talk in Albania, and simply managed to buy protected nature to develop it into a luxury resort at the cost of unique wildlife and vulnerable natur…

28 Apr

2026

EN Speech

Monitoring the application of European Union law in 2023, 2024 and 2025 (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, compliance with EU law is not a suggestion; it's an obligation and a promise to citizens, to businesses, to everyone who relies on their rights being protected across the Union. So we need to know if the Commission's approach towards enforcement effectively improves compliance. Because when dialogue becomes synonymous with delay, when the pre-infringement procedure b…

28 Apr

2026

EN Speech

The Commission’s 2025 Rule of Law report (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, the Hungarian people have shown us that even after 16 years of authoritarian capture, democracy can, and does, prevail. The citizens stopped the autocratic nightmare, despite all the obstacles that Orbán created to stay in power. But this also exposes a painful truth: democracy won despite the EU, and not thanks to the EU. Our Parliament sounded the alarm bell for years…

11 Mar

2026

EN Speech

Situation of the rule of law in Greece, following the Court decision on Predator spyware (debate)

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Madam President, the rule of law concerns in Greece go far beyond beyond the spyware scandal. Greece suffers from a governing culture of weak accountability and impunity. It dangles at the bottom of European media freedom indexes, journalists are dragged to court. Trust in judicial independence is low and providing life-saving aid is punished, but those who put lives in danger with pushbacks walk …

11 Mar

2026

EN Speech

Immunity of International Criminal Court officials and the activation of the EU Blocking Statute to strengthen EU strategic autonomy (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, what is the EU commitment to upholding international law and the rule of law worth if it refuses to defend international judges under attack? The US has sanctioned ICC judges not for corruption, not for abuse, but for delivering justice against the most heinous international crimes. And the same applies to actors delivering evidence to the ICC, like UN rapporteurs an…

10 Mar

2026

EN Speech

EU enlargement strategy (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was an urgent wake‑up call that the EU must become stronger and more autonomous. The most effective tool to achieve this is in our own hands: EU integration with our neighbours. The urgency has only increased with the threats coming now also from Washington. Yet, Member States seem to backtrack from their ambitions and get stuck in old ha…

21 Jan

2026

EN Speech

Restoring control of migration: returns, visa policy and third-country cooperation (topical debate)

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Mr President, dear Commissioner, the brutal murder of Renee Good by ICE mobs on 7 January left the world in deep shock. How did the US reach the point that razzias, deportations and now even murder have become the reality? A society that is deeply divided by fear and distrust. But the painful truth is that Europe is walking a similar dead‑end street. Many European politicians now finally recognise…

20 Jan

2026

EN Speech

Pending approval of the Hungarian national plan for Security Action for Europe (SAFE) funding in light of persistent concerns around the allocation of public funding (debate)

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Madam President, dear Council, dear Commissioner, the Commission's plan to allocate EUR 16 billion of SAFE loans to Hungary is exactly what Orbán needs. He already transferred Hungary's defence industry to his oligarch friends, and they will do anything to keep Orbán in power. And Orbán will continue to serve Putin's aggressive agenda. This autocrat uses endless public funds for his own campaignin…

18 Dec

2025

EN Speech

30th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton-Paris Peace Agreement (debate)

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Mr President, dear Commissioner, this year we commemorated the genocide in Srebrenica that took place 30 years ago. It was followed by the Dayton Peace Agreement, meant to bring peace and safety. That was a necessary step, but not meant to last for 30 years. The agreement that was needed to stop the long years of bloodshed now cements and deepens division and ethnic tensions. For politicians in an…

17 Dec

2025

EN Speech

Implementation of the rule of law conditionality regime (debate)

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Madam President, dear Commissioner, money talks. You know that. So when we need to hold countries responsible for violating our basic values, effective budgetary measures are essential. But no matter what the rules are, rule of law conditionality can only be effective if it is genuinely and effectively applied. And here, Commissioner, the Commission fails. Measures against Hungary came too late an…

17 Dec

2025

EN Speech

Application of the ‘safe third country’ concept (vote)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, let us be clear: this is not serious legislation. Declaring autocratic regimes like Egypt and Tunisia safe is a Christmas gift to repression. It will push LGBTIQ people and political dissidents right back into the arms they try to escape. Opening the door for deportation deals, to ransom our responsibility for asylum seekers and offload it onto the global South, i…

16 Dec

2025

EN Speech

Recent developments in Palestine and Lebanon (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, in Gaza, we all observe the genocide, the killing and the starvation continues and the people are suffering tremendously. Yet we observe a paralysed EU. I just visited the West Bank with my colleagues, and there we see the apartheid and the ethnic cleansing through State-organised violence and repression, sterilised roads, walls and checkpoints, demolished houses, olive…

24 Nov

2025

EN Speech

30th anniversary of the Barcelona Process and the new pact for the Mediterranean (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, despite the good and broad objectives that the pact for the Mediterranean includes, we see that many partnerships are still prioritising stemming irregular migration as an EU interest, instead of putting human rights, rule of law and democracy first. I really wonder how many more billions of euro will the Commission hand over to militias, autocrats, warlords even, be…

24 Nov

2025

EN Speech

Existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values on which the Union is founded (debate)

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Madam President, I would like to thank the democratic and value-based majority in this Parliament for its support. Their contributions today reflect how we wrote this report –⁠ with outrage over the violations that the Hungarian people are subjected to every day, with frustration that the EU has let it get so far with anger at the lack of action and, when action is taken, at the lack of consistenc…

24 Nov

2025

EN Speech

Existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values on which the Union is founded (debate)

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Mr President, I wish I could have said 'Thank you, Council', I am sorry, but thank you very much, Commissioner, for being here. More than seven years ago, the Parliament initiated the Article 7 procedure against Hungary. It saddens and worries me deeply that in this second interim report, we conclude that Hungary has continued and increased its violation of EU values. In this report, we point out …

22 Oct

2025

EN Speech

Allegations of espionage by the Hungarian government within the EU institutions (debate)

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Madam President, from Russia with love in our own Union. Who could have imagined that? For Hungary, the EU is the big enemy ten years ago, but it still is. Think, for example, about how Orbán designates EU funding as foreign interference in his draft anti-NGO law, or his friendship and collaboration with war criminals like Putin and Netanyahu, whom he happily invites into our Union's territory. An…

21 Oct

2025

EN Speech

Institutional consequences of the EU enlargement negotiations (debate)

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Mr President, thank you, Commissioner, for being here. The foundation of our common project is the shared commitment to values, democracy and the rule of law. The requirements to become an EU Member State are high; we are asking candidate countries to implement significant changes, and rightfully so. But we have to do our homework ourselves as well. We cannot allow enlargement to be obstructed by …

7 Oct

2025

EN Speech

The EU’s role in supporting the recent peace efforts for Gaza and a two-state solution (debate)

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Madam President, Council, Commissioner, across Europe record numbers of people have taken to the streets: Rome 1 million, Madrid 400 000, Amsterdam 250 000, Berlin and Barcelona 100 000. Hundreds of vessels sailed to Gaza to break the unlawful humanitarian blockade. Evident opinion polls express people's frustration. So all over Europe, we see an unprecedented disconnect between the people and pol…

6 Oct

2025

EN Speech

Revision of the Visa Suspension Mechanism (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, my warm congratulations to my colleague Matjaž Nemec, the rapporteur for this file. At the core of the EU's founding principles stands cooperation as a tool to bring peace and prosperity, opening up our societies and enhancing people‑to‑people contact to strengthen economic, social and cultural ties. The common visa policy established 40 years ago has ser…

10 Sep

2025

EN Answer

Rule of law and EU funds management in Slovakia (debate)

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Well, if you don't know, it's good that you ask the question, of course. And I think if you read the Rule of Law reports of the Commission, you can see very clearly that it's a constellation of different values and guarantees that all Member States need to ensure to protect citizens. And maybe the most important rule of law principle you can find in Article 2 of our Treaty on European Union, where…

10 Sep

2025

EN Speech

Rule of law and EU funds management in Slovakia (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, Council – Putin, Orbán, Fico. Sadly, Slovakia is following in the footsteps of Hungary and Russia. Prime Minister Fico is cracking down at the moment on fundamental rights, NGOs and free media in a rapid rule of law 'race to the bottom'. A new constitution would deny gender diversity and restrict rainbow families and sex education. This is yet another blow for the Sl…

8 Sep

2025

EN Speech

Announcement by the President

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Madam President, on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group, I would like to fully echo the point of order made by S&D and Renew. The debates in this House must be based on rights, freedoms, principles and values enshrined in our Treaties. It's not only obligations under the Rules of Procedure, but our moral duty as elected representatives of the European Union as well. We can debate migration. We can have…

9 Jul

2025

EN Speech

Lessons from Budapest Pride: the urgent need for an EU wide anti-discrimination law and defending fundamental rights against right-wing attacks (topical debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, Pride is a protest and what a protest it was! 300 000 people came together in Budapest. They took to the streets to stand up for the LGBTIQ community and for the right to protest. The threat of sanctions did not keep them the way ‑ on the country. They said, enough! Enough with repression, enough with corruption, enough with Orbán. Many of us walked by their side. Bu…