What Tineke spoke about.

9 Oct

2024

EN Speech

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

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Madam President, Commissioner, our House of democracy just served as a platform for the propaganda of Prime Minister Orbán. Because the truth doesn't serve his interests. The truth is that he's a corrupt, disloyal, and ruthless violator of the EU's most fundamental values. Instead of listening to him, we should give the microphone to the Hungarian people who face the daily hardship of living under…

18 Sep

2024

EN Speech

The Hungarian “National Card” scheme and its consequences for Schengen and the area of freedom, security and justice (debate)

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Madam President, Council, Commissioner – maybe for the last time, who knows? – Orbán made it very clear where his true alliances lie when he extended Hungary's national card scheme to Russian and Belarusian citizens shortly after his controversial mission to Moscow. Of course, this falls under the national competences of the Member States, and a ban on certain nationalities would be discriminatory…

17 Sep

2024

EN Speech

War in the Gaza Strip and the situation in the Middle-East (debate)

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Madam President, Commission, on 19 July, the ICJ gave a legal confirmation to the obvious, that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal and should end immediately. It states that states should do anything to avoid and stop the destruction, the massacre in Gaza and the occupation. Yet, we have seen two more months of complete inaction by the Commission and the Member States. Tw…

16 Sep

2024

EN Speech

Need to prevent security threats like the Solingen attack through addressing illegal migration and effective return (debate)

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Madam President, the horrific attack in Solingen reminds us that we must remain vigilant against violent extremism. But we must also remain vigilant against cynical and dangerous spinning of the far right who misuse such attacks for their own political gain, to demonise migrants and refugees. That only distracts from the real solutions we need. And it divides and polarises our societies. Germany's…

25 Apr

2024

EN Speech

Pre-enlargement reforms and policy reviews (debate)

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Madam President, dear Commissioner, the Russian invasion in Ukraine was a reality check. It made us realise that enlargement is not only vital for the citizens of the candidate countries, but also for the EU to preserve our values and to strengthen our role in the world. But enlargement and being an effective organisation and preserving a veto is not a realistic combination. We must urgently make …

24 Apr

2024

EN Speech

Advance passenger information: enhancing and facilitating external border controls - Advance passenger information: prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime (joint debate - Advance passenger information)

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Mr President, my group has fundamental concerns about the necessity and proportionality of the mandatory collection of API data, as well as about the transition to automated check-ins only. Still, the text improves the status quo with clear, harmonised European rules on API collection. We also set limits and safeguards. Where Member States now do whatever they want, this revision will shorten the …

24 Apr

2024

EN Speech

Recent attempts to deny dictatorships and the risk of Europe returning to totalitarianism (debate)

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Mr President, tomorrow, Italy commemorates the victory over fascism. But the author invited to deliver a speech was cancelled by the Italian state broadcaster. The reason? He was planning to state the fact that Meloni fails to condemn fascism. And how could she credibly do so with her party’s logo symbolising the eternal flame on the tomb of Mussolini? This act of censorship by the state broadcast…

23 Apr

2024

EN Speech

EU-Egypt strategic and comprehensive partnership and agreements with key third countries (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner. People who flee war and persecution need safety and reception, not pushbacks and violence. Yet this Commission seems convinced that by paying authoritarian leaders, we can stop people from seeking safety. After the Tunisia deal, the arrivals in Italy did not drop, but the violence, pushbacks and repression in Tunisia increased. It strengthened the dictator Saied and lef…

23 Apr

2024

NL Speech

EU’s response to the repeated killing of humanitarian aid workers, journalists and civilians by the Israel Defence Forces in the Gaza Strip (debate)

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Mr President, High Representative, civilians, journalists and humanitarian workers are murdered every day in Gaza. Hunger is used as a weapon, hospitals are attacked, many mass graves are found. No more war and genocide: This is the foundation of our European cooperation. And yet for months we have been blatantly allowing Israel to wage a war of aggression against Gaza, on which the UN's highest c…

22 Apr

2024

EN Speech

Approval of the minutes of forthcoming sittings

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Madam President, dear colleagues, tomorrow we vote on the visa exemption for holders of Serbian passports issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate in Kosovo. It’s presented as a technical proposal by the Commission, but Serbia proved last week that the opposite is true. Vučić prevented hundreds of Kosovars from entering the EU at the Serbia–Croatian borders as an act of retaliation for the c…

10 Apr

2024

EN Speech

Screening of third country nationals at the external borders - European Criminal Records Information System - Third Country Nationals - Common procedure for international protection in the Union - Establishing a return border procedure, and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1148 - Asylum and migration management - Addressing situations of crisis and force majeure - Establishment of 'Eurodac' for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013, for identifying an illegally staying third-country national or stateless person and on requests for the comparison with Eurodac data by Member States' law enforcement authorities and Europol for law enforcement purposes (recast) - Union Resettlement Framework - Standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection - Standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (recast) (joint debate - Migration and Asylum package)

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Madam President, Commissioners, we had the chance to fix a broken system – a system now in which border states bear the brunt of the responsibility, fundamental rights are flouted and impunity is the norm. This pact was our chance to share responsibility, end pushbacks, uphold the right to asylum and make reception human again. I acknowledge the improvements. I am glad that we stimulate resettleme…

13 Mar

2024

EN Speech

The time the European Commission takes to deal with requests for public access to documents (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, this is an election year. How can citizens judge the performance of Commissioners in charge if their right to access to information is denied? Unjustified secrecy hampers to address corruption, violation of fundamental rights and simply hurts democratic scrutiny of the EU. The Ombudsman’s examples of delayed access to information in its special report relate to issues t…

13 Mar

2024

EN Speech

The repressive environment in Afghanistan, including public executions and violence against women

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Mr President, Commissioner, it’s heartbreaking to conclude that this debate and resolution is a repetition of doing urgent calls for a change in Afghanistan. Because not a single thing has improved for women and girls. The gender apartheid installed by the Taliban is still alive. The human rights and the humanitarian crisis have not improved at all. But this status quo makes it all the more import…

12 Mar

2024

EN Speech

The adoption of the Special Measure in favour of Tunisia for 2023 (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, we all remember the moment that the Commission announced to grant EUR 150 million to the Tunisian government, funding a dictator who cemented his power through a coup, who locks up opposition judges and journalists, and who dumps migrants into the desert, leaving them for death. And what is the Commission’s response? Reward him with EU funding, putting the final nail…

12 Mar

2024

EN Speech

A single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a Member State and on a common set of rights for third-country workers legally residing in a Member State (recast) (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, the Single Permit Directive is mutually beneficial, both for migrants who seek safe and legal pathways into the EU and for the EU wishing to attract skills and talent to its workforce. But in order for this law to be truly a win-win situation, we must ensure that migrants don’t end up as the losers. Too often, they are trapped in horrible situations of dependency and…

29 Feb

2024

EN Speech

Major interpellations (debate)

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Mr President, dear Commissioner, some politicians like to claim we are in a migration crisis, because they profit from it. But we are actually facing a fundamental rights crisis, an enforcement crisis, a solidarity crisis. Our external borders have become zones of lawlessness. Asylum seekers are beaten back across the borders, attacked with dogs or left to drown at sea. And civil society actors wh…

28 Feb

2024

EN Speech

Deepening EU integration in view of future enlargement (debate)

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Madam President, enlargement is not only important for geopolitical reasons, but also to offer the citizens of our neighbourhood a chance to enjoy the rights and values of the EU. But a core EU value is trustworthiness. So when a candidate country delivers, we must do too. And we fail to do that, for instance with North Macedonia – a champion in reforms. The report calls for an end to the veto. Bu…

28 Feb

2024

EN Speech

Report on the Commission’s 2023 Rule of Law report (debate)

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Mr President, dear Commissioner, the latest Rule of Law Report shows a serious pressure on the rule of law in many EU countries. The Annual Report is supposed to be the key to unlocking the EU’s rule of law toolbox, but far too often, this toolbox remains closed. The numerous concerns described in the Report are not followed with infringement actions, interim measures, steps in Article 7 proceedin…

6 Feb

2024

EN Speech

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

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Madam President, Council, Commission, let me applaud the EU Council for doing the right thing: securing the so much needed funding for Ukraine. We know that this support is only a small step, given the total needs and the declining support from the US. It is crucial that we keep delivering. But exactly this will remain threatened by Orbán. He is utterly disloyal towards NATO, the EU and the Europe…

17 Jan

2024

EN Speech

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 14-15 December 2023 and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of 1 February 2024 - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds (joint debate - European Council meetings)

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Mr President, Council, Commission, the experts were crystal clear in their assessment: Hungary does not meet the standard of judicial independence, but the Commission decision to unfreeze the cohesion funds was not based on facts in Budapest, it was based on politics in Brussels. The Commission decision to bow down to Orbán's looming vetoes cost the EU so much more than EUR 10 billion. It cost us …

21 Nov

2023

EN Speech

Recent developments at the EU’s external border between Finland and Russia and the need to uphold EU law (debate)

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Madam President, Minister, Commissioner, Russia’s actions at the Finnish external border must be called out for what they are: a geopolitical move. Russia is cynically using asylum seekers and migrants to exert pressure, and this must be clearly condemned and addressed. But casting aside EU law is never the answer. Derogating from key standards and rights can never be the solution. Doing so would …

21 Nov

2023

EN Speech

Continuing threat to the rule of law, the independence of justice and the non-fulfilment of conditionality for EU funding in Hungary (debate)

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Madam President, Minister, Commissioners, when a veto by Orbán is feared in the EU council, the unfreezing of the EU funds reappears at the negotiation table. It’s a cynical pattern, but Hungary has not resolved its rule-of-law and fundamental rights deficiencies. The measures adopted in may suffer from fundamental flaws. Even in the most lenient interpretation, three out of the four judicial requ…

8 Nov

2023

EN Speech

EU enlargement policy 2023 (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, as President von der Leyen rightly said, today’s proposal to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova is historic. It shows that Russia’s attacks on European peace and stability only has led to closer cooperation, and that we stand by Ukraine in their fight for freedom. But the work starts now. We must support both countries to fully meet all criteria for access…

8 Nov

2023

EN Speech

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 26-27 October 2023 - Humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause (joint debate - Conclusions of the European Council and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause)

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Madam President, Commissioner, over 4 000 children killed, massive numbers of civilians bombed to death or bleeding under the rubble. The hospital system has collapsed, yet humanitarian aid is refused. Human suffering in Gaza is immense, unprecedented and is manmade. We can only be a credible value-based actor in the world if we, as the EU, fiercely condemn these brutal violations of international…

8 Nov

2023

EN Speech

Order of business

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Madam President, the Italian Government has taken an unprecedented step with its agreement with Albania, according to which asylum seekers who are rescued in the Mediterranean Sea are brought to Albania, where they are detained during an Italian asylum procedure. This outsourcing agreement violates international law, but also primary and secondary EU law and it must be denounced, therefore, by the…