What Tineke spoke about.

22

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 23-24 June 2022, including the meeting with Western Balkan leaders on 23 June - Candidate status of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia (debate)

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, the Russian aggression has increased the urgency to pull our neighbouring countries closer to us, to protect them against destructive influence and help them in building democratic and free countries. And the candidate status amplifies our cooperation, if combined with active support. We applaud this step towards Ukraine and Moldova but, at the same time, we need r…

8

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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The Commission's proposal for "Attracting skills and talent to the EU", particularly the Talent Partnerships with North African countries (topical debate)

Mr President, dear Commissioner, I would like to congratulate you on a positive partnership agreement reached with three partner countries to regulate labour migration. It shows that it is possible to develop equal partnerships that are mutually beneficial, which are often, to be honest, really missing. Most of the times we see that the EU is using negative incentives ‘less for less’ to force thir…

7

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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The rule of law and the potential approval of the Polish national Recovery Plan (RRF) (debate)

Madam President, Court of Justice ruling on the retirement ages of judges: not implemented. Court of Justice ruling on a disciplinary chamber: not implemented. Court of Justice ruling on a disciplinary regime for judges: not implemented. Court of Justice ruling on the independence of judges: not implemented. European Court of Human Rights judgment on the right to a fair trial: not implemented. Pre…

18

May

2022

EN Speech

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2021 Report on North Macedonia (debate)

Mr President, the people of North Macedonia are being let down. They are waiting now for over ten years for the accession talks to start, while having fulfilled the conditions. Until now, the citizens supported brave pro—EU leaders. But times are changing due to the EU’s failure and in a few years’ time, the trust of Macedonian citizens in the EU has decreased to less than 15%. This must be a wake…

18

May

2022

EN Speech

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Commission’s 2021 Rule of Law Report (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, Council, the annual rule of law report is vital to preventing and combating rule of law violations, but only if it is followed by concrete actions. That was the right conclusion of the rapporteur. The Polish Government has crossed all the lines. Judges and journalists are muzzled. Citizens cannot exercise their rights. But the Commission and Council failed to act and…

6

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Violations of right to seek asylum and non-refoulement in the EU Member States (debate)

Madam President, the united solidarity with refugees from Ukraine is impressive. It reassures us that the European values and the right to protection do have a meaning in the European Union, but these principles leave no room for double standards. People fleeing a war, persecution or inhuman treatment all fall under the same protection regime. The situation people are fleeing from determines their…

5

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Situation in Afghanistan, in particular the situation of women’s rights (debate)

Madam Chair, all eyes are on the Russian aggression, and rightly so. But let us not make the mistake we make so often of jumping from crisis to crisis and forgetting about the rest of the world. Just last summer, our anger and frustration were targeted at the Taliban takeover, which has turned Afghan lives into absolute hell. The Taliban is showing its real face as a brutal oppressor and a jailer …

8

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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The situation in Bosnia Herzegovina (debate)

Mr President, Europe’s response to the Russian aggression was almost united – almost. While the rest of Europe was discussing sanctions, Bosnian Serb leader Dodik talked with the Russian ambassador and with Minister Lavrov. This continuous flirting with Putin reconfirms his disinterest in democracy, international order and European security. Yet the brutal invasion in Ukraine shows the need to mor…

8

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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The deterioration of the situation of refugees as a consequence of the Russian aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, at our borders, Putin is putting the lives of millions of people at risk. His brutal invasion targets the citizens of Ukraine violating international humanitarian law, and people are desperately seeking protection. It is unprecedented how quickly the number of refugees keeps growing, and the EU’s response is unprecedented as well, with the activation of the Temporary Protection Di…

15

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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The proposed Council decision on provisional emergency measures for the external border with Belarus based on article 78(3) TFEU (continuation of debate)

Madam President, since Lukashenko started to abuse migrants in its conflict with the EU, the EU itself has been framing migration and asylum only as a security threat. This narrow view comes at the cost of fundamental rights, of complying with EU asylum rules, and now also with democracy. This summer, the Polish and Lithuanian governments changed their laws to allow border guards to push people ba…

15

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 16-17 December 2021 - The EU's response to the global resurgence of Covid-19 and the new emerging Covid variants (debate)

Mr President, while the tension at Ukraine’s border is, for very good reasons, on the agenda tomorrow, there’s another crisis with the potential to destabilise our neighbourhood, but we appear to be asleep. For months now, the Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, has been violating the Dayton Agreement and the constitutional order of Bosnia. Last Friday, he took the latest concrete step towards sec…

14

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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Cooperation on the fight against organised crime in the Western Balkans (continuation of debate)

Mr President, the Western Balkan countries must be able to rely on the EU as a partner, and in this case a partner in combating crime. If the judicial system is not resilient enough, organised crime affects all parts of society, including the state itself. This is also why we should be much tougher if it comes to corruption. Our EU agencies like CEPOL, GRECO and OLAF should give all possible suppo…

24

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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Fundamental rights and the rule of law in Slovenia, in particular the delayed nomination of EPPO prosecutors (debate)

Mr President, Council, Commissioner, the rule of law crisis in Poland and Hungary have taught us to better monitor and intervene at a much earlier stage of regression, and our assessment of Slovenia is therefore timely. The rule of law functions, but it is under threat. It is unacceptable that the threats directly come from President Janša and his ruling party. The personal attacks and lawsuits ag…

23

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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Situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina (debate)

Madam President, 26 years ago the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed ending a bloody and deadly war in Bosnia Herzegovina. It installed strong international oversight until the country develops into a fully functional and accountable democracy. And with many others, I regret that we still need this oversight. The country is in a political deadlock caused by corrupt ethno nationalistic politicians. …

23

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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Situation in Belarus and at its border with the EU and the security and humanitarian consequences (debate)

Mr President, the illegal power that Lukashenko uses affects all of us: the Belarusian citizens suffering oppression, the EU, and specifically Lithuania and Poland, under attack, the migrants and refugees whose human dignity and fundamental rights are severely violated. It is a relief that EU and national diplomatic efforts have led to a reduction of the number of flights to Minsk. The repatriatio…

10

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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The escalating humanitarian crisis on the EU-Belarusian border, in particular in Poland (debate)

Madam President, every day Mr Lukashenko proves that he should not be in power: he has lost the elections, he brutally oppresses the legitimate winners and he violates their human rights on a large scale. And now he targets the EU by misleading and abusing innocent migrants. Two weeks ago, I visited Russia and the Lithuanian border to assess the alarming situation at the border. As you know, ten p…

21

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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The outcome of the Western Balkans summit (debate)

Mr President, it is awful to conclude, but we must admit that the EU Member States are not committed to the Western Balkan region. Their permissive conclusions of the summit last week made that again painfully clear. The refusal to keep their promise towards countries making progress towards the EU accession criteria has a devastating impact. It hurts their economy, young people leave, Russia, Chi…

20

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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Pushbacks at the EU's external border (debate)

Madam President, I must confess it’s with deep concern and also despair that I contribute to this debate. Yesterday, in an intense debate on the rule of law, a vast majority in the Parliament demanded clear action against the destruction of the rule of law in Poland. And that makes me wonder: does the rule of law stop at our borders? For years now, we know that thousands of people have been pushed…

19

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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The Rule of law crisis in Poland and the primacy of EU law (debate)

Mr President, with its decision to deny supremacy of EU law, the Polish government is not only undermining the EU, but also its own country. The treaties are here to safeguard equality of the Member States but, of course, also the equal rights of all EU citizens. President von der Leyen, you expected to solve the rule of law crisis with dialogue and, well, after two years, we must conclude that th…

5

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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Implementation report on the EU Trust Funds and the Facility for Refugees in Turkey (continuation of debate)

Madam President, I would like to congratulate all the rapporteurs. This report can really help to ensure that future funding goes hand in hand with accountability and human rights compliance. For that, we need democratic oversight and to make sure that funding is used for the right purposes, for instance, with development policy money. We also see a high risk that funding border and migration mana…

5

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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The situation in Belarus after one year of protests and their violent repression (debate)

Mr President, one year after the fraudulent presidential elections, the situation in Belarus politically, and human rights situation has only further deteriorated. As my colleague already pointed out, the EU must step up its support of the Belarusian society, and make our sanctions and measures more effective. But in the meantime, Lukashenko has looked for a strategy to silence or punish the EU an…

14

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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Instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA III) 2021–2027 (debate)

Mr President, we welcome the IPA III Regulation, as already said by my colleague Mr Waitz, to support and incentivise the accession process. But we must be honest: the accession process is in a very challenging situation in many countries and sometimes even in a deadlock. In North Macedonia we saw due to external actors, and in some other countries, think of Bosnia Herzegovina, we really see that …

14

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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Situation in Afghanistan (debate)

Madam President, High Representative, as the dust settles from the rapid Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and the departure of the Western presence over summer, we should seize this moment to reflect, to learn from this debacle because we need to create a more strong and effective foreign policy to protect and strengthen human rights. But we also must urgently act now because it is heart breaking t…

7

Jul

2021

EN Speech

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State of play of the implementation of the EU Digital COVID Certificate regulations (debate)

Mr President, summer holidays are knocking at our door and many EU citizens long to travel again. So in the coming weeks the ambition of a common COVID—19 certificate will be put to the test. Will the certificate be easily accessible? Will there be discrimination? And will the Member States apply the same rules? This does not seem to be the reality for now. We hear about additional restrictions an…

7

Jul

2021

EN Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 24-25 June 2021 (debate)

Madam President, I’m very happy with all the criticism over the Hungarian developments, which are very concerning. But the EU Council also decided to consolidate the EU Turkey statement with new funding. And only the previous part-session, Parliament adopted the resolution with clear demands on migration deals. We must ensure human rights compliance, which requires impact assessments and independe…