What Bert-Jan spoke about.

9 Jul

2025

NL Speech

Urgent need to protect religious minorities in Syria following the recent terrorist attack on Mar Elias Church in Damascus

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Christians in Syria are frightened, very frightened. This also applies to other populations, such as the Alawites and the Druze. Al-Julani, who nowadays is called al-Sharaa, may now wear neat suits and be received as a hero by many Western leaders, that does not make Syria a country where it is good for minorities. The horrific attack on the Mar Elias church…

18 Jun

2025

NL Speech

Upcoming NATO summit on 24-26 June 2025 (debate)

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Mr President, we have seen so much naivety in Europe in recent decades! After the Cold War, many believed that the threat at Europe's borders would be definitively over. Member states neglected their defence and slowly but surely fell asleep, until Europe was abruptly awakened by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. All of a sudden, NATO, as the cornerstone of our security policy, was once again in th…

17 Jun

2025

NL Speech

Situation in the Middle East (joint debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, last week's warning from the International Atomic Energy Agency was crystal clear: Iran, which wants to wipe Israel off the map, could have a nuclear bomb ready within weeks. And that despite all the sanctions and diplomacy of recent years. And yes, then Israel comes to a point where military precision attacks become inevitable. As Israel had to respond to the m…

17 Jun

2025

NL Speech

European Ocean Pact (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, how can we keep our oceans healthy and restore degraded marine ecosystems such as those in the Baltic Sea? A comprehensive, integrated approach is needed, in which all users of the sea take their responsibility. That is what the Ocean Pact is all about, and I think that is an appealing approach. However, I would like to mention a number of points of attention. First of …

21 May

2025

NL Answer

The EU's response to the Israeli government's plan to seize the Gaza Strip, ensuring effective humanitarian support and the liberation of hostages (debate)

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Do you know when innocent blood was shed in the Gaza area? This happened on October 7. Very massive. Do you know what responsibility Israel has? Israel has a responsibility to protect its own people. Do you know what Israel is doing now? Israel is in a fight with terrorists. And yes, I know that very bad things are happening in Gaza and that women and children are also involved. But Israel's commi…

21 May

2025

NL Speech

The EU's response to the Israeli government's plan to seize the Gaza Strip, ensuring effective humanitarian support and the liberation of hostages (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, every war is terrible. The same is true of Gaza. Yet I would like to ask anyone who is now resisting Israel's offensive: What is your alternative? Keeping Hamas in the saddle and giving it a free hand to continue terrorizing both its own people and Israel? Because that is the consequence if Israel has to stop. The only way to get Hamas out, I fear, is to move in…

8 May

2025

NL Speech

80 years after the end of World War II - freedom, democracy and security as the heritage of Europe (debate)

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President. Eighty years of freedom. It can give us a sense of triumph. Such as: We are doing our best, we are no longer fighting, we are in Europe, at least we are working together. We now know how risky such an attitude is. It led to naivety. Many thought: Investing in defense? Oh, you don't have to anymore. That's a thing of the past. We are now working on a necessary catch-up, but it will be ve…

6 May

2025

NL Speech

Discharge 2023 (joint debate)

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Mr President, in this discharge procedure we are once again confronted with major shortcomings. Among other things, we see an adverse opinion by the European Court of Auditors on the legality and regularity of expenditure. We see a historically high level of error in cohesion funds and generous support for the Palestinian Authority despite payments to terrorists and Jew-hatred in the textbooks. Th…

5 May

2025

NL Speech

Preparation of the EU-UK summit (debate)

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3 Apr

2025

NL Speech

110th anniversary of the Armenian genocide

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Mr President, the suffering caused to the Armenians by the Ottoman Empire is indescribable. As the European Parliament, we have repeatedly called on Turkey to face the historical facts. And also today, at this commemoration, we call on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide. During my visit to Yerevan a few years ago, I saw that the pain of the genocide is still felt intensely. In the meantime,…

1 Apr

2025

NL Speech

Targeted attacks against Christians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – defending religious freedom and security (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the conflict in eastern Congo has several dimensions: various rebel groups that are active, struggle for the raw materials. But today, with our resolution, we in the European Parliament are also emphatically highlighting the fact that the conflict certainly also has a religious dimension. And we are talking in particular about the jihadist group ADF, which sows …

1 Apr

2025

NL Speech

Dramatic situation in Gaza and the need for an immediate return to the full implementation of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, they were finally there: Protests in Gaza against the Hamas regime. But unfortunately, it was only a small minority. The vast majority of Palestinians still stand squarely behind Hamas. Therefore, if we want to work towards a lasting peace in the region, we will have to focus not only on a ceasefire and the release of the hostages, but certainly also on deradica…

31 Mar

2025

NL Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

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Mr President, the first ever EU-Central Asia Summit will take place this week. Leaders from Europe, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan discuss many topics. However, the Council's press announcement lacked one very important topic, namely the massive violations of human rights in these countries. Of course, that is not possible, because anyone who has been introduced a …

13 Mar

2025

NL Speech

A Vision for Agriculture and Food (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, make agriculture attractive again for future generations. That's the mission you're putting down here. A mission that I wholeheartedly support. Because if you see that indeed only 12% of farmers are under 40 years of age, then it is immediately clear that there is a very big challenge here. We are not going to solve that with some marginal changes in the common agricult…

11 Mar

2025

NL Speech

Deteriorating situation in Gaza following the non-extension of the ceasefire (debate)

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Mr President, in the discussion on Gaza I hear very often that the situation is completely hopeless. And that's what it feels like. Yet the building blocks for the approach to get out of this misery are perfectly clear, namely immediate release of all hostages and firm security guarantees, so that October 7 can never repeat itself. Once these conditions are met, a great deal will be possible again…

10 Mar

2025

NL Speech

Cutting red tape and simplifying business in the EU: the first Omnibus proposals (debate)

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President. In the discussion on CSRD and CSDDD, the ECR has always said: keep it practicable and protect SMEs. That's what this Omnibus is all about. We therefore see this as a necessary correction to failed policies, with regulatory burdens taking on exorbitant proportions. But there are also quite a few questions to be asked about these proposals. For example, how does the Commission intend to c…

12 Feb

2025

NL Speech

Continuing detention and risk of the death penalty for individuals in Nigeria charged with blasphemy, notably the case of Yahaya Sharif-Aminu

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, saying something ugly about God or about someone who is holy to someone else is of course not good. But how blasphemy is dealt with in countries such as Nigeria and Afghanistan is of course not possible either. Just by singing a song you can end up on death row in Nigeria. Just by an accusation of blasphemy, when there was no question of that at al…

12 Feb

2025

NL Speech

Commission Work Programme 2025 (debate)

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Mr President, the Commission's work programme rightly emphasises the need to strengthen competitiveness. The question, however, is whether we will make it with the package that is now before us. I'm afraid not. Indeed, the Commission ignores the essence of the problem: The Green Deal. The Green Deal is costing the business community enormously. Moreover, the current timeline is not achievable, cer…

22 Jan

2025

NL Speech

EU financing through the LIFE programme of entities lobbying EU institutions and the need for transparency (debate)

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Mr President, we do not want to be lobbied with European money. What happened to the LIFE programme is unacceptable. However, I am broadening the discussion. The Commission cannot just subsidise every NGO. Article 183 of the Financial Regulation makes this clear: subjects for which there is no European policy and over which the EU has no control are not eligible for funding. Think of marriage and …

20 Jan

2025

NL Speech

Ceasefire in Gaza - the urgent need to release the hostages, to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to pave the way for a two-state solution (debate)

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Mr President, hope and fear: Those are the two words that come to mind when I look at the "deal." We see in the relatives of the hostages new hope that they too will soon be able to embrace their loved ones again. We see in the people of Gaza new hope that the bombings will stop and that they can start thinking about reconstruction. But in the meantime, the concerns remain great. And also the fear…

18 Dec

2024

NL Speech

Continued repression of civil society and independent media in Azerbaijan and the cases of Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu, Anar Mammadli, Kamran Mammadli, Rufat Safarov and Meydan TV

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Mr President, all eyes were recently on the UN climate conference in Baku. Some saw this as a good opportunity to encourage Azerbaijan to improve respect for human rights. But unfortunately, the opposite happened. Baku used the conference mainly as a distraction to arrest dissidents. And these arrests go on and on: Human rights activists, journalists. They disappear behind bars one by one. Speakin…

18 Dec

2024

NL Speech

Challenges facing EU farmers and agricultural workers: improving working conditions, including their mental well-being (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today we are discussing the challenges facing European farmers and, in particular, we are highlighting the fact that many farmers are suffering from very serious mental complaints. Why is that and what can we do about it? A recent survey among farmers in my country pointed to tight regulation as the main cause. Followed by an uncertain future persp…

17 Dec

2024

NL Speech

Toppling of the Syrian regime, its geopolitical implications and the humanitarian situation in the region (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, what a hopeful future we have for the troubled people of Syria. However, the big question is: Will the new rulers take care of that? The rebels of HTS promise to protect the rights of minorities, but at the same time they also want to introduce Sharia. All very contradictory and difficult to reconcile. After all, Sharia law usually has little mercy for dissenter…

27 Nov

2024

NL Speech

Presentation by the President-elect of the Commission of the College of Commissioners and its programme (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the whole process of appointing the new Commission certainly does not deserve a beauty prize. The whole process has been dominated by partisan considerations, while we have to judge the new Commissioners primarily on their abilities. We saw that very clearly in the hearing with Mr Várhelyi. He showed that he knew his files very well, but because he did not expli…

26 Nov

2024

NL Speech

Continued escalation in the Middle East: the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank, UNRWA’s essential role in the region, the need to release all hostages and the recent ICC arrest warrants (debate)

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