Speeches

Mr President, the brutal attack on a church in South-West Nigeria has shocked the world. Unfortunately, this attack is not on its own. Christians in Nigeria have been subjected to attacks, kidnappings and terror by radical Islamist groups for decades. And in the meantime, the Nigerian government is just letting it happen. There is little or no criminal prosecution. Meanwhile, the international community is watching patiently. And meanwhile, the European Commission is also coming up with vague, covert statements on an evening like this. The Commission has been working for two and a half years on the question of whether a special envoy for religious freedom should actually be appointed. Mrs von der Leyen promised me in writing at the end of last year that this special envoy would be appointed, but that has still not happened. My question to the Commissioner is: Will you be silent again tonight? You have heard the calls from many colleagues, and where is the EU Envoy for Freedom of Religion? I want an answer from you tonight. Thank you very much.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let us say: You don't drink alcohol or you study religious writings, or you turn off your phone regularly. As a Uyghur in Xinjiang, you quickly get the label unreliably affixed, with all the consequences that entails. You will be taken to a "reliable place" - read: concentration camp - sent to be re-educated under the surveillance of heavily armed police. The leaked police documents showcase the chilling reality of systematic repression that millions of Uyghurs live in. And they also show that this is happening under the watchful and consenting eye of the highest political leadership in Beijing. President Xi called for the issue not to be politicized, in his conversation with UN Commissioner Bachelet during her recent disappointing visit to the region. However, the mounting evidence of China's misdeeds in Xinjiang requires a strong response from the European side, including individual and economic sanctions against all individuals and institutions complicit in these gross crimes. Thank you very much.

I think it's our expensive duty to protect all children. Especially children we are worried about. I think we should also invest a lot more in actually offering help to women and girls who are unwanted pregnant. Because I realize very well that women and girls end up in difficult situations, but we do not help them by offering them an abortion. We help them by standing shoulder to shoulder and helping them. Even in the most difficult phase of their lives. Thank you very much.

Mr President, your predecessor in the chair called this a lively debate. I must honestly say that I experience this as a sad debate. I hear a lot about women's rights, but I hear almost nothing about the vulnerable unborn life. Even a spokesperson for the EPP called abortion a human right. The Commission also called abortion a human right. The Council did that too. How can we say that? Because no matter how you turn it around, abortion is about ending life. A little man with a beating heart. That life is ending. Isn't it upside down to call it a human right? Mr President, I have one specific question for the Commission. We all know that in countries where there is prenatal screening, hardly any children are born with Down syndrome. My question is: How do you look at that? Thank you very much. (The speaker accepted a "blue card" response)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the proposal on a right of initiative for the European Parliament is yet another attempt to make the EU a superstate, arguing that this Parliament is the only directly elected EU institution. And the latter may be the case, but the ministers in the Council are all subject to democratic control, namely that of their own national parliament. So the question is not: “Are you for or against strengthening democracy?” The question is: “How do we divide power in Europe?” If you are in favour of a superstate, you are centralising as much power as possible and therefore also the right of initiative here in the European Parliament. However, if you are in favour of a Europe of cooperating Member States, you are investing in democratic governance through the Council and national parliaments. And I choose the latter with conviction. It's not about power, it's about the question: “How can we best serve society?”

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in order for the CO2 reduction plans to succeed, three points are needed: - fair distribution among Member States; - flexibility in the implementation so that countries can opt for the most cost-effective approach; and - realistic objectives. Unfortunately, the plans for the ESR and LULUCF do not meet any of these preconditions: - The Netherlands has to reduce 48%, while a country like Latvia only has to do 17%. Such differences, Commissioner, cannot be explained to the public. The flexibility mechanisms proposed were not unkind, but are now being severely curtailed by the Committee on the Environment. And the goals are and remain overambitious. That Parliament is going so far in this regard for the carbon farming I think it would be very unwise to introduce an additional 50 megaton reduction obligation. To carbon farming To give a good chance, you have to stay away from additional obligations, but you have to bet on a good reward. Agriculture deserves better, especially in these times of global concerns about food shortages.

Mr President, Commissioner, the fact that we have agreed within the OECD on a global minimum rate of taxation for multinationals is a good thing. After all, this is an important point for us to make in order to combat tax avoidance. What concerns me, however, is the generous conferral of delegated powers on the Commission in the report as it stands. In this way, we give the Commission a lot of leeway in the field of taxation and a very broad mandate, and we undermine the position of the Member States, while taxation is and must remain a real competence of the Member States. I also regret that no impact assessment has been carried out. In this way, it is not clear how the proposal will work out in practice. It is important that we stay as close as possible to the global agreements in order to truly create a level playing field. Only then can we really combat tax avoidance.

Mr President, Commissioner, at the time of the death of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, first of all our thoughts go to the relatives. What a shock. What a sadness to lose such a loved one. The biggest mistake we can make today is to draw premature conclusions. Yes, we saw images and explanations, but the actual facts must be clear from further investigation. The same goes for the funeral confrontations. The obvious outcome would be a joint investigation by Israeli and Palestinian authorities, possibly involving foreign experts. How strange that Palestinian authorities reject such an investigation and have already drawn their conclusions. Israel has recently been hit by a wave of attacks. The fact that Israel is looking for suspects is understandable. Images of the confrontation show a switch of shots between the Israeli army and armed Palestinians in an unclear urban area. The risks for innocent bystanders are high in this area. This is without prejudice to the fact that the killing of journalists in the course of their work should be strongly condemned by anyone. But leave the answer to the question of guilt to an independent investigation and not to emotions or bias.

Mr President, the obscure Chinese trade in organs is of serious concern to us. There are reports of systematic organ harvesting, which mainly affects Falun Gong supporters and prisoners. The lack of openness in organ transplants does not improve the situation. However, this issue is not an isolated one: Concerns about the human rights situation in the People’s Republic of China are accumulating. How many times have we spoken out about the Uyghurs and Hong Kong, and about the increasing pressure on Christians and other religious minorities? What is the EU going to do about this in concrete terms? Do we only mention this to the Chinese government in the margins at summits or do we dare to expand the European sanctions package against China? As far as I'm concerned, we'll do the latter. This is not only in the interest of our credibility, but above all in that of our oppressed Chinese fellow man.

Mr President, I would like to draw attention to the Palestinian textbooks in the European Commission's discharge report. Once again, European taxpayers' money has been spent on textbooks full of anti-Semitism, full of calls for hatred and violence. This problem has been going on for years. Parliament has been criticising this expenditure for years. However, the problem is not getting any less. A recent study shows that the content even worsens. The EU can and should no longer tolerate this. My call is therefore: Freeze funds until Palestinian textbooks meet international standards of peace and tolerance. I would ask you to support the paragraph on this in the discharge report. We cannot fight antisemitism within the EU and at the same time subsidise antisemitism outside the European Union. That is unacceptable.

Mr President, this report on religious minorities and the persecution they face is a good thing. However, I agree with the concerns raised by Peter van Dalen about the fact that Christians are not or hardly mentioned in the report and that a lot of information has been amended. I think this is a very bad thing. What I find particularly inexplicable and indigestible, however, is that the report criticises believers for their stance on abortion. This subject is not only outside the scope of the report, but also outside the competences of the European Union. Every life is worthy of protection, especially the unborn life. We should not criticize believers, but praise them for caring for life.

Mr President, Simone Schmiedtbauer's report has become an excellent and very balanced report. What particularly appeals to me in this report is the question-orientation. I am strongly convinced that percentages and targets imposed from above are counterproductive and lead to market distortions and price falls, which do not serve anyone, and certainly not the organic farmer. That is why we do well not to embrace the 25% rate proposed by the Commission. In addition, let us not forget that conventional agriculture can also be particularly sustainable if we provide good tools, a good regulatory framework and good new varieties and make sufficient plant protection products available to farmers so that they can intervene. A top-down approach to organic farming does not work. Our approach must be demand-oriented.

Mr President, public health must of course take precedence in setting limit values for pollution in recycled products. However, we must consider whether this is possible from the point of view of sorting. Mr Vondra's amendments therefore deserve our full support. I welcome the inclusion of PFAS in the annex, but I nevertheless believe that more action is needed in this area. This is because discharges into surface water cannot be prevented. I would like to draw particular attention to the Scheldt and the Western Scheldt. The permits would have been tightened in Flanders, but who guarantees that everything is in order now? I would therefore like to ask the Commission to work towards a total ban on PFAS, as advocated by several countries, and to ensure that supervision and enforcement in the Member States are carried out properly. We must leave the time of toxic discharges behind us definitively.

Mr President, Commissioner, the people of North Korea have been suffering from a brutal dictatorship for decades. They are supposed to worship the Kims as gods. Don't they? If they entrust themselves to the God of the Bible, as Christians do, they disappear behind bars, or worse, they are killed, as happened recently with dozens of Christians gathered in the deepest secret. Today, with our resolution, we in the European Parliament are showing: Brothers and sisters in North Korea, we have not forgotten you, even though your country is blocking any serious human rights diplomacy. We call on North Korea to respect the freedom of religion enshrined in its constitution. We say to the Council: impose additional sanctions against the perpetrators. We call on China and other neighbouring countries to: Please don't send people back to North Korea until the situation improves. That is, after all, life-threatening. People who are persecuted because of their faith should be able to count on us. Also in North Korea.

President, High Representative, last week’s EU-China summit reminded me of the previous summit in 2020. Then Merkel and Macron thought they could conclude an investment agreement just as quickly. The summit symbolised the EU’s ambivalent attitude towards China: Beautiful words about human rights, but in the end the wallet is more important. The tone last week was emphatically different, but I still saw ambivalence again. Yes, you talked about Ukraine, and rightly so. But you also decided to set up a working group on the strengthening of trade relations and on the recognition of each other's protected geographical indications. I really do not understand that, because there is no prospect of restoring democracy in Hong Kong, restoring religious freedom for Christians in China, restoring the freedom of the million Uyghurs in concentration camps, while China still has sanctions against MEPs. If China continues to trample on human rights, there should be no strengthened economic relations. That has to be clear.

Mr President, Commissioner, Brexit has not made life easy for the EU fishermen concerned. Quotas have been reduced. Trading them has become more difficult. Additional requirements for fishing gear and unilateral closure of areas were encountered. What will happen after 2026? That is also very uncertain. Of course, we should try to resolve bottlenecks as much as possible in the spirit of good neighbourly relations. But if the British continue to stack obstacles on obstacles, we should not shy away from taking countermeasures either. Meanwhile, it is very frustrating to see that several Member States have not even started disbursing the funds from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve. Especially given the high fuel prices, this is a very uncomfortable situation. I therefore call on the Member States concerned and the Commission to speed up the disbursement of these funds. We will not reverse Brexit, but let us do everything in our power to keep the situation workable for our fishermen and to compensate for the damage as much as possible and as soon as possible.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Armenia has a very rich history. It was the first country in the world to proclaim Christianity as a national religion in the fourth century AD. Many thousands of locations, including in Nagorno-Karabakh, remind us of this. Due to the long-running conflict with Azerbaijan, this cultural and religious heritage is now under enormous threat. Many monuments have been damaged or destroyed. Armenian traces are obliterated by ‘albanisation’ of cultural heritage. It is an outright attempt at forgery of history! With our joint resolution, we make a clear statement today: 1) the EU should strongly address Azerbaijan on the systematic destruction of cultural heritage; 2) an independent fact-finding mission is needed to assess the damage on the spot; 3) in our neighbourhood relations with Azerbaijan, the topic should be given a very prominent place. The destruction of the cultural and religious heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh must stop!

Mr President, Commissioner, the war in Ukraine is attracting almost all attention, and we would almost forget that terrible things are happening elsewhere in the world. Like in Myanmar, where a coup d'état took place more than a year ago that violently crushed the still fragile democracy. The sad balance after one year: more than 7 000 targeted attacks on civilians by the military; nearly 1 500 people died, including women and children; hundreds of thousands of people fleeing in their own country; Dozens of documented reports of attacks on churches and other religious institutions; religious leaders have been murdered or arrested; the military is blocking access to humanitarian aid; There is a shortage of everything... Fortunately, the Council launched a new round of sanctions earlier this year. I encourage the Council to continue with this and, together with the international community, to increase pressure on the military junta to stop the violence and stop blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid. The Government of National Unity, as a legitimate representative of the democratic aspirations of the people of Myanmar, must also be involved in an inclusive political dialogue and in seeking a peaceful solution to the crisis. The people of Myanmar must also be able to count on us!

Mr President, Prime Minister, Mr High Representative, the war in Ukraine has hit us hard. War in Europe? That was a thing of the past. Investing in defense? All this was no longer necessary, found many parties. Now we know better. We have to change course, that much is clear. No, not by creating a new European chain of command, let alone forming a European army, but by cooperating and coordinating militarily between Member States. We already have an excellent partnership for our defence. This is NATO. Let us cherish that and, above all, invest in it. It is above all up to the Member States to assume their responsibilities. There's got to be money. It even needs a lot of money! Germany has finally woken up with its €100 billion recovery operation. But us? Where's the rest? We do not have the NATO standard of 2% of GDP for nothing. Russia is a major threat to world peace. We have to arm ourselves against that.

Mr President, High Representative Borrell, on 28 October I received the following letter: “In particular, do not worry, Mr Ruissen. The reappointment of the Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion has my full attention. Yours sincerely, Ursula von der Leyen’ We are now four months away and the post is still vacant after almost two and a half years. Mr. Borrell, when will this promise finally be fulfilled? The Commission does not have to do it for me. I can go to church every Sunday. No one gets in my way. Do it for the Christian Mayflower congregation that has fled China, but is now in danger of being sent back by South Korea. Do it for Christians in India, who are constantly facing attacks by Hindu extremists. Do it for Christians in Pakistan, who are imprisoned in death cells under blasphemy laws. I am not asking the Commission to make new promises. After all, the promise is black and white. I'm sure I'll leave you a copy of this letter, Mr. Borrell. All I ask is that previous promises be kept and that the timetable be clarified.

Mr President, the forthcoming EU-Africa summit offers very good opportunities to give fresh impetus to cooperation with Africa, and that is desperately needed. Geopolitics, to counterbalance China, which increasingly sees Africa as a wingewest, but also because it is simply our moral duty to also contribute to the fight against hunger and poverty in the world. The agricultural sector in particular, I think, can play a very important role in this. With our knowledge and expertise, we can support the African farmer in a very targeted way, with the setting up of local cooperatives, for example, or the improvement of cultivation methods. And let us not underestimate the importance of private initiatives. Meanwhile, many African diplomats are increasingly concerned about much else, namely the passages on sexual and reproductive rights in the draft partnership agreement with the ACP countries. It is feared that the EU will force them to legalise abortion in this way. That can't be the intention, can it? Mr. High Representative, can you reassure us on that point?

Mr President, in the Bible, the most read book in the world, you sometimes come across very surprising regulations about animal welfare. For example, a farmer in Israel was not allowed to muzzle an ox during threshing, so that the animal could also eat a bite occasionally while working. The task of taking good care of our animals is therefore of all times, but each time has its own challenges. What is important now is to ensure a level playing field. So let's stop importing products that don't meet our animal welfare standards. But let's also ensure a fair price. This is, I think, an important responsibility for retail and also for the consumer. And, last but not least, let's continue to work with the industry on new concepts, without resorting to unworkable rules. My compliments to Mr Decerle on his balanced report. Maybe we should read the Bible more often. Even about animal welfare there are really beautiful things in it.

Mr President, let me be crystal clear today. Giving room for abortion is undoubtedly one of the greatest mistakes of our time and I would therefore like to make an urgent appeal to the French Presidency to withdraw and withdraw its plans to include abortion in the Charter as soon as possible. Research shows that 31 percent of women regret having an abortion, with an increased risk of suicide, mental problems, as well as miscarriages at a subsequent pregnancy. Also, in principle, allowing abortion is an error. Every human being is worthy of protection, every human being. It is also stated in our own Charter: every human. That certainly also applies to the small, vulnerable person with a beating heart in the mother's womb. It is also a human life. Meanwhile, in a country like Denmark, with ample abortion legislation, almost no children with Down syndrome are born anymore. Is that what we want to achieve in the EU? This is how we get into a Downless society rightly. I think it's a chilling thought. Mr President, it is high time to face the serious consequences of the growing abortion practices in Europe. Yes, unwanted pregnant women and girls can sometimes feel very powerless. Let's stand by them, but not by referring them to an abortion clinic, but by offering them real help and taking care of both the mother and the child.

Mr President, for the fourth time during this mandate, we are here to discuss the situation in Hong Kong, and that is not without reason. What was once one of the most free and democratic regions in Asia has now become defenceless prey in the obsessive claws of the Chinese Communist Party. As more and more independent media and NGOs are silenced, the free provision of news is increasingly at risk. Mr President, where is this going to end? Will the national security law soon also be abused to restrict freedom of religion, as is already the case in mainland China? Four religious organizations in Hong Kong have already closed their doors. Mr President, urgent action is needed, together with like-minded countries in and outside the region. Europe must also provide a safe haven for Hong Kongers whose freedom is under serious threat. Council and Commission, what are you going to do in concrete terms?

Mr President, Commissioner, lack of everything. This is perhaps the best description of the distressing situation of many Cubans today, with only one way out of their despair: peaceful protest – a protest that was then violently crushed by President Díaz-Canel, calling on his supporters to counter-protest and fight for the revolution. It's the pinnacle of a system that has blaming others as the only script to hide its own failure, as one Cuban Christian aptly described it. Speaking of Christians, religious freedom is not self-evident in Cuba either. Unregistered churches are especially difficult. The registration process is often arbitrary and discriminatory, which seems to encourage an increase in house churches, with all the consequences for their members. New construction of churches is also a tricky point, also with registered churches. I therefore call on the European External Action Service to raise the issue of religious freedom more strongly in its contacts with the Cuban authorities.