Speeches

The report we are looking at is extremely important when it comes to the EU's economic recovery and resilience, but this report is not just about that. I recall that I am the author of an opinion of the Committee on Culture and Education, in which I tried to contribute to a more holistic approach to intellectual property rights. As an artist with many years of experience, I am well aware of the problems that people in the sector face on a daily basis and intellectual property law continues to be one of the most serious unresolved issues in Europe. Unfortunately, in the report, culture is present in only two places. It is noted that artists have been severely affected by the COVID-19 crisis and paragraph 38 regrets that illegal content is being streamed on the internet. The added value of intellectual law for the European economy cannot be underestimated. We must make it clear that the vast majority of workers in the cultural and creative sector somehow own intellectual property rights or similar. I believe that the report thus presented did not pay sufficient attention to them, did not identify weaknesses, did not recognise the needs of artists and cultural workers. Something that is unacceptable to me as a member of the artist's guild.

Madam President, I know what this initiative will bring and what will happen in these capitals. This has already been done in Bulgaria, the name of the Assembly is ‘Banner of Peace’. They gathered there from all over the world. It's for brainwashing purposes. So I know these totalitarian practices because I'm not very small. What worries me is that children have to make decisions. Already made by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the result is two million killed, many of which are children's decisions. This is not because children are bad, it is because they are very emotional and do not yet have a value system in place, and it is built in the family. And what does it mean to educate children as European citizens? They are first citizens of their own countries, then European citizens, inhabitants of the Earth and inhabitants of the solar system. In the end, the capital of the children will be another pointless waste of money, especially at the expense of the states.

on behalf of the ECR Group. - Mr President, I would just like to put one sentence in the beginning: the job of journalists is not to control governments, but to inform citizens. We are constantly talking about independent journalism. I can tell you that there are no fully independent journalists, and there have never been. Each media has its own editorial policy and if the journalist does not agree with it, my advice is to move to another media. Perhaps a completely independent journalist would be some billionaire for whom journalism is just a hobby, but I'm not sure if he would be objective. The real added value of this proposal for a regulation is the requirement of media transparency. This is the only way for citizens to be well informed and decide for themselves who to trust. Journalists should work with facts, not with their interpretation. If we know who owns every media outlet and who receives state money, we can very easily understand when and why the facts are distorted, as happens very often.

Member of the Commission. - Mr President, I would very much like to know, fellow Members, why you are using enlargement policy today as a tool to push unwanted and ill-considered ideas about Europe. The European Union was not created to serve French foreign policy. If we had to follow Macron and his unreasonable ideas, we would have long been at war with Russia. It's not just unreasonable. This is called severe cognitive insufficiency. Unanimity voting is a key guarantor of equality for Member States. By asking you to abolish it, as well as introducing a ‘two-speed Europe’, you have simply revealed what you want, namely to divide Europe into important and second-hand countries. This is the way to the European Soviet Union, as my colleague Dzhambazki said, where orders are issued from one headquarters and all the others only follow. We have lived in a similar mode and we have no intention of doing it again.

on behalf of the ALDE Group. - Mr President, I voted categorically against this agreement. I have never seen a more obvious attempt to recreate George Orwell’s 1984. How is it possible that, after two years of negotiations between the Council and Parliament, the end result exposes our citizens to such an open threat of leaks, surveillance and control? We still cannot protect our data. Health data is leaking from both Bulgaria and France. Hackers breached the Pentagon's defenses. How effective was their protection? And you want the entire European Union to store information electronically. I can tell you why. This allows you to track and stop those who criticize you. You seem to be inspired by China. In my opinion, it will not be long before travel restrictions or bank account closures are imposed. The truth is that we have long lived in the world of Orwell, and this act simply makes it official and open.

Mr President, when I hear the phrase 'climate targets', I am convinced that some people in the European Union think that they are the masters of the planet, when in fact we are only part of biodiversity. We can't control the weather. Cataclysms have always occurred periodically, and they are not the result of human activity. Are we to blame for hurricanes, tsunamis or volcanic eruptions? We can't stop them, we can only adapt and somehow survive. This has been the case throughout human history. You don't think the ice age was caused by our ancestors lighting fires and producing carbon dioxide, do you? We cannot solve the problems of the whole world. It is obvious that European citizens are tired of someone working against their interests. You have seen what happened in Brussels, you have seen what happened in Paris, if you continue with such irresponsible actions as climate goals, a wave of discontent will flood the whole of Europe. I guarantee you, in the end, we'll disappear like the dinosaurs did?

Madam President, I also voted categorically against this resolution, because it is an attempt to carry out a coup in a sovereign country with the help of European money. Hungarian citizens have the right to access these funds, as do the French, for example. By blocking them for political reasons, you blackmail them and tell them ‘do what we like, not what you want’. Blocking Erasmus+, for example – because I am in the Committee on Culture and a Vice-Chair – mostly affects young people and tries to change their mindset. This is an absolute interference in the democratic process. You cannot punish Hungarians for having elected a government quite legally and with an overwhelming majority. If any other country, such as the United States or Russia, engages in such interference, you will call them ‘imperialists’. However, when doing so, the Commission uses a completely different language as ‘shared values and democracy’. Do you remember, as my colleague Dzhambazki said, another union called the Soviet Union? Then the orders came from Moscow, now you want them to come from Brussels. The Soviet Union.

Madam President, I strongly voted against this request to extend the list of crimes committed at EU level to hate speech and hate crime. The very idea of this report is, in my opinion, unnatural. What we are talking about cannot qualify as hate speech only if it is directed at certain minorities or protected groups of people. This is not equality. I personally do not have any pretensions, I can safely hate or love anyone, regardless of their gender, ethnicity or other affiliation. Most people I hate are actually heterosexual. If I want to criticise Ursula von der Leyen, Macron, Borrell, Charles Michel and so on, although I am not sure of their sexual orientation, I must still have that right. This is not hate speech. Otherwise, we're just talking about censorship. There is no definition of hate speech. I don't incite anyone to kill anyone. I'm expressing my own opinion.

Madam President, I would like you not to wonder why our farmers are protesting all over Europe. This approach by the European Union has ruined European livestock farming. You have imposed extremely strict rules and standards on our manufacturers, which have raised costs enormously. In this case, it is not fair, perhaps, to protect low-quality imports from abroad. From Uruguay comes cheap meat, stuffed with all sorts of junk, I do not even call them substances. Why wasn't that prevented? He has interests that protect him. I am addressing some parliamentary groups and wondering which countries and political groups in this parliament benefit from such subversion of our production? This is not an isolated case, and why has no one stopped the import of lamb from New Zealand, the first question, and who controls it? Why is the so-called Macedonian lamb, which is actually imported from Albania, not controlled at all and has absolutely no quality control? It is unacceptable to crush livestock farmers in the European Union in this way. If we continue like this, I promise you that strikes will be the least of your problems because riots are coming.

Madam President, this is an attempt to criminalise the personal opinion of people who disagree with the Bolshevik ideology of the government. Here specific identities are protected and any attempt to criticize them is defined as hatred and fascism. Because it's much easier to throw your opponents in jail. Why is hate speech only when it is directed at minorities or homosexuals? Is there no hatred directed at heterosexuals or Christianity? This issue is not important for 90% of people in the European Union. They, like me, are interested in whether someone is honorable, honest, merciful and compassionate. Political bias, sexual orientation, or possible ethnicity are all too personal. That is why this demand does not represent the people, but the politicians. The European Community needs justice, not the privilege of minority groups.

Mr President, I find this debate extremely ironic, because this crisis was created by the so-called Green Deal and the attempts to destroy the European economy. The problem will not be solved by building new social housing. Cheap housing is available in the countryside as much as you want, but young people don't want to go there simply because they don't have any perspective. Young people don't want to be farmers. We have done everything possible to depopulate entire areas of Europe. The problem is also social. The traditional Christian family has been in ruins for years. It gave some opportunity for protection, for a home and for some perspective. Young people, as you can see, no longer marry young, they marry much older, simply because they can not support their family. This is a crisis of spirit and a crisis of our entire society. We know very well that the European Union will focus only on migrants and the socially disadvantaged, who for the most part are also second- and third-generation migrants who have never worked in their lives. This will again show that young European citizens are not really a priority of the European Union at all.

Madam President, we are living in the age of information, but in fact we are also living in a time of lack of awareness. This text, thank God, is a big step in the right direction and covers serious gaps in health systems. Here it is important to build on the measures already in place to exchange information on rare diseases, which I particularly want to talk about. We will be able to collect and make available real-world health data for research and innovation, and this will greatly help rare diseases that are too poorly studied. It's just that there's no database, it's about 36 million people. However, the creation of such a space has dragged on for too, too long. Tens of thousands of people are dying in Europe during cumbersome administrative procedures. I'm not saying you're killing them, you're just letting them die because of your bureaucracy, which is absolutely insane and unnatural. I am talking about the Commission and the Council. We are representatives of European citizens and we have a duty to protect their right to life. I think my colleagues won't want to be burdened with thousands of dead people just because of your irresponsibility.

Madam President, I voted for this resolution because I support all the measures that protect bees and all other pollinators. There has been much talk in recent days about food security in Europe. I don't know if you understand that without bees there will be no food. No matter what pesticides you throw and in what quantities on the harvest, there will be no food. Pollinators, and bees in particular, must be protected at all costs. I do not think that the current measures are sufficient. Who guarantees that new pesticides called biopesticides do not harm bees and pollinators? This should be a major criterion as important as the effect on humans, because such samples are made. This is an extremely important lesson for the European Union and for the Member States, and you have to understand that bee health is just as important as human health, and they have to stop smuggling pesticides into France, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, which are absolutely banned, and these channels exist, as are illegal migrant channels, because that is where the headquarters are.

Madam President, Academician Denkov, Mrs Gabriel, Commissioner, I was thinking about talking about culture and education, but as things are going, I am going to talk about Schengen, I am Vice-Chair of the Committee on Culture and Education. I just want to say to the people who think that Bulgaria should not enter Schengen that all illegal migrant channels are financed by the following countries if they do not know it: Austria, the Netherlands, France and Germany. These are not Bulgarian channels for the transportation of migrants. The other thing I want to say to my colleague from the Greens is that when they beat and kill Bulgarians they are forbidden to define themselves, do not tell me that Dzhambazki uses the language of hatred. Find out what is happening in Macedonia. And now on to the issue of education, which interests me immensely. Unfortunately, in Bulgaria the budget for culture is 0.4% and that for education is 4.1%. To me, this seems extremely small. Here, some time ago, we voted in our committee for the minimum budget for culture to be 2%. So if we go at this rate, Bulgaria will reach it in about 150 years. I suppose you have some kind of action plan, because I think culture and education are extremely important and should be a must-have priority.

,. – Mr President, we live in a time when we are in an extremely polluted information environment, let alone infected. We live in a time when the information environment is worse than Covid. I think one of the problems is the extremely low level of journalism worldwide. There are numerous examples of this. And very often after the publication of some information, the media neither apologizes for their fake news nor for their disinformation. They just keep working. This is extremely unacceptable in the context of a military conflict. The effect of this type of disinformation is much more frightening and such activity cannot be tolerated. I believe that spreading disinformation and propaganda is a crime that is for the criminal code of each of the Member States, because it is a form of terrorism that instills fear, panic and horror. (only...quattro secondi...) I just want to give you a quote from the famous journalist Oriana Fallaci – amazing, who has my point of view ...and the truth. We must strive for the truth.

Madam President, many MEPs say that we need even more and stricter measures against Russia. They clearly do not see that, after all the measures and sanctions, Russia continues the war, and it is the citizens of the European Union who are the most harmed. The truth is that foreign policy is one of the components that has led the European Union to a severe economic crisis. If peace was so important to the EU, not only between Ukraine and Russia, but also between Palestine and Israel, they should have made more efforts to prevent the war, and not, after its outbreak, to say that we should stand united and support each other. The first and most important priority of the European Union must be our citizens. No assistance to third parties should harm them. And if, after all these wasted funds, peace treaties between Russia and Ukraine continue to be in Erdogan's hands, this will prove once again the lack of EU foreign policy. We look like a snotty orphan that no one pays attention to anymore.

Madam President, I will try to be very specific. Personally, I don't see any problems in legal logging. People need wood. However, I see a huge problem in the utopian enthusiasm of the Greens, because they do not take into account the opinion of experts. Where species are cut, the same species of trees must be restored. I am strongly opposed to the change of the species fund. You cannot plant trees that, as they say in Bulgarian, drink water in place of trees that retain water. These are basic forestry principles for me. Unlike most colleagues here, I have personally worked in landscaping and planted thousands of trees, and yet I am aware of the basic practices. I am glad that the Greens have great enthusiasm, but we really need to work with experts. Otherwise, this Komsomol enthusiasm will lead to an eco-catastrophe. A sustainable solution to the problem could be the inclusion of children up to the age of 18 as an initiative of Member States to plant trees. I did it as a child, I planted a lot of trees. Unfortunately, such practices are not encouraged. If this practice takes place, you can be sure that there will be millions of new trees planted per year in the Member States. I want to stress that this campaign must be permanent and sustainable, and not sporadic, as the Greens always suggest, to plant a tree one day a year. As far as hydropower is concerned, I will be extremely brief. They destroy entire ecosystems when placed in places that are not suitable. Just because they're eco-friendly doesn't make them useful.

Madam President, when we talk about investment, it is key to see what we are offering. So at the moment in the European Union we propose the following: the most expensive labor force, the highest taxes, the highest price of energy, the heaviest bureaucracy with monstrous green restrictions and, of course, we offer an absolute shortage of raw materials. That's a pretty tempting offer for any investor, I guess. In practice, however, what we can really offer is an extremely rich cultural heritage that will very soon be buried by used batteries and solar panels that cannot be recycled. That's what we're proposing right now. This is the result of the Green Deal and the European Union is no longer competitive. There has to be some return on investment. In my opinion, only a madman would invest in the European Union. We have to have a sense of proportion and have common sense while it's time. We still have very little time.

Member of the Commission. - Mr President, I also voted strongly. My colleague Dzhambazki said a lot of the things that I wanted to say, and I am categorically against this resolution, because this thing is absolute hypocrisy and some kind of total ideology of Bolshevism, according to my understanding. Thousands of people, hundreds of thousands unfortunately, are killed every year for all sorts of reasons. Why do you never talk, as my colleague Dzhambazki said, about the gypsies who rob and kill pensioners in Bulgaria? Isn't that motivated by hate? And the other thing I want to tell you is that the victims of a certain sexual orientation don't mean that it's just hatred of some people. Some guy did it, that's what he thinks. In the same way, workers are killed, astronauts are also killed. Shouldn't we make some kind of resolution for the cosmonauts, too? You do understand that this unequal representation of things is absurd, don't you? All men are equal before God and the law.

Member of the Commission. - Madam President, I will be very blunt. I find the European Union's approach to the Western Balkans absolutely illogical, confused and directly malicious for the European Union. Contrary to the proclaimed intentions, there is absolute chaos in the Western Balkans at the moment, because there is no consistent application of the imposed requirements. It's like you're doing this on purpose, like someone wants a war. I don't want to remind you that wars usually start in the Balkans. Is that what you want to challenge? A state that persecutes the Bulgarians in North Macedonia cannot be allowed to enter the negotiation phase, and how exactly will you justify this terror that has been imposed there? I turn to the Greens especially, who like North Macedonia very much, for some reason. Names are being destroyed, history is changing and my country is being stolen. Macedonia has no history until the year 46, until the year 46 and has never had one. If you want to create problems...

Mr President, to my regret, I am increasingly convinced that the European Union aims to create a society of uneducated and low-cultural people who can easily succumb to manipulation and lies. Otherwise, I cannot explain the fact that the Commission is proposing a budget for Creative Europe and Erasmus+, which is 20% less in the next two years than in the previous two years. Culture and education have suffered the hardest, I say for sure, and continue to recover slowly and hard after the Covid pandemic. The artists and performers were left without any sustenance, the students lost more than a year in distance learning. There is no pandemic now, but there is inflation and an energy crisis, problems for which the Commission is precisely responsible, in my opinion. At this point, we must ensure that the most vulnerable sectors are saved. As usual, however, money for culture and education is always cut first. Despite attempts to correct this absurd and derogatory approach, the money for 2023 is already ridiculous. Once again, European politicians explained ..... (President takes the speaker's floor)

Mr President, in your approach to maintaining a high level of preparedness and responsiveness, there is something totally wrong, and this is obvious to anyone who does not consider every issue from the perspective of some new kind of European Soviet Union. You call it a federation. Undoubtedly, there is a need for a quick reaction. The answer, however, is not to centralise everything in the hands of the European Commission. That's my opinion. I have extremely grave concerns that this creates incredible potential for corruption in such a system. Politicians who are not elected by absolutely no one can make decisions for the whole of Europe. We've already seen what happened to Covid-19. Some people are already talking about this. It is logical that decisions of this type are taken at expert level, with the participation of all 27 countries. It is logical for the medical guilds themselves to appoint these experts to make a Advice and to be nominated by themselves. That makes perfect sense to me. Sorry, but it is not sensible to rely on the Commission, which "would guarantee" all activities. Sorry, the Soviet Union has already passed, let's go to some other level. It seems like too much control at best.

Madam President, I will try to be as short as possible. The fact that Bulgaria and Romania have not yet been admitted to Schengen can only be determined in a single way. This is a shame and a disgrace to the European Union and its double standards. I will probably repeat what my colleagues said. How many times should our technical readiness and political will be confirmed? More than ten years ago, we proved that we met absolutely all the criteria – both Bulgaria and Romania. And since then, all the arguments used to block the two countries have only been political. The truth is simple but difficult to swallow – the principles of solidarity and equality are in fact an absolute illusion and do not exist in the European Union. This is an extremely big problem and our two countries are immediately forgotten. I don't know what principle. Instead of equality, we get disrespect, and instead of solidarity, we get ignored as if we didn't exist. It is as if our citizens are marginal and second-hand people. Don't be fooled, the more you show disdain for our citizens, I can tell you that the more you will push them away from the European Union. What do you want – to create an internal conflict? Is this the goal of the European Union? Instead of unity, there should be conflict between different peoples. It is time to end this discrimination and join Bulgaria and Romania in Schengen. And to my colleague from Germany, I can say that all the corridors that go to Europe with illegal immigrants are German.

Member of the Commission. - Mr President, this report seemed to me to make some sense at first. In the final text, however, a very strange part began to appear in which everything is related to the rule of law and this is another attempt to crush countries that do not think exactly the way the Commission thinks. However, remember that we are a Union of Sovereign States. So the term "rule of law" has already become a kind of punishment for states, and this does not seem very democratic to me. I'm not just talking about Poland and Hungary, we've already mentioned Bulgaria here. I think we should apply it to Ireland, where I think there is incredible corruption, but at a high level. Or as they say in Bulgaria, the fish stinks from the head. There may be corruption in Bulgaria, but it is at a very, very low level. Maybe that's why we're famous for this thing. And, by the way, we must also pay attention to our Parliament, where we have huge problems with people who deal with fraud and corruption.

Member of the Commission. - Mr President, I therefore think that this project is generally not bad, especially in its original version, because there have been some changes that I personally am very concerned about. Whatever is done with airplane fuels, the green colleagues on the right, I would call them the Taliban, continue to blame the aviation sector for the deforestation of South America, of Asia. For them, nothing is ever enough, and they will probably make us wave our hands instead of flying. I understand that it is good for biofuels and hydrogen to become part of sustainable aviation fuels, but the sanctions are simply beyond normal human reason. Let there be a little more reason, enough with this green utopia, which will only lead to ecological catastrophes and huge, severe social upheavals.