Speeches

Dear Chairman, I think it is time for the Commission to ask who benefits from its policy towards Russia. Russian revenues from fossil fuel exports to the European Union doubled in the two months of the war. We're talking about March and we're talking about April. Thus, Russia received a total of 62 billion euros in these two months, of which it received 44 billion euros from the European Union countries, compared to 12 billion euros a month before. And that will continue. All this money through government companies goes directly to the Russian government. It will take years and years to build some other infrastructure. For the humiliation to be greater, Russia is now asking, and more and more EU countries are agreeing, that these fuels be paid for in their own Russian currency, in Russian ruble. I think it is time for the Commission to examine whether this policy is counterproductive.

The world is far from economic equilibrium and equity. On the one hand, corporations led by investment funds such as Avantgard, BlackRock, State Street and others, and on the other hand, year after year, from crisis to crisis, the increasingly indebted state, indebted to the banks that own these funds again. In recent years, we have seen a large allocation of capital pouring towards the top. Corporations are climbing the capital mountain, and countries are climbing the debt mountain. With the help of algorithms and artificial intelligence, and aided by the enormous printing of money, the funds turned into monsters and even started buying private family houses. If these trends continue, in a few decades they will have nothing to buy. Democracy itself is also under threat. This Directive on ensuring a global minimum level of taxation for multinational groups is a weak attempt to strike this balance. I'm the first to tax the big ones. They have to return part of what they get because the system works on the basis of cooperation. Without you, Facebook has no value. It's time for change and dividends deserve all the subcontractors in this system, not just the BlackRock team and the like.

Dear Chair, let's say a few words about the rule of law in Croatia in 2021. End of 2021. With the Commission's permission, Croatia plunged one billion kuna into the restructuring of Brodosplit contrary to all the recommendations of the State Audit, which I reported to all institutions. The EU has no comment on this. In 2021, the Croatian Minister of Health paid HRK 11.2 million for the radiation device, while the Italian Minister paid HRK 5 million for the same device. It's been reported. The EU has no comments. In 2021, the Croatian Minister of Health paid a friend a failed page to get vaccinated, the kind of designers work for 6-7000 kuna, a million and a hundred thousand kuna. It's been reported. The EU has no comments. In 2021, former Agriculture Minister Tolušić was reported for two and a half million kunas he received from European funds for his winery. The EU has no comments. 2021. HDZ is a party in power in Croatia and has been convicted of crime by a final judgment. I can't count on my fingers how many times he restructured the government for the corruption of ministers and how many ministers were indicted for thieves. If the European Union were truly the centre of the rule of law, it would be the first to distance itself from this party, rather than rewarding them here with articles and functions in European committees, councils and commissions. The rule of law here is a dead letter on paper. Corruption is valued, and honesty is for fools.

Dear Chairman, instead of organic farming flourishing in Croatia, for example on the devastated Banovina, I have to paraphrase here the letter of the association Croatian karst pastures that best describes this. We are the only member state of the European Union that, orchestrated in the media, defamates its own farmers and food producers and to which the ministry refers without any understanding. All this is a reflection of the agricultural policy created by import lobbies in Croatia and who want to destroy any serious form of agricultural production, especially meat and milk, so that they can still sell us meat of questionable quality at dumped prices in shopping centers. It is no surprise that CBS announced to us a few days ago that last month we have the smallest milk production in history and that livestock production is facing extinction. It is no accident that agricultural land grows into weeds because the administration has not managed to solve the law in 30 years, which has been changed 29 times. We are the only member country that has not regulated the market, ensured the purchase of domestic products and protected domestic producers and taxed subsidies to farmers. And finally, it's no wonder that every other man suffers from cancer because of imported cheap food, but the most important thing is that food importers continue to make their abnormal profits year after year that they have nowhere else to go.

Dear Chairman, the state policy of isolation, instead of integration, prevents the inclusion of Roma in normal life. They are kept isolated in their communities, where they live a life that is unacceptable to most citizens. Roma settlements are often full of violence, garbage, abandoned animals. They are mostly uneducated and prone to excesses. Young girls are forced to marry very early. At the age of 15, they have more children because the state gives them benefits, and they do not have the opportunity to be educated. It is no secret that in Roma settlements, for example in Međimurje, weapons are hidden – from pistols to automatic rifles and explosive devices, and there have been police interventions. Children sometimes come to school with knives – there have also been such cases, and instead of giving Roma people the opportunity to work and contribute to society through employment programmes, they are given money and white technique. This technique is mostly resold, money is spent on addictive behavior, often on casinos, which makes children from a young age have poor upbringing, bad role models, and do not know for the better. Young Roma who have emerged from this vicious circle and employed, build houses and careers outside Roma settlements. Although most young people in Croatia will tell you that they want a different life and that they want to move out of Roma settlements, the policy of Croatian governments is still to keep them in their settlements, without much chance and conditions for a better life.

Dear Chairman, food problems arose long before the war in Ukraine by destroying the domestic production and agriculture of small countries with the help of their puppet governments, so that the rich countries could export their waste, surpluses and poor quality food that does not meet the standards for animal feed to the countries of the periphery of the continent. People suffer from food that you do not want to give to pets in developed countries. Croatia is at the very top for cancer, and this kind of food is one of the main reasons for this. I call on the citizens of Croatia, but also of all other countries, to reject such a policy, to reject such politicians, to look at their children and imagine the value of their lives and future. We still have a chance to save our agriculture, our grandparents, our homeland. We, as citizens of the periphery of Europe, are no one's test rabbits for poor quality products. We have our rights and I call on all citizens to fight together and create big ones from small countries because Croatia has all the predispositions to be successful and a self-sufficient country that has the capacity to feed 30 million people in its fertile fields instead of fearing whether we will stay hungry.

Mr President, transparency and public access to documents is at a low level in Europe. The Corona crisis, unfortunately, showed us that very clearly. It failed with regard to the purchase agreements for COVID vaccines. Why cannot we, as MEPs, have access to the purchase agreements? First, it was in a committee: we in the ENVI Committee had a chance to see the agreements but were not allowed to scan, copy, take a photo or tell anybody about it. This is ridiculous and was a humiliation of Members of the European Parliament. Then it was really published, but it was published in a redacted version, leaving everything important covered in black ink. At the end there were text messages between the CEO of Pfizer and the President of the Commission, and even the European Ombudsman had to take action on this. One could get the impression, from the media, that they are more in a friendly relationship than in a professional one. Instead of being a role model, the Commission is clearly mocking the citizens.

Dear President, we receive many accusations from Ukraine, including President Zelensky himself, that the West has left them stranded. For years Zelenskyy has listened to words of support and encouragement and promises to join NATO and the European Union. And now that it is under Russian attack, except for some weapons and equipment, the West does nothing because it does not want to risk World War III. Didn't the same happen with Georgia, years of promise of encouragement and support, but when the Russian intervention on Georgia itself took place, she was left alone. There are sanctions, of course. The West is ready to expel Russia from SWIFT, for which they have an alternative, sanction Russian cats, vodka, cancel the cross-border cooperation of national parks, sanction Tchaikovsky and Dostoyevsky, which has nothing to do with this war. But serious sanctions, oil, gas, nuclear fuel, the West is here very restrained and continues de facto to finance Russia. What I have to mention is the latest information that has appeared in both the US and Chinese media about several dozen biolaboratories in the territory of Ukraine that are under the direct control of the US Department of Defense. In the interest of citizens, I ask to clarify what is there, if there is something that has developed because we do not need a new Wuhan

Dear Chairman, I would like to share here with you a positive story from Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding the protection of human and constitutional rights of citizens. In addition to the fact that more than a year ago the Constitutional Court of BiH declared the obligation to wear masks and the restriction of movement unconstitutional, we also have new decisions. On 23 February this year, the Constitutional Court of BiH issued a decision according to the appeal of lawyer Ajanović declaring unconstitutional COVID certificates and unconstitutional declaring mandatory vaccination introduced by narrow segments of the executive branch. This was judged by the Grand Chamber of the Constitutional Court and three international judges. The court even criticised parliament for allowing the executive to allow violations of the rule of law and democracy in the country. According to the court's decision, those who fail to comply with this decision should be prosecuted under the penal code for a term of between half a year and five years. The Norwegian Code and Council of Europe Resolution 2361 were also adopted as an argument. The Constitutional Court has ordered that public authorities immediately act upon the decision and align their actions with the constitutional and European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights. Victory is this against segregation and discrimination and evidence of what people can do when they unite. I congratulate Bosnia and Herzegovina on this example of protection of human and constitutional rights from which the whole of Europe can learn.

Dear Chairman, thank you colleagues, when we talk about protecting workers from carcinogens, ethylene oxide should definitely be mentioned. Last year alone, the Ministry of Agriculture withdrew 80 products in Croatia for preventive reasons, for good standards of consumer protection and health, without it having been proven that he is doing harm. However, this standard does not apply in the case of test swabs. If you do the test once you probably won't have any problems. However, if you do this every day or every few days and now for years, what will be the consequences for workers who can't get to their workplace without a test or for children, we don't really know because there is no research. Ethylene oxide is registered with the European Chemicals Agency under number 75218 and is considered toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic. Therefore, why these precautionary standards are not used in this case as this chemical is used for sterilization in a large number of cases. I ask the agencies and governments: Aren't you worried about what's going on?

Dear Chairman, we must set the parameters properly, and the parameters are such that several large funds control a huge, if not all, part of the economy, especially the western one. Second, that one billionaire has more assets than billions of other people. We are talking about entities with unlimited resources that have increased even more in this crisis. There's been the biggest transfer of wealth. It is therefore logical and clear that this is an unlimited corruption potential. Politicians made unscientific and undemocratic decisions, the media spread censorship and fear, and eventually apologized. Science often makes miscalculations. How many prestigious universities have lost their prestige in this crisis. They are all harnessed in the carriages of marketing. Unfortunately, the executive was used to attack human rights, work, movement, expression, treatment and many others. I ask that the links between the Commission and pharmaceutical companies be thoroughly investigated, in particular by the Ombudsman. We have to sanction this kind of systemic corruption, otherwise it's only a matter of time before it takes over.

Dear Chair, we have a report on human rights and democracy in 2021 ahead of us. It is a year of unprecedented attacks on human rights and democracy. We could even say that there was a global war against democracy. We have seen restrictions on the right to work, movement and assembly, restrictions on the right to freedom of expression, unprecedented censorship of classical media and social networks, censorship of science, threats to the right to healthcare, care and treatment. Governments around the world have turned into dictatorships. All this with the blessing and encouragement of a team from the World Economic Forum, unelected who openly claim that sovereign states are surplus and obsolete and that a new era is coming to their measure and want to act as a world government. 2021 was also a year of unprecedented struggle for its rights and resistance to this undermining of democracy. The struggles of all of us who want to live in a democratic world, not a totalitarian one.

Dear Chairman, the attitude towards children and young people in Europe that we have seen and see due to the COVID crisis is terrible, as if we were looking at which country will do more harm to its youngest population through bad policies, as if it were some kind of competition. Unfortunately, the damage that has been done is immeasurable. Closing into houses and apartments, leaving school behind, massive losses of hours and materials in education, a campaign of fear and panic by the media and governments, the obligation to wear masks in schools, the conditioning of access passes to educational institutions themselves, are already announcing lasting psychological consequences. The suicide rate of this age group has increased. Vaccination is under pressure, although the chance of side effects is much higher than the risk of covid, which is almost undetectable for this population. Pharmacovigilance systems show a dramatic jump in myocarditis in children and young people as side effects of vaccination. All this took place almost without any justification in science or practice. Therefore, the post-pandemic and social recovery discussed will not be possible until those involved in this terror are held accountable.

–Dear Chair, lithium mines are planned in 20 locations in Serbia, and the key is the Jadra Valley, which has 18,000 inhabitants with prominent agriculture and confirms the sad neo-colonial reality of Europe and China. During Angela Merkel's recent visit to her EPP party colleague Vučić, he was a waiter and Serbia a buffet. Merkel says Europe is very interested in Serbian lithium. Why is Europe not interested in its lithium, since the largest reserves are in Germany and the Czech Republic? Because a neocolonial concept is followed where profit and what is to be done goes to the center and pollution goes to the periphery. Imagine if lithium had been found underneath the wine plantations around Bordeaux, would the French talk about displacing the people living there? If he had been found in Tuscany, if he had been found in the Rhine Valley, of course he wouldn't. It is not acceptable for the countries of the periphery, whether they are members of Europe or not, to be a dump site for someone to drive electric cars. Also, six new thermal power plants are planned for Serbia, while they are shutting down all over Europe. What is forbidden in Europe, when it comes to the environment and environment, cannot be allowed in Serbia and Bosnia or Albania, which also has lithium deposits, and which Merkel visited immediately after visiting Belgrade.

Madam President, when we approach medical products we always look at cost and benefit. I was personally present on 25 February this year in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) in Brussels when the CEOs of seven big pharmaceutical companies claimed that they have 95% effectiveness, and some even more. Nine months later, we can see that this is much less and shorter than in their self-made clinical trials, as highly vaccinated countries have a high number of positive cases, unfortunately. That is benefit, and when it comes to costs, there have been more side effects reported for COVID vaccines in one year than for all other vaccines combined in several decades. We have zero data on long-term effects. Instead of demanding accountability from those companies for manipulating data regarding their products of questionable quality, the Commission and the governments have decided to blame those who haven’t even taken the product for the product failure, attacking them with segregation, fear and guilt campaigns. And now, today, in November 2021, we have come from extremely effective to fourth and fifth doses in some countries. Even if you had an elixir of eternal youth, you cannot force it on anyone, let alone experimental products like this.

Dear Chairman, the story of the huge funds from European funds paid to farmers is constantly being published in the Croatian public, despite the fact that there is no serious production or its increase. In Croatia, unfortunately, as much as 70% of EU funds earmarked for agriculture and rural development did not go to agriculture and rural development, but went towards projects related to the public sector, which does not bring newly created value or the necessary jobs for the livelihood and survival of the population in rural areas. Huge resources have been used for non-productive purposes: arranging buildings, squares, offices or overpaying software. So we have a case two weeks ago when former Plenkovic government minister Gabrijela Žalac paid for software that cost realistically not even three million kuna as much as 13 million kuna. 100% of the funding for this was drawn from "Competitiveness and Cohesion", a technical support programme. She was arrested on the basis of a request from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Obviously, the main motive for the use of European funds in Croatia is the political survival of the current government, the purchase of the electorate and the collection of commission from the performers, which brings huge profits to individuals, as we can see. Obviously, there's still a lot of work to be done for the EPPO.

–Dear Chairman, I would like to address the peoples of the so-called Western Balkan countries who will decide in a referendum on their membership of the European Union. I want to tell them to do good cost benefit analysis. There is much to be learned from the example of Crohn's Day. Unfortunately, many have been misled that Europe will solve Croatia’s problems – it will not. It can only be solved by yourself. In your countries, unfortunately, the level of corruption is high, but Brussels will not do much to solve this problem. They will simply accept the political class as it is and will even, unfortunately, subsidize it. So we have an example in Croatia that the share of public sector subsidies in the recovery plan is as high as 70%. You can also expect an even larger part of the population to leave your countries. Unfortunately, you will not benefit much from the common market. You can expect much higher imports than exports. Western European corporations will, if not already, take over the most important economic sectors of your countries. Competitiveness towards the rest of the EU will be difficult to achieve and production volumes even more difficult. You will indeed receive money from the funds, but a significant part goes back to where it came from, to foreign suppliers, first of all infrastructure, equipment and services, because, my God, they meet European standards, and you do not. You have the right to a fair legal and public hearing and don't let anyone take it from you.

Dear Chair, today's debate is about the preparation of the European Council meeting, which will start soon, so it would be the turn to address the problems of fundamental rights and democracy in the Union and our citizens, not only outside the Union. I wanted to ask Mrs. von der Leyen if she might be a fan of the James Bond movie series. There's a distinctive name from the year 89, with Timothy Dalton, who reminded me of the situation we have in Europe today. What, unfortunately, we got with the COVID passport is a permit for infection, a permit for spread. Unfortunately, we have more and more examples from practice, and there is more and more scientific evidence showing that holders of COVID passports can infect other people. So I can go to meetings, to hospitals, to people. The COVID passport gives a false sense of security, which is a completely wrong approach. On the other hand, completely healthy people without passports are limited in their constitutional rights and leading a normal life. Enough of that segregation. So if the COVID passport isn't here for health reasons, then why is it here? Do international ratified documents, such as the Oviedo Convention on Biology and Medicine, mean nothing more about this house? The passport is illogical, unscientific, harmful and should be abolished.

Dear Chairman, colleague and colleague, today we have come to a critical conflict between the two ideas. One idea is Brussels, about the United States of Europe, and the other is the idea of individual member states of national sovereignty and, believe me, no one will step down. There has never been more conflict and discord in this house than it is today. Unfortunately, there is an increasing number of common policies, an increasing number of common positions are being adopted. On the other hand, Brussels is increasingly interfering in matters falling within the exclusive competence of the Member States. There are too many irreconcilable positions that have accumulated more and more over the years. Serious problems, real problems, started ten years ago, in the euro crisis, when a common monetary policy was introduced that pulled some Member States out of the crisis and pushed some into an even deeper crisis. Let us remember the announcement of the introduction of a common foreign policy by the President of the Commission, which is irreconcilable, due to too many different positions. Let's look at the Kosovo issue as well. And while some Member States already see Kosovo in this organisation, some do not even recognize it as existing. There are too many issues on which members diverge and if a critical point is reached, it will be the end of this organization.

Dear Chairman, over the past year in Europe we have had an unprecedented increase in debt, so the ratio of government debt to GDP increased from 77.5 at the end of 2019 to 97 at the end of 2020, while in the eurozone it increased from 83.9 to a whopping 98 percent. For both of these areas, this is the highest annual increase in debt recorded, but also since data were available. In turn, Member States' public debt exceeded EUR 12 000 billion, compared to only EUR 5 000 billion in 2000. In this last crisis, the EU broadcast for the first time a joint bond to save the European political project and drown many countries in debt. When interest rates start to rise again, which is inevitable, the most indebted countries will first find themselves in great trouble, the worst of which is the large Italian economy, which will not be able to service its old debts, let alone its shares in new joint bonds. Ten years ago, the euro crisis showed that countries outside the euro area are much more successful, and we can expect the same now.

Dear Chairman, the fundamental question that arises in social networks is the following: Are social networks a playground for corporations, individuals, owners, billionaires or are they a public good? As social networks have developed over the last 15 years and spread to all corners of the world where the Internet exists, they have at one point felt that they are powerful enough not only to monitor processes, like the media, but to engage in processes and create them themselves. Then it ceased to be just business, business and social networks, that is, social platforms became involved in political processes. They went into politics, as they would say. It's all politics now, that is, geopolitics because their influence is capillary and global. These corporations are richer than individual states, and the individuals behind them are richer than billions of people combined - and the end is not in sight. There was a cartel, an undemocratic Big Tech cartel. To make matters worse, the COVID crisis has strengthened this oligarchy. States must say: It's enough! Order should be introduced in social networks and their power and influence should be limited. Corporations must not eat freedom and democracy, censorship must be severely punished, they must not become the Ministry of Truth from Orwell's books. Different political views must be respected, to answer the question from the beginning: It must be a service to the public.

Mr President, unfortunately, Belarus is not the only place with endangered democracy. Listening to this debate today, many people in Europe will ask themselves: where are my freedoms? What about repression against us in Europe? What about repression against the people who just want to be free from the mandatory nature of digital COVID certificates – a useless document for prevention? Protests – we speak of protests in Belarus one year ago, but we cannot see the protests in our own capitals today. We speak of dictatorship, but where is democracy in our own countries? Is a bleeding person hit by the police in Minsk more important to us than a bleeding person in Berlin or Paris protests? We are blackmailing our citizens. Policies have been installed that have stolen their normal life. You cannot keep your job without the DCC; you cannot enter a public building without the DCC. There is even an idea rolling that the staff will not be permitted into this very building in the European Parliament without a DCC. If this continues, we can throw to the trash decades of work on declarations, resolutions and conventions that speak of rights and freedoms.

Mr President, problems with transparency and effectiveness, plus the fact that we have zero long—term safety data on the vaccines, are undermining the vaccination campaign. And quite rightly so! There are alternative solutions, and citizens and MEPs need to hear about them as well. A few days ago, a summit was held in the Italian Parliament, in the Italian Senate. What we saw in Rome was about 30 physicians and medical scientists from Europe and all around the world giving their testimonies on successful COVID treatments, especially early COVID treatments and COVID prevention. The solutions they presented are successful, simple and inexpensive. Some of the doctors have treated several thousands of patients, with only a few hospitalisations and zero deaths. Citizens of Europe and the world have the right to choose their own therapy, and no medical information should be denied from them. We must ensure that all therapies and protocols are available to everyone. There must be options in every pharmacy and every hospital. I hope that in the near future, these doctors will be giving their testimonies in front of this Parliament as well.

Dear Chair, when the COVID passport was voted, what was the explanation of the European Commission? It will only be an auxiliary means of movement, it will not be a condition. And what has this aid turned into? It turned into a means of blackmail and coercion. It turned into what all of us who voted against that passport and warned that it would turn into a means of segregation, so in Slovenia you can now not go to a hospital or shopping center without a passport. In Italy, it is now said that it will not be possible to work in both the public and private sectors without this passport. I'd better not talk about France. What else is a means of segregation? It's a mask. For healthy people, it is useless and harmful. In Croatia in Krapinske Toplice elementary school student Nikola Gaćina who does not want to wear a mask because it interferes with his normal functioning in school cannot, therefore, listen to classes. A self-serving director from the ruling party does not allow him to enter the school building at all, and he has also hired security guards. The child has the right to education. His constitutional rights are violated. This is all about blackmail and coercion, and only civil resistance can put an end to this, because the more you let the blackmailer down, the worse he gets.

Dear Chairman, we have been discussing human rights in Bangladesh, Iran or Hong Kong all morning. Rightly so. However, Europe regrets that its opinion is not respected, and that there is no progress already after a number of resolutions. We would respect that opinion more if we were to mention it first in our own backyard. We don't need to look for totalitarian ideas in Bangladesh, unfortunately we have them here in Europe. The Croatian government is threatening workers and employers. Crisis covid support will, unfortunately, make vaccination conditional. First, with failed measures they devastated the economy, and now HDZ headquarters would carry out discrimination and segregation in Croatia, and the government threatens the livelihood of its own citizens. Despite all international documents such as the Nuremberg Code, the 2021 Council of Europe Resolution 2361 states that no one shall exert political social or other pressure and that no discrimination between vaccinated and unvaccinated persons shall be practised. Do international documents mean anything to you? What will Europe do about it? What will the Council of Europe do about it? As we call for a solution to the problems that stifle the freedom of rights and thought of those who are not on the side of the authorities in Bangladesh or Iran, so we should start in Europe.