What Ivan Vilibor spoke about.

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Written Statements HR

The need for unwavering EU support for Ukraine, after two years of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

I am against any aid to Ukraine, except humanitarian aid. I welcome the decision of the Croatian Parliament to refuse to train Ukrainian soldiers in Croatia. The war in Ukraine is lost and no amount of money, weapons or equipment can change that. Maybe it can make the war a little longer. All the money in vain if there's no one to hold a gun. The Ukrainian army is in very poor condition, people are forcibly recruited from the street with very little training, the average age of soldiers has passed 40 years, and women's uniforms are ordered. What we are looking at is nothing more than a massacre of the Ukrainian people, with the West sending them into a battle in which they have no chance. The recent (re-)visit of Victoria Nuland to Kiev shows who rules Ukraine - the same ones who organized and financed the Euromaidan coup. The Ukrainian people need to get rid of such colonial governors and the toxic influence of American neocons, negotiate a truce with Russia and start peace talks, otherwise they are threatened with disappearance - until the last Ukrainian. The sooner this happens, the less dead there will be and the less territory Ukraine will eventually have to cede to its neighbours. The lives of Ukrainians mean nothing to the neo-conservatives, just like the lives of Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians, Afghans or anyone else. Their policies cause 90 percent of the world's evil.

24

Apr

2024

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The sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive - Anti-Money Laundering Regulation - Establishing the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (joint debate - Anti-money laundering)

Dear Chairman, the largest money launderer in Southeast Europe is called the Croatian Democratic Union. According to estimates, approximately EUR 50 billion were stolen, washed away, mostly during the wars in the former Yugoslavia. The criminal elites cooperated well, while the poor were beating and losing everything. Operations were backed by intelligence services, protected by politicians, carried out by the mafia. It is an entire criminal network, a criminal transition system, and only a small part of it, former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, was prosecuted, but no one sat either to the left or to the right of it. The money came from the war chaos of the former Yugoslavia as stolen, it was deposited in European banks and then you returned it to us as washed away. The affair of the Austrian Hypo Bank is well known. Hypo Bank was replaced by the Russian Sberbank, which is headquartered in the European Union in Austria, in Vienna and which took over its customers. Following the invasion in 2022. Plenković quickly nationalizes the Croatian Sberbank and hides traces. Austrian, German, and even Russian banks and their affiliates laundered that money for our thieves. And many are wondering why the Union does not help us process these people and corruption. I think the answer is self-imposed.

24

Apr

2024

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Iran’s unprecedented attack against Israel, the need for de-escalation and an EU response (debate)

Dear Chairman, (beginning of speech outside the microphone range) ... Europe's response to this attack is expected to be biased and corrupt. Foreign Affairs Commissioner Borrell here completely ignores the previous Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in downtown Damascus, where about a dozen people were killed. In recent years, there have been thousands of various Israeli airstrikes on Syria, a sovereign country. Since when can diplomatic missions be bombed? This, of course, can only be done by Israel and Netanyahu, who declare themselves to be some sort of chosen people even though the vast majority of today's ethnos has nothing to do with biblical times. The Netanyahu government behaves arrogantly and escalates the war to provoke Western military intervention and save its regime. A recent report by the UN found that 700,000 Israelis had illegally settled in what was then Palestinian land. He is also saddened by any condemnation of the recent U.S. veto at the United Nations that prevented the recognition of Palestine.

23

Apr

2024

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Effective coordination of economic policies and multilateral budgetary surveillance - Speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure – amending Regulation - Requirements for budgetary frameworks of the Member States – amending Directive (joint debate – Economic governance)

Dear Chairman, the economic governance of the Union can be described in three words: Arrogant self-destruction and hypocrisy. Despite the colonial mentality, Europe is no longer the center of the world, and the whole West is then a global minority in relation to the world. Sanctions are meaningless. Luxury cars are still going to Russia via Kazakhstan, Russian oil is coming to Europe via India, and terminals of Spain and Belgium are openly receiving Russian gas. And because of the mediator, it's getting more expensive, so we have, well, the deindustrialization of Europe. Let's take a look at the estimates of your IMF. Europe is the most promising region in the world. Cutting CO2 emissions in Europe is sought, while at the same time Asian countries have no intention of doing so. It allows the rampage of investment funds like BlackRock, which eat democracy and weak citizens. In the United States, they are now the largest owners of houses and apartments. We don't really know who's behind them. Artificial intelligence like the Aladin system, the Khazarian mafia, some individuals - we don't know, and they control assets larger than many member states. Pesticides in the Union are prohibited, but it is not a problem when the same product, with the same pesticides under the FTA, is imported. If Europe does not return to the citizens, nations, peoples and good solutions that tradition gives us, we can only go into an even greater economic mess.

13

Mar

2024

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Cohesion policy 2014-2020 – implementation and outcomes in the Member States (debate)

Dear Chairman, Commissar Ferreira, the Croatian National Audit Office has recently confirmed the thesis I have been repeating for years. Namely, Croatian waste management centres are a financial, technological and environmental disaster, and all these projects have been duly verified by the European Commission and JASPERS and financed from these cohesion funds. That is why we do not have to be surprised that it is precisely the Croatian record holder who reports to the EPPO. Citizens are seeking justice here if they cannot already get it in Croatia. Everything works according to the principle of the yacht. If you give a very poor man a very expensive yacht, he can't bring it to the sea, he can't pay the captain, he can't pay for the berth, he can't pay for one reservoir of fuel to use it. So we get projects that are illegal, contrary to spatial plans, that are large, that have the wrong technology and Croatian citizens are bitter about it. It destroys the budgets of their communities and destroys their municipalities and cities. I invite you, come to Croatia, see Croatian water purifiers, from Kaštijuna and Marišćina and nine others that they want to make on the same principle. Take a look at our conglomerate, the waste management system. Is it the role of cohesion funds to make infrastructure or to earn, therefore, the policy of a related company by inflating prices? For much less money can be done much more and better in Croatia.

13

Mar

2024

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Financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (recast) (debate)

The European Union has almost no money of its own, but everything comes from donations from the Member States. This was the case at least until the development of own resources for the 2021-2027 financial envelope began. Borrowing 750 billion euros through eurobonds for Next Generation EU are not EU funds, on the contrary they are anti-EU funds because it is the repayment of this huge debt that will jeopardize what we know as EU funds, which you acknowledge in numerous documents. What the Commission wants is to introduce the possibility of issuing eurobonds on a permanent basis, although it does not have the right to do so under the Maastricht Agreement, which prohibits it. This would give the Commission even more power vis-à-vis citizens and weaken its position vis-à-vis banks. In other words, banks would control this organization even more. Why Economics Are Destroying lockdown, sanctions on Russia and lack of energy, taking over Ukraine's debts? In order to incur an unprecedented debt to European citizens. And how? It is with the help of more eurobonds, according to which these 750 billion will look like a trifle. So does the Bank Commission work, do they want to get the whole organization into the jaws of banks and debt slavery? Who's going to pay for it? With the introduction of a plastic tax, EU citizens are expected to introduce a tax on financial transactions and carbon, and who knows what else. We will be obliged as national states if these plans are fulfilled.

13

Mar

2024

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European Semester for economic policy coordination 2024 – European Semester for economic policy coordination: employment and social priorities for 2024 (joint debate – European Semester)

The economic semester means the coordination of the economic policies of the member states. When will these policies be harmonized, when will poorer member states reach the standard of wealthy member states? Never, ever, while pursuing such economic policies. A good example is my crown. So, why is there such a structure in the European institutions that people from the West and the old member countries are dominantly employed? Have Croatians conquered European markets or have European goods flooded the Croatian market? Have European companies bought everything in Croatia or are Croatian companies in Europe? How many Croatian companies do you have doing acquisitions in Europe? What did we buy? Who takes whose workers, Croatia's European or Europe's Croatian workers? For every adult citizen who leaves the country, Croatia loses between 50 000 and 150 000 euros, depending on whether it is a qualified or highly qualified worker, and one demographer even proposed paying compensation for such appropriation. Is this organisation, the Union, a development organisation or is it used to exploit the big ones at the expense of the small ones? Compared to the Croatian annual budget, net EU funds are actually small money. Either all member states will develop fairly and equally, or the Union will fall under the weight of the growing unhappiness we see in the streets.

28

Feb

2024

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Financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2023 (A9-0031/2024 - David Cormand)

Dear Chairman, I voted against this report for incompetence and probably corruption. If you go to jaspers.eib.org, there you will see that this body, which is an infrastructure project advisory, was launched by the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and this European Investment Bank, whose report is here. They provide support, but actually make a whole range of mistakes. They bless projects that are too big, too expensive, illegal, contrary to spatial plans, that destroy the environment with equipment that does not work. There is no need to go further than Croatian waste management centres, Croatian agglomerations and wastewater treatment plants, although I have listed many other projects from the periphery of Europe here. What exactly is the purpose of this bank and this JASPERS? Is it to solve municipal infrastructure problems or to earn contractors, equipment manufacturers and political structures that have enabled them to do these jobs? Either bring the right experts into that JASPERS to verify the right functional projects, or let them break the whole story down and let us work on our own.

28

Feb

2024

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Implementation of the common security and defence policy – annual report 2023 (A9-0403/2023 - Sven Mikser)

Dear Chairman, security and defence policy is based on fantasies, not reality, which is why I voted against, among other things. Instead of focusing on peace, it focuses on war. It rests on the same fantasies as those that sanctions will break the Russian economy. President Macron has called a meeting at the Elysee Palace and is demanding that our NATO armies be sent to Ukraine. It's out of your mind. Who will fight for Ukraine from Europe if so many Ukrainians do not want to fight, but flee to either Europe or Russia? The armies of Europe are in disarray, unable to fill their queues and annual recruitment quotas. There is no equipment, no weapons, and so much has actually been sent to Ukraine or already destroyed. There is neither ammunition nor enough production capacity, but most importantly, there is no will. According to research, 72% of Americans, 82% of Germans, 71% of French, 73% of British - such a percentage would not fight for their country in the event of war. What kind of defense policy are we talking about if we don't have the people or the means or the will? In order to fight or die, man must have some intangible values such as freedom, religion, community, nation or justice. No economic community or corrupt politicians are killed.

27

Feb

2024

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Multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027 (A9-0051/2024 - Jan Olbrycht, Margarida Marques)

Dear Chairman, I voted against this report. Why? Because what I warned was going to happen. In paragraph 10, I quote: ‘The financing costs borne by the Union budget, resulting from borrowing, of the European Union Recovery Instrument Next Generation EU are therefore expected to exceed the estimates initially programmed’. Namely, the Croatian prime minister and government and many others across Europe, when Next Generation EU was introduced, bragged that it was some kind of extra money from the funds. No, ladies and gentlemen, it's a debt and we are now in a situation where we can no longer service that debt. That is why we have worked here to change the budget and there will have to be a reallocation of what is otherwise in the funds. So classic funds are one track Next Generation EU is another track, it's long and he is now threatening to eat these classic funds. And it's time to become aware of the situation and tell our citizens that the time of fat cows is passing and the time of lean cows is coming.

27

Feb

2024

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Multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027 - Establishing the Ukraine Facility - Establishing the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (‘STEP’) (joint debate - multiannual financial framework revision)

Dear Chairman, the policy pursued here by the commoners, socialists, liberals and greens is suicidal. First, by lockdown, you destroyed entire branches of the economy – unscientific, undemocratic. Then you patched the holes with a debt of 750 billion euros. Then 13 sanctions that only destroy Europe, while Russia is never stronger and richer. Deindustrialization is under way, we read every now and then about factory closures and layoffs, farmers protest across the continent and even today, and say they can't patch the end. And that same day, this decision is being made to send another 50 billion euros for Kiev. I don't give, and I don't give the Croatian part of that money, for the Zelenskyy regime. It is even said that perhaps the member states would take over the debts of Ukraine if they could not repay them. That's crazy, even the Americans have given up on funding. Yesterday, there was a debate here on the 2023 European Central Bank, which is losing €8 billion, the largest debt since the bank was established. And when it all comes together, it's no surprise that Eurosceptic parties are expected to win as many as nine out of 27 members, and second and third place in nine more members. The time of responsibility and sobriety for European politics has come.

7

Feb

2024

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The fight against hate speech and disinformation: responsibility of social platforms within the Digital Services Act (topical debate)

Dear Chairman, when we talk about disinformation, I know a person who for many years built his popularity on Facebook and then lost everything in 2020. Why? Because she wrote that next year, in 2021, a special certificate will be introduced that will limit people's rights. She was proclaimed a spread of conspiracy theories and lost everything on Facebook. In the end, this was achieved in 2021 with the introduction of a digital green certificate. If we want disinformation, we don't have to go to some edge portals, we just have to monitor what European governments are doing and what the Commission was doing during the COVID crisis. We know very well that, although it has been since the end of 2020. The Commission knew that vaccines did not prevent their spread, so for months, in January, February, November and the following year, until October 2022, the Commission spread disinformation, promoted and presented these products as something they did not. Of course, there are those who check the facts. Associations, they have nothing to do with either independence or facts or any kind of verification, but they are all networked through one institute in Florida, the Poynter Institute, and that's a strict censorship. It is sad that this Digital Services Act is also actually funded and encouraged.

6

Feb

2024

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Plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed (debate)

Dear Chairman, my Croatia has declared itself a GMO-free country, but with this law it will no longer be able to remain so. My view is that NGTs should follow at least the same rules as old genomic techniques. This is about deregulation of genetically modified organisms and products derived from them. With the passing of this law, another new mass experiment begins on the population, citizens and consumers, but also on the whole nature and biosphere, which will be irreparably contaminated with genetically modified material. You can't abstain from plundering citizens with synthetic genetic material, can you? Conventional agriculture and GMO and NGT agriculture will all be the same now, which is unacceptable. There will be no labeling of such products. Obliging all Member States to use genetically modified plants in agriculture is simply a crime with unknown consequences for human health and the environment. I am opposed to farmers attaching themselves to large producers of seed material. Namely, if you have a field planted with the resulting variety or traditional techniques, natural, who says that you will not be able to be sued by the one who patented the same genetics, with the explanation that he could have produced it, so it is his. There's a clash between big corporations and small producers. We know who loses here without the protection of the state.

18

Jan

2024

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Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds (B9-0086/2024)

Dear Chairman, I voted against another resolution against Hungary, and this time by the name of the Situation in Hungary - frozen EU funds. Hungary has a right of veto because it says so in the agreements. These are the rules of the game agreed before accession, please. The Polish government has been harassed by Brussels for ten years because of the rule of law, and now that the new Prime Minister Tusk is taking that course, you will not tell him anything because he is one of the Brussels people. I have said here many times that as soon as a country democratically chooses a government that thinks differently, a great Brussels beating is built and persecution begins. And indeed, Slovakia won a government that doesn't think like Brussels a few months ago. Immediately there was a problem of corruption and here is a resolution against Slovakia today. The Croatian government, led by the corrupt, and finally convicted HDZ by the Supreme Court, to which there is no appeal, will never be criticized. There are no resolutions against them, no matter how much money from EU funds disappears, what Greco or EPPO thinks in their reports, what USKOK is ineffective, etc. And why? Because she's loyal to Brussels. Either some rules will apply to everyone or no one. Same thing. And then there's some wondering why the EU is in crisis. This is due to political violence and double standards.

18

Jan

2024

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Humanitarian situation in Gaza, the need to reach a ceasefire and the risks of regional escalation (RC-B9-0068/2024, B9-0068/2024, B9-0069/2024, B9-0071/2024, B9-0073/2024, B9-0075/2024, B9-0077/2024)

Dear Chairman. The resolution is not good and will not help either peace or the people of Gaza, it is not just, nor is it realistic. Palestine or Gaza cannot be blamed for everything, and Israel cannot be blamed for anything. This shows that the arrogant politics of the West are riding on. In the Middle East, everything is escalating - from Lebanon, the Red Sea, Syria, Iran, Pakistan and all other relations there. Recently, the Iraqi Parliament asked the US military to leave, in early 2020. A few days ago, the Iraqi prime minister repeated this - a second time they asked them to leave. They won't leave. In Syria, in eastern Syria, the U.S. military is stationed, taking oil there and sending it out somewhere, probably for Israel itself. And as America responds to this injustice by sending another 1,500 troops to Syria and Iraq, here's the news from three days ago. So, as long as such imperialist, unjust and arrogant aspirations and relations are by the West towards the Middle East, we can only expect a further escalation. It is necessary to finally land, to be realistic, to strive for justice and peace and to agree on the state of Palestine and finally to establish a balance of forces.

18

Jan

2024

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Geothermal energy (A9-0432/2023 - Zdzisław Krasnodębski)

Dear Chair, this report expands the scope for the development and exploitation of geothermal energy. My Croatia has a huge geothermal potential at lower depths than the European average. The potential that Croatia has has has not yet been exploited. Only this small, researched part has a greater potential power of 1 GW than, say, the Krško nuclear power plant. This cost-effectiveness does not yet include additional heating of buildings or greenhouses with hot water. However, in a corrupt environment and society, such as, unfortunately, Croatia, led by the HDZ, capital projects cannot pass without dubiosis and corruption, so we already have a situation where the first Croatian thermal power plant, Velika 1, has already fallen into dubiosis. Wherever you have a project worth more than, say, 100 million kuna or 50 million euros, certain interest groups, through the ruling party, put their paws, draw money and do not look to help the state and the economy and the local community, but to quickly withdraw money to take them, and there is no sanction for it or very, very late come. Therefore, the usefulness of something like this is questionable.

18

Jan

2024

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Recent ecological catastrophe involving plastic pellet losses and its impact on micro plastic pollution in the maritime and coastal habitats (debate)

Dear Chairman, plastic pellets and their impact on plastic pollution is significant. Every environmental catastrophe is a huge loss to life on earth, and so is this one in Galicia, however, 80% of marine litter comes from land, not from sea-related activities. That is why it is necessary for each country to build its own and self-adapted waste management system with the best available technologies and maximum possible recycling. In some types of waste, it may be smarter for two or several countries to come together because they do not have volumes and the treatment is more efficient. Let's not be fooled, the recycling of plastic is on low branches and large quantities, since China banned it, are simply being shipped to Malaysia, Thailand or Vietnam. Waste management in Croatia is very poor. There has recently been a huge garbage dump in the capital. A plastic storehouse burned down in Osijek, and the bales are still in Varaždin. All waste management centers that have been built are poor. They are destroying the environment, health and local budgets, and those that will be built will be the same. I've talked about it countless times. Guilty domestic organized crime, which the authorities in Zagreb, for example, are not able to put an end to, and in the scandal with Minister Filipović it turned out who really dramas the Environmental Protection Fund and the money that is there. The European JASPERS is responsible for approving all these bad projects that this crime gives and verifies. Croats must gather political forces and put an end to it, otherwise they will live in a land of ecological disasters.

17

Jan

2024

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Improving the socio-economic situation of farmers and rural areas, ensuring fair incomes, food security as well as a just transition (debate)

Dear Chairman, Commissioner for Agriculture Wojciechowski, I must convey here the concerns of Croatian grain producers. They're being killed by unfair trading practices. Namely, wheat is imported into Croatia from Ukraine at about 130 euros per tonne, while the price on world exchanges is about 230 euros per tonne. Croatian peasants are not protected. I don't really remember that they were ever protected in anything. Plenkovic, the prime minister, was already aware of the problem in November last year, but ignored it. Also, manufacturers are blackmailed by large buyers. Our peasants have no choice and they have to sell that 130 euros because they have nowhere to store, no silos, no infrastructure. Large companies deliberately damage the peasants and reduce their assessment of the quality of wheat, while the peasants are powerless. The problem is also the import of flour from Ukraine, which is sold at a low price and at the price of unground wheat and is packaged in bags of one kilogram and two kilograms and sold as our Croatian flour. And he didn't. In this way, a part of Ukrainian flour ended up on Croatian tables. Unfortunately, there is no quality control, i.e. it is not transparent and complete, neither flour nor wheat. In this way, Croatian peasants are being destroyed because their real production has increased by 50 percent, and they are selling at a 50 percent lower price. If this continues, production will disappear.

17

Jan

2024

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 14-15 December 2023 and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of 1 February 2024 - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds (joint debate - European Council meetings)

Dear Chairman, namely, a prominent Croatian television journalist once said, we entered the EU in order to be able to work in Europe. So if there is a union that needs to be entered in order to work with dignity in Croatia, I answered. In the first decade after the Homeland War, domestic peanut traitors sold 95 percent of Croatian banks, telecommunications, and a large share of oil, pharmaceutical and other industries to European corporations. What was not sold in the first decade, was sold in the second decade, including tourist capacities. What are the Copenhagen criteria and the rule of law? Please be nice! Ukraine, or what remains after peace is reached, becomes the perfect candidate for the Union. Depleted, demographically halved, overwhelmed by corruption and war profiteers, owed to God everywhere. The country in such a state easily renounces family silver. Zelenskyy has already met with American Blackrock, who is targeting the agricultural lands of Ukraine. What remains of the working-age population of the Ukrainian people will come to work in Western Europe. The Croats, my Croats, today are wondering what they were fighting for. I wish the Ukrainians a better fate.

16

Jan

2024

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EU-India relations (debate)

Dear Chair, I have had the opportunity to be part of the official delegation of the European Parliament in India, in the cities of Delhi and Mumbai. The intention of the delegation was to speed up the conclusion of the trade agreement. If you are traveling to India, leave all the prejudices at home because India is a country that develops at the speed of light and according to its model. They do not follow American market fundamentalism or Chinese state. Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaishankar and Minister of Trade and Industry Goyal, with whom we had the opportunity to discuss, I must note, are the most capable executives with whom I have ever had the opportunity to discuss. They know exactly what they want and they defend it very well and they don't give it to anyone. In the last 15 years, India's performance has been impressive and 400 million people have been lifted out of extreme poverty. Although Brussels would like to do so, Indians will not give up their views on fossil fuels and foreign policy. They need all the energy they can get, both renewable and non-renewable, and they do not intend to slow down their development and a better life for their population of 1.4 billion people. Although Brussels would like to do so, the Indians will not give up their great friendship and partnership with the Russian Federation, which has helped them greatly over decades of conflict with Pakistan. There will never be a penalty. There is no trade agreement between Delhi and Europe. ... (The Chair took the floor for the speaker)

16

Jan

2024

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Humanitarian situation in Gaza, the need to reach a ceasefire and the risks of regional escalation (debate)

Dear Chairman, for the last at least 30 years, since the world has been unipolar, we live in an atmosphere of arrogance where some can do what they want, and no one can do anything to them. After the October 7th terrorist attack, Israel had the right to self-defense. This right does not imply the right to destroy every building and everything that breathes in Gaza. No, we can't possibly equate children, civilians and terrorists in Gaza. In one hundred days more than 24,000 people have been killed, of which over 10,000 children, reporters, United Nations workers. It is no surprise that South Africa has filed a genocide lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and many other countries want to join. Something like this was unthinkable just a few years ago and testifies to the weakening of the West, the strengthening of the South and the creation of a multipolar world. The Middle East is cooking - from Egypt, through Arabia, Iran to Turkey, peoples and politicians are furious with the news from Gaza. Turkish President Erdogan compared Israel's prime minister to Hitler and threatened that the Turkish army would fight in Gaza. The arrogance of the United States and Netanyahu in the Middle East can only lead to a regional or even world war and threatens the future of Israel itself the most. In 1947, the United Nations adopted a two-state plan. The state of Israel exists, it is time to create lasting peace and a state of Palestine.

13

Dec

2023

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EU strategy to assist young people facing the housing and cost of living crisis (topical debate)

Dear Chairman, thank you very much. Why do young people leave Croatia? Except for injustice, riots and corruption and because no one wants to work for 500 euros anymore. The square of the apartment in Croatia goes over 3500 euros. However, the price of a square meter apartment when bought does not jump much from the price in other European countries, but all taxes and duties that the state takes, in the price of life, are drastically higher in Croatia than anywhere else. The average salary in Croatia is only 1,150 euros, in Belgium 2,500 euros. The average pension in Croatia is 450 euros, in Belgium 1,300 euros. Salaries in Belgium are more than twice as high and, for example, health services are significantly lower. I see firsthand the enormous difference between net and gross wages. I have assistants registered in both Croatia and Belgium. For the same net salaries in Croatia, I pay 55% more gross than in Belgium. We exposed the fraud with the 2nd pension pillar, which is current today, seven years ago and with all these injustices and benefits again Croatia cannot rebuild the country from earthquakes, clean the streets from storms or build a functioning waste management system. Croatia is the most beautiful country to live in, but we have the misfortune that people do not vote for their own good, but for criminals who rob them to take them for themselves, as we see these days. And until young people go to the polls and remove corrupt people from power, they will flee to other countries, often doing cheap physical jobs. We deserve better.

22

Nov

2023

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Proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties (A9-0337/2023 - Guy Verhofstadt, Sven Simon, Gabriele Bischoff, Daniel Freund, Helmut Scholz)

Dear Chair, I strongly oppose the amendments to the Agreement on the European Union and the Agreement on the Functioning of the European Union. My Croatia accounts for only 0.4% of the Union economy and 0.8% of the population, and the most in this House has 1.7% of the voting power. The only real power to protect against bad policies is the Council. However, these changes are meant to eliminate all of this. So to quote Article 16(3): by now it is decided by a qualified majority, and now it would be ordinary. Next, paragraph 4: 55% of Council members and 65% of the population will no longer be needed, but only 50%, while the blocking minority is completely abolished. If, therefore, changes were made and this came into force, countries such as Croatia would become irrelevant regions on the periphery and no longer countries, but regions on the periphery of the Union, which now, in theory, no one would ask for anything. I'm fiercely against this.

22

Nov

2023

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2024 budgetary procedure: Joint text (A9-0362/2023 - Siegfried Mureşan, Nils Ušakovs)

Dear Chairman, I voted against this budget for a thousand reasons, but I will single out one reason. Again, the budget for ITER and EUROfusion, a programme that could permanently solve the energy problem, is being cut. Unfortunately, we are not interested in this. In 2020, I was the only one to warn that the budget is not decreasing. Then it's during lockdown a large part of the European economy was destroyed, cutting and cutting at ITER. At that time, I warned that seven doctoral students, dozens of scientists and technical staff were engaged in fusion research in Croatia. At least three Croatian companies participate in the construction of ITER. The most damaging aspect is not even financial, but technological lag. All over the world, other countries and organizations are working on this project and are developing as we are increasingly technologically lagging behind. Unnecessary and stupid. I voted against it.

21

Nov

2023

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Proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties (debate)

With these Treaty changes, you are trying to subtly create from the European Union a supra-state, a bureaucratic body that should be more significant and powerful than any Member State. That won't work out for you. Never will the smaller nations allow you to return to the age of empires, to the Middle Ages or the Age of Austro-Hungarian Empire, because they have bloody paid for their independence, which you are trying to steal from them with this kind of subjugation. If big members like Germany or France really cared about Croatia, then they would try to develop the economy of Croatia and not use it as a pool of free educated labour. You are consciously economically and politically oppressing the weaker of yourself, but you are not aware that you are losing as well. The members of the European Union have stagnated in recent decades under your boot and management. And if you compare the Union with other world economies that were once below, you will notice that we are overtaken or catched up with both the size of the population, and the good structure of the population, and the strength of the economy, etc. The Union only has a future if it will start to strongly develop the economically weaker Member States on the periphery and thus evenly distribute its wealth. Otherwise, you can start developing your exit strategies and the Union dismantling plan. Although, in my opinion, the European political establishment has separated from reality and this parallel world that we are looking at here in Parliament has actually shocked me. Fortunately, the election is coming and things will be redefined.