Speeches

President-in-Office of the Council, Mrs Ursula von der Leyen. In 2019, you became Commissioner and I kept my fingers crossed for you. You were the culmination of women's struggle for political rights. In my eyes, even the follower of Emmeline Pankhurst. I expected you to make the most of the opportunity. When I think of the successes of Eleanor Roosevelt, who was ‘only’ a wife. You are a great disappointment to me today. And this is not because of the decision of the General Court of the European Union. I am disappointed by the Commission under your leadership. In Slovakia, lawyer Ľubomír Krivočenko suffocated in custody during COVID. The state had more than 30 pulmonary ventilations, but he didn't get one. And I'm sorry because you're a doctor in the first place. If a state deprives someone of their personal liberty, it must ensure that the detention is for the necessary time and protect life. Or have we adopted the death penalty as a form of punishment in the EU and only I do not know? Krivochenko was not the only lawyer who died from the state’s fault between 2020 and 2023. Not once has the Commission, under your leadership, drawn attention to violations of human rights and freedoms in Slovakia, not once. The crackdown on the law by today's opposition in May 2024 resulted in the assassination of Robert Fico. Mrs von der Leyen, neither I nor my colleagues can vote for you. This would be disrespect for those women who have contributed to the development and protection of human rights.