What Barry spoke about.

Madam President, the limited objectives achieved in the last 20 years in Afghanistan were all development objectives, normally achieved by development professionals. So when we suspend development aid, we must remember that we are suspending the salaries of the doctors and the nurses and the teachers that have achieved those objectives. But we must not end humanitarian aid. It must continue based on the humanitarian principles of impartiality, independence, neutrality and transparency. I would call on the Commission to exercise the flexibility that is required so that the thousands of development workers that are able to deliver humanitarian aid are allowed to continue to do that, perhaps under the rapid response pillar of the Global Europe Instrument. I would also call on the Commission to work on the flexibility required to make sure that we don’t fall foul unnecessarily of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing objectives, in order to guarantee humanitarian access based on risk analysis and derogations. Finally, I call on the Commission to acknowledge that it is not an absolute requirement of international humanitarian law that a request for humanitarian assistance be made by the Afghan Government.

Madam President, I wish to make an argument for the extension of our sanctions regime to crimes of corruption and fraud. In April the UK extended its sanctions regime to 14 Russian nationals, the same 14 Russian nationals who were uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky himself. The same 14 Russian nationals were subjected to no sanctions here in the EU. They’re not even on the EU consolidated financial sanctions list. And by creating a differentiated sanctions regime between the US, the UK and the EU, we open ourselves to a form of sanctions arbitrage and we open ourselves to the possibility of a compliance burden on multinationals that work across the jurisdictions of the EU, US and the UK. I would like to also say that as a representative of a smaller Member State, I support the idea of qualified majority voting in this area. I support it because if not in genocide, if not in torture, if not in crimes against humanity, then when? The space for impunity is shrinking, so let us complete the heroic work of Sergei Magnitsky.

Mr President, High Representative Borrell, this debate is focused on foreign intervention in the democratic operation of the European Union. I believe, however, that we need to bring domestic efforts to accuracy. To put this idea before you, I want to go back to an event that happened in the Subcommittee on Security and Defence of the European Parliament, last April. During the committee meeting, I am ashamed to say that two Irish MEPs used their platform to promote their conspiracy theory, saying that the White Helmets chemically attacked the civilians of the city of Douma in Syria. Mr Borrell, I would like to conclude by saying that Irish MEPs often work together on important files but, I would like to bring this wrong information to your attention. Until now, I was silent but I stand against the attackers of our democracy from within. I want to say – that I am not for them.