What Reinhold spoke about.

21 Jan

2025

EN Speech

Need for actions to address the continued oppression and fake elections in Belarus (debate)

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Mr President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, the people of Belarus have faced brutal repression for years from Lukashenka's regime, and therefore it is our obligation to keep this issue on our agenda. The August 2020 elections were rigged and were followed by violence aimed at silencing civil society, and therefore we have to support civil society in Belorussia in their struggle for democracy…

21 Jan

2025

DE Speech

Geopolitical and economic implications for the transatlantic relations under the new Trump administration (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. The United States remains Europe's most important partner even under an elusive President Donald Trump. A stable transatlantic axis is essential in all areas, whether it is about military issues, about our economic situation, but also about environmental issues. Joint action by the US and the European Union, especially in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukra…

18 Dec

2024

DE Speech

Preparation of the EU-Western Balkans Summit (debate)

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Madam President, Dear colleagues! It is a good thing that Croatia has been in the European Union for more than ten years. It is a pity that its neighbours – Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro – are at different distances from being a member of the European Union. In view of today's summit, we should once again focus our attention more on this key region. It is not only our neighbour and of str…

17 Dec

2024

EN Speech

Russia’s disinformation and historical falsification to justify its war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, Russia's action in Ukraine demonstrates how disinformation can be weaponised to justify aggression. By distorting history, Moscow frames its invasion as legitimate, falsely asserting that Ukraine is not a sovereign nation, as it was mentioned before by my colleagues. These tactics also aim to divide Europe and the Western world. The Kremlin state-controlled media …

17 Dec

2024

EN Speech

Toppling of the Syrian regime, its geopolitical implications and the humanitarian situation in the region (debate)

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Mr President, it is positive to see the end of this brutal terror regime in Syria. Now we must support Syrians in an orderly transition to a stable, functioning and democratic state. We must maintain continuous dialogue and keep the channels of communication open with the provisional government. Therefore, it was absolutely the right step of the new High Representative, Kaja Kallas, to send a high…

28 Nov

2024

EN Speech

Strengthening children’s rights in the EU - 35th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (debate)

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Madam President, firstly I want to start positive: I want to mention that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is a convention with strong support by the member countries of the United Nations: 196 countries are party to it, including every member state except the United States. This is a record number, but there is a big 'but': we have to see that the adoption of this important convention…

27 Nov

2024

EN Speech

The increasing and systematic repression of women in Iran

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Mr President, Iran's regime is one of the most brutal on our planet. It kills and tortures its own citizens, with women most strongly persecuted. The regime has been trying through all means to suppress the protests triggered by the death of the 22‑year‑old Mahsa Amini. In addition to arrests of numerous demonstrators, many death sentences were carried out in connection with nationwide protests. T…

27 Nov

2024

DE Speech

Presentation by the President-elect of the Commission of the College of Commissioners and its programme (debate)

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Madam President, Madam President of the Commission! It's good to see you on the 1st. You can start with your Commission in December, and it is also necessary that you focus on competition and the economy. That was the success story of the European Union, and that must remain the success story. Only with strong economic performance can we also finance our European model of life for our citizens. Le…

25 Nov

2024

EN Speech

Condemning the illegal unilateral declaration of independence of the secessionist entity in Cyprus and all efforts to legitimise it and reaffirming the need for European solidarity - 41 years after (debate)

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Mr Predisent, dear colleagues, I asked to take the floor, because for me, the Turkish occupation of Cyprus is like the Russian occupation of Ukraine. Of course, the scale is smaller, but the legal implications are the same. A gross violation of international law. Russia's consulate on the Turkish side shows that this issue is an international one. It is not only an issue of Cyprus, and therefore i…

13 Nov

2024

EN Speech

Georgia's worsening democratic crisis following the recent parliamentary elections and alleged electoral fraud (debate)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, unfortunately, one cannot speak of fair elections in Georgia. I tell you why. There was pressure on voters, more before the election day as on the election day. This is only one of many criticisms which election observers from the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the OSCE and NATO Parliamentary Assembly have noted in their final statement. As one of the…

22 Oct

2024

EN Speech

Situation in Azerbaijan, violation of human rights and international law and relations with Armenia (debate)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, our Lithuanian colleague mentioned that the Council of Europe opposed to give Azerbaijan credentials for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. I was one of these 75. We are now blacklisted by Azerbaijan. We are not allowed to enter this country, even on official missions. That is the real face of Azerbaijan. There are currently six inter-state cases pe…

18 Sep

2024

EN Speech

The severe situation of political prisoners in Belarus

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Madam President, colleagues, since 24 February 2022, we have been focused on Ukraine and since the 7 October 2023, Israel and Palestine have been occupying our attention, which is necessary, but we should not forget the plight of the Belarusian people. The regime of Lukashenka has been exerting systematic repression against Belarusian civil society, independent media, dissidents and all those oppo…

18 Sep

2024

DE Speech

The devastating floods in Central and Eastern Europe, the loss of lives and the EU’s preparedness to act on such disasters exacerbated by climate change (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen! Tens of thousands of people have been severely affected by the ongoing severe floods, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, when I think of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Romania. Never before has there been such rainfall in Austria in such a short time. Yes, we have a natural disaster, and it is important to think first of all about the people a…

17 Sep

2024

EN Speech

Situation in Venezuela (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, the latest elections in Venezuela took place within an authoritarian regime that has presided over democratic backsliding for more than a decade, as many colleagues mentioned it already. Maduro didn't win the elections and he is still in power. That's the problem and we can never accept such a situation. Since Nicolás Maduro assumed the presidency in 2013, the sit…

17 Sep

2024

DE Speech

The future of European competitiveness (debate)

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Madam President, Yes, we have a great common challenge, and our enormously important task is to actually strengthen our competitiveness. What do we need? We need to complete the internal market, we need to significantly improve the capital and energy market situation, and we need to invest massively in the technology sector. We need more Europe here. We need less when it comes to overregulation. I…