Speeches

Mr President, I would like to thank Nacho for the very good work he did; we worked together. I’ll go to Greek, but I think my interpretation of this is that it’s closing the door on accession. I heard different interpretations today, and for those in Greece, it’s a mixed bag – good and bad for us. It’s a slap in the face for Türkiye, but how do we pressure Türkiye from now on to democratise? What would be the instruments we could use to bring it closer to our values? I’m going to switch to Greek. Κύριε Πρόεδρε, να ξεκαθαρίσουμε ότι δεν κλείνουμε την πόρτα στην Τουρκία. Αν προτείνει τελικώς κάποια νέου τύπου σχέση, αυτό πρέπει να γίνει το γρηγορότερο δυνατό. Οφείλει να είναι σαφές ότι δεν υπογράφουμε λευκή επιταγή για το μέλλον. Αν πάμε προς τελωνειακή ένωση πρέπει να κρατήσουμε τις αξίες των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων. Προφανώς είναι σημαντικός εταίρος για τη Δύση, όμως πρέπει να εφαρμόσει τους κανόνες για τη μετανάστευση, όπως έχει συμφωνήσει, αλλά δεν το κάνει. Και προφανώς πρέπει να συνεχίσουμε να πιέζουμε για τη λύση του Κυπριακού.

Mr President, the catastrophic and extreme events that have affected Slovakia, Greece, Libya and Morocco show one thing: The beast of climate change is here and it's devouring everything. In Thessaly, to give a quick example, we saw divers searching for bodies in sunken houses. We haven't even seen this in science fiction movies. Like all Greek Members of the European Parliament today, I ask that the European Commission also bend over to the problem, to take additional and urgent measures. I hope soon, as many colleagues here have said, that the conservative forces in the European Parliament will support the Green Deal more strongly. I propose that the Greek government immediately proceed with the reconstruction of the infrastructure and prevent the epidemiological bomb coming from the polluted waters. We criticize the works that were not done, the modern technologies of prevention, which, as others said, were not implemented. By December, to go practically, it would be nice for the European Commission, the ENVI Committee and we at S&D, to propose a to do list of good practices for the prevention of fires and floods. This is something we can do from now until spring. We have seen volunteer firefighters, foresters, police officers, the army and ordinary citizens move decisively, with self-denial, courage and above all in the spirit of solidarity. I suggest we follow their example. Only with this determination, and with the emergency sirens ringing in our ears, will we tame the beast of climate change. As soon as possible, as other colleagues have said, we must take measures to reduce the rise in temperature. Action now by all of us.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I have recently been fortunate enough to visit Albania as a member of the municipal election observation team. Yes, it was a smooth process. Yes, I agree with what the Commissioner and Ms Santos said; Albania has moved on, but there is something far behind: Two days before the national elections he cannot put in prison a number of mayors, including the very sensitive for us mayor of Himara, Freddie Beleris. He was eventually elected to prison. We call for his release if he wants Albania to have the support of Greece and all of us in trying to reach Europe in the 20's and 30's – and we wish him well. We want all the Western Balkans to enter at some point. He must as soon as possible abide by the rules of the rule of law, apply chapters 23 and 24, and then he will have our applause.