What Emmanuel spoke about.

14

Mar

2023

FR Speech

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The challenges facing the Republic of Moldova (debate)

Mr President, it is clear that the European Parliament must give its full support to Moldova, which is facing the concrete consequences of the war in Ukraine, consequences that are first and foremost humanitarian. The Moldovan people had to take in tens of thousands of refugees. Political consequences as well, as has been said, unrest, more or less manipulated demonstrations, attempts to destabili…

14

Mar

2023

FR Speech

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Data Act (debate)

Madam President, digital regulation is advancing in Europe. We owe it to the vigilance of this Parliament. We also owe it to the action of Commissioner Breton. And this regulation marks an important step in building effective legislation on access, transfer and sharing of non-personal data, first and foremost industrial data. Describing data as ‘new black gold’ is a bit of a commonplace, but it is…

14

Feb

2023

FR Speech

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Response to the situation in Tunisia (debate)

Mr President, it is true that Tunisia is a strategic partner for the European Union, but I find that the Commission and the Council have not taken stock of what is happening in that country. Because the process initiated by Kaïs Saïed still leads to a very worrying result. The new constitution presents worrying setbacks. However, there has been an abuse of decree laws, which has led to serious att…

19

Oct

2022

FR Speech

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Political situation in Tunisia (debate)

Madam President, since the advent of democracy in 2011 in Tunisia, the optimism and many hopes raised by the Tunisian revolution have, it must be said, given way to a form of scepticism, anxiety or even disappointment. Today, everyone is aware of the risks facing this young democracy with which we have such close friendships. In this country hit hard by the health and social crisis, the paralysis …

19

Oct

2022

FR Speech

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EU-Western Balkans relations in light of the new enlargement package (debate)

Madam President, accession negotiations have started with Albania and North Macedonia and, despite extremely worrying political instability marked by deep divisions, we will soon be deciding on granting candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Let us agree together that this acceleration or even haste, which is not always a good adviser, does not owe much to the objective situation of the count…

5

Oct

2022

FR Speech

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Outcome of the Commission’s review of the 15-point action plan on trade and sustainable development (debate)

Mr President, in the area of trade, we are informed by experience. There is a long way from words to deeds and, despite a proactive front, despite some progress, I believe that the Commission is not fully responding to criticisms of the ineffectiveness of the clauses on trade and sustainable development. First of all, the first point is that the impact of global trade and increased trade on the cl…

4

Oct

2022

FR Speech

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Question Time (VPC/HR) Heightening tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan following the recent military escalation

Mr President, Mr Borrel wants questions. I'm going to ask you one, Mr. High Representative. Why are you so timid, so withdrawn on the issue of Armenia and Azerbaijan, when you are known to be very far-reaching, and often at the forefront of fighting on other topics? Because, anyway, there are facts. There's an assailant, an assailant. There are war crimes, with this atrocious video where we see Az…

13

Sep

2022

FR Speech

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The situation in the Strait of Taiwan (debate)

Madam President, High Representative Borrell, it is true that the situation in the Taiwan Strait is alarming. The dangerous game of the great powers threatens international security in a strategic sector. Strategic for us Europeans, it was recalled, because we have interests, but above all strategic for the Indo-Pacific region and the Pacific. However, it must be said that the visit of the Speaker…

5

Jul

2022

FR Speech

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2021 Report on Serbia (debate)

Mr President, does Parliament really want to encourage Serbia to join the European Union? Sometimes, when I hear our debates or when I read our texts, I come to doubt, because they are texts that are systematically burdensome, without nuances – nuances that we show when it comes to other countries in the Western Balkans. Remonstrations are made in Belgrade, demands that are untenable, by continuin…

8

Jun

2022

FR Speech

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International procurement instrument (debate)

Madam President, it is better late than never. I welcome the outcome of this long negotiation, which will finally give the European Union an instrument to protect public procurement. I welcome the rapporteur's tenacity, too, because I would point out that it has been ten years since the text was blocked in the Council by governments that share the religion of unfettered free trade, and it was time…

18

May

2022

FR Speech

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EU Association Agreement with the Republic of Moldova (debate)

Mr President, we have all been moved by the serious speech of Mrs Sandu, who is the courageous Prime Minister of a tried and tested country and who is making immense efforts to welcome a flood of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. I believe that it was good for us MEPs to reaffirm our support at a time when this country is facing immense difficulties and – as has been said but I repeat – at a ti…

6

Apr

2022

FR Speech

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Human rights situation in North Korea, including the persecution of religious minorities

Mr President, the very few reports from North Korea point to a further deterioration of the situation, including the possible return of famine. We have a repressive infrastructure that is increasingly fierce: North Korean prison camps have nothing to envy to gulags or Chinese re-education camps. Moreover, North Korea’s grounds for re-education have recently been broadened. There is a new law on wh…

24

Mar

2022

FR Speech

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Update from the Commission and Council on the state of play of the Energy Charter Treaty modernisation exercise (debate)

Mr President, at a time when the war in Ukraine is tragically raising the issue of energy sovereignty and dependence on hydrocarbons, talking about a text as archaic and outdated as the Energy Charter Treaty may seem a bit ridiculous. For twenty years now, we have been subjected to this text, which confers on multinationals senseless profits. Decisions that encourage renewable energy and energy ta…

8

Mar

2022

FR Speech

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The situation in Bosnia Herzegovina (debate)

Mr President, the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is deteriorating particularly in this poor, landlocked and divided country, which has not really overcome the traumas of the civil war and whose institutions are malfunctioning. Tensions are growing between the Bosnian Federation, known as the Croat-Muslim Federation, and the Bosnian Serb Republic. The latter, it has been said, no lon…

16

Feb

2022

FR Speech

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EU-Russia relations, European security and Russia’s military threat against Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, we all want to prevent the flare-up. We all want to prevent this leak that puts European security at risk. Obviously, we all agree that even a limited aggression against Ukraine would justify a strong and common political and economic response from Europe. We should all agree, too, that among the great powers that throw oil on the fire, it is not just Russia – but that is hard to …

15

Feb

2022

FR Speech

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EU-Africa relations (debate)

Not Macron, Macron is someone else! Madam President, the summit between the European Union and the African Union should have been an opportunity to review in depth the relations between our two continents. I doubt that this is the case, although I know that we are going to talk usefully about the health issue and the lifting of vaccines, the geostrategic issue and the situation in the Sahel, which…

14

Dec

2021

FR Speech

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Digital Markets Act (debate)

Madam President, the DMA is indeed a real step forward that will make it possible to better protect users, but also – and this is our wish – to see small and medium-sized structures develop in the face of the giants of the Web. I think there are still a number of points that can be improved. First, the scope of the DMA: it is a question of regulating Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft, …

25

Nov

2021

FR Speech

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Situation in Somalia

Madam President, we are witnessing a very serious, almost inextricable situation in Somalia, where terrorist activities, human rights violations, political instability and food insecurity intersect. On the one hand, we have an Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group called Al-Shabaab, which is responsible for horrific atrocities, killing thousands of civilians and forcibly enlisting thousands of child…

24

Nov

2021

FR Speech

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State of the Energy Union (debate)

Mr President, European citizens are now experiencing the concrete consequences of an energy policy inspired by absurd dogmas: deregulate everything, privatize everything, dismantle public monopolies... We see the result. Soaring energy prices are hitting consumers hard. Last night, the megawatt-hour of electricity was exchanged at €300 in France, €309 in Belgium and €280 in Germany. Two years ago,…

19

Oct

2021

FR Speech

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EU-Taiwan political relations and cooperation (debate)

Mr President, in this context of great tension and rising tensions, Europe must hold its own. And in the face of Chinese provocations in the Taiwan Strait, to which the US has responded by strengthening its own military capabilities, Europe cannot remain impassive. It must not only promote all efforts for the stability of peace in the region, but also defend its interests there. Because yes, we ha…

19

Oct

2021

FR Speech

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Situation in Tunisia (debate)

Madam President, Tunisia, a friendly country if any, is facing countless crises. First of all, there is the COVID crisis, which has left the majority of health institutions extinct, an economic and social crisis – not enough has been said about it – which is undermining young people, causing unemployment and misery, but also a political and institutional crisis, which is a symptom of a blocked sys…

5

Oct

2021

FR Speech

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The future of EU-US relations (debate)

Mr President, European strategic autonomy is just words; to take action, one must be able to emancipate oneself from the tutelage of the United States. We are a long way from that, as this text shows, because, despite the successive facts, whether under the Trump or Biden presidency, we are not able to emerge from a kind of voluntary subordination, to the point that in this report we are silencing…

8

Jul

2021

FR Speech

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The death penalty in Saudi Arabia, notably the cases of Mustafa Hashem al-Darwish and Abdullah al-Howaiti

Mr President, 17 is the age of Mustafa al-Darwish when he took part in anti-government protests, which led to his being sentenced to death and executed. Fourteen years old is the age Abdullah al-Howaiti was at the time of his arrest for a murder that he confessed to only after endless torture, even though he had an irrefutable alibi that was not examined. He too was sentenced to death. These death…

8

Jul

2021

FR Speech

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Labour rights in Bangladesh (continuation of debate)

Mr President, on the one hand, we have a developing country, Bangladesh, which specialises in textiles and attracts manufacturers who benefit from unworthy working conditions and remuneration, as has been said – constantly falling wages, thousands of working children... On the other hand, there is a European Union that imports unimaginable quantities of clothes, most of which are worn only once. I…