What Sebastian spoke about.

11

Mar

2026

Speeches EN

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Case of Elene Khoshtaria and political prisoners under the Georgian Dream regime

Mr President, we need to talk about Georgia, a country on the coast of the Black Sea that is suffering from government oppression and growing Russian influence. It is a country where a leading opposition figure has been arrested for her political views, for denouncing the current government that follows Moscow's line. Georgia is an independent country and should follow the will of its people. We are talking about a nation that under the Soviet Union maintained a strong Georgian identity. Georgia was among the first nations to break free from the Soviet Union. What is happening today feels all too familiar – political oppression, intimidation and strong influence from Moscow that threatens the freedom of the Georgian people. The country escaped this once. The people of Georgia must not be trapped in this prison again.

11

Mar

2026

Speeches EN

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The arbitrary detention of President Mohamed Bazoum by the junta in Niger

Mr President, every month, this House calls for the immediate release of imprisoned African opposition figures and condemns atrocities on the continent. Don’t get me wrong: it is good that we condemn them. But the question we should ask is: why do so many of our calls have no influence? The answer is that Europe has been losing its significance. How do we turn this around? We must become militarily formidable, return to being innovators instead of regulators and stop boosting our rivals while they are trying to gain a foothold in developing countries. We should neither push our factories to China nor keep buying Russian energy. The world runs on power and leverage: if we have neither, we become irrelevant. Let’s make Europe matter again.

11

Mar

2026

Speeches EN

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Human trafficking and grave human rights violations linked to the recruitment of non-Russian nationals, in particular from Africa, for Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine

Mr President, Russia’s two-week 'special military operation' has turned into a four-year nightmare. It is fair to say that they have bitten off way more than they can chew: they’ve suffered over one million casualties. Replacing the endless Russian meat wave is proving difficult for the Kremlin. Being sent to the front lines is a death sentence. Not long ago, thousands of North Korean soldiers were sent to support Russia. But in Putin’s search for more disposable bodies, he’s turning to something very dark: human trafficking. There have been horrifying reports of people in Africa who were tricked into fighting for Russia. They were promised a job or an opportunity, only to find they had been deceived. Their lives had now become worthless and disposable to the Russian war machine. It is a war machine that needs to be stopped with force.

11

Mar

2026

Speeches FI

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AccessibleEU and the strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities: state of play and the future of EU accessibility policy (debate)

11

Mar

2026

Speeches EN

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Situation of the rule of law in Greece, following the Court decision on Predator spyware (debate)

Madam President, Europe was built on the values of democracy and human rights, not on the values of China. European values include the right to privacy and the protection of personal communication. With the European Commission pushing for Chat Control in its different versions, this right has been under attack. Before, we used to send letters and engage in conversations, but the digital evolution has dramatically changed the idea of how we communicate with each other. It is imperative that conversations in the online space are protected just as strongly as traditional methods. We have technology that allows this, such as end-to-end encryption. These must be enforced, not weakened by the politicians. It is our job to make sure that privacy is protected. That is why I say no to Chat Control.

11

Mar

2026

Speeches EN

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Rise of political violence, notably by far-left organisations (debate)

Mr President, it's hammer time: Antifa is a terrorist organisation and this House is a terrorist‑sympathising, spineless creature. You only need to ask MEP Salis, an Antifa activist from The Left. She's grateful for your votes to secure her immunity against charges of a violent hammer attack. Let's have a look at the facts. The Europol report states that EU countries faced 24 jihadist terrorist attacks in one year. Right after the jihadists, come the leftist attacks. Left‑wing and anarchist terrorism accounted for 21 attacks within a year. Then you see here these politicians calling for actions against right‑wing, 'intolerant' and 'extremist' speech. What a bunch of hypocrites you are. I call for action against these leftist terrorists. It is time to designate Antifa a terrorist organisation.

11

Mar

2026

Speeches EN

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Immunity of International Criminal Court officials and the activation of the EU Blocking Statute to strengthen EU strategic autonomy (debate)

Mr President, the arrest warrant against the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, is beyond absurd. Even more absurd is the fact that the only country seemingly capable of acknowledging this fact is the United States. Leftists in this Parliament will again have their few seconds in the spotlight, waving their middle fingers at their two arch-enemies, the US and Israel. But the irony is that Israel and the United States have been capable of doing exactly what the International Criminal Court has not. The international community is unable to bring to justice criminals like Vladimir Putin and Haibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban. But when terrorist organisations like Hamas, Hezbollah and the IRGC cannot be brought to justice, Israel and the United States will bring justice to the terrorists. Let us not prevent justice being done.

11

Mar

2026

Speeches EN

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Multilateral negotiations in view of the WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference in Yaoundé, 26 to 29 March 2026 (debate)

Madam President, Europe must come up with policies that improve our relationships with our trading partners. But unfortunately, the leftists keep pushing for something else: diversity policies, anti-poverty regulations, Green Deal and other socialist fantasies. The leftists hate the reality we live in. The reality is that a strong Europe is Europe with strong trade relations with the United States. Let me tell you what the leftists want instead: The Left Group tried to change a text of this House by an amendment that stated that the EU should reinforce our trade relations with BRICS countries to reduce dependence on the United States. So instead of the United States, the leftists want stronger trade relations with countries like China, Russia and Iran. I ask you: have you lost your mind?

11

Mar

2026

Speeches EN

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Package travel and linked travel arrangements: make the protection of travellers more effective and simplify and clarify certain aspects (debate)

Madam President, Europe as we know it is dying. Try being a tourist in Paris, Rome, Berlin, even Brussels or Stockholm. Imagine someone buying a trip to Europe and in their imagination there is the beautiful, famous Old Continent. Tourists expect seeing world famous paintings, tonnes of history and stunning architecture. They will see all of that, that is for sure, but they will also see something else: barricades protecting Christmas markets, patrolling soldiers armed with automatic rifles and no‑go zones inside our famous capitals. 'What has happened to Europe?', the tourist asks. Mass migration happened. Have you leftists thought that with your catastrophic migration policy, you are also sinking one of the most vital industries we have in Europe: tourism. I have a suggestion to help the European tourism industry: let's deport all illegal migrants.

11

Mar

2026

Speeches FI

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Savings and Investments Union: time to accelerate the process to deepen market integration (debate)

11

Mar

2026

Speeches FI

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Building Europe's clean, independent and secure energy following the 2026 North Sea Summit (debate)

11

Mar

2026

Speeches EN

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EUCO and situation in the Middle East (joint debate)

Mr President, Iranians protesting all over the world are pro‑Israel, pro‑USA, pro‑Ukraine, anti‑Russia, anti‑China, anti‑Hamas. Where does the EU stand? Sanctions on Israel, middle finger to the USA, 'monitors' Ukraine, buys Russian gas, ships factories to China, funds Hamas through UNWRA. Europe needs some serious self-reflection. Only a few get foreign policy right, but Persians do. They risk their lives for democracy and stand with the USA and Israel against dictators and terrorists. The moment the regime was hit, left‑wing pacifists screamed for 'immediate de‑escalation and resumption of diplomatic processes'. Sound familiar? Straight from Russia's Foreign Ministry. If you think the real problem is the strikes against tyranny rather than the tyranny itself, I'm sorry, not even a ...

10

Mar

2026

Speeches EN

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Tackling barriers to the single market for defence - Flagship European defence projects of common interest

Madam President, European defence should be our most important topic by far. Having said that, we must ask ourselves: does pooling EU funds automatically create strength? No, it does not. The EU cannot fire our bullets or fly our jets, and it certainly should not try replicating NATO. We already have NATO, we do not need replicas. The EU can complement the defence efforts made by Member States, but we must not forget: a missile funded by EU co-financing will not deter an aggressor if the Member State lacks the means of deploying it. The EU can help stockpiling our anti-tank missiles, but the Member States must have enough shoulders to carry those missiles. Europe's defence is not merely a project, it is a responsibility. And that responsibility starts at home.

10

Mar

2026

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Cutting red tape to enable a competitive and clean transition – the urgent need to shorten and simplify permitting (debate)

Madam President, it is absurd that a company might have to wait for permits longer than it takes to build their factories. While the US and China are moving fast, Europe is drowning itself in procedures, forms and rules. What does the European Commission do? You set new binding climate goals for the EU. You set bans on combustion engines. You absolutely love your digital regulation that is so complex that companies do not even know how to follow it. Then you come here to say that we must decrease the regulatory burden. Damn sure we must! But at the same time, you want new EU legislation, you want new EU action plans and new EU regulation because they give you power. More Commission means more regulation. That is why Europe needs stronger Member States, not a stronger Commission.

10

Mar

2026

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Recommendation on enhanced EU-Canada cooperation in the current geopolitical context, including the threats to Canada’s economic stability and sovereignty (debate)

Mr President, Canada is without question one of Europe's closest partners. Strengthening our cooperation should be an obvious priority. That is precisely why it is so disappointing to read this new EU‑Canada report. Instead of focusing on defence, economic resilience or strategic cooperation, this text reads like a catalogue of left‑wing talking points: climate slogans, green ideology and yet another round of finger pointing at the United States. Seriously, is this ideological signalling all we have to offer? This new report is more about leftist political messaging than real geopolitics. I cannot support such a report. EU‑Canada cooperation deserves a serious strategic partnership – not a lecture drafted through the lens of climate activism and anti‑American rhetoric. Europe should do better.

10

Mar

2026

Speeches FI

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Guidelines for the 2027 budget - Section III (debate)

Mr President, money for the EU rope – this time EUR 10 billion. I wish it could have been used for something sensible, but do you know what the EU will use it for next year? To pay the interest costs of the unreasonable COVID-19 recovery package. It's just interest expenses. Let's take a little comparison. With this same amount, we would receive about 290 new Leopard 2A8 battle tanks. European-manufactured tanks shepherding in Ukraine's steppes would be 290 times better than the 10 billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion-billion EU leaders, with your recovery package, you allow this leech to come onto your skin. You are now calling for EU programmes not to be cut to finance this interest-rate bomb. In other words, you want to open the taxpayer's purse even more so that your mistakes can be repaid. You've got a lot of work to do.

10

Mar

2026

Speeches FI

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European Semester for economic policy coordination 2026 - European Semester for economic policy coordination: employment and social priorities for 2026 (joint debate)

Mr President, many European countries are down to their throats in debt. In order to avoid Europe-wide debt crises, we have rules. Debt should not exceed 60% of the size of a country's economy. If you look at the debts of the large EU countries that flutter over 100%, you may legitimately ask where the credibility of this rule lies. In its special report, the European Court of Auditors describes the harsh reality of the EU. There are constant deviations from the recommendations. There is a lack of monitoring of implementation. Economic and labour market reforms are not being implemented. We have a serious pan-European ailment: It's a waster's disease. When you look only at the next election, where you will be more successful by wasting today, which government of a country in debt would like to save? Only a government that, instead of elections, cares about the future of its state.

10

Mar

2026

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Single Market: how to move from an incomplete single market to one market for one Europe (debate)

Mr President, Ursula von der Leyen described Europe as driving the world's second largest economy with a handbrake. Ursula, you've driven your handbrake and you're still driving. Your green, over-stretched regulation has been a handbrake for Europe and an engine of growth for China. Then you wake up a little bit and want to make the economy recover. What are you doing? You are celebrating the Mercosur agreement, which opens up food imports from South America, even though European food producers are currently crying out. With regard to the regulations you have built up in the past, all you are proposing is deferrals, reductions and flexibilities. Aren't the bells ringing that perhaps your regulation has been unworthy in the first place if we have to use these methods to artificially reinvigorate the maintenance of regulation? As a regulatory principle, you now have one in, one out. This should also extend to the Commission itself: New in, old out.

9

Mar

2026

Speeches FI

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Harmonising certain aspects of insolvency law (short presentation)

Mr President, there are already parody nuances here. Today, this bankrupt institution wants to align the bankruptcy laws of the Member States. No sane person can comprehend this. The Commission wants to align it, and the Commission wants to align it. But who would listen to the little country in the midst of all this frenzy? The World Bank has stated that Finland has one of the most efficient bankruptcy systems in the world. Dear Finns, does the situation sound like the EU should now step into the game? At least not for me. I do not wish to welcome the orders of this bankrupt institution on how our well-functioning bankruptcy law should be changed. I would like to welcome the fact that the national parliaments in the Member States are starting to put their own legislation in a better shape. But I've seen enough of Brussels' tunings to be afraid of its dangers.

9

Mar

2026

Speeches FI

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Gender pay and pension gap in the EU: state of play, challenges and the way forward, and developing guidelines for the better evaluation and fairer remuneration of work in female-dominated sectors (debate)

Mr President, here again we are calling for the EU to tackle the gender gap in working life. Have you lost your mind? If 90 % of applicants in a field are men and 10 % are women, or vice versa, what happens if we force the figures towards a balanced distribution? The choice is no longer based on knowledge. If, for example, we start filling positions in rescue services based on gender quotas, the selection criteria will have to be lowered. However, in times of need, citizens do not ask about the gender of the police or the rescuer. The only thing that matters is whether he's capable of doing his job. Sometimes screaming is also hard about the wage equality of athletes. Ladies and gentlemen, set an example. Buy season passes for women's series with your own money. When the seats are filled, salaries rise. Do you know what equality is? The fact that the best ones are chosen for tasks, regardless of the crotch range.

9

Mar

2026

Speeches FI

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European Union regulatory fitness and subsidiarity and proportionality – report on Better Law-Making covering 2023 and 2024 (debate)

Mr President, it makes me laugh when the first paragraph of the report on subsidiarity in the EU reads as follows: "The EU is obliged to legislate only where necessary and only to the extent necessary." Exactly like this. But you are driving the EU in a completely different direction. First, the stupid policies of your fellow countrymen cause problems in your countries, and then you come up with the idea that only the EU can solve these problems. Dutch, you allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants into your country, and when the housing shortage arose, you decided to come up with the idea that perhaps the transfer of competence in housing policy to the EU could bring a solution to this artificial problem of yours. Spain, you shut down your nuclear power plant, and after the first large-scale blackout, you were already in the grip of a hat in the direction of Brussels. Now, listen, this is not what Europe should do.

9

Mar

2026

Speeches FI

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Framework Agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the European Commission (debate)

Mr President, this Chamber is completely paralyzed. It is completely paralyzed as it humbles the Commission and Queen Ursula. You do not mind signing tens of billions of euros worth of vaccine contracts by text message, let alone concealing it. You will not be hindered by the implementation by the Commission of the Mercosur agreement, which threatens agriculture, going beyond the express will of this House. You will not be hindered by the continuing misappropriation of funds, which has already been seriously pointed out many times by the European Court of Auditors. You are not interested in a fair distribution of power between the various EU bodies, for you, in your federal and green-left wrestling, have come here practically only as a rubber stamp for the destructive policy of the Commission. You are so frightened by the support of nationalist parties that you are ready to take on the role of this rubber stamp of Ursula. It is a shame for Europe.

12

Feb

2026

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Cooperation among enforcement authorities regarding unfair trading practices in the agri-food supply chain (debate)

12

Feb

2026

Speeches FI

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Recommendation to the Council on EU priorities for the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (debate)

11

Feb

2026

Speeches EN

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Systemic oppression, inhumane conditions and arbitrary detentions by the regime in Iran

Mr President, I had the honour of meeting personally with the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. The timing could not be more urgent. Today marks the 47th anniversary of the revolution of the IRGC terrorists. For 47 long years, the Islamist regime has ruled Iran through fear, torture and arbitrary detentions. My message to President Metsola was clear: this House must hear the voice of the Iranian people, and that voice is Reza Pahlavi – a clear, unifying leader whom the Iranian people themselves recognise matters now more than ever. If this Parliament is serious about standing with democracy, freedom and human rights, then it must also be serious about who it chooses to listen to. Europe must choose, and it must choose to give Iranians their country back.