Speeches

Mr President, the clock is ticking for Europe. According to the European Defence Agency, EU defence spending reached 1.9 % of GDP in 2024 and may finally exceed NATO’s 2 % target in 2025. You heard right: may exceed NATO’s 2 % target in 2025. It’s ridiculous that it has taken over 10 years to reach a target that is now outdated, while the new benchmark is 5 %. Look at Finland or Poland after the war started in Ukraine: a sharp increase in defence spending. This proves that when there is political will, it is possible. Europe needs sovereign states that are willing – and able – to invest in their own security. That is the path to real security. Europe cannot deter or defend anything in 2030 if we cannot already produce and deploy in 2025.

Mr President, let me offer an example from Finland when discussing the grids package and energy infrastructure. We have not been waiting for EU-level strategies. We have been investing heavily in our own capacity, including nuclear power. Today, we are very close to full annual self-sufficiency when it comes to electricity. Our main grid transmission reliability rate is almost 100 %. This has not happened because Madam Ursula designed a grand plan, but because we took responsibility. This is the point. Strong national investments work. Finland doesn't want to pay other countries' electricity bills. What the EU needs is Member States with their own critical infrastructure funded by themselves – not centralised communist plans.

Mr President, at the Saarijärvi Straits the farmer Paavo once said to his wife: "Place in the bread half of the bedbugs, for our neighbor took away the frost." --------------------------------------- Almost 200 years later, it is time for Finnish farmers to hear a new kind of warning: If the majority has a green-left EU power, it will go under your bread. The harsh truth is this: In recent years, the EU's agricultural policy has focused on greening, as it should have focused on increasing European food production. These farmers and their tractors are not going to rush in Europe's cities to protest. They have, once and for all, come to the full measure of this crackdown on European food production. It's time to admit that excessive green humps and the production of pork-bovine minced meat just don't go together. I have to choose, and for me that choice is easy: I always choose European food production.

My colleague, Trump is only talking to Russia because Europe is so weak that it has not invested in its defence. If we had invested in defence, Europe would be involved in the negotiations. You condemned the defence arms race in Europe. This is exactly what Trump and Putin want to see in Europe. When Russia spends 40% of its budget on the military industry, should Europe not invest in defence?

Mr President, Europe must finally start to realise the true gravity of our dismal defence readiness. It is a matter of life and death. The fact that the eligibility for research and innovation funding will now be extended to European defence companies is a big step in the right direction. I think that the fact that we even have to take this kind of decision now shows how lost most of the politicians in Europe have been in the past. If our security has not been worth our research and innovation funding, may I ask what has been more important? Actually, there is another good thing about this regulatory change: when EU funding is flowing to industries that actually matter, it won't be going to areas to which EU money should not be going in the first place.

Mr President, Marseille, France, is in chaos. Drug gangs have taken over the city, they incite fear, recruit younger and younger people, and shootings have become commonplace. Unfortunately, by European standards, the development of the city is quite familiar. Like many other major European cities, Marseille has a large immigrant population and, less surprisingly, has faced major challenges. Failure to address the problems adequately has led to the emergence of parallel societies. Rules and Europe are giving way to turmoil. People are brutally killed. The so-called "barbecue" is one of the typical ways drug gangs exploit lives: First they shoot, then they set the body on fire. Ladies and gentlemen, we are losing Europe one city at a time. Is it time to wake up?

Madam President, dear colleague Langensiepen, it is truly offensive when you shout out from the podium calling this side fascists. My brother has Down syndrome. In Finland, the laws allow abortion almost up to the fifth month, but people like my brother or those with deformities can be aborted even a month later. What message does this send to these people? Well, that they are not equal. And this is something you Greens have supported in Finland, even though we on the right have many times demanded that this be corrected. You on the green left, have been the most active in promoting the screening of children in the womb and afterwards allowing abortion if the disabled child is not desirable. That is the purification of humankind into one kind and that is fascism. And also, my colleague Langensiepen, even if one was a person with a disability, it does not have to mean that they have a disability in manners.

Madam President, the EU-UK trade agreement is a lesson for the EU. When Brexit took effect, did the trade across the Channel suddenly grind to a halt? Was the UK suddenly inaccessible to continental Europeans? Did the UK collapse? Of course not. The British are doing more than fine without so-called 'help' from Ms von der Leyen or any of us here in this Chamber. The Brits know pretty darn well how to run their own country. Dear colleagues, we all know how to run our own countries better than the EU ever could. Let this be a wake-up call, Ms von der Leyen. We don't need your endless EU regulations. We don't need your harmful Green Deal. We don't need your mass migration. What we need are stronger national states.

Madam President, I can't help but notice that there are no 'Free Sudan' flags in this House. Why is that? Those who made freeing Palestine their entire identity are strangely silent on this issue. Where is the outrage about the systematic ethnic violence against black African non-Arab people in Sudan, or about the 12 million Sudanese fleeing death? Do they not deserve your passion? You raged at Israel's defensive war against Hamas, yet I don't see even a quarter of that energy aimed at those responsible for more than 150 000 deaths in two years in Sudan. Have you lost your voice when it comes to the over 4 million children facing acute malnourishment? This is beyond hypocritical. It is a complete disgrace.

Mr President, the phrase that we Finns are familiar with on TV, 'you can't stop money from coming', here in the EU, bends to 'you can't put up with money'. These are the kind of consumer collusion that the spot does not come, but is constantly moved forward and billet it as it continues. 8 billion euros in stimulus package interest rates. On top, of course, of 20 billion euros in social, or should I say socialist, cohesion. EUR 42 billion for territorial cohesion and nowhere to be found. Do I need to continue? Dear Left and the so-called centre-right: Do you have any idea what would be said to wasters like you in any successful company? You have seriously neglected our common interest – you will be fired.

Mr President, what is the EU to China? It is a soft organisation for China that is not expected to cause any harm. At the same time, the EU is China's main trading partner. EU exports of goods and services to China last year amounted to around EUR 270 billion. The United States is a much smaller trading partner for China, but it is still the United States, whose levers China fears. We are not a tariff-loving people and believe in free trade, but we should be aware that we are sitting on a huge China lever. We must not submit to any kind of extortion from China. If we are mittens for China now, we can be mittens for it also in the future. A tougher China policy is Europe's key to a safer tomorrow.

Mr President, democracy is something we all believe in. But where we disagree is on who gets to decide what disinformation or hate speech is, and who defines what harmful content is. I was once in an election debate where I was told by a current EPP MEP that believing in God and posting about it on Facebook was misinformation. Unbelievable. Genuine immigration concerns can easily be labelled as extremism or hate speech, when in truth, millions of Europeans are concerned about the erosion of their cultures. Democracy depends on open and free debates, on hearing views you might not like and defeating them with better arguments if you can. Anything less than that turns the tool of safeguarding democracy into chains of authoritarianism. If we do that, we can no longer call ourselves democratic.

Mr President, no society will survive without defenders. If hardness is not found, someone will march in and destroy what we have built. Right now, it's Russia. Throughout its history, Finland has played its part in keeping our boundaries. Countries that have no border with Russia should understand that frontline countries are not any security guards behind whom you can take it more relaxed. Everyone in Europe must now take on the role of security guard. Everyone has to spend a lot of money to buy the hardness that Europe has been saving for decades. The alternative is to continue neglecting security, expecting the attacker to intensify and, when it strikes, to run all the way to the Atlantic coast. This is not even an option for us Finns.

Madam President, 239 000. This insane figure is the amount of irregular border crossings reported on the EU's external borders in 2024. Migrant smugglers are sneaking people into Europe and making unbelievable profit doing so. Leftist policy is often directed against the rich. But when I look at the naive leftist migration policy, I can't help thinking that these rich smugglers would all be voting for leftist European politicians. Why? Because politicians on the right would swiftly shut down their business by closing our borders. So, let's be honest. To save Europe, the rotten era of European leftism and migration smugglers must end now.

Mr President, democracy and the rule of law are the cornerstones that Europe was built upon. There should be no room in Europe for corruption. Judicial independence, free media and the right to assembly must be protected. While we are seeing signs that these values are under threat in Hungary, the European institutions have done a terrible job in addressing legitimate issues. Instead of fact‑based and objective evaluations, the EU keeps focusing on Hungarian healthcare systems, family policies and even Hungarian public transport. The EU is making a fool of itself. If the EU elite is so worried about Hungarian public transport, healthcare and so on, maybe you should resign, move to Hungary and try to fix these issues because, as an EU representative, these matters do not belong to your table.

Mr President, it is great that there has been a ceasefire in Gaza in accordance with the Trump peace plan. In the first phase of the plan, Hamas pledged to return every hostage to Israel, including the dead. The idea was to do this quickly and move quickly to the second phase, disarmament. The problem is that after more than a month, the bodies of four hostages are still in Gaza. Hamas has already been caught fooling around giving Israel the bodies of wrong people or just body parts. Playing with something like this is sick and reflects Hamas. The existence of Hamas in Gaza must not be forgotten, even though the ceasefire calmed the flames. On the contrary, we must now do everything we can to disarm and remove this barbaric terrorist organisation from Gaza. It is a prerequisite for lasting peace.

Mr President, the EU is falling behind global rivals in AI. I don't think we truly understand the urgency with which we need to act before it's too late. The exponential growth of AI is unlike anything we've ever seen in human history. The US created 40 foundational models in 2020, China 15, the EU only 3. Regulation on the use of data and the slow adoption of AI use in industry are major barriers in scaling. So is the price of energy. Power demand of AI data centres is estimated to rise 165 % by 2030. Falling behind in the AI race would be like missing out on the Industrial Revolution 100 times over. We either deregulate or risk losing all relevance on the world stage in just a few years.

Mr President, the construction of the Eurozone is progressing. The EU Commission is constantly threatening the right of Member States to decide on their taxes. This time, the monster's name is BEFIT, a common corporate tax base. For the socialists, this equalization and the killing of competition is one celebration, but for the coalition parties: Why are you back on the left? The proposal also mentions the term "Union tax policy". Excuse me, what? According to the Treaties, taxation is one of those matters for which the Union has nothing, so there should be no 'Union tax policy'. As proposals like this go through, it is only a matter of time before the EU, instead of nation states, finally both regulates and collects taxes, and countries can only hope that some scraps will be recovered. Unlike the Coalition Party, I am voting against the BEFIT monster.

Mr President, in its federal belligerents and greenheads, the EU is once again expanding a supranational agency. This time it is the Maritime Safety Agency. Judging by the name, one would think that the Agency's task would be precisely to promote maritime safety. However, this proposal will make the Agency a stronger climate actor. With the aim of securing shipping, it is now decided to start reporting also emissions from ships' barrels. The very core of maritime safety. Greetings to the Commission: Despite the climate emergency, the reality is that Finland's sea areas are freezing. When ships push through the ice, it causes emissions, whether we like it or not. But what we do not want is officials authorised by the Commission to blame the soot of our pipes.