What Yannis spoke about.

25

Nov

2025

EL Speech

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Effective use of the EU trade and industrial policy to tackle China’s export restrictions (debate)

Madam President, critical raw materials are essential ingredients for sustaining the Union’s economic, environmental and digital ambitions; Basically, for our own safety. Over 80% of large European companies are exposed to Chinese supplies of rare earths. The Union’s response must be swift and dynamic in all trade instrumentalisation practices. Member States must speed up the implementation of the…

25

Nov

2025

EL Speech

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European Defence Industry Programme and a framework of measures to ensure the timely availability and supply of defence products (‘EDIP’) (debate)

Madam President, the agreement on the leading European programme for the European defence industry EDIP is proof of Parliament's positive involvement in the negotiations. Firstly, unlike SAFE, we have strengthened European preference. We imposed strict eligibility criteria, promoting in practice our independence from third countries. Secondly, we have ensured that not a single euro from the budget…

24

Nov

2025

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30th anniversary of the Barcelona Process and the new pact for the Mediterranean (debate)

22

Oct

2025

EL Speech

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 23 October 2025 (debate)

Madam President, the challenges in Poland, Romania, the Baltic countries, but also drone incidents in Denmark, Belgium and Germany have shown that immediate action is needed at European level so that we can deal with modern threats. The Commission's Defence Roadmap is a useful tool but not enough in itself. The European Council should also give the necessary political guidance so that it does not …

21

Oct

2025

EL Speech

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Recent peace agreement in the Middle East and the role of the EU (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the ceasefire agreement and the return of the hostages after two years of captivity is an important step towards de-escalation and creating conditions for dialogue. However, the path to lasting and sustainable peace will not be easy. Over the past two days, we have seen how fragile this truce is. But we must not let the opportunity go to waste. …

8

Oct

2025

EL Speech

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United response to recent Russian violations of the EU Member States’ airspace and critical infrastructure (debate)

Madam President, Madam President of the Commission, what has happened in recent weeks is unacceptable. Russia is testing our capabilities and endurance and, unfortunately, it turned out that we are not ready. As Europe, we need to adapt immediately to the new techniques of warfare. It is neither viable nor effective to shoot down drones of a few thousand euros with missiles of millions. We need to…

7

Oct

2025

EL Speech

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New Strategic EU-India Agenda (debate)

Mr President, India is one of the most important countries in Asia, with an ever-growing economy, which will become the third largest in the world by 2030. Last February, the communication on our new strategic relationship was an extremely positive step. We hope soon to have a mutually beneficial agreement on economic, trade and geopolitical issues, including environmental, sustainability, democra…

7

Oct

2025

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The EU’s role in supporting the recent peace efforts for Gaza and a two-state solution (debate)

Mr President, two years after the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, the pain and suffering continue. The hostage relatives are still waiting for their return. Gaza has been destroyed. 67,000 Palestinians – of whom over 20,000 children – have died. From the very beginning, we recognised Israel’s right to defend itself, but this does not give it the right to violate international law by blocking …

10

Sep

2025

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State of the Union (debate)

Madam President, dear President Von Der Leyen, let me begin by thanking to the Greek lieutenant all the firefighters who throughout Europe struggle with self-denial every summer in order to protect all of us. These firefighters, however, must be supported at both national and European level. Madam President, geopolitical developments are pushing us to the sidelines. We want a stronger Europe in Ga…

9

Sep

2025

EL Speech

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Gaza at breaking point: EU action to combat famine, the urgent need to release hostages and move towards a two-state solution (debate)

Madam President, we are not allowed to pretend that we do not see what is happening in Gaza. Humanitarian disaster and hunger are not natural phenomena that happen. They are the result of the policy of the Netanyahu government that does not hesitate to use hunger as a weapon, and as our resolution states, to commit crimes against humanity, even genocide, in order to remain in power. Every day hund…

8

Sep

2025

EN Speech

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Announcement by the President

Madam President, dear colleagues, I want to express the Parliament's deepest solidarity with the victims and the injured of today's tragic terrorist attack in Jerusalem, and also underline our closeness towards all the victims of the terrible ongoing war in Gaza. I hope that this House will be up to the seriousness of the situation in the resolution we will adopt this week.…

9

Jul

2025

EL Speech

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Urgent need to protect religious minorities in Syria following the recent terrorist attack on Mar Elias Church in Damascus

Mr President, the terrorist attack on the Greek Orthodox church of Prophet Elijah in Damascus, Syria, with 25 dead and more than 60 wounded, reminds us that the fall of the Assad regime alone is not enough to turn the page in this troubled region. The increase in religiously motivated terrorist attacks, violence, abductions, and intimidation of Syrian Christians have increased significantly in rec…

8

Jul

2025

EL Speech

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Situation in the Middle East (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, if anything has emerged since the last crisis in the Middle East, it is the Union's inability to play an essential role in developments in a region of the highest geopolitical importance. This weakness was particularly evident during the attacks in Iran. While the world around us is changing, the Middle East strategy has been referred by the Commission in the…

8

Jul

2025

EL Speech

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Preparation for the 2025 EU–China Summit - Tackling China's critical raw materials export restrictions

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the European Union-China summit comes at a geopolitically highly sensitive time. Our relationship with China is complex but important. It is enough to remember the bilateral trade of 750 billion euros every year, but also our trade deficit of more than 300 billion euros every year. We as a Union must have a comprehensive strategy with our values as a compass,…

18

Jun

2025

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Electricity grids: the backbone of the EU energy system (debate)

Mr President, grids and storage are at the core of our future energy system. They are necessary to enable cheap renewables to set final energy prices for consumers, which unfortunately we have not yet achieved. Both the revision of the Trans-European Networks Regulation and the next multiannual financial programming should accelerate investments. A framework that gives priority to energy security …

18

Jun

2025

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Upcoming NATO summit on 24-26 June 2025 (debate)

Madam President, the upcoming NATO summit comes at a time when threats to Europe's security are at their highest. The war in Ukraine, the conflicts in the Middle East, the emergence of new regional revisionist powers – all this creates a new geopolitical environment. The dangers are no longer limited to threats of conventional military confrontation. On the contrary, we are seeing an increase in h…

17

Jun

2025

EL Speech

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Situation in the Middle East (joint debate)

Madam President, High Representative, the expansion of the war in Iran with the Israeli attacks is a very significant and dangerous escalation in the region, with potentially catastrophic consequences across Europe. At the same time as the world's attention has shifted further east, to Iran, the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip continues, with the number of Palestinian civilians losing their …

17

Jun

2025

EL Speech

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Two years since the devastating Tempi rail accident (debate)

Mr President, today we are discussing the tragedy of Tempi, a railway accident that has rocked my country – and we are discussing it today, because we are facing a double scandal. The first scandal is the tragedy of the collision of two trains that were on the same line without any safety system in place, resulting in the death of 57 of our fellow human beings, mainly young children. A crime for w…

16

Jun

2025

EL Speech

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Signature of acts adopted in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (Rule 81)

Madam President, a few weeks ago, by decision of an Egyptian court, the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine of Sinai – the oldest continuously inhabited monastery in the world – was stripped of the property of the monastery itself, as well as of the adjacent lands. Thus, the operation of the monastery depends solely on the goodwill of the Egyptian state, which is now the owner. The monks are ordinar…

21

May

2025

EL Speech

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The EU's response to the Israeli government's plan to seize the Gaza Strip, ensuring effective humanitarian support and the liberation of hostages (debate)

Madam President, an ethnic cleansing is taking place in Gaza right now. The United Nations is talking about 14,000 children who could starve to death in the coming hours. We are no longer allowed to remain silent. Yesterday's decision to revise the EU-Israel Association Agreement is welcome. Some countries, including Greece, unfortunately did not support it, which deeply offends the Greek people. …

7

May

2025

EL Speech

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EU support for a just, sustainable and comprehensive peace in Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, in recent weeks we have seen that, despite Ukraine's proposal for a ceasefire, Russia is continuing its illegal war and missile and drone attacks on populated areas. In April alone, more than 150 civilians were killed. From the very beginning, we have advocated a just, viable and cohesive peaceful solution. A peaceful solution that respects international law, preserves Ukraine's terr…

6

May

2025

EL Speech

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2023 and 2024 reports on Türkiye (debate)

Mr President, for yet another year we see that Turkey continues to move away from Europe, with persistent violations of human rights and the rule of law. At the same time, its provocative behavior in the Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean and Cyprus is constantly intensifying. The threat of casus belli continues, and I thank our rapporteur for accepting the rewording I proposed to him on this point. Du…

6

May

2025

EL Speech

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Protecting Greenland's right to decide its own future and maintain the rule-based world order (debate)

Madam President, we have a duty to stand by Denmark and the people of Greenland so that they can decide their own future. Our solidarity stems from our faith in international law, the territorial integrity of all Member States and the self-determination of peoples. Faced with the neo-colonial attitude of the President of the United States, the European Union must stand united. To present in practi…

6

May

2025

EL Speech

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A unified EU response to unjustified US trade measures and global trade opportunities for the EU (debate)

Mr President, Trump's decision to impose 20% tariffs on European products and the €1 trillion trade war will negatively affect both Europe and the United States. Despite their postponement until July, tariffs of 10 percent have already started to apply, while 25 percent tariffs remain on aluminum, steel and cars. The European Union should use the period until July to negotiate an agreement that ad…

5

May

2025

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Preparation of the EU-UK summit (debate)