What Helmut spoke about.

7

Jul

2025

EN Speech

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Commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide

Madam President, dear colleagues, I've been to Srebrenica; I know how much pain is there, if you look in the eyes of the relatives of the countless victims. It was predominantly men who were killed, but also women and children. They endured unimaginable horrors. The pain remains a stark reminder of those terrible days of July 1995. Some of the Bosnian perpetrators – including the leader Ratko Mlad…

22

May

2025

EN Speech

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Choose Europe for Science (debate)

Mr President, some right-wing colleagues told us that Trump wants to chase away just the 'woke' scientists. That's wrong. I have here the editorial of The Lancet, a well-known publication of science. What they're writing is that Elon Musk's department slashed federal budgets and awards, interrupting investigations into paediatric cancer, diabetes, HIV, prematurely ending at least 113 clinical tria…

21

May

2025

EN Speech

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The Hungarian government's drift to Russia-style repression: legislative threats to freedom of expression and democratic participation (debate)

Mr President, how I love these really strong men – autocrats – when they are trembling. And now I see Mr Orbán is trembling. He's afraid of the situation. But what's the situation? He says it's about transparency. He wants more transparency. OK, let's have more transparency about corruption. Let's have more transparency: what do you do with the money? Let's have transparency: why is his family so …

7

May

2025

EN Speech

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

Madam President, there's a group from the Ukraine Leadership Academy in the House today. I saw them already in Vienna, and they are the future of Ukraine. They told me that of course they want peace, but they also want freedom. And I will tell you this: one day some of them will be here as Members of the European Parliament. They have understood that without freedom there is no lasting peace. And …

6

May

2025

EN Speech

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2023 and 2024 reports on Serbia (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, first of all, thank you very much for the cooperation for the report. I went to Serbia last week to talk to parties of government and opposition and to civil society, and of course, to mourn the victims of Novi Sad – 16 people died there. When I was in Serbia, I realised how terrible the oppression of the free media is, how the secret service is spying on and wiretap…

3

Apr

2025

DE Speech

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110th anniversary of the Armenian genocide

Mr President, Commissioner! The Austrian writer Franz Werfel has the genocide of the Armenians very well in his book The Forty Days of Musa Dagh described. Franz Werfel was Jewish. The book was burned in Germany in 1933. And just as we, today’s generation of Germans, Austrians and others, are not to blame for the Holocaust, but have the responsibility to talk about it, to remember it, so today’s T…

2

Apr

2025

EN Speech

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Immediate risk of further repression by Lukashenka’s regime in Belarus - threats from the Investigative Committee (debate)

Madam President, Madame Commissaire, Belarusians are Europeans just like us – they share our values, they want to live with us, and one day they will find their rightful place in the European family. Until then, they have to fight for freedom, and we have to support them. Especially, we have to support now their political prisoners. Sergei Tsikhanouski is one of them, and he's in prison because he…

2

Apr

2025

DE Speech

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Execution spree in Iran and the confirmation of the death sentences of activists Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner! Iran is a beautiful, wonderful country with a wonderful population, a very interesting history and at the same time a government that does everything it can to destroy this country and above all to destroy the people of this country – with a very special organisation, the so-called Revolutionary Guards. It is important to me that we also call them a terrorist organizati…

1

Apr

2025

EN Speech

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Safeguarding the access to democratic media, such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, I had a wonderful teacher as a journalist, Hugo Portisch. He learned in America, and he told me it's the land of the free speech – that's what we have to take to Europe. And that's what he did, and that's how we grew up. And now if I listen to Mr Trump, he hates journalists, he wants to decide who's reporting, and this Mr Vance is coming to Europe and he …

11

Mar

2025

DE Speech

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White paper on the future of European defence (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, We, my generation, we are the happiest generation that has grown up in Europe, in free Europe. And it is the responsibility of our generation and those who have subsequently been given the freedom to ensure that the next generations can also live in peace and freedom. I always say: We haven't done anything about it, but now we need to do something …

10

Mar

2025

EN Speech

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Establishing the Reform and Growth Facility for the Republic of Moldova (debate)

Madam President, first of all, I want to say Austria has a good tradition, more than 20 years of development cooperation with Moldova, so we know very good development. And so thank you, Commissioner, that you talked about the enlargement of the EU also with Moldova within the next years. Of course, we see the geopolitical situation. We see what Russia is doing. Russia is destroying; Europe helps …

11

Feb

2025

EN Speech

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Political crisis in Serbia (debate)

Madam President, Madam Commissioner, Minister, I would like also to express my deepest condolences with the victims of the Novi Sad tragedy. Here's the point: it has to be investigated, but people do not believe that Vučić allows a real investigation. What the people want and why they go on the street: they want rule of law, they want freedom of speech, they want to express without limitation and …

11

Feb

2025

DE Speech

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Continuing the unwavering EU support for Ukraine, after three years of Russia’s war of aggression (debate)

Mr President, Madam Commissioner, Minister, dear disciples, many important things have been said. I want to concentrate on one group of the victims and that is the children. Just imagine you have a child, you go to bed and you don't know if the child is still alive the next day in the morning, there might be a rocket from Russia. Imagine your child has cancer, you bring it to a hospital and it's k…

22

Jan

2025

FR Speech

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Case of Boualem Sansal in Algeria

Madam President, Commissioner, 'I do not agree with what you are saying, but I will fight to the death so that you have the right to say it'. These words attributed to Voltaire are at the heart of European values. The arrest of Boualem Sansal violates the fundamental principle of democracy: freedom of expression. His arrest is not an isolated incident, but part of a broader crackdown on dissenting…

22

Jan

2025

EN Speech

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Presentation of the programme of activities of the Polish Presidency (debate)

Madam President, I would like to thank the Prime Minister for for talking about security. I'm from Austria – a neutral country – and for us, it's also very important. I have to inform you that we have a right-wing party, FPÖ, pro-Putin, and they are against Sky Shield now. All the other parties are in favour of Sky Shield because security is so important for us. But now, your friends in the Österr…

21

Jan

2025

DE Speech

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Further deterioration of the political situation in Georgia (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner! In Australia, I'm sometimes asked: Why are you dealing with Georgia? Then I can say: Yes, because Georgia was once a prime example of democracy and has become an authoritarian state; No, it was made an authoritarian state by an oligarch, a man who just wanted to make money, along with another, an unscrupulous man, the one in Moscow, a war criminal who wants to occupy th…

21

Jan

2025

EN Speech

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Need for actions to address the continued oppression and fake elections in Belarus (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, it's 31 years that this dictator, this ruthless dictator, imprisons and tortures his opponents. He brutally represses the public and hands over his country to the Kremlin. By the way, it's interesting there are no Patriots here, no Patriots speaking. Why? Because they are Putin's propagandists. They wouldn't be critical to Lukashenka because they are all in one camp.…

20

Jan

2025

DE Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Exactly 44 years ago, as an Austrian, as a young Austrian, I was allowed to start a traineeship at the European Commission – all young people. It was clear to us: Our fathers shot each other, we live in a better Austria. Then it took a few more years and exactly 30 years ago Austria joined the European Community – a unique success story. The EU is a peace pro…

18

Dec

2024

EN Speech

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Continued repression of civil society and independent media in Azerbaijan and the cases of Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu, Anar Mammadli, Kamran Mammadli, Rufat Safarov and Meydan TV

Mr President, dear colleagues, you already talked about Doctor Gubad Ibadoghlu and we talked to him and at the same time there was his daughter, and she cannot go to him and he cannot go to her. I have two daughters and I really have a hard time not talking about this – how impossible is this situation for these people? We know about the hundreds of millions, obviously, that Aliyev and his people …

18

Dec

2024

EN Speech

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11th year of the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation and the deteriorating human rights situation in occupied Crimea, notably the cases of Iryna Danylovych, Tofik Abdulhaziiev and Amet Suleymanov

Mr President, dear colleagues, you are very right: we have to do something and not only talk about it. But first of all we have to explain it also to our voters, to the people in Europe, what is happening in Crimea. It didn't start in 2022 – no, it was more than eight years before. Then, many European companies, also Austrian companies, continued to have business with Putin, which is a problem. We…

17

Dec

2024

EN Speech

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Russia’s disinformation and historical falsification to justify its war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, for years already, Putin has been waging a war against us Europeans in different ways, with obvious lies, like his essay a year before the full-scale occupation of Ukraine, that there was no Ukrainian nation existing. He complained that we do not see how great the Soviet Union was and he always said that there are no borders for the Russkiy Mir. All this was no ac…

17

Dec

2024

DE Speech

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Misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms, such as TikTok, and related risks to the integrity of elections in Europe (debate)

Mr President! Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Russia and China are interfering in our democracy, interfering in our elections. The right-wing extremists do not bother, but they are even happy about it, and then they come and talk about censorship. The interesting thing is: They use the same phrases used by the Putin propagandists. We see a strong connection here. So these are Putin's friends w…

26

Nov

2024

IT Speech

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Reinforcing EU’s unwavering support to Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression and the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia (debate)

23

Oct

2024

EN Speech

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Foreign interference and hybrid attacks: the need to strengthen EU resilience and internal security (debate)

Mr President, Mr Commissioner, we Europeans, we have an idea of freedom and democracy based on enlightenment. Dictators have a plan to destroy our life, to destroy our values. And part of the values, Mr László, is media freedom. Putin attacked Ukraine with rockets, but he also attacks us by other means. Also Russia, China, Iran and other illiberal actors, they are waging a hybrid war against our d…

22

Oct

2024

EN Speech

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Situation in Azerbaijan, violation of human rights and international law and relations with Armenia (debate)

Mr President, Mr Commissioner, if I understood you rightly, you said that COP29 is a chance for Mr Aliyev to show that there are human rights in Azerbaijan. I'm afraid he doesn't care for human rights. He probably doesn't even know the word. If I think back to Sochi 2014, what happened a few months after Sochi? Did Putin care for human rights? No, he occupied Crimea. And with Aliyev you also see a…