Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Europe is today trapped by a bureaucratic monster. Over the last five years, more than 13,000 legislative acts have been adopted. Yes, you hear me right! More than thirteen thousand rules, regulations, restrictions that not only stifle our businesses, but also our common future. Brussels has become a bureaucratic factory in which papers are produced, but not solutions. Instead of untying the hands of entrepreneurs, we are tying them up with more and more loops of unnecessary regulation. What about our glorious digital and green transitions? Instead of making progress, they are tools of economic suicide. Small businesses face huge costs – fifty-three billion euros a year for digital compliance alone, and another twenty-eight billion euros for green legislation. These initiatives, which look like the future, are in fact a death sentence for many companies. It's time for a radical change. It is no longer possible to see Brussels destroying the European economy under the guise of sustainability and progress. We need to simplify the rules, get rid of this bureaucratic hydra and return Europe to real competitiveness. Europe is in a deep coma from which it may never recover.

Mr President, Commissioner, affordable housing is something of a cornerstone on which every successful state and a strong Europe must stand. It is a topic that resonates in every Member State across the political spectrum and social groups. The European Union is talking about grand plans, but in reality we are still in a dense web of bureaucracy and opaque public support rules. Commissioner, allow Member States to invest in housing without public support rules. This is not competition, housing is not competition to the private sector. The Commission always comes up with a plan that looks beautiful on paper, but what happens in reality? For example: How do you intend to incentivise Member States and their citizens to invest in the renovation of houses and apartments when you are enshrining them with rigid regulations? What about the so-called green mortgages? Other beautiful words that mask the fact that low-income people simply can't reach them. We must be uncompromising. We want housing for people, not for papers. Affordable housing – not just social housing – is more than a matter of policy for all. It is a question of dignity, stability and the future of the whole of Europe.

Madam President, Mrs Reintke, on behalf of the Greens, has no right to say who is welcome in the European Parliament and who is not. I welcome you here, Prime Minister, and like you, I expected a completely different debate, so I would like to invite you all to reflect and return to your roots. The motto of the European Union is "United in diversity" and should lead to unity, not division. Presidency of Hungary with its motto "Make Europe Great Again"it reminds us that Europe can and must be a global player. This symbol, represented by the Rubik's Cube – a brilliant invention that, like Europe, is complex but always has a solution – shows us that, although each state has its own different priorities, there is room for unification. And right now, it's time to build bridges, not walls. Hungary is not a problem. Hungary is a partner that offers solutions and has the right to be respected. A Europe divided in opinions may be strong, but a Europe divided in spirit does not stand a chance.

Madam President, Commissioner, if there is anything that should bind us together, it is the fate of the car industry and with it tens of thousands of jobs. The European Commission is pushing for a 15% reduction in fleet emissions by 2025. But what does it really bring us? Brussels' dreams are turning into real nightmares for our producers. The infrastructure is insufficient, the demand for electric vehicles is stagnating and electric vehicles remain a luxury that most Czech households simply cannot afford. Now tell me: How can automakers, including the Czech Škoda Auto, reduce emissions when they lack the basic conditions for success? We need a solution that keeps our engines running – not just environmentally, but economically. Let us preserve our jobs, our factories, and let our industrial heart beat. It is necessary to repeal the regulation from 2035 for cars with internal combustion engines and stop the absurd ambitions of the European Commission to ban or order anything. Let us support plug-in hybrids and alternative fuels to help reduce emissions in the existing fleet. Let's be realistic, let's revise Green Deal, which must not become an ideology, but must stand on reality. The European Union has shown in the past that it can act sensibly when responding flexibly to problems in, for example, aviation or agricultural technology. Why not now? Why don't we protect our own industries and jobs for Europeans?

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, those who have experienced floods know well that sometimes nature cannot be fought. Sometimes we just have to step back and try to mitigate the damage. The Czech Republic is currently facing devastating floods that are destroying our homes and infrastructure. This natural disaster shows that we need not only immediate help, but also long-term solutions. I call on the European Commission to focus on concrete actions that will protect our country and other states in the future. Unfortunately, only in the Czech Republic we have three victims and there are seven missing people. Water is now beginning to decline in some parts of the Czech Republic, slowly revealing the extent of the damage it has caused. For example, the Mayor of Opava, the Czech statutory city, estimates the damage to be more than two billion crowns. Municipalities and entrepreneurs estimate the total damage to be approximately CZK 20 billion, which is approximately EUR 817 million, or 0.3% of the GDP of the Czech Republic. And this is already a significant intervention in the Czech economy. However, this scale of destruction brings not only material damage, but also new threats, such as the spread of diseases. I propose to launch a programme to build flood protection measures across the European Union, because water knows no borders. We need to share the best technology and know-how to protect our communities. Together, we can strengthen dams, create retention tanks, modernize drainage systems. Investing in these measures is not an expense, but an opportunity to secure a safer future. Bureaucratic paralysis, for example, is behind the dam project in Nové Heřminovy, which could have prevented billions of dollars of damage. It is also necessary to strengthen research and development on climate change and disaster prevention, to modernise monitoring systems and to improve river basin management. They can save thousands of lives. From this place, I would like to thank the Integrated Rescue System and ask all of us to applaud them together.

...obstacles to innovation, the European Commission comes up with further regulations that stifle European entrepreneurs. Our entrepreneurs face constant bureaucratic hurdles. What do we see in real life? Trade union leaders during a strike in Brussels yesterday pointed to a broader threat to industry. A union representative at the Audi factory said: "We also want to send a clear message to the European authorities, which are complicating the situation for Belgian industry, but also for European industry. The manufacturing sector is leaving our countries in the first place.” This event is just further evidence of how European industry is under pressure, while the European Commission remains blind to reality. So what to say in conclusion? Wake up, Europe! Wake up!

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the report on Europe's competitiveness is full of alarming data which should lead to an immediate response. What does the European Commission offer us instead? Analyses, forecasts, while losing key industries that will decide our future. The European Union, once a centre of innovation and technological progress, is now lagging behind its global competitors. The facts are relentless. Only four of the 50 largest technology companies in the world are European. Meanwhile, the United States and China control more than two-thirds of the global market for cloud technologies and artificial intelligence. How is it possible that Europe has been pushed into a corner? The answer is clear. We lack the will to make the necessary changes and admit mistakes. Instead of removing... (The Chair interrupted the speaker)

Madam President, we are in the European Parliament. All of us, as we sit here, have been democratically elected and represent millions of voters of differing opinions. During her previous mandate, the President put on the European Union an iron jacket of measures that stifle our competitiveness and increase the cost of living for ordinary people. All in the name of the European climate. But there is no such concept. There is only a global climate. The consequence of this policy is an increase in Europe's dependence on third countries and its huge overregulation. Europeans want a strong, secure and competitive Europe. The aim of the European Commission should be to find common paths across the political spectrum in all Member States. Instead, we are witnessing a chess game in which you arbitrarily decided that your opponent's pieces would cease to be valid. Europeans need solid ground, not liquid sands of insecurity. You tell us that only your path is the right one, and anyone who disagrees with you is automatically anti-European. This is a simplified and very dangerous logic that undermines the foundations on which our Union is built. What happened to our common motto ‘United in diversity’? The European Union was built on the principles of tolerance, dialogue and respect. The elections have clearly shown that citizens want change, but instead you plead for the voice of those who behave as if there are no elections. Please respect the voters and their choices.