Speeches

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the European Union is suffering from excessive legislative zeal, which has put many economic sectors in difficulty in the French and German automotive industry. What about the real leap forward in the enlargement of the European Union? There is a need for less dispersion, more coherence and greater transparency of responsibilities. Parliament can no longer confine itself to amending the Commission's texts by adding constraints. Parliament must also stop amending until the last minute. Democracy requires more seriousness. Better regulation also means saying no to the Commission and rejecting unnecessary or dangerous proposals. Let's establish a clear discipline: one rule created, two simplified or deleted. Generalize review clauses with measurable indicators and sunset dates. We demand impact assessments that integrate industrial realities and geopolitical balances. In a world of power, let's stop penalizing ourselves. Thank you.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, when leaders escape the common rules, seem untouchable, collective trust collapses and citizens turn away from the institutions. Plato said it already, the city is corrupted when the leaders pursue their personal interest. We need to be clear, consistent and decisive. Sanctions must be genuinely dissuasive. We need to strengthen the control of conflicts of interest, speed up judicial proceedings, introduce automatic ineligibility for any conviction related to corruption or embezzlement of public funds. Let us empower the EPPO to prosecute fraud, abuse, active and passive corruption. Ladies and gentlemen, in a democracy, authority comes not from strength, but from trust. The rule must be simple: the higher the liability, the stronger the requirement for exemplarity. It is at this price that we will preserve the confidence of the citizens and therefore the solidity of our democracy.

Madam President, the European Union is facing a hemorrhage of its own talents. What measures should we take to bring back to Europe our researchers who have gone to enrich laboratories and companies in the United States? What measures should be taken to stop the bleeding of the young people we have trained and who are going into exile? For my part, I find that we do not take this strategic subject seriously enough for our autonomy, which is precisely strategic. Last point: I would like to draw your attention to our inconsistencies. We organize ourselves the plundering of the talents of the countries of the South, such as those of the Maghreb and Africa. Most remain in Europe, which is detrimental to this part of the world. And this plays a direct role in the fact that the poor, then, come to increase the migratory flows against which we, at the level of the European Union, are rightly fighting. We are fighting against these large-scale migratory flows. It doesn't make much sense. Colleagues, we are walking on our heads. I call collectively for more coherence in our European policies.

Madam President, there are some who oppose the defence budget and education. Dangerous illusion. Defence is the condition for our collective survival. If we are killed, the question of education will not even arise. Education experts are clear: A lot is played before the age of six. It is therefore a race against time, hence the urgency for the school to refocus on the fundamentals, which Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu recalled very well. And we must stop dispersing into peripheral missions, sometimes totally unsuited to the age of young children. We must also launch communication campaigns to make families aware of the importance of sleep, which is essential for learning. Too many children arrive exhausted in class, unable to concentrate and memorize. Finally, unsuitable school rhythms, too long summer holidays, drastically increase inequalities. We need to rethink all these and many other points.

Madam President, the European Union has a unique voice on the international stage. However, we are too often fearful, submissive, while a formidable window of opportunity presents itself to us. President Costa, President Emmanuel Macron is right to refuse Donald Trump's invitation to join his peace cell, which is a ruse to undermine the United Nations and violate international laws. In 2003, France stood up to the United States and opposed the invasion of Iraq, which destabilized the entire Middle East. France was right. The President of the Commission said that only the Greenlanders had to decide their fate. We are in a common house, so we are also concerned. If the U.S. is annexing or buying Greenland, who's next? Let us remember here the Anschluss, the Sudetenland. We must learn the lessons of history. Let's find our coherence again. We will then regain our power and especially also the ear of the countries of the South.

Mr President, High Representative, President Emmanuel Macron has understood that Donald Trump's Peace Council is a trick to make the United Nations disappear. He decided not to follow up on Donald Trump's invitation. Will you respect the voice of France or will the European Union advance even more disunited and thus play into the hands of our opponents? Last but not least, we must defend Greenland, of course, against the appetite of the American ogre. But what are you going to do to force Denmark and all the countries of the European Union to buy European defence equipment to strengthen the autonomy of the European Union?

I fully agree with your comment on Cyprus and would like to know if you have any explanation at all: How is it that, at the level of the European Union, when we pretend to give lessons to the whole world – and often rightly so, for that matter, I do not criticise – no one is concerned about the fact that Cyprus, a country of the European Union, is occupied by a foreign power? I admit my perplexity. Do you have an initial response? Can you enlighten us?

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the sexual deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence are organised violence, clicks turn into profits. Denuding people and humiliating them is not an isolated abuse; It is a juicy market based on an attack on human dignity that thrives on anonymity and virality. We have tools to sanction platforms, but this will remain insufficient until we face the central issue of impunity. You have to choose: protect victims or protect impunity. Freedom of expression is not the right to harm without consequences. Colleagues, we must lift anonymity on social media. This is what will massively reduce toxic behaviour, hate messages and harassment. And this will reduce the income of platforms, better than sanctions. On the other hand, we must refuse and reject the scanning of private messages, the weakening of encryption and the violation of the secrecy of communications, because this constitutes an unacceptable attack on freedom.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, according to the European Union Agency for Drugs, the European drug market is worth more than 30 billion a year: a health scourge, a political and security threat. In the LIBE Committee, the question of EU states at risk of becoming narco-states was raised. That is to say, the gravity of the situation. What to do? First of all, it should be made clear that, without a request, there is no offer: Consumers bear responsibility, fuel a murderous criminal system and must be punished. Drugs are a major public health challenge: Massive truth-telling information campaigns are needed. We need to face the reality of young traffickers: When parents benefit from it, they must be prosecuted. In the face of exporting countries that refuse to cooperate, the EU must impose economic sanctions. Finally, let’s fight money laundering by strengthening our agencies and raise anonymity on the online platforms that facilitate this trade. Colleagues, it is only by acting on all dimensions of the problem that we can hope to solve it.

Madam President, cooperation in the defence sector is becoming an urgent necessity and we are very much convinced of this. Commissioner, you worried me when you said that no Member State can do a project on its own. I hope that I have misunderstood and that you will therefore reassure us on this point. Indeed, many of our countries in the European Union have been able to develop major projects and I think, like Mario Draghi, that we absolutely must promote innovation and not over-regulate it. Second point: European preference, too, is an urgent necessity, given the new threats and worrying defection of our former American ally. Does this mean, Commissioner, that the countries of the European Union will, for example, have to buy European fighter jets such as the Rafale, a technological jewel unparalleled in the world, rather than American fighters? Last point, very fast: No one cares about bringing our engineers back to work in the United States, and no one cares about stopping the current hemorrhage of our technological talents. Do you have any ideas to share with us?

This conflict is an extremely serious one that concerns us all. I would like to know why you say nothing about the Palestinians who are now being extremely violently murdered by Hamas.

The lives of our students are being tarnished. The one who acts as a Palestinian demiurge graduated early in the morning of the day, says Historia, which will be abolished. Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, a pragmatic approach based on mutual security and focusing on the civilian population is necessary. Getting out of the destructive face-to-face, suspending the cycle of reprisals requires that interposition forces and international observers be deployed under a UN mandate. Economic sanctions against Israel would lead to nothing. Moreover, Europe, as the largest donor, cannot make up for an Arab absence, an absence which would lead to the failure of any peace process. Peace requires a lucid Western commitment and an Arab coalition that assumes a concrete role in reconstruction and security. Colleagues, the decisive issue and the link with civil societies, teachers, doctors, artists, entrepreneurs hold the keys to reconciliation. It is to them that international aid must be channelled through reliable and verifiable channels. Reconstruction must become an instrument of emancipation and not an instrument of dependence.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, as citizens have understood, this is a highly strategic subject. 90% of them want us to increase our investment in research and innovation. We are dependent, dominated by foreign powers, therefore vulnerable. We must stop the flight of our engineers and bring back those who make the wealth of the big American technology companies. Let's roll out incentives. Europe neglects its researchers and engineers. Break with the neurosis of regulation. When we received our British colleagues in Parliament, they wanted to build an AI with us so that they would no longer depend on the United States. We told them: “no, let’s regulate first”. They turned their backs on us and just signed with the United States. Last point: our societies are weakened by hatred and hybrid attacks, including interference in democratic processes. To remedy this and, at the same time, weaken those who make a fortune on our miseries, a solution exists: Anonymity on social media should be lifted.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, everywhere in our countries, the anger of the people is raging. This is becoming worrying for the stability of the European Union and even for our democracies. Our people feel that the Europe they love is built against them and not for them. They need to be given back the pride of being Europeans as a matter of urgency. This will go through several ways. Europeans can only be respected on the international stage if they become powerful and strong again. This is possible. Let's work for the return of our talents, especially our engineers and researchers who went to work in the United States. Let’s stop hindering our own businesses. Let us review some of our absurd rules on free and undistorted competition, which has prevented the emergence of great champions and giants. Let's take a break from the enlargements. Yes, let us pause in this leak forward that weakens us – the facts are there to attest to this. There would be so much to say and do... But I will quote one last point: it is grave and morally reprehensible that the European Union is organising the plundering of the talents of the countries of the South...

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, last Saturday, at the Economic Meetings in Aix-en-Provence, Mario Draghi said that we were suffering the consequences of the lack of investment in infrastructure, education and research and development. Has there been any awareness of the priorities it has set for boosting competitiveness, such as reducing the gap between us and China in advanced technologies as a matter of urgency? In view of the projects financed by the EIB, the answer is no: 46% of funding goes to climate and environment, almost 20% to clean energy. However, when it comes to pollution, we are very far behind China and the United States. Thus, in the end, we may be the most virtuous, but we will have been devoured by the raptors of globalization. Colleagues, as anger grows among our peoples, overwhelmed by rampant poverty, 10% of the EIB's investments go to countries outside the European Union. This is incomprehensible. So I called for a collective start!

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, last Saturday, at the Economic Meetings in Aix-en-Provence, Mario Draghi said that we were suffering the consequences of the lack of investment in infrastructure, education and research and development. Has there been any awareness of the priorities it has set for boosting competitiveness, such as reducing the gap between us and China in advanced technologies as a matter of urgency? In view of the projects financed by the EIB, the answer is no: 46% of funding goes to climate and environment, almost 20% to clean energy. However, when it comes to pollution, we are very far behind China and the United States. Thus, in the end, we may be the most virtuous, but we will have been devoured by the raptors of globalization. Colleagues, as anger grows among our peoples, overwhelmed by rampant poverty, 10% of the EIB's investments go to countries outside the European Union. This is incomprehensible. So I called for a collective start!

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, this directive represents significant progress and should be welcomed. To protect children, however, we will need to do more. First, the services provided by platforms, whose evil algorithms are weapons that trap children: they can be assimilated to products and must be qualified as such. We will then be able to mobilize our legal arsenal for defective or dangerous products. Secondly, from the moment of conception, phones sold to children up to a certain age – 15 years seems reasonable – will have to be shackled. Thus, they will not be able to access certain sites or applications. Finally, when it comes to children, we must ban any notion of consent. Colleagues, in The Little PrinceSaint-Exupéry reminds us that all grown-ups were first children, but few remember them. Making them remember it is the challenge to be met so that the innocence of children is preserved.

Ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, the US administration’s attacks on science and academic freedom have led to massive layoffs of researchers, and the climate is pushing others to self-censor. The repercussions are international. Collaborative research projects are concerned. As Luc Ferry, former French Minister for Education and Research, puts it very well, science is inherently democratic, which is why we need to worry. We are witnessing two symmetrical attacks: on the one hand, wokism and political correctness, which have prevailed for decades, including in our countries, and on the other hand a reaction movement that intends to cut off food supplies to research organisations on the pretext that they have been able to come to terms with wokism. What to do? We need to rethink Mario Draghi's report on competitiveness. Colleagues, it is imperative that we take advantage of this window of opportunity, especially as we see financial flows shifting away from the United States to the European Union. Let’s welcome US researchers who can foster innovation and boost our growth, and set up return programmes for our own talents.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu, this dossier requires a comprehensive approach. Too many variables are left out. Failure starts at a young age. What is the role of parents? Do they accompany their children in their schooling or hinder them? What are we doing about this? Nothing. What do we do about the problem of the bad climate in the classroom, which hinders learning? Nothing. Is Europe sufficiently valuing successful young people, as the United States does, not to mention wages? No, no. Under these conditions, it is natural for the best to leave and leave the European Union. For girls to be referred to the engineering professions – I am an engineer myself – the first obstacle is the lack of self-confidence, which is transmitted within families and also, it must be said, by some of the teachers themselves, many of whom are women in the early school years. This determines the rest of the schooling. What are we doing on this? Nothing. There would be a lot to say, but I would like to end on one point: Let’s stop stealing their talents from Africa and the Maghreb, as in doing so you condemn these countries to poverty and despair, and this leads to the explosion of migration flows that destabilise Europe. I call for a return to common sense.