Speeches

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, behind the great declarations of COP 16 – the World Conference on Biodiversity – which recently met in Colombia, is preparing a real racket against the European economy. The outcome of this international summit bears a name: the Cali Fund. Under the pretext of protecting the environment, the United Nations has simply created a new global tax on the study of nature. In very clear terms, tomorrow, if our researchers study the DNA of a plant to invent a new medical treatment, or if they take inspiration from a seed to create a more resistant agricultural crop, their company will have to pay part of its profits to this famous Cali fund. The UN has literally decided to tax human intelligence when it relies on the secrets of nature. This tax strikes at the very heart of our economic sovereignty. It targets our areas of excellence: pharmacy, cosmetics, biotechnology and, above all, our agricultural research. However, major European organisations such as Euroseeds for Agriculture, EuropaBio and the European Federation of the Pharmaceutical Industry have sounded the alarm publicly. Taxing access to this knowledge will put a stop to European research. But Brussels, in a form of blind submission and guilty naivety, refuses to listen to them. Look at the rest of the world: The contrast is striking. The United States has never signed this convention on biodiversity. Their agribusiness and pharmaceutical giants, who are the largest users of this plant DNA in the world, will not pay a single penny. While the European Union is scrambling to scupper its own flagships to make a good face in front of the cameras, our American and Asian competitors are consolidating their dominance. We are facing total political schizophrenia: on the one hand, the Commission is commissioning the Draghi report to explain to us that we must go into debt of EUR 800 billion to save our competitiveness and, on the other hand, it is imposing punitive taxes that directly burden our own industries. And to finance what? It is here that my responsibility in the Committee on Budgets requires me to denounce a huge financial scandal. The money from this tax will be managed in total opacity by the agencies of the United Nations. Worse still: It has been decided that half of this gigantic global pool will go directly to local communities on the other side of the world. But what does that mean? Who is behind this blurred term? Who's going to control those millions? Which jurisdiction will check that the money taken from our companies does not disappear into corruption or opaque networks? None. The European Union is about to pour the fruit of our work into a real financial black hole, without the shadow of democratic control. We reject this ecology of plunder. The genius of our researchers and the profits of our industries do not have to finance associative nebulae or absurd mechanisms of global redistribution. The money generated by our economy must first serve the power of our nations and the protection of our fellow citizens.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, when Brussels speaks of democratic resilience in Armenia, it masks a brutal reality. What is at stake today is not just a political issue; It is the existential survival of the first Christian state in the world, a true outpost of our civilization, whose security remains tragically fragile. The European Union is setting itself up as a lesson giver, but its cynicism is total. For years, the Commission financed Azerbaijan's war machine by buying its gas from it, while shedding crocodile tears over the fate of Armenians and Eastern Christians. Let us also have the honesty to recognize that the current peace agreement is not the result of Brussels diplomacy, but of a decisive impulse given by Washington during the protocol last August. The Armenian people must now be able to choose their destiny in complete sovereignty, free from interference and blackmail. Defending Armenia is not yet another technocratic project; It's about defending our own roots.

Madam President, Commissioner, in Iran in recent days two young men have been hanged. Sometimes in public, sometimes after confessions extracted under torture. On 18 and 19 March, several executions were confirmed and dozens of other prisoners await their turn, sentenced to death in expeditious trials. Yes, this regime uses the death penalty as a political weapon. But a question arises: what is the purpose of the European Union's declarations? For, in the face of a regime that kills to maintain itself, there can be no naivety. You don't negotiate with a power that hangs its opponents. On 1 ᵉʳ March 2026, France, Germany and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement condemning the actions of the Iranian regime and affirming their coordination, saying they were ready to act to defend their interests and those of their allies. It is at this level that cooperation exists. The European Union must support it in its competences, not replace it. While Europe is talking, the Iranian regime is executing. The only Europe that acts is that of the nations. And the European Union must support them, not speak for them.

Mr President, this recommendation on strengthening cooperation between the European Union and Canada seems at first sight to be consensual. But behind this text, what this Parliament is really asking for is full ratification of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, by all Member States. CETA, remember? In France, Belgium and Germany, thousands of farmers and citizens took to the streets. Why? Because this agreement opens our market to agricultural products that, once again, do not meet the same standards as those imposed on our farmers. And while our farmers have to comply with ever stricter rules, unfair competition is being organised in our own market. At a time when the European Union is already trying to impose the EU-Mercosur agreement, adding new trade pressure on our agriculture is irresponsible. And let us be clear: this text is not just an analysis of the relationship between the European Union and Canada. This is a political signal to governments to accelerate the ratification of an agreement that remains blocked in several member states, including France. In other words, this strategic partnership is becoming an instrument of political pressure to force the ratification of CETA. And as if CETA were not enough, this Parliament also wants to open up European defence funding to Canada with SAFE. That's 150 billion euros. Our taxpayers' money must fund our own defence industry, not fly out of our borders. Let's be clear: cooperation, yes, but not at the cost of our agriculture and sovereignty.

Mr President, in a democracy, the political struggle is settled at the ballot box, not in the courts. In Turkey today, justice is being used to dismiss the main opponent of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu threatened with ineligibility. Journalists were arrested for simply reporting these facts and foreign Christians banned from the territory because of their faith. But at the very heart of the European Union, France also resorts to the political use of law. An administrative decision led to the disappearance of channel C8, validated by the judge, and Marine Le Pen, the main opponent of Emmanuel Macron, is now threatened with ineligibility. I tell you, by dint of giving lessons that we do not apply ourselves, we lose all credibility.

Mr President, drones and new war systems have profoundly transformed conflicts. They are fast, inexpensive, sometimes autonomous and capable of hitting strategic targets. The European Union needs to adapt to this. But this adaptation should not be used as a political pretext, because, under the guise of security, the Commission is pushing a gradual shift towards federal defence, by multiplying programs, funding and doctrines without clear bases in the treaties. However, the Treaties are explicit: defence is a matter for the sovereignty of the Member States. The Commission has neither democratic legitimacy nor operational responsibility to decide on the military engagement or the lives of our soldiers. Yes to technological cooperation, yes to innovation in drones and defence systems, but no to a de facto European army, built without a people's mandate! Europe’s security depends on strong and responsible nations, not on military centralisation in Brussels.

Mr Gražulis, dear colleague, I fully agree with you that we must all combat all forms of violence. However, it seems to me that what we are talking about today is a criminal matter, and therefore not a matter for the Commission, not for the European Union, but for the Member States. And once again, it is a silent coup by the Commission over national prerogatives.

Mr President, what is happening today in Spain is not an accident: it is the result of a political system that speaks a lot of morality and assumes its responsibilities very poorly. For months, socialist leaders have fallen one after another after revelations of sexual harassment. Serious facts, resignations, and often warnings that already existed, but that nobody wanted to see. And yet, they are the same people who spend their time giving lessons in feminism, explaining to the people how to think, how to speak, how to behave. The reality is simple: slogans do not protect women, speeches do not replace courage, and ideology never replaces responsibility. This is not only true about harassment, it is true about everything: public money, immigration, security, freedoms. When there is a permanent gap between what we say and what we do, it is no longer a mistake: This is a political sham. People do not expect lessons; they expect consistency and, above all, action.

Mr President, Commissioner, this joint draft budget for 2026 is not the result of negotiation, but of a democratic masquerade. We had an all-night meeting to discuss 0.2% of the European budget, 0.2%. All the rest, the 99.8% were already tied, already recorded, already locked. And we call it a compromise, we call it a democratic debate. No, it is an institutional framework to validate choices that are no longer discussed. And what do we see in these choices already decided? Exactly what the people reject: a growing common debt, billions sent abroad, the reduction of Frontex resources, the decline of the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund and the infinite inflation of Green Deal spending. All this was fixed before we even entered the room. And all this goes directly against our values, our principles and the mandate we received at the polls: Protecting our borders, defending our farmers, restoring economic sovereignty, supporting purchasing power and ending fiscal flight. So yes, we were listened to. But to be listened to when everything is already decided is not to exercise democratic power, it is simply to witness the validation of a budget built without the people and against the people. The Patriots for Europe make this clear: This budget does not protect. This budget does not respond to any urgency. This budget completely ignores the will expressed in the ballot box. We will vote against, out of fidelity to our nations, out of fidelity to our voters and because Europe will only find a future when it first serves its own.

Mr President, today we are debating the renewal of the partnership between the European Union and Africa, 25 years after its creation. A partnership that is presented to us as renewed, but which, in fact, has produced nothing but empty statements and real frustrations. On the ground, African people want electricity, roads, jobs; Brussels talks to them about carbon neutrality and the green transition. While the Commission is drafting reports, China is building ports, Turkey is building hospitals and Russia is building power plants. Whose fault? To a European Commission disconnected from reality, led by Ursula von der Leyen who, for lack of a program, has made the Green Deal its only doctrine, which it now seeks to impose on Africa. We defend another course: energy autonomy, industrial co-development and reciprocity. Because a true partnership is based on mutual respect, not dependence. Africa deserves respect, Europe a little lucidity.

Madame Loiseau, I do not know what to say in the face of your defamations and the pathetic side of your accusations. You are well aware that no one here has the number of any Russian politician. Moreover, your party has long been a hidden child of the USSR. Don't be in politics and keep the level of debate, ma'am. For your age and responsibility, I find this very disappointing.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, air sovereignty is an integral part of national sovereignty. This is an essential principle of international law, which Mme Loiseau, affirmed by Article 1 of the 1944 Chicago Convention. Each State shall exercise complete and exclusive control over the airspace over its territory. If the incursions in Estonia, Poland or the Baltic region are found to be hostile, they will constitute a violation of international law contrary to Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations. But the requirement of the right applies to all. Until the evidence is made public, the European Union must maintain the rigour and restraint of the law. To accuse without demonstrating, to react without verifying, is to risk turning away from the rule of law so dear to all my colleagues in this Chamber and to Mrme von der Leyen. Europe must protect its spaces, its infrastructure and its citizens, but without giving in to the cycle of war. Protecting Europe is our responsibility. It is not a question of inflaming the world, but of stabilizing it. It is not a question of imitating the powers that provoke, but of embodying those that reason and soothe. Firmness does not exclude lucidity. And lucidity today is to defend our security in strict compliance with international law.

Madam President, the Capital Markets Union, Mr Mario Draghi, presents it to us as the miracle solution to save Europe from bankruptcy, but what is it concretely? It is as if we take the savings of all Europeans to put it in a single common pot. Except that it will not be the people who decide how to use it. No, it will be the big financiers and foreign funds. And, behind all this, there is Ursula and the technocrats of Brussels, who use Mario Draghi as their Swiss knife: yesterday to save the euro for the banks, today to push this new plan. Let's be clear, it's not reform, it's treason. A betrayal to our savers, to our SMEs, to our peoples. We say no! Europeans' savings must serve our businesses, our farmers, our industries and strengthen our economic sovereignty, not fatten Wall Street and Beijing.

Madam President, today we are talking about the future European budget. This is fundamental, because it is the money of Europeans, especially the French. We are already hearing, in Brussels and here, voices calling for more and more. More debt, more taxes and, above all, more green budget, using the false pretext of an alleged climate emergency. Let’s be serious, please! Ms von der Leyen and her supporters are not displeased that Europe's real challenge is a green ideology served by opaque funding. No, Europe's real challenge is jobs, security, the competitiveness of our businesses and concrete investment in our territories. The next European budget must therefore be realistic, concrete and focused on the immediate priorities of the citizens. It will have to support our industries and defend our borders, our farmers and our craftsmen, namely those who make our economy run concretely and guarantee our sovereignty. The French do not want a Europe that wastes their money. The French want an effective Europe that protects and acts concretely for them. It is therefore only for this purpose that French money must be spent.

Madam President, today we are talking about the future European budget. This is fundamental, because it is the money of Europeans, especially the French. We are already hearing, in Brussels and here, voices calling for more and more. More debt, more taxes and, above all, more green budget, using the false pretext of an alleged climate emergency. Let’s be serious, please! Ms von der Leyen and her supporters are not displeased that Europe's real challenge is a green ideology served by opaque funding. No, Europe's real challenge is jobs, security, the competitiveness of our businesses and concrete investment in our territories. The next European budget must therefore be realistic, concrete and focused on the immediate priorities of the citizens. It will have to support our industries and defend our borders, our farmers and our craftsmen, namely those who make our economy run concretely and guarantee our sovereignty. The French do not want a Europe that wastes their money. The French want an effective Europe that protects and acts concretely for them. It is therefore only for this purpose that French money must be spent.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, today we are asked to examine the 2023 and 2024 reports on Albania. Billions of euros: for what? Or rather to make what? To finance a corrupt regime, a justice system and a muzzled press? European taxpayers' money deserves better than that. And I'll be more specific: the money of French deserves better than that. Let’s stop financing the illusion, let’s stop financing corruption and contempt for democracy! Before we talk about enlargement, let us demand results, let us demand transparency!

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, today we are asked to examine the 2023 and 2024 reports on Albania. Billions of euros: for what? Or rather to make what? To finance a corrupt regime, a justice system and a muzzled press? European taxpayers' money deserves better than that. And I'll be more specific: the money of French deserves better than that. Let’s stop financing the illusion, let’s stop financing corruption and contempt for democracy! Before we talk about enlargement, let us demand results, let us demand transparency!

Mr President, today we are presented with the 2024 Annual Report on the European Investment Bank: EUR 76 billion financed in Europe, of which only 13% for France. We could say to each other: But let’s be clear, France is a net contributor to this bank, that is to say that we give much more than we receive. And what exactly does the European Bank invest this money in? In the famous ecological transition, whose ears you reshuffle every day. Go explain this to our craftsmen, our companies, our SMEs, who close in cascade, every day! Explain this also to our rural areas, which no longer have public services! Their urgency is not to please urban eco-scooters, but to have a job, a future and dignity. I say it clearly: The European Bank must invest for the real economy, for our jobs, for our territories. France must not simply be the milk cow of the European Union. It is a matter of respect, it is a matter of justice.

Mr President, today we are presented with the 2024 Annual Report on the European Investment Bank: EUR 76 billion financed in Europe, of which only 13% for France. We could say to each other: But let’s be clear, France is a net contributor to this bank, that is to say that we give much more than we receive. And what exactly does the European Bank invest this money in? In the famous ecological transition, whose ears you reshuffle every day. Go explain this to our craftsmen, our companies, our SMEs, who close in cascade, every day! Explain this also to our rural areas, which no longer have public services! Their urgency is not to please urban eco-scooters, but to have a job, a future and dignity. I say it clearly: The European Bank must invest for the real economy, for our jobs, for our territories. France must not simply be the milk cow of the European Union. It is a matter of respect, it is a matter of justice.

Madam President, Europe promised us EUR 750 billion to get out of the COVID crisis, but the truth is that it is a gigantic scam. Brussels has borrowed this money from private banks, on our behalf, and it will cost us 1 400 billion with interest. As a result, every Frenchman will have to repay every euro wasted, and why? Chinese solar panels? Overpriced electric cars? Unnecessary training? Today, this plan is already a total failure. The European economy does not leave, prices continue to explode, companies close and the French are impoverished. The promised relaunch never happened. However, Brussels wants to reoffend with a new plan to finance a European army, the European defence support programme. Exactly the same method, to make the French pay a debt decided elsewhere. Meanwhile, our own army can no longer even pay its bills: EUR 8 billion is missing. We have given everything to Ukraine. And now, as the world ignites, our country is defenseless. Tomorrow, Brussels will no longer just borrow on our behalf. She will go straight to get the money in our pockets with new European taxes. It calls this own resources. I refuse to see our freedom sold off by irresponsible bureaucrats. That's enough! I am here to defend France, our freedom and your money. It's time to stop this scandal now.

Mr President, we are being told about energy sovereignty, but the European Union has knowingly compromised its own autonomy. The destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline remains a serious attack on our interests. Yet no serious investigation, no designated officials. This silence questions. By cutting off Russian imports, replaced by overpriced US gas, the Commission has imposed an ideological and costly realignment, with catastrophic economic consequences: a strangled industry, suffocated households. We defend a realistic, diversified and sovereign energy policy, based on the interests of the European peoples, not on external injunctions or dogmatic choices.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, apart from the 2023 budget of the European Court of Auditors, which is exceptional and very well managed, we will vote against the discharge of the 2023 budgets. Why? Because the European Commission has funded and persists in opacity funding activist NGOs to advance its ideological agenda, such as the Green Deal, without democratic validation. Billions of euros are thus allocated to structures such as WWF or Friends of the Earth that lobby in disguise under the guise of environmentalism. Worse still, the European Union has paid tens of millions of euros to Islamic Relief, an organization that the German authorities consider close to the Muslim Brotherhood. It is also funding a research project entitled "The European Qur'an" for almost €10 million. Is that the budget priority? As for the European agencies, their budget reached €4.7 billion in 2023: an explosion of expenditure without real control, with duplications, irregularities and an added value that is still unclear. We will not give a quit to this drift; For the respect of peoples, sovereignty and taxpayers, we say no.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Savings and Investments Union, under technocratic airs of economic common sense, is in fact hiding a project of dispossession of our financial sovereignty, our social model and the control of our savings. This project, led by Brussels, imposes massive transfers of competence in terms of taxation, regulation and even financing of strategic sectors. The pan-European pension savings plan, for example, directly threatens our life insurance and our REP, pillars of French popular savings. While SMEs are promised easier access to capital, it is mainly foreign investors who will dictate their conditions tomorrow, to the detriment of our local productive fabric. As for our rural territories, they risk being left behind once again. The National Rally says no to this technocratic Europe and yes to a Europe of free nations, masters of their financial destiny. We demand a referendum on any progress on this project.

Mr President, the current European energy policy is a decoy. We claim to reduce our dependence on Russian gas, but we now import it via third countries, which simply resell what they buy in Moscow at gold prices. This hypocrisy is costly for Europe. Our industries are paying unbearable additional costs, our jobs are under threat and our sovereignty is crumbling. Worse, we enrich intermediaries who take advantage of our weaknesses, without solving the root of the problem. The solution is not in these bypasses, but in the immediate recovery of our energy industry. Why import Russian gas stamped "Turkey" or "India" when we have nuclear power in France, a sector of excellence that creates jobs and guarantees independence? Why subsidize dubious intermediaries when we could invest in our infrastructure, local resources and innovations? Brussels must stop imposing dogmas and free the Member States. Let them develop realistic energy strategies, rooted in their national realities. Let us protect our businesses, stabilise prices and build a Europe that relies on its own strengths, not on the whims of third markets. European dignity depends on industrial audacity, not hypocritical schemes.

Mr President, Mrs Lagarde, the European Central Bank's 2024 report confirms an alarming reality: Under the pretext of resilience and stability, the ECB has continued to impose monetary policies that stifle our national economies. It has persisted in maintaining high policy rates, penalising our SMEs and farmers, already weakened by absurd environmental regulations and a suffocating single market. Worse, this report ignores the essential: Sovereignty of States. The ECB, subservient to the federalist vision, uses monetary policy to strengthen Brussels' power at the expense of nations. When she talks about a data-driven approach, she forgets about human data: unemployment, deindustrialization and rural distress in France. In the name of the green transition, it encourages pharaonic investments in technologies inaccessible to our territories, while our peasants are crumbling under energy standards and costs. Europe's competitiveness? A decoy, when our companies are suffocated by structurally higher energy prices than elsewhere. We must reject this technocratic leap forward. France needs to regain control of its economic policy, its currency and its destiny. Rather than blindly following the dogmas of Frankfurt, let us demand an ECB at the service of the people, not ideologies.