Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in a world where authoritarianism is advancing, can our Parliament still be a compass in the struggle for democracy and the rule of law? When LGBT rights are attacked in Hungary, when journalists are targeted by spyware in Italy, when women's freedom to abort and dispose of their bodies is threatened by a new nationalist president in Poland, or when a few billionaires take press independence hostage, is our Parliament still able to send a clear message? A few years ago, almost all of us in this House would have agreed to defend the rule of law. But today, as reactionary ideas have become commonplace, this is no longer possible. No, we will never trivialize corruption. We have done well to stand up to Orbán and his corruptive system, and to withhold the billions of European funds in the name of the rule of law. Nor will we trivialize attacks that demean women and homosexual or transgender people, or those that attack the press and its independence, or those that punish judges, such as at the International Criminal Court, because they fight against the impunity of war criminals. In short, we will never stop defending the rule of law, because that is what makes European identity, no matter what the extreme right in this Chamber does.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for this debate. In conclusion, I would like to reiterate the essential point: in the face of a geopolitical recomposition marked by brutality, we must choose another path for the Global Gateway initiative, that of cooperation based on justice, reciprocity and respect; in short, on European values. I want to respond here to the criticisms that may have emerged on the benches of the extreme right. First of all, to say that, yes, European investment abroad, development aid is necessary. We are not an island in the middle of the ocean. On the other hand, no, Global Gateway is not a migration management tool. This is not the subject. The success of Global Gateway will be measured by the quality of the international relations it builds, the place given to partner countries to define their priorities and to treat them equally, and the ability to create quality jobs and protect rights, public services and people. Global Gateway can in no way reproduce relationships of dominance. This cannot be the window for European multinationals. We demand a more transparent, democratic, social and ecological Global Gateway. An initiative that does not organize dependency, but that strengthens the autonomy of our partners and that not only builds infrastructure, but also embodies principles: solidarity, justice, dignity. It is up to this ambition that Europe will be judged. And it is at this height that we must place ourselves.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, Commissioner Síkela, dear Hildegard, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to co-present this morning the European Parliament's first report on the European Global Gateway initiative. "Global Gateway" is a pharaonic infrastructure investment initiative across the world, launched in 2021 by Europe, to try to compete with the Chinese project, in particular, the "Silk Roads". It is an initiative that relies on the mobilization of public funding, development banks, but also private companies. Beyond the announcements, the slogans, the colossal amounts that are displayed as part of this initiative – we are talking about EUR 306 billion – our report notes that Global Gateway is still too opaque. Its concrete effects remain unknown. It's kind of a black box. Our report seeks to analyse honestly this instrument, which is becoming a structuring instrument for the European Union's external relations, at the heart of our economic diplomacy. In a world that is marked by competition between powers, the geopolitical recomposition of dependencies, we must seek to exist. But exist for what? And in whose service? What is striking is the gap between the ambition of the Global Gateway initiative and the real guarantees. We know that Global Gateway funds projects in digital, energy, transport, health, education. But we want it to be a virtuous alternative, respectful of rights and democracy in the face of Chinese, Russian or American investment. The governance of Global Gateway remains unclear, with sometimes unknown selection criteria and, above all, benefits for local populations that remain insufficiently demonstrated. Our report therefore insists on one key point: we can only be a convincing alternative to Chinese or Russian investments if we offer investments and partnerships based on transparency, accountability and the relationship of equals. The quality of our relations with our partners and the credibility of the Global Gateway initiative are at stake. We therefore call for public data on Global Gateway-funded projects, serious impact assessments, meaningful consultation with local authorities, civil society and mechanisms to prevent human rights violations and environmental damage. If there is no such traceability, there will be no trust and no success. We must ensure the social exemplarity of our investments, because no infrastructure project is neutral. A mining corridor, a digital network, an energy project can create jobs, but they can also exclude, move, precarious a whole bunch of populations. That is why, in our report, we advocate a more demanding approach to the local added value of projects for local SMEs, the creation of quality jobs, training and public services. Global Gateway must not only serve European value chains, it must also strengthen local economies, institutional capacity and stability in partner countries, but also health, education and research. Finally, I would like to have a word for those who represent half of humanity, women and girls. In Global Gateway, they must also count, because feminist diplomacy is the guarantor of stability and prosperity. Global Gateway will be at the heart of the European Union's geopolitical economic reality tomorrow. Its success will determine the future of our relations with the rest of the world. And if we want to live up to our ambitions, we will have to prove that we are not only financing infrastructure, but also rights, equality and fair partnerships. That is the purpose of the report we are presenting today. And I want to thank all the teams that worked with us, my co-rapporteur, Hildegard Bentele, but also our entire team of shadow rapporteurs and of course the secretariats of the Foreign Affairs and Development Committees; thank you very much and I welcome the debate we are going to have.

Madam President, Commissioner, dear Raquel, ladies and gentlemen, three years ago the "Qatargate" scandal hit the reputation of the European Parliament deeply. More than a million in small cuts were found at the home of a vice-president of this institution. Three years later, today we finally adopt the first major European directive to combat corruption throughout Europe. It was time. Corruption of public officials and politicians is not only an attack on democracy and popular trust. It is also one of the main vectors of foreign interference. It offers powers seeking to destabilize Europe direct decision-making, and thus ensuring probity and integrity in politics is also a sovereignty challenge. For the first time today, EU Member States are developing a common framework to prevent, detect and punish corruption. This Directive lays down common definitions and criminal penalties for active and passive corruption, trading in influence, embezzlement or abuse of office. It also requires all Member States to prevent corruption before it happens, by fighting conflicts of interest, regulating lobbying and revolving doors or protecting whistleblowers. All these preventive rules will have to be applied by a body independent of the political power in each Member State. Consider that there are countries in Europe where ministers are not even required to make declarations of assets and conflicts of interest when they take office. With this directive, that will change. Stop impunity! Today we see a major step forward, but it does not solve everything. We must do more: by regulating the funding of political parties, so that it is transparent and does not give the advantage to billionaires; by also strengthening the European Public Prosecutor's Office and its investigative powers; by also prohibiting, once and for all, in the European Parliament, Members from combining their mandate with the exercise of professional functions in private companies. Today, you can still be a lobbyist and a member of Parliament. So, ladies and gentlemen, corruption thrives where political will is lacking. Let's not wait for the next scandal to move forward.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, dear Tobias, who will be our allies tomorrow? In a world shaken by the return of brutal force, Europe must regroup with countries that have the courage to challenge imperialism, whether Russian, Chinese or American. Canada is one of those countries. When Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke in Davos in January 2026, he said out loud what many Europeans think. He said that we have reached a breaking point in international relations, that the United States is no longer a reliable partner. He said, I quote, that "from this fracture we can build something better, stronger and fairer." The Canadian Prime Minister had the courage to oppose Trump, when his country is threatened with U.S. tariffs and three-quarters of Canadian exports depend on the U.S. market. His people also did not hesitate to boycott American products when Trump threatened to turn them into a 51 ᵉ state. It is a lesson of dignity for Europe, to be faithful to its values and to be respected. So, in a world marked by rivalry between great powers, the middle powers have a choice: either compete for favors or unite to create a third way. This is the way to go: solidarity between Europeans and with other democracies, such as Canada, that refuse brutalization.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this Parliament is about to vote for the first time on a key issue of security, sovereignty and democracy: I'm talking about transnational repression. Transnational repression is when a state pursues opponents, human rights defenders and journalists across its borders to silence them. It is a mafia practice, of unheard-of violence, outside of any judicial proceedings. It is a hindrance to freedom and democracy. In Europe, transnational repression is exploding, yet there is no policy to counter it. So, for the first time, through this report, the European Parliament will name this scourge and get out of silence. Because we must refuse that, on our soil, authoritarian regimes can prosecute their opponents, harass their journalists, intimidate their diaspora with impunity. Transnational repression includes assassinations, kidnappings and abusive requests for extradition, in particular through Interpol’s Red Notices. These are digital espionage, blackmail, harassment. It is a whole range of tactics deployed in our democracies to silence, harass, control human rights defenders, or even any citizen who criticises authoritarian regimes. All too often, this violence takes place at home in indifference, and even with some degree of complicity from our governments. It should be noted that a quarter of the world’s governments now use transnational law enforcement practices, of which 10 – including China, Turkey, Russia, Egypt, Iran and Belarus – are responsible for almost 80% of known cases. Transnational repression proliferates as authoritarian regimes themselves proliferate. On European soil, France would be the country most targeted by this phenomenon. Let's be clear: transnational repression is an authoritarian shadow that crosses our borders, undermines our rule of law, our sovereignty, our security. This repression is not only physical, it also invests all digital spaces to track down opponents to their privacy, with spyware on the phone, online harassment campaigns, theft of personal data, digital defamation. So – it must be recalled – acts of transnational repression are not accidents. They reflect the will of authoritarian regimes to impose their laws even in our democracies. We cannot turn a blind eye to this repression because we cannot accept foreign powers infiltrating our territories and silencing their critical voices here at home, where we have every interest in their being able to speak out. It is a form of interference that is taking place here, in Europe, and in silence. Every time a political refugee is harassed, spied on or threatened on EU soil without any reaction from us, it is the very principle of asylum and freedom of expression that crumbles. So yes, it is time to get out of our European naivety! So far we have allowed transnational repression: it is time to put an end to it. This is what I propose in this report, which puts forward a new European strategy to stem transnational repression, to build a European database that can identify and share information on the victims of this repression – no data currently exist. We also need to train our law enforcement agencies to recognise cases of transnational repression. We need to set up specialised units in each Member State and coordinate at European level. We could also extend Europol’s mandate so that it has jurisdiction over transnational law enforcement and rules on whether Interpol Red Notices are unfair or not. We can also sanction regimes and individuals who are guilty of this type of repression. We can also ban the export of spyware that is produced in Europe, which is then exported to authoritarian regimes before being used against us. In short, we can act! Since I started working on this report, I have received dozens of messages from families or relatives of victims of transnational repression, be they Indian, Uyghur, Russian, Turkish, Saudi, Egyptian... All victims are waiting for us to act. Then let's show ourselves worthy! Europe must remain a safe haven for those fighting for freedom and democracy.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, in Bulgaria, the Russian destabilisation machine is running at full speed and threatens to cause this country, after a few years of building its democracy, to sink into illiberalism. There are worrying signals, such as the arrest of the mayor of Varna, an opponent. There are also laws that discriminate against the LGBTQIA+ community. This drift must be stopped now so that Bulgaria does not move from a model such as that of democratic Europe to illiberalism. Because this drift threatens everything that underlies our union, the rule of law, human dignity and freedom. Also, Europe cannot look away. And we must ensure, the Commission must ensure, that European funds for Hungary do not fuel political repression in that country, or corruption. We call for European funds to be examined until the independence of the judiciary is fully guaranteed. To defend Bulgarian democracy is to defend Europe.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we observe with concern that the ceasefire in Gaza is very fragile. This weekend, 54 Palestinians were killed, humanitarian aid was blocked again, and two Israeli soldiers were also killed. In the West Bank, settler violence continues, an 11-year-old child was killed by Israeli army fire. Then we knew very well that we could not count on the Israeli government, Hamas, that goes without saying, or Trump, to advance towards a just and lasting peace. That is why it is essential to remain firm and lucid. Now is the time to redouble our efforts. It would be unthinkable for the European Union to refrain from suspending the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel, from sanctioning Israeli messianic ministers who encourage settlement in the West Bank, or from supporting international justice to bring criminals to justice. It is also now that we must protect the actors of Israeli and Palestinian civil society, who hold the tenuous thread of hope, because they work together for justice, equality and a viable peace solution. I want to alert you to a very dangerous Israeli bill, which aims to deprive Israeli NGOs of funding by taxing them at prohibitive rates. Our Parliament absolutely must raise its voice on this issue. It's not now that we have to let our guard down. Now is the time to impose justice for peace.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in Afghanistan, the ordeal of women under the Taliban regime continues. On August 31, a terrible earthquake ravaged the country and women were intentionally forgotten under the rubble. The injured were isolated, deprived of care in the affected areas. NGOs did not even have access to women's camps. This is where religious obscurantism leads. What will happen to women's health in this country where they can only be treated by women, but where they are denied access to education and medical professions? It is a premeditated crime of absolute perversion. It has been four years since the Taliban meticulously disappeared 28 million women from public space. Forbidden to sing, speak or be, simply. As we have said and repeated, this is gender apartheid that must be enshrined in international law as a crime against humanity. But the struggle for women's rights around the world is not just a matter of justice; This is an international security issue. When we talk about European defence, we must not forget to invest in the emancipation of women and girls, because where there is more equality between women and men, it is proven that there is also more development and more security. The less safe women are, the less safe we will all be. Let us take this into account and invest in the empowerment of women and girls.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, two years ago, the terrorist attacks by Hamas on 7 October plunged us into dismay. Today, I am thinking of the 1,219 dead, the 251 Israeli hostages and their families. I am also thinking of all the Israeli justice and peace activists who are trying to pull their country out of a spiral of revenge. For the past two years, the European Union has been powerless to exert sufficient pressure on a genocidal Israeli government. Today, she is watching Donald Trump impose his ‘peace plan’ – let’s use quotation marks because we are still a long way from peace. If this plan allows for a ceasefire with the release of Israeli hostages, an end to the famine in Gaza through the delivery of humanitarian aid and Israel's commitment not to occupy Gaza, then yes, we must support it. But this ceasefire, however necessary it may be to alleviate the atrocious human suffering of Gazans and Israeli hostages, will only bring peace if it is followed by policies of justice for the Palestinians. To achieve this, Europe will finally have to choose between complicity and courage. All EU member states must now recognize the Palestinian state and refuse to allow the Gaza Strip to be administered by non-Palestinian technocrats sent by Trump. We must also validate the suspension of the association agreement between the European Union and Israel, the sanctions against Israeli ministers, the arms embargo and the punishment of war criminals...

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it was in Ukraine, Belarus and now it is in Moldova: When citizens declare their commitment to democratic values, to the European project in a referendum like the one that took place in Moldova in 2024, Vladimir Putin unleashes his imperial madness. Vexed, frantic, manipulative and ridiculous, he agitates and interferes where no one had invited him. These are false information, montages, grotesque anecdotes, but also vote purchases. All means are good for Russia, for the tyrant and his oligarchs, relayed by unscrupulous platforms. When the one who disturbs is a woman head of state like Maia Sandu, it is double punishment. She will sometimes be accused of being psychologically unstable, venal, lying or even of being addicted to drugs. This Russian disinformation campaign in Moldova is called "Matriochka". It seeks to deprive 2.5 million Europeans of democracy. So, to our Moldovan neighbours, to you, Madam President Maia Sandu, we repeat, you can count on us to denounce this unbearable interference and defend peace and democracy on our European continent. You have your place in the European family. You deserve free, fair and just elections. Let's not let megalomaniac and corrupt tyrants steal your future, which is also ours.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, for almost a year, the citizen movement against corruption and for democracy in Serbia has not weakened. This non-violent movement is led by youth: Young workers, students who occupy their faculties, sleep on the floor in their classrooms, organize the largest demonstrations in the history of the country, travel their country, even by bicycle, to the smallest villages, to inform their people and convince them to stand up against the authoritarian drift of the head of state, Aleksandar Vučić. Today, this peaceful citizen movement is severely repressed. Protesters are beaten, arrested, intimidated by proxy forces composed of power nervis, who are masked, who are armed with iron bars. The authorities now explain that the citizens' movement in Serbia is a foreign conspiracy. Serbian demonstrations are treated, at their choice, as terrorists or Nazis. So what do we do? Almost nothing. In France, Emmanuel Macron even welcomed Aleksandar Vučić to the Élysée, without saying anything about the demonstrations. We would flatten ourselves, we Europe, in front of Trump, but we would not be able to support a citizen movement for democracy that is taking place on our continent, in a country that is a candidate for the European Union and that is asking for our support? What will become of our values if we do not defend them? They'll go out. I want to say to the Serbian youth and to all the citizens who follow them: Your fight is ours. Europe must reach out and weigh in for the organisation of genuinely free and democratic elections in Serbia.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the real face of the far right is corruption. A few months ago, Marine Le Pen was convicted in the case of the fictitious assistants of the RN. This very morning, in France, the headquarters of the Rassemblement National were raided as part of a new investigation into the financing of its last election campaigns. Just last week, the EPPO opened another investigation into another case of misappropriation of public funds by the RN Group in the European Parliament. It is not as if we were surprised ... The public prosecutor in France warned us at the conclusion of the trial of the fictitious parliamentary assistants of the RN: the RN intended to continue ‘making the European Parliament its cash cow’. In this new case, it is reported that the National Gathering Group misappropriated €4.3 million of EU funds between 2020 and 2024. This time, the funds were not used to finance fictitious assistants, but associations linked to the RN and companies chaired by relatives of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella. There are EUR 3.6 million of orders placed outside any procedure, without a call for tenders, for impressions clearly overcharged to companies, such as Unanime. Unanime is a company registered in the name of Sighild Blanc, the wife of former GUD leader Frédéric Chatillon. The investigation report reveals that this company would have won a call for tenders from the RN in 2020 without even submitting an official application. This Unanime company, which presented itself as a printing company, does not in fact have any premises, equipment or even staff. It fully subcontracted the printing service and, by the way, pocketed a delusional margin of EUR 260 000. Despite these damning facts, ladies and gentlemen, the RN is crying out for scandal, for relentlessness. He will explain to us that we are all plotters, that we are trying to confiscate democracy, that he was not aware of anything, etc. The truth is that Jordan Bardella does not work for the French, in the European Parliament – he shines through his absenteeism, it is a matter of public knowledge – but rather works to plunder its resources with great diligence. Its only record here is the embezzlement of funds, and the bottom line is that the RN is trying right now to invent from scratch an alleged NGO climate funding scandal with the EU budget. How can you yell at corruption yourself when you're corrupt? Recall that the Rassemblement National is one of those who refuses to create a European ethics body, which we have been calling for for months – it is easier to understand why today. Europe can no longer turn a blind eye. It is not enough to react to the scandal, it is necessary to act, to prevent, to protect, and it starts here, in this Parliament, by refusing complacency with the corrupt.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the real face of the far right is corruption. A few months ago, Marine Le Pen was convicted in the case of the fictitious assistants of the RN. This very morning, in France, the headquarters of the Rassemblement National were raided as part of a new investigation into the financing of its last election campaigns. Just last week, the EPPO opened another investigation into another case of misappropriation of public funds by the RN Group in the European Parliament. It is not as if we were surprised ... The public prosecutor in France warned us at the conclusion of the trial of the fictitious parliamentary assistants of the RN: the RN intended to continue ‘making the European Parliament its cash cow’. In this new case, it is reported that the National Gathering Group misappropriated €4.3 million of EU funds between 2020 and 2024. This time, the funds were not used to finance fictitious assistants, but associations linked to the RN and companies chaired by relatives of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella. There are EUR 3.6 million of orders placed outside any procedure, without a call for tenders, for impressions clearly overcharged to companies, such as Unanime. Unanime is a company registered in the name of Sighild Blanc, the wife of former GUD leader Frédéric Chatillon. The investigation report reveals that this company would have won a call for tenders from the RN in 2020 without even submitting an official application. This Unanime company, which presented itself as a printing company, does not in fact have any premises, equipment or even staff. It fully subcontracted the printing service and, by the way, pocketed a delusional margin of EUR 260 000. Despite these damning facts, ladies and gentlemen, the RN is crying out for scandal, for relentlessness. He will explain to us that we are all plotters, that we are trying to confiscate democracy, that he was not aware of anything, etc. The truth is that Jordan Bardella does not work for the French, in the European Parliament – he shines through his absenteeism, it is a matter of public knowledge – but rather works to plunder its resources with great diligence. Its only record here is the embezzlement of funds, and the bottom line is that the RN is trying right now to invent from scratch an alleged NGO climate funding scandal with the EU budget. How can you yell at corruption yourself when you're corrupt? Recall that the Rassemblement National is one of those who refuses to create a European ethics body, which we have been calling for for months – it is easier to understand why today. Europe can no longer turn a blind eye. It is not enough to react to the scandal, it is necessary to act, to prevent, to protect, and it starts here, in this Parliament, by refusing complacency with the corrupt.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, sometimes I wonder: ‘Which world are we living in?’ While Benjamin Netanyahu nominates Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, while these two are in Washington right now and they are again discussing the forcible transfer of Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip, the nightmare persists in Gaza: bombing, hunger, thirst, death. Since humanitarian aid has been managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, at least 613 Palestinians have been killed in aid distributions. This dehumanisation of a population in distress is unbearable. Israeli soldiers come out of silence to say the horror of the war. They express their sense of betrayal in the face of Netanyahu. Yotan, a tank pilot, testifies: This war haunts me. No one told us about the government’s intentions, the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip and its subsequent resettlement.” In revenge and messianism, Netanyahu spreads terror without opening up any political perspective of justice and peace for the region. Even today, in Washington, he refused the creation of a Palestinian state and the eventual withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza Strip. So on 15 July, European heads of state meet history. They may be complicit in a war criminal or they may suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement. They can still show that they are defending the two-state solution, for two peoples living side by side in equal freedom and security.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, after Boualem Sansal, this 80-year-old Franco-Algerian writer who is in an alarming state of health, who has been sentenced to five years in prison by Algeria simply because of his pen and his critical ideas, and whose release we have already asked for here, it is with astonishment that we learned last week of the arrest and subsequent detention of Frenchman Christophe Gleizes in Algeria. Christophe is a sports journalist, passionate about his profession, a lover of football and Africa. He was arrested by the Algerian police in May 2024, while investigating an iconic football club, the Jeunesse sportif de Kabylie, and the dark death of a Cameroonian footballer at the same club. He was just doing his job as a journalist. He was placed under judicial control for a year, and last week was sentenced to seven years in prison. This is the heaviest sentence for a French journalist in Algeria for more than a decade. His investigation had nothing to do with the apology for terrorism of which he is accused by the Algerian government. We condemn in the strongest terms the arbitrariness of these convictions without evidence and call for the immediate release of Boualem Sansal and Christophe Gleizes. These two cases show the authoritarianism of the Algerian government, which joins the many regimes that indiscriminately silencing and intimidating their opponents, the very ones who exercise their freedom of thought. Alongside our compatriots Boualem Sansal and Christophe Gleizes, I am thinking of the 300 Algerian political prisoners of the Hirak. We will not be silent until they are released!

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in my country, France, we often hear the words: On the far right, we never tried. So, I recommend to my fellow citizens who are of this opinion to look at what is happening in Hungary of Mr Orbán, the best European ally of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella. First, Hungary is the most corrupt country in Europe. Billions of European funds, our taxes, are diverted to useless projects or to the benefit of Viktor Orbán's personal friends. Moreover, his childhood friend, Lőrinc Mészáros, a professional heater, is now a billionaire and the richest man in the country. Freedom of the press has disappeared. Researchers are censored and chased. What about workers? Would the Hungarian extreme right be at the service of the most modest? Certainly not. In 2019, Orbán gave employers the opportunity to require their employees, who are already working at a rate of 40 hours per week, to be able to work up to 400 additional hours per year. Hungary is also Vladimir Putin's Trojan horse in Europe. Moreover, it takes it as an example when it attacks homosexual people who are continually discriminated against and pointed at for what they are, who no longer have the right to marriage and who are even now prohibited from demonstration and assembly. We will never consider that protecting our children involves teaching them hatred and homophobia. We will never accept that people on European soil are forbidden to demonstrate and we will not allow authoritarianism to destroy Europe from within. That's why we'll be walking to Budapest on June 28th.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we are finally debating the suspension of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel, which is supposed to be conditional on respect for human rights. It's hard for me to understand what still needs to be debated since Israel's violation of all human rights is blatant, but let's go. Madam High Representative, the press tells us that you had on your desk, since October 2024, a report that accurately documented war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. But no revision of the agreement was then requested. Over the past year and eight months, 55,000 Palestinians have been killed, including 16,000 children. All infrastructure has been destroyed. In Gaza, this is genocide and we are still wondering whether the human rights clause of the Association Agreement is being respected. The International Court of Justice had denounced the genocidal risk as early as April 2024 and we are still there. European inaction is dictated by the right and the extreme right, whose history will not forget complicity. Earlier, we heard an Italian MEP from Georgia Meloni explain that the children of Gaza were children of terrorists and did not deserve our compassion. Genocide can still be heard in this Chamber! So, High Representative, the European Union must act immediately if it still wants to be able to claim international law one day. The Association Agreement must be suspended immediately. Take action!

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, as we discuss today the European Union's report on the rule of law, I would like to tell you about a phenomenon that threatens the rule of law and democracy: corruption. Corruption looks like an iceberg. Only a very small part is visible and a very small part of the culprits are condemned. This week again, in France, we learned that Rachida Dati, currently minister, had received 300,000 euros from the company GDF Suez while sitting here as a Member of the European Parliament and that, at the same time, she was defending the interests of the gas sector and curbing investments in renewable energy with impunity. If corruption persists, it is because we do not have enough rules to prevent conflicts of interest, to make transparency on collusion with lobbyists, on the financing of political parties or to strengthen the means of justice. That is why we are currently negotiating a European anti-corruption directive that will lay down rules. But this directive states are doing everything to reduce its ambition. It is Giorgia Meloni's Italy that is blocking the adoption of this directive by refusing, for example, that abuse of office be punished as a crime. Abuse of office, I remind you, is an elected official who awards a public contract to a friendly company without a transparent procedure. This is what the European far right defends today around Giorgia Meloni. This is why, in 2025, we must always fight against the impunity of white-collar offenders...

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the Israeli government's plans in Gaza are clear: The aim of the Israeli army is not to free the Israeli hostages of Hamas, but to destroy what little remains of the Gaza Strip and occupy it in order to drive out as many Palestinians as possible. Every day, about 100 Palestinians are killed, the majority of them civilians, women and children. If they do not die under the bombs, they die of hunger or lack of care, because humanitarian aid has been blocked since the beginning of March. 14,000 babies could die in the next few days if food doesn't arrive. Mr. Netanyahu can be arrested. It can be if the United States, Europe and the Arab States take responsibility. For the past year and a half, the European Union has been silent and has done nothing. The images of the children of Gaza should haunt us, but there are too many people here who have variable geometry humanism. Today, it is not vague calls to respect international law that we need, but actions. We must act, suspend and not just revise the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel. The leaders of the Israeli government must be sanctioned, an arms embargo must be imposed, and the countries of the European Union must finally recognize the State of Palestine. The world is watching us, history is watching us. Let's act!

Madam President, yesterday Viktor Orbán welcomed Benyamin Netanyahu to Hungary under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. On Monday, Viktor Orbán supported Marine Le Pen, condemned by the French justice for having diverted public money from this parliament for the benefit of her political party. Two weeks ago, Viktor Orbán passed a law that outright forbids the organization of the Pride march in Budapest: It is a blatant violation of the right to assembly, to protest, and a spit in the face of people who suffer discrimination because of who they are. And then you dare to claim freedom and freedom of expression. But what cowardice, what weakness! You forbid it because you're freaking out. Orbán wants peace with Putin, but he is waging a war against human dignity, against knowledge, against freedom. This Parliament must strongly condemn the actions of this autocrat in rupture with everything for which the European peoples have fought since the Enlightenment: freedom, progress, equality and human dignity. Mr. Orbán, we won't let you. We reject your medieval ideology and we will not back down on acquired rights, on abortion, on contraception, on the rights of trans and homosexual people, on freedom.

But if, you are perfectly right, there are more than 250 million children, in this case, who, in the world, are deprived of the right to education, for example. We must realize that our security will come not only from the necessary investment in military deterrence, but also from a robust development policy, because that is how we will help global stability and peace in the medium and long term. Therefore, when we talk about human rights, we must also give ourselves the means to finance development around the world, including the rights of women and girls. If we are aware that this reactionary international, of which I spoke just before, is also a masculinist international, we must defend - and I turn to you, Mrs Kallas - a feminist diplomacy and that we regard equality between women and men as a security policy.

Madam President, dear Mrs Kallas, while the world has never needed more peace and cooperation to face the challenges of the 21st centurye In the 21st century – starting with global warming – the spectre of war is resurfacing. Global military spending amounts to €2.3 trillion. They have never been higher and represent ten times the amount of official development assistance. The rise of authoritarianism, the reactionary international that unites from Donald Trump to Viktor Orban, is the biggest threat to fundamental rights and our freedoms. For us, the fight for human rights is not just a moral imperative or a matter of justice: it is our interest, it is our security. So let's do more! If we are, as we say, the continent of human dignity, let us show it! We have to defend international law everywhere, without variable geometry, and we are a long way from that – when we see what we accepted throughout 2024, including the abuses that took place in Gaza, of which we would never have accepted the tenth in Ukraine! Let's use our arsenal of sanctions and protect the international institutions responsible for delivering justice! Let's finance our military deterrence, but also our development!

I do not totally disagree with you, but corruption always needs at least two people, at least two parties to happen - here multinationals on one side, you are right, and political representatives on the other. We must therefore be irreproachable and able to resist the lobbying of multinationals – which would have to be more closely supervised, moreover – and even beyond, since this case shows us that, behind the multinational Huawei, there is the Chinese State. Our transparency rules must therefore also take into account the power of foreign states to influence. I also maintain my point, and I say it again: any case of corruption, even if it concerns only a few elected representatives of this Chamber, tarnishes the image of our institution as a whole.