What Reinis spoke about.

16 Sep

2026

EN Speech

Urgent need for EU support to Ukraine against Russia’s escalation of its war of aggression (debate)

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Madam President, dear High Representative, dear colleagues, when you have a serious bacterial infection, you need antibiotics. But if the treatment is too weak, you don't stop the infection. You only give it time to adapt, become resistant and spread. We have been making the same mistake with Russia. Two months ago we had our last debate about Ukraine. In those two months. Russia has killed almost…

15 Sep

2026

EN Speech

Defence (joint debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, the goal of Omnibus V was to simplify military transfers and procurement procedures, and we succeeded on this. At the same time, we also tried to strengthen the European defence industry. We tried to hit two birds with one stone but almost dropped it on our own foot. Europe's defence autonomy is the right goal – it is a must. But we cannot force long…

16 Jun

2026

EN Speech

Russia’s unacceptable provocative actions and drone incursions into Romania, the Baltic states and Finland (debate)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, I must start with the obvious. I strongly condemn Russia's provocation, I express my solidarity with those injured in Romania and I call for a stronger action against Russia. With that said, I believe this is not the response our citizens expect from us anymore. They expect solutions – solutions to protect our people, our critical infrastructure and our economies, es…

19 May

2026

EN Speech

EU cybersecurity and preparedness in view of advanced AI systems (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, Minister and dear colleagues, I would not repeat here all the threats created by artificial intelligence, nor all the opportunities it offers. But I would invite us to think about something else. Why is it that every time we discuss a critically important sector, we discover that Europe is dependent – dependent in energy, dependent in defence, dependent in critical t…

24 Feb

2026

LV Speech

Four years of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and European contributions to a just peace and sustained security for Ukraine (debate)

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Madam President, Colleagues, Four years have passed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And it is difficult to say something new, because it seems that everything has already been said. But has everything been done? The outcome of this war will determine the world in which our children and grandchildren will live. In their history books, it will be written that Ukrainians are a heroic p…

10 Feb

2026

LV Speech

Building a stronger European defence in light of an increasingly volatile international environment (debate)

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22 Jan

2026

EN Speech

Drones and new systems of warfare – the EU’s need to adapt to be fit for today’s security challenges (debate)

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Mr President, I will just use the opportunity to say thank you all for your input. And thank you, Commissioner, for your input into today's debates. I am glad to hear that almost all of us are on the same page about this issue and the importance of this issue, and we all basically agreed that our biggest challenge is speed. So, later today when this report ‑ I hope ‑ will be approved, nothing ends…

22 Jan

2026

EN Speech

Drones and new systems of warfare – the EU’s need to adapt to be fit for today’s security challenges (debate)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, first, I would like to thank all the shadow rapporteurs and advisers in the committee secretariat for all the great work they have done on this report. This is not a political report; this is a blueprint for what Europe must do to stand against real and growing threats – threats that rise above ideologies or political beliefs. These threats are no longer hypothetical…

26 Nov

2025

LV Question

EU position on the proposed plan and EU engagement towards a just and lasting peace for Ukraine (debate)

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21 Oct

2025

LV Speech

Stepping up funding for Ukraine’s reconstruction and defence: the use of Russian frozen assets (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, Dear colleagues, The first call for a legal basis for the confiscation of Russian frozen assets was made here on 9 November 2023. Since the full-scale invasion, direct calls to confiscate these assets and transfer them to Ukraine have been included in at least six resolutions. It is a pleasure that there is at least some movement at last, and I understand the concern…

8 Oct

2025

LV Speech

United response to recent Russian violations of the EU Member States’ airspace and critical infrastructure (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, Dear colleagues, This time I will not talk so much about Russia – everything seems to have been said about it. We also know what we should do, but we do not. The frozen assets are standing where they stand, the shadow fleet continues to fulfill the Kremlin's treasury, and now we also have drones above Europe. And as long as we do not respond in a way that hurts Russi…

9 Sep

2025

LV Speech

Ukraine (joint debate)

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Hello, dear colleagues, Commissioner, President-in-Office, Since the last debate on Ukraine, thousands more missiles and drones have been fired on Ukrainian civilians. Hundreds more have died, including many children. But one relatively good thing has happened at this time, and here I agree that I have to thank Mr. Trump for showing the whole world how diplomacy works in relations with Russia. Eac…

16 Jun

2025

LV Speech

The human cost of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the urgent need to end Russian aggression: the situation of illegally detained civilians and prisoners of war, and the continued bombing of civilians (debate)

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Dear Chair, Hello, colleagues! 77 days have passed since the last debate on Russian war crimes. These are about 2,500 drones and 160 missiles fired by Russia through Ukrainian cities. Several hundred civilian casualties, several dozen children. Several talks have taken place in different formats, but Russia continues to do the only thing it can: terrorise civilians, deport and torture. Do everythi…

11 Mar

2025

EN Speech

White paper on the future of European defence (debate)

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Madam President, Mr Commissioner, dear colleagues, over the last thirty years, we have seen dozens of white papers come and go – we are good at this, but I cannot imagine any of them being more important and coming at a more critical moment than this one. Despite everything we see happening all around us, we must recognise this white paper for what it is – an opportunity to shape our own future fo…

12 Feb

2025

LV Speech

Need for targeted support to EU regions bordering Russia, Belarus and Ukraine (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, Dear colleagues, Ahead of the Madrid Summit in 2022, NATO predicted that in the event of an invasion, the liberation of the Baltic States would take place within 180 days. This would mean experiencing war twice - once when Russians invade and again when NATO liberates. But thanks to NATO, after this summit, the strategy changed to defense from the first meter, not co…

11 Feb

2025

LV Speech

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

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Dear Chair, Hello, Commissioner, Hello, colleagues! Some time ago, NATO Secretary General Rute visited the SEDE Committee. He said that if we invest insufficiently in our defence, then we may have to move to New Zealand or learn Russian. I will add to what Mr Rutes said. Only those who are lucky will have this opportunity. Those who will be less successful may have to move in livestock wagons to a…

22 Jan

2025

LV Speech

Uniting Europe against actors hostile to the EU: time to strengthen our security and defence (topical debate)

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Hello, Madam President, Hello, dear colleagues! So it happened that I also had to be born in the Soviet Union and spend a moment there. And when all this collapsed and we regained our independence, we were all very happy that there will certainly never be a war in Europe again. Everything is divided, everything is happy, but the reality is different. Times have turned out to be changing, and I agr…

21 Jan

2025

LV Speech

Need to detect and to counter sabotage by the Russian shadow fleet, damaging critical undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea (debate)

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Hello, Mr President, Hello, Commissioner. Hello, dear colleagues! Since the previous debate on the shadow fleet, two broken cables in the Baltic Sea and one illustration of an ecological disaster in the Black Sea have passed. A few dozen ships have been sanctioned, but several hundred are still in black work. But ships are already just transport. In essence, it is sanctioned oil – where it is tran…

26 Nov

2024

LV Speech

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

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23 Oct

2024

LV Speech

EU actions against the Russian shadow fleets and ensuring a full enforcement of sanctions against Russia (debate)

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Dear Chair, Hello, colleagues! Commissioner, First of all, before being happy about the good impact of the sanctions, it is worth remembering that the data are nevertheless produced by the Russian official authorities, which, as happened, tend to lie about them too, and that is why this fleet probably also exists. And we are in a situation where hundreds of old rusty ships are wandering through th…

18 Sep

2024

EN Speech

The Hungarian “National Card” scheme and its consequences for Schengen and the area of freedom, security and justice (debate)

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Mr President, dear colleague, so the strategy when Russia infiltrates other countries with their spies and saboteurs is proven since 2014. They just do it, and we know it. And of course, security risks are complicated. It's not always about amounts; it's about quality sometimes. And of course, it's a question of trust also and Hungarians' friendship with Russia. Me personally, yes, it makes me wor…

17 Sep

2024

LV Speech

Continued financial and military support to Ukraine by EU Member States (debate)

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Dear Chair, Hello, colleagues! I'm going to speak Latvian. One of the biggest mistakes is to believe that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a local conflict. No, it is a year-round plan to rebuild the Russian empire, the first step, the results of which determine whether or not the next steps will be taken. Therefore, our choice at the moment is not to give or not to give arms to Ukraine. It is a ch…