Speeches

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen gave themselves up at the Sorbonne to a strange number: So they are ardent advocates of free and independent academic research against the obscurantism of the Trump administration. For the occasion, the French president was not ashamed to propose 100 million euros to attract American researchers, while at the same time, the French budget devoted to higher education and research was withdrawn 1 billion euros in 2025. While the US spends more than 3.5% of its GDP on research and development, the EU struggles to exceed 2.2%. Europe, in fact, is struggling to keep its researchers, since, since 2010, the rate of departure of European doctors to the United States is about 20%. So, before we want to bring American anti-Trump researchers to Europe, let's start by understanding and making sure that we keep our own researchers in Europe through proper remuneration and credits. Let us also take this opportunity to ask ourselves about the budgetary orientations of public research in our countries which, in France for example, with the CNRS, has become a soft science paradise for woke activists at the expense of scientific research which, in turn, creates wealth and employment.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, EUR 2.5 million from Horizon Europe to, I quote, 'decolonise Sharia law'. Nearly 300,000 euros for the Homo Classicisms project that studies the role of classical antiquity in LGBTQ historiographies. Nearly 3 million euros for the You-Dare project which, I quote, "restores the truth about gender arguments in far-right movements". EUR 2.6 million for the Genesis project, which, I quote, 'explores gender and social inequalities in energy transition policies'. Nearly 200,000 euros to study the hymns of Atharva-Veda, ritual prayer formulas of the Hindu religion, or 1.4 million euros for the WOWMA project which studies the role of the white oligarchy in the construction of tropical tax havens. Finally, 200,000 euros for the Motoboom project, which studies the material colonization represented by the diffusion of motorcycles among indigenous peoples. I could give you dozens and dozens of other absolutely delusional examples of money now wasted by the European Commission on a few ideological whims and a few militant groups, very far, of course, from European interests. That is why we will vote against budgetary discharge in the Commission.

Mr. Speaker, some here seem to discover that the United States is a fierce trading competitor. Yet there is no shortage of precedents, under the Biden and Obama era, for example against BNP Paribas, which received a considerable fine, or the forced takeover of Alstom and the massive espionage revealed by Snowden. Those who once favored our military and economic dependence are now rediscovering the virtues of sovereignty and even protectionism. Ironically, one could thank Donald Trump for that. Faced with this reality, some propose to further worsen our trade deficit with China. This is not a strategy. Faced with the risk of tariff increases, the only sustainable response is a change in the economic model. There is no competitiveness as long as our energy costs 4 to 5 times more than in the United States or China. So, rather than criticizing Donald Trump, the priority of the European agenda should be the reduction of energy costs and therefore the exit from the unrealistic objectives of the Green Deal, the relaunch of nuclear power, the authorization of new drilling and investment in non-intermittent renewable energies such as geothermal energy.

Madam President, woe to the vanquished and the vassals! This is the great lesson instilled in Europeans for several weeks now. If we do not want to risk that one day one of our Heads of State will find himself in the position of Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, then yes, we must increase our stocks, ammunition, operational equipment and the number of our soldiers, not to play the war escalation, but to be feared by opponents convinced of our ability to retaliate. If vis pacem, para bellum. To do this, we must now remove the dangerous illusion of an armed force in the service of a federal Europe. The European Union can and must, of course, facilitate the financing of this rearmament, but it cannot under any circumstances be its chief general; It is up to the national armies to defend our nations. The urgency before us is to establish a European preference for military procurement. If this priority does not become the cornerstone of our continent’s new defence architecture, then any desire for independence will remain illusory. Let's go to the end of the road: military rearmament only makes sense when accompanied by demographic and identity rearmament. It is high time that this institution stopped looking at threats solely in the light of its ideological blinders.

Madam President, Commissioner,me von der Leyen announces an unprecedented simplification effort. But, at the same time, the Commission's 2025 programme foresees the continuation of the study of no less than 119 regulations and directives, 46 new drafts, texts that will be added to the 13,000 texts already adopted between 2019 and 2024. You have decidedly understood nothing about the world that comes, fast, agile and hyper competitive. But above all you continue to miss the essential: There will be no competitiveness with European electricity two to three times more expensive in Europe than in the US and China. This is the central topic. This is the priority issue that should obsess us in the legislative calendar. Do not promise competitiveness to European citizens, while you insist on maintaining the energy orientations of the Green Deal, which is essentially focused on renewables. Do not promise them this, while you are considering the creation of new European taxes, while you are increasingly delivering our companies and farmers to unfair competition with the signing of the Mercosur Treaty. Since it unfortunately took an American election for the Commission to begin to open its eyes, meditate on these words of American General MacArthur: The lost battles can be summed up in two words: too late.’

Madam President, unfortunately, through the vague and vague objectives of this strategy in the Middle East, the EU is once again consolidating its image as a passive entity, merely wishing for peace and harmony, but unable to overhaul its diplomatic software to deal with the major upheavals under way. Why, in its political guidelines, are the real problems hidden? I am thinking, for example, of Turkey's repeated aggressiveness towards its neighbourhood when Ankara instrumentalizes Middle Eastern disorder in its interest. I also think about the very problematic issue of the new Syrian leader, who went through the Islamic State in Iraq and Al Qaeda. Faced with this regime, naivety is forbidden and complacency is odious, especially when it comes from the president of France, a country martyred by Islamism, who says he is ready to receive this jihadist at the presidential palace, at the risk of granting him international respectability. Let us keep in mind, for pity's sake, the Taliban's experience in Afghanistan. And let us not forget what are our interests and duties in this region, which should guide our strategy, namely to protect ourselves from the risk of terrorism, to protect us from uncontrolled migratory flows and to stand alongside, of course, the Christian communities of the East, which are now seriously threatened, especially in Syria.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, March 2024: the Renault plant in Flins-sur-Seine puts an end to its car production; June 2024: Impériales Wheels, the last manufacturer of aluminium rims in France, suffers the same fate; July 2024: Bosch officially announces the closure of the Mondeville car parts plant in Calvados; November 2024: Michelin announces its decision to close its plants in Cholet and Vannes; November 2024, always: Valeo officially closes its La Suze-sur-Sarthe plant. This outbreak of closures, which affects industry and automotive suppliers, is not confined to France – Audi in Belgium, Stellantis in Italy, Volkswagen in Germany. How do you want our industries to remain competitive when your Green Deal unrealistically plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions in Europe by 55%, when you want to ban the production of thermal cars by 2035, when huge fines will penalise our manufacturers as early as 2025 if they do not meet unrealistic CO2 emission standards? And this, while China dominates all renewable markets: batteries, photovoltaic panels, wind turbines. Did you know that China is opening no less than 50 new coal-fired power plants to ensure its exports to our country? Your great ambition for a European energy transition is in fact a gigantic one.Buy China Act''. This is not an ambition, it is sabotage.

Mr President, the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal is a prisoner because he had the courage to denounce both the Algiers regime and Islamism in France and Europe. Guided by its hatred of France, the Algiers regime behaves like a rogue state, willing to do anything to exert diplomatic pressure. It's basically a hostage situation that doesn't say his name. So we need to have a clear message: immediately release Boualem Sansal! While in Algeria a writer is imprisoned, the hierarchs of the regime continue to send their children to study in France and come to our hospitals for treatment. How long does this affront last? Let us return to old diplomatic practices and propose to Algeria an exchange of prisoners. There are 3,500 real Algerian offenders and criminals in French prisons. We are ready to exchange them for the innocent Boualem Sansal. He recently wrote: "The very name of our country, Algeria, has become synonymous with terror." Let him not be tempted to write, from his prison, that the very name of our continent, Europe, has become synonymous with cowardice. It is therefore time for the European Union and all its partners to use all diplomatic and economic means to secure Boualem Sansal's release.

Mrs Aubry, I imagine that you welcome the importation of Islamist practices into our country, since Islamists are your preferred breeding ground for electoral recruitment. But, you see, the numbers I give are official numbers and you know full well that foreign delinquency is over-represented in all crimes and misdemeanors in our country, especially violence and sexual crimes. And let me end by adding that all societies, at all times, have had their share of "salauds" and "bad". But this is no reason to import, as we do, through immigration, additional predators, of which our women, daughters and mothers are the first victims.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to tell you about a country where there are no less than 125 000 women circumcised, 200 000 women forcibly married and almost 180 000 people in polygamy. A country where, in just a decade, the proportion of Muslim women wearing the Islamic veil has increased by 50% to 1 million people, while Iranian women struggle every day to remove it. A country where teenage girls are beaten up in school for refusing to wear the veil or for not respecting Ramadan. A country, finally, where a young girl can, in compensation for a so-called ‘honour crime’, be kidnapped and shaved for dating a boy. This country, ladies and gentlemen, is not Afghanistan, it is not Sudan. No, this country is European: this is my country, this is France. In France, 77% of street rapes elucidated in Paris were committed by foreigners. So in this European Parliament, on the occasion of the Day to Combat Violence against Women, let us start by worrying about the safety of European women, who are the first victims not only of Islamisation, but also of immigration through the importation of unequal non-European cultures into our continent.

Mr President, a year ago I met the refugees from Artsakh in Armenia. I still have their poignant testimonies in mind: blockades and undernutrition, killings, shelling of civilians, desecration of churches and cemeteries. How can we not condemn this ethnic cleansing? But that is not enough. It is imperative that the European Chancelleries apply strong sanctions against this dictatorship of Azerbaijan, which muzzles journalists and detains political prisoners from Artsakh. We condemn the hypocrisy of the President of the Commission, who then welcomed her energy agreement with what she described as a ‘reliable partner’. Far from avoiding dependence on Russian gas, we continue to import it into Europe via Azerbaijan. We need to boycott COP29, which will take place in Baku, as long as these refugees do not have the assurance of being able to return safely to their land and as long as the protection of their cultural property is not ensured. The life of a refugee from Artsakh is no less than Azerbaijani gas. Finally, Armenia cannot stand alone in the face of the expansionist ambitions of Azerbaijan and Turkey. Europe must support it, including through military means, to enable it to guarantee its territorial integrity and negotiate peace to its advantage. This is a matter of civilisation for us, and it is a matter of our honour.

Madam, it is not I who say this, it is the official statistics of my country. Just to give you a few figures, 70% of street rapes in Paris were committed by foreigners. You should also know that 60% of sexual assaults on public transport in the Paris region were committed by foreigners. All figures show that there is an over-representation of foreigners in all acts of delinquency and crime in French society. It's a fact. You don't like it, but the lax migration policy you defend puts women at risk, because it brings foreign predators into our countries. Our daughters and mothers are the first victims.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Lola, Philippine, Gaëtan, Olivier, Barbara, Simone, Nadine... All these French people have been killed by illegal migrants, and they would still be alive if our borders had been properly maintained. Every year, more than 300,000 people break into our homes in Europe, often abusing national solidarity, blowing up the numbers of delinquency and sexual assault, all too often becoming a breeding ground for drug trafficking and even jihadism. It is not a reform that is needed, it is a rupture. To put an end to this madness, the solutions are known. We must stop funding NGOs that are complicit in smugglers. We need to coordinate to dismantle human trafficking networks. Illegal boats must be systematically turned back, thanks to Frontex. A naval military blockade must be established in the Mediterranean. We must finance the walls demanded by many countries. We need more agreements with the countries of departure, as Giorgia Meloni has done. The right to asylum must be made exceptional, and finally the return directive must be reformed. Faced with the explosion of flows, there is a need for a triple border at national, European and in the countries of departure; It is an emergency if we want Europe to remain European.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, for a long time this House and this Commission have been politically and intellectually dominated by environmentalists on energy issues and have led us to waste a great deal of time by unfortunately fighting this nuclear energy, thus aggravating our dependence on energy from abroad. It took an unprecedented war and energy crisis for nuclear power to finally be recognised as the EU's strategic technology on 6 February 2024, which Mrs von der Leyen confirmed on 2 September. But we must not be satisfied with postures. From now on, this decision must become strategic and be translated into concrete measures, such as financing a major European nuclear equipment plan, reforming the Renewable Energy Directive – which targets a 45% share of renewable energy in the national energy mix and which, objectively, no longer makes sense – leaving nations free to choose their energy mix and, finally, putting an end to the European energy prices that today penalise the French and tomorrow penalise the countries that will equip themselves with nuclear power. Funding for emissions reduction should also be rebalanced towards more investment in adaptation. Since the Paris Agreement, global emissions have continued to rise, with two-thirds coming from emerging countries. We must therefore not simply over-regulate the European continent at the cost of degrowth, but finance our adaptation, such as the financing of dykes, the storage of water or the evolution of our agricultural production. Finally, if we want energy independence, let's be innovative and get out of the deadly precautionary principle that today, for example, prevents us from even exploring our shale gas resources, while we import it massively from the United States. And to conclude, in energy as elsewhere, let us reconnect with the audacity and inventiveness of European genius.

Madam President, I do not dwell on Mario Draghi's lucid, albeit belated, observation. I will focus on the main solution he proposes to us, namely a new loan of almost 800 billion euros per year, on the model of the COVID loan. The irony is that only a few days ago, the European Court of Auditors revealed that this COVID loan was a real fiasco since less than a third of the funds were actually released and that, in reality, this loan today has no financing solution, except to serve as a pretext for the creation of new European taxes, which, of course, would undermine our competitiveness. Because the European Union is a bureaucratic system that, unfortunately, is dysfunctional. I believe that today, rather than a flight forward, we need another path. And I believe that the Commission should not be trusted to choose how it will spend the money of our Member States tomorrow on major industrial projects, when the last major proposal it has made in this area is the catastrophic decision to end combustion engines in Europe. In conclusion, I believe that, on the contrary, the European rules on state aid and the constitution of European champions must be made more flexible. State tax exemptions must be encouraged to support certain sectors and the birth rate must be encouraged by removing family policies from the calculation of State deficits.