What Maria spoke about.

26

Nov

2025

Speeches EL

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Protecting citizens' right to make cash payments and ensuring financial inclusion (debate)

23

Oct

2025

Speeches EN

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Combating violence against women and girls, including the exploitation of motherhood (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, today I will take this minute to address mainly the men in the room – not so many, unfortunately – since women know, almost to their bones, what I will talk about. How many times have you been catcalled on the street? How many times have you walked home holding your keys, almost running, drenched in fear, just to make it home? How many times have you been judged for your choices? Stripped of your value at the workplace, dismissed for your opinion, for being a woman? 'What are you wearing?' 'Are you sure you are eating that?' 'Isn't this dress short?' 'You provoked him.' 'What were you wearing?' 'He is your husband, you have to forgive him'. Thank you for your time, and please take a moment to ask yourselves: if patriarchy is not in the room with us, then why is femicide an established term?

9

Oct

2025

Speeches EL

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Deliberations of the Committee on Petitions in 2024 (debate)

Mr President, in February 2024, the Committee on Petitions examined Ms Karystianou’s petition on state crime in Tempi, which was supported by 1.5 million citizens’ signatures. However, after the examination, the petition was stuck in a simple exchange of documents between the services. And then silence. No institutional inquiry was launched, only pretentious debates in plenary, closed between groups and mined by the EPP – the Greek government’s party – and the far right. When, as a member of the Committee, I requested that the petition for discussion be urgently reopened, when I informed you that the father of a victim, Panos Routsi, had just started a hunger strike and his life was in danger, what did you do? Nothing at all. Two and a half years of mocking the Greek government towards its relatives. One and a half years of inaction on the part of the European Parliament. It took 23 days of the father's strike to restore the rule of law. Citizens with their demonstrations, their solidarity, forced the authorities to retreat. Not the institutions; citizens. What does the Committee on Petitions actually do? What role does it play? What role do you play, gentlemen?

7

Oct

2025

Speeches EL

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Common agricultural policy (joint debate)

Madam President, the Rodrigues report abolishes controls, giving rise to scandals involving the misappropriation of European funds, such as that of OPEKEPE in Greece. It leaves the gospel of the CAP intact, 80% of the subsidies going to 20% of the beneficiaries. It does not reduce the cost of the small farmer, it only reduces the obligations of the big ones. The Imart report, on the other hand, has good intentions but they are not enough. Without binding control mechanisms and clauses against Mercosur-type agreements, farmers will continue to be threatened by cheap, uncontrolled imports. Question: Why is the cost of energy and fertilizer out of the question, colleagues? Commissioner, what about sheep pox and goat pox for farmers? Greece kills thousands of animals rather than vaccinates them. The majority of Greek farmers have been completely destroyed. I ask you to immediately and urgently disburse funds for these compensations. You must see it immediately, please.

7

Oct

2025

Speeches EL

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The EU’s role in supporting the recent peace efforts for Gaza and a two-state solution (debate)

Madam President, the European Commission and the Council, the European Union indirectly finances the occupation by purchasing Israeli weapons and surveillance software – first and foremost Greece. Ladies and gentlemen, you have violated Article 2 of the EU-Israel Agreement. The European Commission refused me access to the documents proving your complicity, the opinion of your Legal Service. Today you are talking about the two years of the undisputed attack by Hamas. You forget, however, that Israel has been systematically attacking Palestine since 1948, when 700,000 people were expelled from their homes. At the time, Palestine occupied 70% of its historical land. Today, 12% remain under military blockade. Do you have anything to tell us about this?

11

Sep

2025

Speeches EL

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Summer of heatwaves in the EU: addressing the causes and providing adequate housing and health policies to address record-breaking temperatures (debate)

Mr President, in Greece, citizens are suffering from record heatwaves. The fires erupted from wooden columns and pillars of the Public Power Corporation, which after privatisation were left without maintenance because the cost was considered high. Firefighters remain seasonal workers with incomplete logistical equipment. The mountaintops fill wind turbines within forests and Natura areas. This is the image of a policy that surrenders the country to profit and leaves citizens unprotected. Compensation is not coming. In Albania, Mr. Rama after the fires that burned 111 square kilometers of land of the Greek minority, not only did not offer any help, but now allows building on the burnt. It is an organized effort for the displacement of Greeks and the settlement by Albanians of the territories of the Greek minority. Europe must support local communities, ban the building of burnt buildings, protect the Greek minority in Albania and fund housing, health, civil protection and prevention networks across Europe.

8

Sep

2025

Speeches EL

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Investments and reforms for European competitiveness and the creation of a Capital Markets Union (debate)

Madam President, the Lalucq report, based on the Draghi report, acknowledges the need for investment. But instead of talking about social needs, inequalities, wages and the welfare state, the answer is more dependence on markets, more power in banks and funds. That is, "casino-capitalism" that has already collapsed is being re-served as a solution. In the North they talk about competitiveness, while in the South people live on poverty wages, youth emigration, public health and education systems in collapse. This is a two-speed Europe. We do not need more "casino capitalism" and dependence on the markets that bankrupted Europe and gave rise to inequalities. We need a new social agreement, public investment, fair taxation, support for workers and small businesses, fairness and transparency for all.

10

Jul

2025

Speeches EL

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Post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy (debate)

Madam President, the CAP is strangling small farmers, turning subsidies into a trap. Instead of supporting production and self-sufficiency, it produces dependencies and dead ends. Today, farmers are abandoning their land because of European Union policy. That's not enough for you. You also bring the Mercosur agreement. In Greece, CAP money became a vote-buying tool. A government gang squandered the EU funds by distributing them to us through virtual pastures and false declarations, with the participation of the appointed officials of OPEKEPE, the national body for the management and payment of CAP funds. The European Prosecutor uncovered the fraud. Four ministers resigned, 415 million the fine for the people. The real peasants pay the price by seeing the money they were entitled to end up in the party clientele. Europe must support real farmers and must punish the thieves, forgers and government apparatuses of Mitsotakis who conspired to...

9

Jul

2025

Speeches EL

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EU Preparedness Union in light of the upcoming wildfire and droughts season (debate)

Madam President, are you talking about a Preparedness Union? What kind of readiness? When does the European Union itself finance the disaster? The AntiNero programme is being implemented in Greece without an environmental permit, violating European directives, destroying Natura areas and forests with supposedly fire-fighting works that amount to systematic deforestation. It does not prevent fires. It makes it easier for them. Greece is burning again. I put a written question to the Commission. He replied that he had no information about the project, even though he financed it with hundreds of millions of euros from the Recovery Fund. He will check, he says, when the time comes to pay, when the damage will be irreparable. Following this, 213 environmental and social bodies and citizens of Greece submitted an official petition to the European Parliament, denouncing violations, misappropriation of funds and terrible environmental degradation by AntiNero. When will you finally act? How many more fires? If you want real readiness, stop funding the arson of nature. No more programs of destruction. We want forests, transparency, prevention and recruitment of permanent firefighters.

8

Jul

2025

Speeches EL

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2023 and 2024 reports on North Macedonia (debate)

Madam President, the Prespes Agreement is an invalid agreement, a tool of geopolitical interests and irredentism. A product of coercion and political manipulation dictated by the Trump administration to the then Tsipras government and imposed without democratic legitimacy, with the purchase of MPs and blackmail, both in Greece and in the neighboring country. It is based on a false history, which the leaders of Skopje for decades built a false national identity of the supposed descendants of the ancient Macedonians, in order to unite in this way the so different national identities of the people who lived in the region: Turks, Serbs, Slavs, Albanians, Roma, Greeks, Bulgarians. Neither Macedonian identity nor Macedonian nationality ever existed in ancient Roman Scupi or in the Yugoslav province of Vardarska of the previous century. The Greek people were never asked to accept the pseudo-Macedonia. We will never accept the deliberate falsification of our history. The unacceptable reference in the report to a dispute resolution model is an insult to historical truth and I am voting against it. Macedonia is Greek.

8

Jul

2025

Speeches EL

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2023 and 2024 reports on Albania (debate)

Madam President, the report on Albania conceals the grim reality experienced by the Hellenism of Northern Epirus. Areas are trampled, Albanian settlers settle, houses are demolished, as in Himara and Vlora, supposedly in the name of tourism development, with state cover and at the expense of legal owners. The Greek minority is shrinking demographically not only due to immigration, but also due to falsified censuses, according to which the authorities discourage or reject the declaration of Greek identity. The use of the Greek language is severely restricted, schools are closed, while teaching and cultural expression are blocked outside the narrowly recognized ... (incomprehensible words, technical problem). Violations of fundamental rights are documented by international organisations. The OSCE, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch report political persecution, restriction of press freedom, police surveillance and unequal access to justice. Yet the European Council and the High Representative celebrated Albania's performance in Luxembourg last April. This report now congratulates them. It is unacceptable and I am voting against it.

8

Jul

2025

Speeches EL

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Preparation for the 2025 EU–China Summit - Tackling China's critical raw materials export restrictions

Madam President, China is not a trading partner. He's a commercial competitor. First, European industries and multinationals massively relocated their production to China to exploit cheap labor and raw materials. Then, China built shipping fleets, bought ports such as that of Piraeus, in total participates in 10 European ports, established a regime of labour exploitation with contractors and limited labour rights, with accidents at work and accidents, environmental pollution, financial fraud in the customs of the European Union. Three petitions on COSCO can be found in the Committee on Petitions. No response since February. In Greece, he bought politicians from almost all parties, including journalists. The Chinese ambassador himself intervened several times in the country's politics. To get the European Prosecutor to check the Greek scandal with COSCO, see how many will be found guilty. All this signals the loss of sovereignty. But you're not listening. You're not listening. That's a problem. Take back all of Europe's infrastructure from China.

7

Jul

2025

Speeches EL

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Financial activities of the European Investment Bank – annual report 2024 (debate)

Mr President, the report shows that the European Investment Bank does not serve the real needs of citizens, but the interests of big business and strong economies. Small and medium-sized enterprises, farmers and the self-employed find their doors permanently closed. The Bank talks about support for small and medium-sized enterprises, but the funds go through commercial banks that choose their large clients without transparency and eventually end up with the same few. Its procedures are cut and sewn for the big players and for state structures of states, mainly developed, with a strong banking system, i.e. technical criteria, documentation, compatibility with ESG standards. All this can't touch the small and medium-sized ones. And now, on the pretext of security, the EIB is paving the way for the financing of the war industry instead of social infrastructure, and indeed with extra money it will ask the citizens. This is a bank of lobbies and inequality. We demand a change of strategy, fairness and equal distribution based on the real needs of citizens.

18

Jun

2025

Speeches EL

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Electricity grids: the backbone of the EU energy system (debate)

Madam President, behind the green transition lies an industry that sweeps mountains, forests and villages to set up private wind and photovoltaic parks, serving their profit – no public plan, no limitation on the number of permits, completely unregulated. In Greece, ridges are uprooted in Natura areas, forests are uprooted and roads are opened for wind turbines that serve neither energy self-sufficiency nor citizens. On the contrary, they cut off the electricity to the farmers. The green growth that I defend serves people, animals, biodiversity. Not the selling off of every natural resource. I call for the exclusion of renewable energy from sensitive ecosystems and the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2024/1999 on nature restoration. I put two written questions to the Commission: to recognise Greece as vulnerable due to the dramatic 37% reduction of the environmental equivalent in Attica from fires and to demand a national map of areas of absolute protection with a ban on their business exploitation, the freezing of permits and targeted reforestation. I'm waiting for answers.

17

Jun

2025

Speeches EL

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Situation in the Middle East (joint debate)

Mr President, Mrs Kallas, the trade war is intensifying. There is a plan: a trade corridor from Taiwan to Europe, through the Middle East, Iran, Israel, Gaza – to reach the beach and bypass China’s silk road. People pay for it with blood. Gaza is being bombed, children are dying of starvation. Blockade is a war crime and you do nothing to lift it. Rima Hassan, our colleague, was abducted in international waters. She is joined by 11 other Freedom Flotilla activists. Thousands of activists, including Greek MPs and MEPs, were blocked at the March to Gaza because they wanted to deliver humanitarian aid. We have sent letters to Presidents Metsola, vor der Leyen, Mr Costa, Mrs Kallas. We have called for Article 2 to be invoked, for the EU-Israel agreement to be suspended now. People all over the world are mobilizing for peace, but you don't listen to them. Why is it? Because your mind is not on the peoples, it's on your profits. It's a disgrace!

17

Jun

2025

Speeches EL

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EU framework conditions for competitive, efficient and sustainable public transport services at all levels (debate)

Mr President, Mr Tzitzikostas, public transport in a country like Greece, which has privatised everything, is a good target. But we are talking here about competitive and sustainable transport, while the main thing is the safety of passengers and workers. Of course, you can see that the EPP blockade did not work and the four MEPs who are independent were finally able to manage to talk about Tempi in the next issue. So I will tell you that two years after the state crime in Tempi, 57 dead, no answer. The freight train that collided has not been investigated, its cargo remains secret, the videos have disappeared, the responsibilities have been covered. The government is interfering in justice and the European Union is silent. Not a single security measure has been taken since then; not one. The same is true in the sea and in the air. Private investors reduce costs and together security – on ships, on planes, everywhere. People pay with their lives. This is not only a Greek shame; This is European complicity and it needs to change.

17

Jun

2025

Speeches EL

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The Commission’s 2024 Rule of Law report (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, in Greece the rule of law is not simply undermined; It has essentially been abolished. The Mitsotakis government controls the judiciary by appointing the leadership of the highest courts, while openly intervening and covering up cases such as the state crime in Tempi – even with police interventions at the scene of the crime, to remove evidence and responsibilities. It controls the media and funds oligarchs with public money, who in turn control information, image, social consensus. It allocates European funds to a closed caste, such as the OPEKEPE scandal and the 747 contract for trains. Public money without accountability, with direct assignments. There is impunity. No case can be brought to justice. Everything closes, everything goes into the archive. What is the Commission doing? Does he close his eyes to the EPP's chosen and personal friend, Mrs von der Leyen? The Mendes report is correct, but it is not enough. Sanctions are needed, not just findings.

22

May

2025

Speeches EL

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Deliberations of the Committee on Petitions in 2023 (debate)

Mr President, the Committee on Petitions is the main institutional forum through which European citizens express their concerns, concerns and problems. Our role is clear: defend and promote their rights without discounts. It is disappointing that a right-wing coalition within the committee is acting to close petitions that bother right-wing governments. It is also disappointing that the majority of Member States systematically choose not to answer the questions posed to them by this committee. Accountability to citizens cannot be selective. It must be universal and unavoidable. That is why I proposed, at the very least, the ‘name and shame’ procedure for those Member States that refuse to cooperate, to respond and to be held accountable. Unfortunately, most members of the political groups chose to protect their governments. We, however, will insist, we will continue to demand nominal accountability to defend the rights of ordinary people.

21

May

2025

Speeches EL

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Improving mental health at work (debate)

Mr President, mental health at work is a major problem of our time. In Greece, thousands of workers come home every day exhausted, anxious, scared. It is not a coincidence, it is the result of a policy that crushes the worker in the name of competitiveness. The Mitsotakis government with its choices consciously burdens mental health, abolishes controls, dissolves the hours with six- to six-hours, legalizes employer arbitrariness. They're not just indifferent, they're dangerous. They put profits above people. The European Parliament cannot remain apathetic. The European Union must treat governments that act as an extension of the interests of capital. We cannot speak of European values and at the same time be silent in the face of social disaster. We need binding regulations. Every company should ensure the mental health of its employees. We must legislate for work with rights, eight-hour-five-40-hour, for the dignity, the life of citizens in their daily lives.

21

May

2025

Speeches EL

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The EU's response to the Israeli government's plan to seize the Gaza Strip, ensuring effective humanitarian support and the liberation of hostages (debate)

Madam President, before our eyes is a heinous international crime, the genocide of the Palestinian people. 53 000 Palestinians have already been massacred to build the Riviera announced by Trump. You are the European Union of complicity and silence. When civilians are killed, you silence. When children are killed, you silence. Behind this silence, your bloody gains. Mitsotakis, the EPP's nominee in Greece, refuses to defend international criminal law, international humanitarian law, pretends to be an honest mediator between murderer and victim. In fact, he does military exercises, public relations and business with Israel. The people of Greece who have experienced the Nazi holocaust and genocide are not silent. He protests by standing up to the criminal Netanyahu and his associates. Stop the genocide now. Break off relations with the murderous state. Recognition of the State of Palestine. Freedom in Palestine.

7

May

2025

Speeches EL

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Malta's Golden Passport scheme circumventing EU sanctions against Russia (debate)

Mr President, the Maltese golden passport scandal is only the top. You traced it to the Russians because of your known obsession. And in Greece, the golden visa has become a real estate bubble tool. You buy a house, get a residence permit and access to Schengen. China, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, Israel are the main countries of origin. 2024 saw a record number of applications: 9.289. The result? Housing prices are skyrocketing, young people cannot rent, residents are being expelled from their cities. Who controls who buys and with what money? Who protects the right to housing? Europe cannot remain silent. We need a common European framework, a ban on these regimes and full transparency. Europe is not for sale. Neither our homes are sold, nor our countries.

7

May

2025

Speeches EL

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High levels of retail food prices and their consequences for European consumers (debate)

Mr President, accuracy in basic foods is not a temporary crisis; It is a daily nightmare for millions of people. In Greece, food prices increased by 27% in the last two years, with olive oil recording a 30% increase in one year, in 2023. At the same time, producer prices are falling, while shelves are filled with overpriced products. Intermediaries speculate, consumers suffer and producers are pulverized. The problem is not just inflation, it is the structural imbalance in the food chain. Few chains control the market, small producers are under pressure and prices remain high. And while food cartels form prices in terms of speculation, the governments of each country invite investors and say "come here and you'll make profits." Profits with what? With our food? Food is not a luxury; it is a basic human right and the European Union must protect it with protection policies and respect for citizens and not for the profits of companies.

7

May

2025

Speeches EL

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Resilience and the need to improve the interconnection of energy grid infrastructure in the EU: the first lessons from the blackout in the Iberian Peninsula (debate)

Madam President, the blackout on the Iberian peninsula is just the beginning. The same instability threatens Greece, where the uncontrolled private development of wind farms – wind turbines – without spatial planning, without storage, without infrastructure, leads to saturation, technical instability and energy waste. And it doesn't stop there. Mountains, ridges and Natura 2000 sites are being destroyed to install wind turbines, which do not offer stability, only profits for a few and expensive electricity for citizens. Uncontrolled power generation at zero demand hours destabilizes the grid. Nature pays the price. That is the problem, ladies and gentlemen, not to go back to nuclear power. Solve this issue, because this is not an energy transition; is a predatory policy with a green label, environmental colonization with public funding. Europe needs to set limits.

6

May

2025

Speeches EL

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2023 and 2024 reports on Türkiye (debate)

Mr President, Turkey – the state and the Erdoğan government – is an authoritarian regime that wages expansionist wars, flouts international law, destroys cultural monuments, violates democratic rights, humiliates justice and imprisons any opposing voice. Turkey threatens Greece with war because it does not accept my country's inalienable right to extend its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles. It harasses and violates our European borders and airspace, illegally occupies European territories in Cyprus and does not recognise it as a member state of the Union. A few days ago, he unilaterally announced the partition of Cyprus, attempting a new fait accompli in occupied Northern Cyprus. The European Union cannot go with closed eyes and open funds, offering it billions to keep migrants and refugees out of Europe or calling it to arms councils. Because then we are not talking about geopolitical balance, we are talking about European hypocrisy. Erdoğan was not and will never be an ally. He's a dictator. It's over. Stop the guns to Turkey. No financial transactions without a solution for Greece and Cyprus.

6

May

2025

Speeches EL

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The European Water Resilience Strategy (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner Roswall, allow me, in the debate on water resilience, to add the risk of the Greece-Bulgaria agreement for the burial of Bulgarian radioactive waste on Greek soil. I have been asking the Commission a question on this for two months and no one is answering it. You know that Greece is the sixth most seismic country in the world, which can affect the stability of geological formations. It has many aquifers, critical for water supply and agricultural production. In other words, the country is unsuitable for the burial of radioactive waste, with a very serious risk of radiation leakage and possible groundwater contamination. Also, on an issue that I have raised in a question about Lake Trichonida – which is also unanswered, how can pump-storage in a natural lake be supported – not artificially, destroying the drinking water of the area and the agricultural crops that have been pumping Trichonida water for centuries? I would ask you very much to include in this report the fact that we must not show any tolerance for the nuclear threat to our groundwater.