Speeches

Madam President, colleagues, the Ombudsman – or Ombudswoman in this case, in the previous case – is one of the biggest fighters for transparency in our Union, and more specifically for the right to access public documents. She has rightly pointed out that the Commission President's deliberate deletion of text messages is a case of maladministration. I note in my conversations – and we have seen it very often in this Parliament – that this has given ammunition to the extremes to come up with all sorts of crazy conspiracy theories. This has unfortunately hurt trust in the EU enormously. President von der Leyen has to understand that citizens, civil society organisations and journalists exercising their right to transparency is not a threat; it is not a sign of mistrust that should be limited or thwarted. Proactive transparency is not a luxury. It is an opportunity, a necessity, to show our citizens how we make decisions, to involve them and to regain the lost trust, because cover-ups and half-truths rarely stand the test of time.

Madam President, Commissioners, spyware is, in most cases, illegal, and we cannot say it loud enough or often enough. Greek judges have delivered some justice for this illegal use of spyware, and four people have been sentenced. That is real, it is tangible, and we should applaud it. But the fact remains that no high-ranking official in the Greek government has offered any democratic accountability. The fact remains that protection for journalists in Greece is still the worst in the EU. The fact remains that the Greek government keeps seeing civil society as a threat. The fact remains that it still possesses spyware to bully and intimidate journalists, as do other countries in the EU. I applaud the Greek judiciary, but this sentence is a fork in the road. Do we take the road towards real accountability for the use of spyware, or do we take this sentence as a pacifier and go back to sleep as if nothing happened?

Mr President, dear colleagues, on behalf of the FEMM Committee, two days ago on 8 March, the world celebrated International Women's Day. Two hours ago, this Parliament did the same. Our timelines were full of marches and beautiful shows of solidarity and admiration for and from women, yes, but also thankfully from men. Men like our own Manfred Weber, who posted an inspiring video praising and celebrating women, saying the EPP won't stop being a champion for our rights and we act. So let's act. Colleagues, let's act together. Let's put our money where our mouth is. Let's ensure that the positive answer given by the European Commission, by Ursula von der Leyen herself, to the 'My Voice, My Choice' citizens' initiative does not remain a paper tiger. Let's ensure safe and accessible abortion for every woman in the EU so that, in the same words of Mr Weber, women are equally treated and have a fair chance in our societies. It should not be hard. Europe is watching.

Madam President, colleagues, I will try to strike a slightly different tone. Listen, we are a house of democracy, and we should have a lot of freedom to engage in also radical ways of calling for the attention of citizens for different subjects. But we have had already two plenary sessions when banners, including this one that we have seen today, have been hung without permission, infringing the Rules of Procedure of this House. And I will go into the message, because this banner that six or seven boys have hung out here is directed to intimidate and scare the women of this House and beyond. So I would like this House to take action, and the President to take action.

Madam President, dear colleagues, Europeans want a strong and united Europe in times of international turmoil – just like the majority of Slovaks do. However, Europe can only be as strong as our weakest link. And if we tolerate corruption running rampant in one of our European capitals, it weakens all of us. Corruption kills trust: trust between citizens and their governments, but also trust between our countries. And that is exactly what Robert Fico wants. Fico's government has abolished the national anti-corruption agency and shortened sentences for corruption. Yes, the number of prosecutions dropped by 70 %, but – breaking news – that's not because there is less corruption; it is simply not being investigated, let alone taken to court. So don't be fooled: corruption is only getting worse. The people in Slovakia deserve better, just like European taxpayers do. So it is our duty in this Parliament and the Commission to protect them both.

Madam President, madam Commissioner, dear President Costa, in the words of California Governor Gavin Newsom, it is time to buck up and have a backbone, and growing a backbone will take more than words, even though I do appreciate President von der Leyen saying yesterday in Davos, nostalgia will not bring back the old order. And that is why I would like to remind you and all of us in this House, that the United States is currently threatening Europe of getting rid of the visa-free travel to the US if we do not give them free access to our biometric police databases. And why on earth is the Commission going along with this? And why did the Member States approve a mandate to negotiate with the US on this in December, when we could all see the direction that things were taking? The Commission must put all negotiations on this matter on hold. We will not be blackmailed.

Madam President, colleagues, the days of Viktor Orbán at the head of possibly the most corrupt government in the EU are numbered. And so I guess he thinks that desperate times ask for desperate measures. And that must be exactly why Hungary has requested billions from Europe, this time from the SAFE loans programme, despite vowing – vowing! – to stay out of the same defence cooperation which SAFE aims to strengthen. It's just more taxpayers' money to get his hands on. And I get it: you do you, queen! But why on earth do the Council and the Commission think that it is a good idea to lend Orbán EUR 16 billion while he keeps rolling out the red carpet for Trump and for Putin – and that without any real improvements to the rule of law? So to me this is like a '6-7' situation where I really don't understand what's going on. So let me ask the Commission and let me ask the Council to be the adults in the room here, to do the right thing and not to lend any money to Orbán, to protect our safety and protect our budget.

Madam President, colleagues, we have heard many, many good things today, but I think that we have heard too little about enforcement and why it's taking us – why it's taking the Commission – so long sometimes to publish investigations, to come up with the fines, to enforce the rules that we already have in place. I wonder: might this have something to do with the threats that we're getting from some tech oligarchs in the United States and their protector in the White House – as has been said in this room today? I think that there are a lot of Europeans who are looking at us on this day, this week of all weeks, as the week of truth. What are we going to do as the European Parliament to break our tech dependency on the United States and claim not only our digital but our general sovereignty? I think this is the moment of truth, and I call on the Commission to take action swiftly in this domain and also other policy fields.

Madam President, what we are trying to do here is to guarantee supply of medicines for which inefficient supply would result in serious harm or risk of serious harm to patients. Now, let me remind you that there are a lot of women in Europe who are still not enjoying the right to safe and legal abortion, and this situation will only become worse if we do not include abortion medicines in the list of critical medicines. Please, when you are going to vote tomorrow to decide whether we do include these medicines in this list or not, think about friends, think about sisters, think about daughters. Think about what happened if they, for whatever reason, including medical reasons, needed an abortion and the medicines were not available. Do you think that there would be fewer abortions? No there won't. There will be more unsafe abortions with health risks and deaths as a result. Please reconsider your position.

I was shocked to hear that, in trilogues, essential medication for women was simply dismissed as non‑essential – I am talking about abortion medication – and this while women in Europe still die today because of lack of access to safe abortion. Now, we could be solving this on a European level, and groups such as yours still refuse. Your party leader, Marine Le Pen, supported enshrining abortion as a fundamental right. So, I do expect you to vote tomorrow for the amendments which try to achieve this at European level. Could you confirm that you will do so?

That was not my argumentation, because I appreciate every single thing that is done for women to become more independent. I am talking about all those men in Hungary who, influenced by social media platforms which are totally out of control, now think that women should be under their direct financial control. That is what I am talking about. You are not responding to that.

I would like to speak about Hungary. In Hungary, 68 % of men think it is acceptable to control the financial situation of women. That is 22 % higher than the European average. And among young boys, especially, 72 % think that it is the task of men to earn money – that is 30 % higher than the European average. I think that we should be shielding Hungarian women from this development, and I was wondering if you agree with me that this is something concerning, that you should not want this for your country, and that social media platforms do have something to do with this?

Madam President, I've been told that Viktor Orbán really cannot get enough of a Hungarian comedian called Somogyi András, because he does a wonderful impersonation of how Brussels is an evil conspiracy and how Ursula von der Leyen doesn't want anything to do with democracy and only wants to punish Hungary. And I understand why people in Hungary love him, because that's exactly what we have heard today – that Brussels is the evil conspiracy and that we are only trying to kill Hungarian democracy. But I think that you have to be very serious and very real. And Brussels is not the reason why Hungary is in economic decay. Brussels is not the reason why Hungary has an education system which is crumbling. Brussels is not the reason why people in Hungary have to bring their own toilet paper when they go to hospital. And Brussels is not the reason why 600 000 people have left the country. So, to the Commission, I will say: the next time that you have the opportunity to take swift action, please do so and apply conditionality properly, because the Hungarian people deserve our protection. Thank you so much in advance and please – please –do not leave it at promises. Take action.

Thank you, colleague, for your reading of the situation in Slovenia – which I do not share, because this initiative is not about Slovenian politics. This initiative is about providing women everywhere in Europe, regardless of whether they have the resources or not, with access to safe and legal abortion. But let me ask you something. Have you talked to organisations who help these women coming from Poland, for example, to the Netherlands? Because I have talked to them and they have told me their stories. Have you taken the time to engage with those doctors helping these women? Because I have talked to them and they have told me the stories. Have you?