Speeches

Mr President! One day, when every lion's head hanging on any wall, or every ivory horn lying in a trophy chamber, will disintegrate into dust, when no butterfly flies over flowers and no lizard crawls through the jungle, when we humans live under glass domes because we have destroyed our planet, our nature and our livelihood, we will wonder what else we could have done. Or one day, when we have saved our planet, when we have understood the respect for nature and its beauty that today only indigenous peoples show us, we will look back and rejoice that we have come together in this hour of our planet’s plight and tore the rudder around – for ourselves, for the animals and for generations to come. I wish you all, ladies and gentlemen, the representatives of the Commission and the Council, our three guests and also the people in the translators' booths, a good night.

Madam President, it's a point of order regarding Rule 10(3) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, which says that we as Members, we shall not impose inappropriate behaviour. In my personal opinion, threatening EU officials to neutralise them with the security services of a Member State is inappropriate behaviour, and I would ask the Bureau to look into this. So much for my point of order. Thank you for that. So, dear people of Europe, I think it doesn't matter so much what I say, but because whenever I speak just after Mr Braun, it's something better. One of our colleagues told us all to go to the medical service, and I think that's a very great idea because you can go to therapy there. I do this myself because of the stress. And you can also do this when you are under the impression that everyone is planning together, that they have something against you. And no surprise for the AfD, like Mr Jungbluth, the people behind all this are people of Jewish descent once again. What we are seeing right now is nothing more than treachery. Treachery against Europe. Treachery against the European Union. Treachery against the people of Hungary. Because the people of Hungary democratically decided to be part of the European Union and to build together with us the European idea. I think the Commission knows what to do. You already have a bunch of proceedings against Orbán, and I just hope that you can conclude them all before he will be kicked out of office next year.

Madam President, dear citizens of Europe, Mrs Junco García, you said: It wasn't climate change, it was an administrative failure. With respect, that surprises me a lot. First, it was climate change, because climate change causes more and more natural disasters, such as the rains of the Dana; and secondly, the real problem in the administration is the lack of understanding or sometimes the denial of climate change, also here in this Parliament. Let's listen to the science, the real experts, not the charlatans who tell lies. Only together can we take care of our planet and save humanity.

Madam President, dear people of Europe, imagine a country in the heart of our continent, rich in forests and fields, where people work hard to build, dream and create. Imagine a country that trades freely, that welcomes its neighbours not with fear, but with friendship. A country whose engineers, teachers and farmers shape the future not in silence but in pride. Imagine a Belarus that is not a prison, but a partner, a Belarus that stands with Europe, not against it. That Belarus exists already in the hearts of millions of Belarusians who want nothing more than to live in freedom, dignity and peace. One day their courage will be stronger than their chains. And when that day comes, Europe must be ready to welcome Belarus home.

We are well on our way not to follow Belarus, Mr Droese, because we oppose populists and extremists like you and your party. I think it speaks volumes that you have not answered my real question – as is so often the case when you and your peers are referred to the defamations and lies you are spreading in this Parliament. Then you can think of nothing better than repeating these lies and these defamations. This policy, this rhetoric, and how you stir up fear and unrest in our people is nothing more than a betrayal of European ideals, a betrayal of the European idea, a betrayal of the German people.

Thank you very much, Madam President. In line with the Rules of Procedure, I would also like to have the opportunity to respond again to Mr Droese's reply. Mr Droese, you have now spoken in great detail here about why the democratic system in Germany, in Europe, is broken and how much your party is being persecuted. Of course, you avoid essential points such as the open extremist aspirations of many of your colleagues. But my question is this: When was the last time you noticed that a representative of the opposition, like you right now, was in parliament in Belarus and so openly criticised the government? Isn't that the difference between dictatorship and democracy?

Madam President, dear people of Europe! If you listen to people like Mr Haider from the far right, you have the feeling that there are only a few grey bureaucrats sitting in the Council acting against the interests of the people of Europe. Or if you listen to people like Mr Oliveira from the far left, you have the feeling that the people sitting there are at best pretending to represent the interests of the people of Europe. The big questions of our time are actually discussed there: Ukraine, defence, competitiveness, housing and digital sovereignty. But as a European institution, as a European Union, we also have to accept the question of why the populists and extremists of this time can make such accusations at all. This is simply due to a lack of transparency. The meetings of the European Council are not livestreamed like these plenary sessions, there are no proper transcripts, there are no minutes, no public insight. And yes, sometimes diplomacy needs discretion, but lack of transparency is the death of democracy. If Europe hides its debates, then populists and extremists gain time. They fill the silence with lies and fear. If you want to defend the European project, you need more transparency.

Thank you, colleague, for accepting the blue card, and thank you, especially, for mentioning Sudan in this context. You rightfully said that, in this conflict in Sudan, we need to send humanitarian aid and impose diplomatic pressure. At the same time, we see, especially by the RSF, the most heinous war crimes in a century. Would you agree with me that we should also consider military interventions in cases where human rights are violated on that scale?

Madam President, Colleague Neuhoff is a very special TünnesI haven't seen that yet. Madam President, dear people of Europe, for me the situation is clear: We need to make Russia pay. But I really do not understand the legal problem that some people are having here, because when you listen to Putin, then Russia goes all the way until Lviv. So even if we listen to those people, what we are doing is taking Russian money and investing it in what Putin calls Russia. I was very surprised when my colleague Uhrík said that we have European problems and we need a European solution for that. That's something that I've never heard from the ESN. So that's something that goes for Putin. But I also want to answer the question that he gave to us: What else do we want to give to Ukraine and for how long do we want to give it? It's quite simple. We will support Ukraine with whatever it takes and however long it takes. Slava Ukraini!

Thank you very much, Madam. I would be interested in what you would say to Viktor Orbán if you could tell him something about the fact that this summit will probably take place in Budapest.

Dear colleague, I was wondering if you are aware of the international treaties between Russia and Ukraine in the 90s, where Russia promised to respect Ukraine's sovereignty and borders in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear arsenal? And also, did I understand you correctly that once a state breaks international agreements, that's a reason to wage an illegal war of aggression against that state?

Mr President, dear people of Europe, dear honourable Commissioners and colleagues, some of our colleagues seem to think that it is a crime when the Commission proposes new or updated legislation, while this is actually its core job, because we – the people of Europe – decided to go further together. This will not change, no matter what happens in a single Member State and, just as a side note to some of our German colleagues, it's even enshrined in our Constitution. This working programme has my support, especially because it tackles the issues that my generation has to face: the industry, saving the climate, social justice and digital freedom. Also, on another side note, Mr Vice-President Šefčovič, in your mission letter, you were tasked to work closer with this Parliament. The US trade deal was concluded in our summer break and, while I understand that sometimes you have to give a child candy when it screams, we had a similar situation now with the Morocco Agreement. This working programme is also our working programme. Let's work together for the people of Europe.

Mr President, dear people of Europe, dear people of Israel, dear people of Palestine! Peace to you! Peace between ruins from which anti-tank missiles are still fired and on which artillery shells still fall. Peace between people who are still waiting for their relatives' bodies to be handed over and people who are still starving. Peace between war criminals and terrorists, all of whom are in custody in The Hague. peace. What can be the role of the European Union? We can be a model for a peace that will last for generations. Because with the two-state solution alone, it will not be done. The wounds are too great for these two states to coexist with peaceful borders. But the European Union is a model that can eventually work in the Middle East: shared responsibilities for common interests while respecting the diversity of peoples. I know I sound naive. But I believe in peace.

Mr President, thank you, colleague, for accepting the blue card. You said one thing that caught my attention: the customers must know. I can not agree on that more. At the same time, especially in the digital realm, I see a problem that many customers do not read through this long text, in the same way that we always just accept the general business rules without reading through any of it. So, in your opinion, what can we do to take the burden of reading through walls and walls and walls of text from the customer so they actually are informed in the time that they have?

Mr President, I would like to congratulate Google, because if you Google this fine, the Google knowledge panel says that Google in fact broke the law, while the legal team still debates that. I would also like to congratulate my colleagues here today who spoke up against Google, because this will not be good for your Google algorithm in any way. I want to congratulate some of our colleagues for their mental creativity, because they stand here in the European Parliament publicly claiming that some opinions are forbidden, while expressing those same opinions in the plenary of the European Parliament. Finally, I would like to congratulate the Commission for having at least some guts. But let's be honest: fining Google EUR 3 billion is like fining our colleague Mr Braun one daily allowance for his antisemitism. He will just dry his tears with his euro bills, and Google will just dry their tears with their trillions of dollars. So, dear Madam Commissioner, nice try! Next time, please, we need even more from you.

Mr President, dear people of Europe! First of all, I would like to congratulate the rapporteur, because he has achieved something that is rarely the case. We have a very complicated legislative proposal here. And yet, as a layman who has no knowledge of chemistry at all – and this is not due to my former chemistry teacher – I have understood what this is all about. I welcome this OSOA package because it means less bureaucracy, more science, earlier protection, a platform, a database, shared knowledge for a secure Europe. If we also empower the European Chemicals Agency to identify risks early and make data openly available, we will strengthen not only research, but people's trust in our policies. Because politics without facts – as we have seen in the debate today – is just rattling. And rattling has no place in Europe.

Thank you, Mr. Colleague, for accepting the blue card. They talked about alternatives to animal testing, and you hear that over and over again. Personally, I hope they actually exist. Because I also don't want rats or fish or birds or whatever to swallow any toxins. At the same time, however, I want our consumers to be sure that we can achieve the things we need to achieve in medical research. So maybe you could go into a little more detail: What are the alternatives to animal testing? What can be done to test the safety of these products without suffering animals?

Madam President, according to Rule 124(2) read together with Rule 174(3) of the Rules of Procedure, the proceedings of this Parliament must be public and available in all official languages of the European Union. Yet today the live stream of our debates offers neither sign language nor subtitles. That means millions of deaf and hard of hearing Europeans are effectively excluded from following the democratic process that belongs to them. The purpose of those Rules is clear: to allow every European citizen to follow our debates as they happen – not by scrolling through the transcripts after the fact, but seeing, hearing and feeling their representatives at work. Our democracy lives from understanding, from the connection between words, expression and gesture. Therefore, I ask the President and the Bureau, under Rule 174(3), second subparagraph, to instruct DG COMM to ensure that our live streams include either sign language or interpretation and real-time subtitles. For the people who are deaf: we see you!

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, dear citizens of Europe, climate change is not only an environmental problem but also a threat to the health of all of us. As the heat increases, new insects arrive in Europe: tse-tse mosquitoes, parasites that carry diseases such as dengue, Nile virus and malaria. These are not distant fears, they are facts. Those who say they are defending the people must protect their health. We may have different ideas on how to make the ecological transition, but those who deny the problem or accuse the European Union of its actions, abandon the citizens and leave the field to diseases and fear. Defending the climate means defending life and that is our duty as Europeans. And maybe one last word in German: No one needs the AfD, no one needs the ESN. They only sow fear and unrest in the hearts of our people, and that is a disgrace to Germany and a disgrace to Europe.

Mr President, colleagues, dear visitors, after I got elected to the European Parliament was the best time of my life – how exciting, how wonderful to be able to work here, how wonderful to be able to shape Europe's future! Dear colleagues, after I got elected was the worst time of my life. I worked 80 hours, I was lonely, I was away from home and I fell into a deep depression. For the first time in my life I developed a drinking problem, and that's something coming from a German, I can tell you. This job, this world that we live in, is so challenging for our mental health that we sometimes forget what it does to ourselves. So I would take this opportunity, dear colleagues, to remind you to look after yourselves because Europe needs you – Europe can only progress when you, as MEPs, take care of your mental health.

Thank you, Mr. Colleague, for accepting the blue card. You just said that you care about the privacy of the population when it comes to telecommunications. How much, you would say, is your opinion influenced by the fact that the Czech secret service recorded your telephone conversations with the Russian secret service?

Excuse me for this little hint on the matter of digital competence in all of this! Thank you, dear colleague, for accepting my blue card, whether it was raised on paper or digitally. I listened very carefully to you, and I agree that this is all a question of competitiveness and often the modern digital environment. At the same time, I know that our citizens fear many of the things that we want to do, and especially chat control is used by populists and extremists in this House to stir these fears. So regarding this topic, what alternatives do you see on chat control?

Madam President, dear people of Europe! The members of the AfD like to call for my speeches here: ‘The little man spoke’. I find this amusing, because that's exactly what they always claim to represent, while in truth they are betraying him. They are committing treason because their deputies, like Mr Bystron, are allegedly being bribed by Russia. They practice treason by spreading fake news. For of all that is at stake, the loss of an objective reality, I fear, is perhaps the greatest danger. And they practice treason through their incitement against the weak, for that is only the mere primitive doctrine that power is equal to right. Let me make it very clear: The AfD's policy is a betrayal of the German people. The ESN's policy is a betrayal of the peoples of Europe. The little man spoke.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am a bit confused, because you come from the Europe of Sovereign Nations Group, and you always argue that the EU should not interfere with the competences of the Member States. But now you are saying that the EU Commission should take a position on a possible crime on German soil or on German seabed and intervene in ongoing criminal proceedings in Germany. So apart from the fact that whoever did this, did us a favor with it: How does this fit together with you? I'd like to understand that.

Mr. Colleague, I can only agree with you on this point. I would have been happy if you had actually answered my question. I understand from what you said between the lines, however, that you see it that way. I believe that our credibility depends above all on the fact that, just because we want to work more closely with India now and should do so, we still do not overlook the things that have prevented us from doing so in the past. These are human rights issues, these are consumer protection issues, these are all questions that stand behind the values we have as a European Union.