Speeches

Madam President, dear people of Europe! Personally, I always find the debates in this European Parliament the most interesting, where everyone actually agrees, but where at the same time the greatest nonsense is being told. Everyone here agrees that bees must be saved in one way or another. Some say agriculture is to blame, others say pesticides are to blame. Commissioner, I would like to tell you very briefly: What I think is best about the proposal you are making is urban greening. Because this is the habitat from which we have almost completely driven the animals, and if we bring a bit more green into the cities again – this is not only good for the mental health of people, it is also good for nature. So, as everyone actually agrees, I would like to call on the House here to let these ideological trenches be a bit more. The funniest thing I've heard, the biggest shot is the one with the windmills. It is really so stupid to say that wind turbines are evil because animals die as a result. Calculate, if you like to throw numbers around, how many animals die, when climate change really pops in with us! There is nothing more to biodiversity. So, let's stand together, let's stick to the ratio! Have a nice weekend!

Madam President, dear people of Europe! Personally, I always find the debates in this European Parliament the most interesting, where everyone actually agrees, but where at the same time the greatest nonsense is being told. Everyone here agrees that bees must be saved in one way or another. Some say agriculture is to blame, others say pesticides are to blame. Commissioner, I would like to tell you very briefly: What I think is best about the proposal you are making is urban greening. Because this is the habitat from which we have almost completely driven the animals, and if we bring a bit more green into the cities again – this is not only good for the mental health of people, it is also good for nature. So, as everyone actually agrees, I would like to call on the House here to let these ideological trenches be a bit more. The funniest thing I've heard, the biggest shot is the one with the windmills. It is really so stupid to say that wind turbines are evil because animals die as a result. Calculate, if you like to throw numbers around, how many animals die, when climate change really pops in with us! There is nothing more to biodiversity. So, let's stand together, let's stick to the ratio! Have a nice weekend!

Mr President, dear people of Europe, it really drives me crazy when some people here in this debate say that the EU was never able to fix the big problems of our time, when it's the same people that, when we ask for a strong and robust financial mandate for the European Union, say no. When we asked to unify the European Union's competences on cross-border challenges, they say no. So the same people that sabotage the constant updating of this Union now claim that this Union is not able to solve anything and therefore should not be extended. The second thing that drives me crazy every time I hear it is when they say, 'Oh, we cannot do this enlargement because it will cost us money', and they throw around these big numbers. I'm a jurist; I do not come from the economy, but what I understand is that you have to invest if you want to grow your business. And investing in enlargement is investing in the future of Europe, of the European Union.

Mr President, dear people of Europe! If you want to look at the extent to which a state is moving away from democracy, you have to look at how it deals with journalists. When journalists are imprisoned in a state for doing their job, that state distances itself from democracy. Now you have already applauded, Mr Bystron, but you have applauded a little too early, you have not listened to me until the end. Listen to the end, then you are welcome to add your mustard! This is something else when it is established in the context of a constitutional procedure that people use the mantle of journalism to decompose the system. Rule of law, Mr. Colleague, you will continue to get to know them in the future as part of the various criminal proceedings against you. I hope that this debate, this resolution, will be adopted. I hope that the unjustly imprisoned journalists in Georgia will be released and that we in Europe will continue to have the courage to take action against those who merely abuse the Institute of Journalism.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, dear citizens of Europe, energy is the lifeblood of our society, but today our electricity grids are too old, too slow and too isolated. If we want more renewable energy, electric cars and clean industries, we need a strong, modern and connected European electricity grid. A network that unites the sun of the South, the wind of the North and the power of innovation everywhere. This requires investment, cooperation between states and less bureaucracy. We can't afford any delays. The climate is changing, costs are rising and energy security is a global challenge. A European electricity network is not just a technical project, it is a promise of solidarity, sustainability and sovereignty.

Thank you, Madame, for accepting the blue card. Among other things, you mentioned the shortage of skilled workers. The figures are very clear, and as much as I agree with you on the training offensive, I think you will agree with me when I say that the experts tell us that we cannot cope with this shortage of skilled workers alone with our own population. At the same time, there are great fears of immigration in large parts of the population and also in this Parliament. How can we effectively use immigration to counteract the shortage of skilled workers in the energy sector and in all other sectors?

Mr President, dear people of Europe, we all agree: Whoever steals from public office must go to jail, also if he belongs to the Government of Sanchez. But now some here say that this government has stolen power. They forget that he was elected by the Spanish people. Corrupt politicians can also be elected in democracy. But if there is corruption, it is decided by the courts. Democracy is not perfection, but how mistakes are dealt with. The rule of law is not the absence of crimes, but the response to them. I hope our Spanish friends take this seriously. Europe is watching.

Mr President, people of Europe, I am a man. I feel right in the body that I was born into. I am heterosexual. I am what's called an 'ally'. Someone who does not belong to a community, but who stands with them, who fights with them against fear, against hatred. I stand with a proud community because I believe in equal rights for all the people. Because tens of thousands of homosexual and trans people have been murdered in German concentration camps. Because when I speak of love and intimacy with a woman, no one calls it propaganda. No one says it's a danger to children. No one calls it a sin. I am an ally. And what I offer is this: my voice, my time, my solidarity, my rightful fury. I am a human being. And so are you. So are all the people. I am an ally.

Thank you, colleague, you just very colourfully outlined your interpretation of what happened at the Warsaw Pride. As it sounded to me, you automatically assume that every man who shows his body automatically scares children, that drag queens automatically scare children, that trans people automatically scare children. So I just wanted to ask you if, in your opinion, in your worldview, the people of the LGBTQI+ community are automatically a danger to children? And if not, where is the line for you?

Thank you colleague, I'm up here in the middle for you. We have many colleagues today that claim that this all with the human rights by the European Union that we defended, that's an infringement of the Member States' rights of sovereignty. As you know, I'm just a simple jurist, but you were a chairman of a constitutional court, so maybe you could take this moment to explain to our colleagues how it actually works on a legal level, with the rights guaranteed by the European Union and the sovereignty of the Member States in this regard. I would be very happy.

Mr President, dear people of Europe! Sometimes I wish we were really alone the lackeys of the United States; then it would not be so painfully alien to the world if some here claim that we serve American interests alone in our defense. Sometimes I wish that Ukraine was really just a proxy war with the West; then these distortions of the reality that some are doing here would not be such a shameless insult to the bravery and freedom of the Ukrainian people. Sometimes I wish spending on our defense was really just taken out of the social pots; then this dilettant understanding of budgetary policy, which some are pursuing, would not be so embarrassing for all the other Members. In a perfect world, we don't need armies, we don't need armor. Until then, we need NATO.

Mr President, dear colleagues, I am speechless, and you all know this almost never happens. I am speechless that so many seem eager to pick sides between a corrupt prime minister wanted by the International Criminal Court of Justice, and an Islamist ayatollah who kills young women for not wearing a hijab. I am speechless that some deliver weapons to an army guilty of countless war crimes, while others tolerate a terrorist group that murders anyone daring to challenge their rule over rubble. I am speechless that, faced with this unbearable human tragedy, the leaders of the world have nothing more to offer than the same tired talking points I heard as a teenager. I am speechless. And that, dear colleagues, tells you everything.

Mr President, dear people of Europe, I would like to touch on two things. One colleague said he likes the smell of petrol like a normal man. To this, I would just advise to not spend too much time next to the exhaustion of a car. Another colleague said that he wants to regulate public transport there where it happens. Therefore, I think that means – not at the EU level. I would advise this colleague to think how he travels from his home country to Strasbourg or from his home country to Brussels. We use trains, and also even a plane can be public transport at some point. I think there is a huge interest in cross-border transport in the European Union. So, when someone asks, where does public transport happen? It happens Europe‑wide. Mr President, I would also like to use this opportunity to apologise because in the last Plenary, I had a misunderstanding within the Rules of Procedure.

Mr President, dear people of Europe! Mr Sell is afraid of Moldova joining the European Union. He is afraid of Moldova's faltering economy. As if we were admitting countries to the EU in order to take immediate advantage of it in the short term and not to build freedom, prosperity and the rule of law together in the long term. He is afraid of corruption in Moldova – here I can recommend him to look into his own party. He asks what the added value is for our people. Quite simply: That we lead together on this European continent, that we work together with all the peoples of Europe on the future of this Union, on a common path that will be better for all of us than what we have had in the past.

Mr President, dear people of Europe! Mr Valet has just presented Montenegro's accession as a risk, as if it were only corruption, drug trafficking and Chinese influence. I think that's cynical. If you read the progress reports, you will see that Montenegro is making real progress – not perfect, but honest – and that gives me hope. I belong to the first generation that only the European Union knows, and I want us to move forward together with all the peoples of Europe in peace, democracy and dignity. Extension is not a security risk; It is a pan-European responsibility.

Dear colleague, I was just wondering, as you said that there was no debate about this before, and then you said that now there is no oversight afterwards. In light of the fact that we speak exactly about these topics, about these funds in this European Parliament, the only directly-elected institution of the European Union, before and, now, also after, and you have the freedom to outline all your criticism – if that is not a democratic debate, in your opinion what is a democratic debate?

Thank you very much Sir colleague, you as a child of an island, born surrounded by the sea. I would like to ask: what can we do more, beyond the current proposals?

Madam President, dear people of Europe! In my hometown Bergisch Gladbach there was a serious child abuse case a few years ago. For years, the perpetrator had commercially distributed terabytes of child pornography material, making his own daughter the main victim. What slowed down the reconnaissance? German federalism, but also the fragmentation of competences between the Member States of the European Union in the digital space. That is why I say, yes, European harmonisation of child protection means a transfer of responsibilities, but one that protects lives, ensures that perpetrators can no longer escape through the gaps in the federal and national thickets and that the protection of children no longer stops at the state border. If an offender thinks European, then so must we.

Madam President, I am basing my point of order – as so often before – on Rule 10(4) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament prohibiting hate speech. In this debate, in the speeches of our colleagues Susanna Ceccardi, Mary Khan or even Zsuzsanna Borvendég, we have seen rhetoric that automatically puts the mere existence or the knowledge of people of the LGBTQ+ community as a danger to children. We can, of course, have a debate about the point in the life of a child where it should get knowledge about sexuality, but phrasing the mere existence of a group as a danger to children – this is hate speech. Madam Vice-President, we have seen this in this Parliament over and over again, and I think there was a reason why Rule 10(4) explicitly mentions hate speech. So I ask the Bureau to step up against this, because I'm sick of hearing this talking point – that so clearly goes against our values – over and over again.

Madam President, dear people of Europe, three weeks ago, our colleague Fidias Panayiotou said in an interview that we just don't know how many of the abducted Ukrainian children actually like living in Russia now. As if a child taken from home, torn from their families, reprogrammed to forget who they are, could ever be happy. This is how far Russia's propaganda has reached, how it turns even Members of this House into willing or unwitting pawns. But I have bad news for Putin: he may lead some into the dark, but never Europe as a whole. We are free. We stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. Slava Ukraini!

Madam President, dear people of Europe, three weeks ago, our colleague Fidias Panayiotou said in an interview that we just don't know how many of the abducted Ukrainian children actually like living in Russia now. As if a child taken from home, torn from their families, reprogrammed to forget who they are, could ever be happy. This is how far Russia's propaganda has reached, how it turns even Members of this House into willing or unwitting pawns. But I have bad news for Putin: he may lead some into the dark, but never Europe as a whole. We are free. We stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. Slava Ukraini!

Mr President, dear people of Europe! In the GDR, a suspicion was enough and the Stasi listened. Today it only takes a few clicks and Pegasus infiltrates the mobile phone of a journalist, a human rights activist, a member of parliament – including in EU countries. But what is almost as dangerous as this software is who decides who gets it – a single company. A company that does business with authoritarian governments, evades any democratic control, and has built a business model out of fear. Such companies do not sell software, they sell access to thoughts, to life, to strategies of people who are committed to freedom. They do this with a price list, but without transparency, without ethics, without remorse. If Europe allows it, we will soon no longer be monitored in spite of democracy, but because of it. Democracy needs protection, not espionage software, and not a free market for surveillance.

Mr President, dear people of Europe! In the GDR, a suspicion was enough and the Stasi listened. Today it only takes a few clicks and Pegasus infiltrates the mobile phone of a journalist, a human rights activist, a member of parliament – including in EU countries. But what is almost as dangerous as this software is who decides who gets it – a single company. A company that does business with authoritarian governments, evades any democratic control, and has built a business model out of fear. Such companies do not sell software, they sell access to thoughts, to life, to strategies of people who are committed to freedom. They do this with a price list, but without transparency, without ethics, without remorse. If Europe allows it, we will soon no longer be monitored in spite of democracy, but because of it. Democracy needs protection, not espionage software, and not a free market for surveillance.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. I am very grateful to you for this debate, which has once again brought to my mind what the difference is between politicians and scientists. I think Choose Europe for Science This is a very important initiative, but it does not sufficiently address the real objective we are pursuing. Everyone knows that at the end of the day it is about the introduction of a fifth fundamental freedom: Freedom of Science. But this should be explicitly mentioned in this program. We should be able to create visions for the future with our freedom of science, and not just regulate the now in a fragmented way. The same goes for the smaller. It is right and important to specify the details of the recognition of research qualifications and the facilitation of visas. But we look too little at those who are not yet researchers, namely those who are currently in school. We need school subjects that are harmonised across Europe, such as digital literacy and media, so that those who can conduct excellent research in Europe in the future have all the necessary skills to do so.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, dear peoples of Europe, the single market is one of the best things in the European Union, but the market must be fair to all. Today there are new challenges: digital platforms, unfair practices, unclear rules. This resolution is important. It serves to help small businesses, to protect consumers and to have a well-functioning market. A modern market must also be transparent and open to everyone, not just the big ones.