Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, As a representative of the Progressive Party, the European Innovation Act I have a special concern. Recently, I was able to look at an important historical example of innovation in the South Harz, in Germany: The first Wattscher steam engine – put into operation on 23 August 1785. Watt's steam engine, that man was English, wasn't he? That's right, and the Germans only came up with his innovation, which was so important at the time, especially for mining, because they implemented a rather resourceful plan of industrial espionage. This advantage was lost to the English. Similarly, ensuring European innovation today is not only about promoting it, but also protecting it from economic and industrial espionage. Honourable Commissioner, honourable Members! I would therefore ask you to always keep these things in mind in your work, among many other important steps such as the participation of the population.

Madam President, Ladies and gentlemen, and everyone in between and outside! I too wanted to mention the number of people in Europe who do not have access to clean drinking water – fortunately, Mrs Ter Laak has already done so. I would like to take this opportunity to disagree with Mrs Bentele with the utmost respect. She said we have a good situation when it comes to the distribution of clean drinking water in Europe. I think that if more than 14 million people in Europe do not yet have access to clean drinking water, that is not a good situation today. Apart from that, however, I am happy, because I come from a small party, and we from small parties, we usually do not have it easy, because we cannot move so much if the others do not fortunately coincidentally have the same demands as we do. It is now explicitly stated in our election programme that we are committed to banning eternity chemicals, and I would like to reiterate this at this point. That is why it makes me particularly happy that this has been reproduced here by all political camps as well. So let's ban these eternity chemicals. Let's keep our drinking water really clean.

Madam President, Dear Commissioner Fitto, I do not think I have to tell you that it was your staff in particular that caused quite a stir in this House in the composition of the new Commission. And I must also tell you: If I could have voted personally on the individual Commissioners, I would have voted against you – simply because you belong to a political current that is called post-fascist, at least in German political science. And it will be that, in your person and with your political background, you will not be able to convince many of my colleagues in this House of your person and of the fact that this was a good decision. But this is an issue – affecting regions, natural disasters – on which everyone agrees, where I think you and I also agree that there is a need to help people. And that is why I would like to call on you to do your best on this issue to overcome political divides.

Madam President, dear people of Europe and dear secretaries of the Vice-President. The European Ombudsman is an institution of transparency, and while the annual report of 2023 shows how important this institution is given the fact that 372 proceedings have been concluded, it also shows us the price of transparency. It is not for free – it takes the involved institutions some bravery, because what stands in the way of transparency is mostly the thought that things always have been like that. If, for example, a Member of this Parliament uses the freedom of his mandate to record from inside this plenary and thereby give the people a unique insight to the proceedings of this House, this, of course, is also a disturbance to the way that things have been. But if you ask me, transparency is always worth that disturbance. Dear colleagues, let us do everything in our power to strengthen the European Ombudsman even further.

Mr President, dear colleagues, if you have seen me in the last half an hour, you might have realised that I was not sitting here in my place where I, unfortunately – but I respect the rules of procedure, of course – need to take this speech from. I was sitting down there with my colleagues from the Greens, and this is not only because me and my colleagues from the Greens had a nice little chat, this is intentional. I would like to express that I am happy that in this debate we have seen a lot of people catching up talking points that the Greens have already made 20 years ago. But we should maybe now, in this time of environmental crisis, of climate change, listen to them a little bit more, even if we are not part of their team. Because if we don't do it now, we have to listen to them even more in 20 years. So let's work together, let's save our climate, let's save our planet, and I wish you all a pleasant weekend.

Madam President, dear colleagues, don't worry, it's going to be my last one for now. I am referring to Rule 167(1), where it says, 'Parliament may place debates on specific matters'. A debate is, according to the Oxford Dictionary, a formal discussion on a matter in a public meeting or a parliament. And here we got a long list of speakers coming in, talk for one minute and then leave. And this room here is mostly from 10 % filled to empty because there are breakfast meetings, funnily enough called 'breakfast debates'. Then there is group or individual meetings afterwards, so-called lunch debates. Then there is food and drinks with the intergroups, followed by dinner debates. You see a pattern here. And then finishing up in the night while the plenary is still ongoing, there are cocktail receptions with NGOs and lobbyists. Colleagues, this Hemicycle is a majestic sanctuary of democracy. It is the heart of this continent, and with all my soul, I want to see it alive, full of passion…

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I still remember the first time I spoke in a university classroom: My voice trembled but it was full of passion. That freedom to express myself has shaped who I am today. Every young person deserves the same opportunities free from any foreign interference. Today, our universities are facing an ever-increasing challenge: Countries like China and Russia are attempting to infiltrate and influence our academic institutions, putting at risk the independence and freedom that are at the heart of European education. This is a direct attack on our intellectual sovereignty and the values we consider fundamental. Universities must remain places of free exploration not tools of geopolitical games.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen! I would like to join Mrs Van Leeuwen in calling on us to overcome our political trench fights. At the beginning of this year, there was a very serious attempt in Germany to write children's rights into the Basic Law, into our constitution. They even agreed on the content, and it was only because of the political trench fights of the parties involved that this had to be abandoned in the end. This is ridiculous and should never happen. Now I'm going to switch to English for the colleague that unfortunately left, who had the audacity to actually call the education system of the Soviet Union a better place than Europe, and then add up by quoting the Bible. To you, sir, as Christ, I say you are wrong, and God has tears on his face because of the zealotry that you put out in this Parliament.

Madam President, dear Commissioner, being a new Member to the Parliament, I was not able to see your work in action, but I was told a lot of good things and having a great sense of love for your culture, I must say, you have the most Irish name that I've ever heard in my life. Our newly elected President of the Commission said we need an economy that works for the people and I fully agree. Our strong economy and our unique single market is our biggest advantage in that more and more hostile world of ours. I really hope that we will especially work together on the capital markets union, not only as a tool to foster both venture capital and foreign investment in the EU, but also strengthen a united Europe as a whole. Because our economy was the one thing that brought us together in the beginning and I think it can also bring us together in the future.

Madam President, dear people of Europe, I would like to use this opportunity to challenge one fundamentally wrong talking point of the intolerant, the religious zealots and those who use the discrimination of people to gain power. They say tolerance for people of the LGBTIQ+ community is an ideology. How can you claim the nature of people is an ideology? How can you claim that tolerance for that is an ideology? This idea is so inhumane and backward it leaves me speechless every time I hear it. Mr Tynkkynen, for example: is the name used to describe this group of people really relevant? And in what political movement – and it is, of course, a political movement because it had to become a political movement to fight their suppression – are there only good ideas? I myself, I am not a member of this community, but I am proud to be an ally.

Madam President, Commissioner, food, safety, energy: that is everything that keeps us from anarchy as human beings. Everything that leads people from distrusting a system if it is missing. And now, in this so very important debate, on average – I counted it – we had 20 MEPs sitting in this room. I know, unfortunately, this is not how it's working here in this Parliament. I know the number of MEPs present does not mean that we don't care, but you have to see it from the eyes of the people. If someone now opened the live stream of the European Parliament who is affected by these problems, what should he or she think? And who has a right to judge our work here, if not the people? So I ask all of you, please take this topic way more seriously than the amount of people in this room would suggest. It is the one thing holding our society together.

Madam President, dear people of Europe! Personally, I've always had trouble believing in coincidences. The bigger the coincidence, the harder it is for me. For example, it was a great coincidence when, on the day of the appointment of our Head of Delegation for China, I joined him in the Members' Bar When we got out, there happened to be three Chinese lobbyists, one of whom, like the head of the delegation, also speaks Turkish. Likewise, it is completely impossible for me to believe that this Chinese ship with its Russian captain happened to be right near these data cables. This was a repeated attack on our critical infrastructure – nothing more, nothing less. And for my colleague Bausemer and his oh so clever questions: It's also hard for me to believe that it was a coincidence with Nord Stream that the Ukrainians were nearby. But it is just as Mrs Strack-Zimmermann said: Either it was the Russians who deliberately used these Ukrainians to ask clever questions here, or the Zelensky government has done us a huge favor.

Mr President, dear fellow human beings! I lived for eight years in Köln-Kalk, a district with above-average poverty and therefore above-average crime. For eight years, 14-year-olds offered me marijuana on my way home, and the rest of the time these kids were busy looking cool around the area. But in recent years I've noticed something: They don't look cool in the area anymore, they look at their phones. And why? This is what Europol told us earlier this year: because the Internet has become the main place for the recruitment and organisation of young people for crime. That is why we have to react strongly with our rule of law. We must immediately oblige platform operators to delete content that celebrates or solicits crimes and report the incidents directly to the authorities. And we need to make digital literacy a school subject across Europe in order to raise awareness among young people about this problem. They're young, sometimes stupid, but they need us.

Madam President, Madam President of the Commission in spe von der Leyen! Last time we spoke, I told you that I did not vote for you because of a grassroots democratic decision by my party and expressed the hope that you would teach us better. I would give you a 6 out of 10 for this commission. Not bad, but with air upwards, especially with regard to individual Commissioners. Nevertheless, I am now pleased to look the future Commissioners in the eye and wish them the very best for their work and will also vote for this Commission. But I would like to remind you of one last thing: They are elected indirectly but not directly democratically. The European people did not vote directly for you. As a colleague from France, who otherwise belongs to the more intellectual-creative political forces, has said: She also doesn't know them for the most part. It is now your job to show the people of Europe that you deserve your position through transparent work, strong engagement in classic and social media and prudent governance.

Madam President, our lands where once the borders stood, now flows the breath of brotherhood. No sentry halls, no gate delays, the open roads greet sunlit days. Through valleys deep or hills that climb, a fearless union breaks through times. In market hum and hearts alight, the ties of Schengen bind the night. Bulgaria's plains, Romania's streams, now wave into our shared dreams. From east to west, from sea to sea, the pulse of Europe beats so free. What walls we raised, our hearts unbind. Through Schengen doors we seek, we find no greater gift, no finer art, than Europe's soul in every heart. So travel on, let journeys weave, the thoughts of borders we shall leave. For here in freedom's vast embrace, the union spirit finds its place.

Madam President, dear people of Europe, I wanted to hold a speech about the saying 'show me your friends and I will tell you who you are', but one colleague already did that, so I'm just going to say, if you use troops of a tyrant in your war, you are a tyrant. But one of my colleagues caught my eye, and this is Petr Bystron from the tyrant-supporting AfD. Petr Bystron, you need to know, right now faces criminal investigations in Germany because he was bribed by the Kremlin. And why do we know that he was bribed by the Kremlin? Because he was stupid enough to complain on telephone about the fact that they gave him EUR 200 bills, which you cannot use in German gas stations. Of course, it's just an investigation, but as long as this investigation is pending, maybe Mr Bystron should not have a big mouth about Russia in this Parliament. Dear colleagues, we need to fight every tyrant and we need to fight everyone that is on tyrants' payrolls. Slava Ukraini!

Madam President, dear fellow human beings! Every act of violence against a woman deprives her of some of her dignity. Earlier, in the dark Middle Ages, women were not legally considered as human beings, but as objects under the control of their father, brother or husband. Until a quarter of a century ago, there were no laws in large parts of Europe to protect women from violence that was regularly directed specifically against their dignity. Italy did not change this until 2001, Germany in 2002, Poland in 2005. And today? Today I know stories of assault from each of my friends, 30% of women worldwide experience violence in a partnership, and today we see countless colleagues shaking with just anger. I myself have never committed violence against a woman, but I too have crossed borders to my shame. This day is a reminder for perpetrators, uninvolved people and victims alike that we will have reduced violence against women even further in one year.

Madam President, dear people of Europe, I have voted today with the reality in mind that despite our best efforts, EU sanctions on Russia have been not as effective as they should be, as we would have wished for. One weapon in the arsenal that Russia is using as a tool of hybrid warfare are those shadow fleets as an attempt to circumvent EU sanctions. We cannot let this happen. I stand along with the rest of Europe. My party, the Party of Progress, stands along with the rest of Europe in supporting Ukraine. But of course, Russia is not only waging a war against Ukraine, Russia is waging a war against every free person in Europe. This is why we do not only defend Ukraine with imposing sanctions like this and strengthening our laws, we are also defending ourselves. Therefore, I call on all my colleagues to also vote for this in the future.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for this opportunity to speak on the UN climate conference. We had a vote regarding this topic today, and we see ourselves challenged with the fact that one of our most important partners, not only in climate protection but also in the energy transition, is a country that stands particularly against those changes and wants to keep a fossil-based industry, wants to make money on a fossil-based industry. Of course, this could now lead us to boycott this country, to boycott this climate conference. And as I have spoken out at least a little bit for the first option, I would strongly disregard the second option. We have to face the situation that when we want to save the climate, when we want to save our planet, we need to work together with people who might not earn our trust. So I hope that the next climate conference in Baku, or any climate conference, is visited by way more of the world leaders.

(Start of speech off mic) ... Rule 197. Even though I would not jump on the same point like my colleague, dear Mr Marquardt. The thing is, he's right. We have a vote here today where at every single vote, the machines failed at some point. This is not okay. We have to have a high standard. And we even have colleagues who chant and act like it would be a show or something. So what I would like to propose, dear President, even though I fully respect your ability to make these vote sessions real quick and very efficient, maybe we take ten minutes and give the IT department a possibility to see what's wrong with the voting machines.

Yes, so I'm trying to answer the three questions one by one. First question: Is it possible to end a war with diplomacy? I believe that a war of aggression, a war of aggression contrary to international law, can only be ended by striking back the aggressor. The second question was: How do we get the Russian people to join us? The Russian people are not the question here. We have a dictatorship in which a dictator with all evil power rules over his people. And we have to bring down this dictator and then we can work with the Russian people again. And the third question: Is it theft? Yes, if you say that the theft of Ukrainian land by Russian troops is theft, then you would say that it is also theft. But I don't think the Russians deserve better in this situation.