What Reinier spoke about.

8

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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United response to recent Russian violations of the EU Member States’ airspace and critical infrastructure (debate)

Madam President, how many Russian drones did it take to shut down European skies? About five. How many drones are over Ukraine? About 500 every night. If we face that, we're not prepared at all. Ukraine learnt the hard way how to defend itself against drones, and they understand you should not shoot down a cheap drone with a million-euro missile. Their technology is cutting-edge and Ukrainian inst…

7

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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This is Europe - Debate with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Luc Frieden (debate)

Madam President, dear Prime Minister, you said it's up to us to dream about the future, and I agree. 40 years ago, European leaders dreamed of the future in a tiny village in Luxembourg. They decided to do something new. They opened borders. And what started in Schengen proved to be a massive success: the freedom of movement. You also said too many Europeans have lost faith in the EU. But polls sh…

11

Sep

2025

EN Speech

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Solidarity with Poland following the deliberate violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones (debate)

Madam President, Russian drones in Poland – a major escalation. Drones in EU and NATO airspace are not only another Russian escalation, but also another warning for us. There is a clear pattern: destroying our communication cables in the sea, the attack on the EU embassy in Kyiv, and now drones invade our airspace. Russia is testing us. Colleagues, how we respond today will determine how Putin act…

11

Sep

2025

EN Speech

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Implementation and streamlining of EU internal market rules to strengthen the single market (debate)

Madam President, colleagues, sometimes I tell my friends I'm going for a run, but instead I end up on the couch, eating a bag of chips, watching 'The Hangover' for the 15th time. When it comes to the single market, this is exactly the EU: big words, bold promises, no execution. We know what we should do: give startups a fast, digital way for legal incorporation; create one capital markets union wi…

9

Sep

2025

EN Speech

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Ukraine (joint debate)

Madam President, while Trump rolled out the red carpet for Putin in Alaska, the largest air strike on Ukrainian civilians happened. It seems that the more we talk about peace, the more aggressive Putin becomes. The more the US bows, the more bombs he throws, and the more we are paralysed, the more he prolongs this war. We want this war to end as soon as possible and to prevent it from ever restart…

8

Jul

2025

EN Speech

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Presentation of the programme of activities of the Danish Presidency (debate)

Madam President, dear Prime Minister, Denmark has great stories to tell. It gave Ukraine all its artillery so they could fight back. It launched the Danish model for defence investments to help Ukraine win. Now Denmark is targeting Orbán's veto so Ukraine can take steps towards its European future. Denmark holds the rotating presidency for the next six months, and your Minister of European Affairs…

19

Jun

2025

EN Speech

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Institutional and political implications of the EU enlargement process and global challenges (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, what could the EU look like in 2030? A new European Union from Greenland in the Atlantic to Ukraine in the Black Sea, a new Union with more countries. For the countries joining, it means new opportunities, new freedoms and new responsibilities – 35 countries collaborating together. But we know the EU is already dysfunctional. There's only one solution: reform, treaty…

18

Jun

2025

EN Speech

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Upcoming NATO summit on 24-26 June 2025 (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, without America, NATO doesn't work. NATO's commander: American. NATO's intelligence: American. NATO's weapons: American. And Trump's big betrayal of Zelenskyy in the White House showed us that, at best, the US is unreliable. So how can we make NATO work for Europe? That depends on next week's NATO summit, which only seems to be about how much money each country wi…

2

Apr

2025

EN Speech

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Progress in the UN-led efforts for the resumption of negotiations towards a solution to the Cyprus problem

Madam President, colleagues, press release: Cyprus leaders agree to open four new crossing points. Crossing points? It's not something you think exists in Europe, but this is the reality for Cypriots. One nation divided, not by choice, but by the geopolitical greed of Türkiye. Along the 180‑kilometre ceasefire line, there are only nine crossing points. Can you imagine that? The opening of four new…

1

Apr

2025

EN Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 20 March 2025 (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, dear Mr Costa, the EU has a black hole: it's called the European Council. If this Union were a galaxy, that is where bright ideas go, pulled in by its gravitational force, never to be seen again. Enable Ukraine to win, remove Orbán's veto, create a European army, Treaty change – for years, the European Parliament has sent ideas your way only for them to vanish. Th…

31

Mar

2025

EN Speech

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Need to ensure democratic pluralism, strengthen integrity, transparency and anti-corruption policies in the EU (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the European Parliament: for over 12 years, Marine Le Pen and 24 others systematically stole more than EUR 4 million from the EU. They used it to grow their far-right party in France. Today they faced justice. It's a great day. Not because a far-right politician can no longer run for the French presidency, but becau…

11

Mar

2025

EN Speech

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White paper on the future of European defence (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, what do Putin, Trump and Xi have in common? They are all afraid of a united Europe. Our ambition in this vision for the future of European defence is far too low. Too many of you still believe that 27 Member States should simply do more, instead of doing things together. Too many of you still believe we can sit back and rely on NATO instead of saving NATO through …

10

Mar

2025

EN Speech

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Establishing the Reform and Growth Facility for the Republic of Moldova (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, Moldova chose Europe. Recently, Moldova was at a crossroads and in its history, and despite all the Russian interference, they chose to walk the path that leads to Europe. In the quickly changing world order, we need to start backing words with deeds. And this growth plan shows that we will invest to lift people out of poverty, build solar panels, schools and hosp…

12

Feb

2025

EN Speech

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Collaboration between conservatives and far right as a threat for competitiveness in the EU (topical debate)

Mr President, let's play a game. You are an entrepreneur with a new business idea. In which continent would you choose to build your business? In the first continent, you can't hire the best people – borders are closed. You can't plan ahead – regulations change unpredictably. You can't innovate – old, polluting industries are protected. You can't expand – international cooperation is replaced by i…

22

Jan

2025

EN Speech

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Uniting Europe against actors hostile to the EU: time to strengthen our security and defence (topical debate)

Madam President, 'penny-wise, pound-foolish' – that sums up the impact of the defence budget cuts in the first 20 years of this century. So it's good that the Commissioner for Defence has proposed to start with a big bang of EUR 100 billion as a European investment plan, because the threats are banging on our door so loudly that everybody seems to agree that we need to invest. I agree as well, but…

21

Jan

2025

EN Speech

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Further deterioration of the political situation in Georgia (debate)

Mr President, it's cold outside today, so imagine going outside and standing there for the next six hours. You shiver, your stomach rumbles and you fear the police might beat you for no reason. Sitting on the couch at home with your family would be so much better. But you stay and you go again tomorrow, like you have been doing for the past 55 days, because you want your country to stop becoming a…

21

Jan

2025

EN Speech

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Need to enforce the Digital Services Act to protect democracy on social media platforms including against foreign interference and biased algorithms (debate)

Madam President, imagine that everything we do online is like an ocean. In that ocean, social media are islands and some of those islands enable people to connect and participate in the public debate. But in this vast digital ocean, some social media are not islands, but icebergs. Icebergs where you only see the content the owner of that platform wants you to see. Other opinions are kept underwate…

21

Jan

2025

NL Question

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Need to enforce the Digital Services Act to protect democracy on social media platforms including against foreign interference and biased algorithms (debate)

You're talking about censorship. And I'm really wondering if you've read this law at all? Can you name one article that actually imposes censorship? Because this law only stipulates that what is illegal offline is also illegal online. Have you read it at all?…

17

Dec

2024

EN Speech

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Misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms, such as TikTok, and related risks to the integrity of elections in Europe (debate)

Mr President, we welcomed a Trojan horse into Europe, into our homes, into our pockets. Social media platforms started as a fantastic tool to connect, but have now become secret weapons. In a toxic cocktail of company monopolies, foreign actors, greed of shareholders and lack of regulation, algorithms push extreme content and bot accounts spread fake news, especially during elections. Dear colleag…

17

Dec

2024

EN Speech

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Crackdown on peaceful pro-European demonstrators in Georgia (debate)

Mr President, the party Georgian Dream has turned it into a Russian nightmare. The leaders of this nightmare stole the people's voice in an election that was not free nor fair. And by blocking the roads to the EU, they stole the people's hope. They are illegitimate, unconstitutional, but the masks are off and they reveal their true face – a face the Georgian people know too well, a face of Russian…

26

Nov

2024

EN Speech

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Reinforcing EU’s unwavering support to Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression and the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia (debate)

Madam President – nuclear threats, assassinations, fire‑bombed aeroplanes, sabotaged factories, destroyed internet cables – every day we read about Russia's terrorist attacks on Europe. But like ostriches, European governments and some people in this Parliament stick their heads in the sand in the hope that maybe the danger will pass. But while these attacks scare us, Putin is terrified, his war e…

25

Nov

2024

EN Speech

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Condemning the illegal unilateral declaration of independence of the secessionist entity in Cyprus and all efforts to legitimise it and reaffirming the need for European solidarity - 41 years after (debate)

Mr President, one nation, but two currencies: the euro and the Turkish lira. The euro was chosen, but the lira was imposed. It's the reality for Cypriots. Ever since the Turkish invasion of Northern Cyprus, a wall has arisen, dividing not just the country, but families, friendships and futures. I stand here as a member of Volt, the pan-European movement, but today, more specifically, as the voice …

14

Nov

2024

EN Speech

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Enhancing Europe’s civilian and defence preparedness and readiness (debate)

Madam President, we have been asleep. For decades, our countries have been in a geopolitical sleep. Under the military blanket of the United States, we dreamt of an everlasting peace. In 2008, the first alarm clock went off. Russia invaded Georgia. So what did EU countries do? We hit snooze. When Russia invaded Crimea, we hit snooze. When Trump was elected and shouted 'America first!', we hit snoo…

23

Oct

2024

EN Speech

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Foreign interference and hybrid attacks: the need to strengthen EU resilience and internal security (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, a room with thousands of smartphones, from the floor to the ceiling, rows upon rows. This is what a bot farm looks like. Where fake content is created to influence the way we think. Scary, right? But in reality, the effect is often overestimated. People are smart and not that easily influenced. The bigger threat comes from leaders in our own society. Bait to sprea…

23

Oct

2024

EN Question

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Foreign interference and hybrid attacks: the need to strengthen EU resilience and internal security (debate)

Thank you for this speech. You ended by saying that you want to strengthen our democracy. Can you give a few examples of what you think we should concretely do?