What Sebastiaan spoke about.

8 Jul

2025

EN Speech

Situation in the Middle East (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, this debate about the situation in the Middle East will likely be taken as yet another opportunity to bash Israel. But the situation is: the Middle East has become a lot safer thanks to Israeli actions in response to the horrific and traumatic day of 7 October. The Middle East is dealing with the dark terror forces of Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the …

18 Jun

2025

NL Speech

Case of Ahmadreza Jalali in Iran

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Mr President, the dictatorial terror regime of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been holding Mr Djalali for more than nine years. He was arrested during a working visit and has been in Evin prison in Tehran ever since. Mr Djalali, who had a permanent residence permit in Sweden, was arrested in 2016 on suspicion of espionage and sentenced to death in 2017. In 2018 he was granted Swedish ci…

17 Jun

2025

EN Speech

Situation in the Middle East (joint debate)

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Madam President, the title of this so-called joint debate is a Christmas tree that perfectly demonstrates this Parliament's cluelessness when it comes to what's going on in the Middle East. Israel attacking nuclear facilities and military targets in Iran isn't causing instability. On the contrary, by removing the offensive and world-destructive nuclear capabilities of the repressive Islamist and t…

1 Apr

2025

EN Speech

Dramatic situation in Gaza and the need for an immediate return to the full implementation of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement (debate)

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Madam President, High Representative, to address the situation in Gaza, which gets worse by the day, we need to look further than what's happening between Israel and Hamas. We should look at the whole of the Middle East, because in one way or another, everyone is involved: Gaza, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the IRGC in Iran, Egypt, Qatar – everyone. But now we have to focus on Gaza. Since Hamas…

11 Mar

2025

NL Speech

Deteriorating situation in Gaza following the non-extension of the ceasefire (debate)

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Mr President, 7 October 2023 will be forever engraved in our memory. The barbaric massacre carried out by Hamas-led terror groups in Gaza was Israel's worst blow since the Holocaust. Only 471 days later were Romi, Emily and Doron released first, and those weeks afterward were weeks of hope. Hope for the families of the hostages and hope for Israel. Israel has released 1,904 prisoners, including te…

12 Feb

2025

NL Speech

Recent dismissals and arrests of mayors in Türkiye

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Mr President, the removal of democratically elected mayors in Turkey is yet another outrageous attack on democracy and yet another proof of President Erdoğan's authoritarian course. These mayors, elected by the people, have been replaced by state-appointed officials. This is yet another symptom of the same disease – the Islamisation of Turkey – and the ever-decreasing decline in democratic values.…

12 Feb

2025

NL Answer

Commission Work Programme 2025 (debate)

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The European Union has not had any regulation or coordination in the European defence industry in the past. However, my party and my group fully support European defence cooperation, especially when it comes to industry. It is important to strengthen this cooperation so that we can better tailor what the needs are, what needs to be produced, where it needs to be delivered and the like. We will dis…

12 Feb

2025

NL Speech

Commission Work Programme 2025 (debate)

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Mr President, the Commission's work programme is yet another example of Brussels' meddling and ideological blindness. We stand for a strong Europe, but not for a Europe that undermines our national sovereignty and ruins our economies. The obsession with climate neutrality by 2050 turns out to be completely unrealistic and, moreover, harmful time and time again. Our industries, from farmers to tran…

10 Feb

2025

NL Speech

European Central Bank – annual report 2024 (debate)

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Mr President, Mrs Lagarde, I am speaking today on behalf of my colleague in the delegation, Mr Zijlstra, who was shadow rapporteur on this dossier and unfortunately cannot speak today due to illness. When the European Central Bank was launched by Wim Duisenberg on 1 June 1998 under the Maastricht Treaty, we all thought that we would have a central bank whose aim was to keep prices stable. It is st…

10 Feb

2025

EN Speech

Situation in Sweden in the midst of the recent mass shooting in Örebro (debate)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, the recent tragic mass shooting in Örebro, Sweden has left us all in mourning. Eleven lives taken in an act of senseless violence that left many others injured remind us of the fragility of peace in our societies. This incident is not just a Swedish issue: it's a European one. It underscores the urgent need for comprehensive security measures, vigilant community invo…

20 Jan

2025

NL Speech

Ceasefire in Gaza - the urgent need to release the hostages, to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to pave the way for a two-state solution (debate)

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Mr President, yesterday was the big day for Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher and their families. Yesterday was a great day for Israel and everyone who cares about Israel and the Israelis. Yesterday was the first day of at least four long months, in which Hamas still holds hostages, in which a ceasefire applies and in which a handful of hostages are released weekly by Hamas in exchan…

27 Nov

2024

NL Speech

The increasing and systematic repression of women in Iran

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Mr President, dear women in Iran, you are having a hard time and you can count on the support of The Patriots for Europe in your fight for freedom. Although other parties considered the cordon sanitaire more important than a unanimous declaration by this Parliament in support of your dire situation, the Patriots simply negotiated the text and accepted our suggestions. Mr President, I quote: O Prop…

22 Oct

2024

NL Speech

Urgent need for a ceasefire in Lebanon and for safeguarding the UNIFIL mission in light of the recent attacks (debate)

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Mr President, since Resolution 1701 of 2006, Unifil's blue helmets were intended to monitor the border region between Lebanon and Israel, the so-called blue zone. Unifil should have ensured that no military activities were carried out there. Not by Israel, not by Hezbollah or any other club. But what happened? We saw recent footage of rocket launches by Hezbollah toward Israel, under the noses of …

8 Oct

2024

NL Speech

Escalation of violence in the Middle East and the situation in Lebanon (debate)

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Mr President, Israel is engaged in a battle against an enemy who wants to wipe off the face of the earth not only Israel, but the entire Jewish people. Israel's action in Lebanon is not directed against the Lebanese people, but against the Hezbollah terror group, which controls parts of Lebanon. Hezbollah has occupied southern Lebanon, close to the Israeli border, and placed missile installations …

7 Oct

2024

EN Speech

One year after the 7 October terrorist attacks by Hamas (debate)

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Mr President, today we commemorate the victims of the brutal terrorist attack by Hamas, exactly one year ago. Today we honor the innocent civilians massacred by an Islamic terror group in the largest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. But remembering that, honoring that, is not without obligation. That should not be without obligation. Honoring the victims of this terror only has value, Mr. Borre…

17 Sep

2024

NL Speech

War in the Gaza Strip and the situation in the Middle-East (debate)

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(NL) Mr President, on 7 October 2023, Israel was invaded by terrorists from Gaza. 1,200 Israelis were brutally massacred and 255 Israelis were abducted to Gaza, including 35 children, 19 of whom were under the age of 12. Hamas's goal was to hit Israel in the heart and turn the international community against the country. The terrorists knew that it would be virtually impossible for Israel to retri…

16 Sep

2024

NL Speech

Persistent problems of anti-Semitism in Europe and of other forms of hate speech and hate crimes (debate)

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Mr President, it has been almost a year since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on 7 October 2023 and murdered hundreds of young visitors to a music festival. They slaughtered innocent civilians in surrounding villages and took many hostages, including women and children. It was the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. While the brutal attacks were still going on, we already saw people chee…