Speeches

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, colleagues! Poland has returned to the path of the rule of law and this report is the best proof of this. In a few days, we will be celebrating the anniversary of the removal of the PiS government from power by millions of citizens, Polish women and men, who said no to lawlessness and systemic corruption. Today, the government of Donald Tusk is making a titanic effort and step by step restores the rule of law in Poland. It frees the prosecutor's office from politics. The judiciary is becoming independent again. Special services no longer cooperate with the government media in slandering opponents of power. Where there is no rule of law, evil and corruption always triumph. And so it is now in Hungary, where a small group of privileged people have built a system of total lawlessness and impunity, where PiS politicians are now seeking refuge with allegations. In Poland we have dealt with this pathology and I wish the same for my Hungarian sisters and brothers.

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, I'm sorry. Oh, my friends! Today, young people mostly learn from social media. It is also a fundamental place for them to build relationships. The network brings people closer, but it also brings huge challenges. In Poland, almost 40% of teenagers have experienced insults online. Half of them have experienced appearance-related cyberbullying with huge consequences for their mental health. Social media can not be out of control, because in this way we will allow extreme, even barbaric behavior. We will allow hatred and aggression to increase. We will simply allow young people to suffer. Unfortunately, there is also impunity behind hatred, and we must end this impunity. Cyberbullying should be punished in the same way as other forms of violence. The European Commission should enforce existing law, use the Digital Services Act to impose penalties on platforms that allow such practices. We must be ruthless, effective and quick, because millions of young people are affected. As a Member of the European Parliament, but also as a mother of two, today I call on the Commission to come forward with detailed rules that will give us the right tools to fight this epidemic – the epidemic of hate, aggression, simply hatred. This is our duty.