Speeches

Mr President, Thomas Hobbes' monumental work 'Leviathan' refers to the image of a monstrous state in size and absolute in power, which becomes an end in itself and lives for its own survival and expansion. The budgets of the European Union – what is under discussion today and the previous ones – increasingly resemble Hobbes’s Leviathan, a huge financial monster, sustained by taxpayers, but dedicated above all to a bureaucratic machine that keeps growing. In particular for development funds, this budget reflects a worrying lack of rigour and scrutiny. In 2023, the External Action Service managed billions of euros, but the effectiveness of these funds in third countries remains opaque, with reports from the Court of Auditors pointing to serious weaknesses and serious risks of corruption. It is time to tackle waste in politically oriented programs that consume resources without tangible results. We don't need Leviathans. we need open societies based on individual freedom and the scrupulous management of public affairs.

Mr President, the wave of executions plaguing Iran once again exposes the nature of a regime that does not govern, it haunts. Iran is not just a political regime. It is a night without stars, a theological project of darkness, an immense moral eclipse dedicated to extinguishing, under the same cruelty, the light of reason, the flame of freedom and the brilliance of woman. Against this heavy and anachronistic darkness, the Abraham Accords are more than diplomacy, they are the spark of a new principle, ripping like dawn, a long night. St. Abraham, the patriarch of the possible, confronts Khomeini, the fanatic of the absolute. In this battle between the descendants of the promise and the priests of punishment, between the light of Abraham and the darkness of Khomeini, what is at stake is the soul of a civilization. In Iran, executions, especially public executions, are typically carried out at dawn, as if the regime ending a life, just as the world begins again, wanted to disrupt the inevitable transition between night and day, between darkness and light. But one day the dark regime will finally see its last sunrise.

Mr President, the flight of the most talented young Europeans is a symptom of a more fundamental problem: The Decline of Europe. This escape is a warning, a signaling system on the road of history. It is in their youth that civilizations see their own future, and what they tell us as they depart is clear: Europe has no future and loses ground every day to the United States, Asia and even parts of the Middle East. Let us return to the young the Europe that lives according to the famous normative imperative transmitted by Polonius to his son Laertes, in Shakespeare's Hamlet: Be faithful to yourself, and from this it will follow, as from night to day, that you cannot be false to anyone. Let us give young people back the Europe of freedom. Europe focused on the individual and families, not the state. Europe with less regulation, less taxes, more economic and technological competitiveness. Let us return to young people a Europe capable of controlling illegal immigration, defending its identity and fighting unceasingly against the corruption that erodes democratic institutions. The Europe of the Ivy Leagues, of the universities of reference. The solution is not only to bring our new talents back, but to reverse the decline that drives them away. That's the only way we'll be, not an exile factory, but a talent hub.

Madam President, recently, the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, revealed hidden USAID funding to media outlets such as Politico and the BBC, as well as to NGOs associated with specific ideologies. This scandal exposed the lack of transparency in the use of public funds in the United States. In the European Union, we face similar challenges. We have the right to know where our taxpayers' money goes, what projects are financed, who benefits from European Official Development Assistance funds. That think tanks, which media were funded by the European Commission? What policy are we unknowingly subsidizing? Without clear answers, trust in the European institutions is shattered and democracy weakened. It is imperative to create a European Department for Government Efficiency. This body will ensure that every euro is spent in a transparent and accountable manner, ensuring that funding does not serve hidden interests, but the common good.

Madam President, Commissioner, we strongly support free trade, recognising its benefits for economic growth and the prosperity of nations. We know well the history of the 1920s and 1930s and we do not want to repeat it. We also believe that the EU-Mercosur Agreement has geopolitical advantages, such as curbing China’s growing influence in South America and strengthening Europe’s Atlantic axis. But, as always, we will shape our positions in accordance with our national interests, especially those of our farmers, fishermen, industrialists and small and medium-sized traders, who are the backbone of our economy. We are in constant contact with entrepreneurs and workers in the sectors covered by the Agreement, as no one knows the reality better than they do. Your concerns are legitimate, especially in the face of competition from products from third countries that do not meet the same quality and safety standards that we demand from our producers. We have an obligation to ensure fair and just competition, and to ensure that our productive sectors are properly safeguarded. That's how we'll do it.

Mr President, it is precisely because I respect the Venezuelan people that I take this position. I think everyone – perhaps less the Honourable Member and his party – recognises that the last elections were not free and fair elections. That is what this is all about. If, in free and fair elections, the people had chosen who is there in power now, the question would be different, but unanimously knows that this is not what happened. It is respect for the people that is at stake here.

Mr President, Venezuela is going through one of the worst crises in its history. This country, once the leader in Latin America, is collapsing. In 1998, GDP per capita exceeded $8,000. Today it is only 1,500. More than 40% of the population lives in extreme poverty and almost seven million Venezuelans have left the country, seeking refuge abroad. This tragedy is the direct result of the corruption, mismanagement and authoritarianism of the regimes of Hugo Chavez and Nicolás Maduro. Basic services are destroyed: hospitals without medicines and schools where thousands of children have lost access to education and food. Despite this, resistance persists. Maria Corina Machado faces constant persecution and even kidnapping attempts, but keeps the hope of millions of Venezuelans alive. Edmundo González, recognised by several European institutions as the legitimate president of Venezuela, represents a democratic alternative. On the issue of Venezuela, the European Union must act with firmness and leadership. I propose that the Union organise an international conference to coordinate political and economic support for Venezuela. This unprecedented effort should include strengthening sanctions directed at Maduro's regime, while offering support to González and Corina Machado to prepare for a future transition of power. Europe must work side by side with the United States, seizing the opportunity of the new Trump administration to push for a democratic transition in the country. Finally, a word to the Portuguese community in Venezuela, people of work and resilience, who helped build the country and now face immense challenges. We will not forget you and we will not fail you.

Thank you very much for the question. The victim is not, on the contrary, the trust of those who are not afraid of social networks and of those who are not afraid of freedom. And the answer to your question is one: It is trust in the people, in the discernment of the people, in the common sense of the people, in the intelligence of the people. Since, besides everything else, the alternative, which is to prohibit and censor, is always much worse than the risks that freedom may have, according to your question. I think freedom has no risks. Freedom must be total and is always welcome.

Mr President, this debate is about TikTok as much as it is about social media and the fear of the power that it gives to ordinary people. If the 20th century was called "the century of the people," the 21st century will go down in history as the century of the people's power. And that's essentially because of X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. Under the pretext of fighting disinformation and hate speech or preventing outside interference, what is really intended is to destroy the political revolution that social media is carrying out, by increasing the power of the people in an unprecedented way, while reducing the power of representatives. What is at stake is the reaction of the current power elite to the shift from representative democracy to participatory democracy. What is at stake is the fear that the elites have of the people. But this debate is also against all the protagonists of the current political and technological revolution. It's against Donald Trump, it's against Elon Musk, it's against the political parties now grouped together in Patriots for Europe. And worst of all, this debate is about the fear of freedom, the fuel of all tyrannies. Let us return, then, to Karl Popper, to his defence of the open society and to his paradox of tolerance, which, it should be remembered, referred to 'fists and pistols', not to opinions and ideas.

Mr President, with the reopening of Notre-Dame, we are witnessing more than the restoration of a monument, it is the rebirth of a vital symbol of faith and Western civilization. After the devastation of the flames, its reconstruction is a call to unity in defence of our values. As Pope John Paul II said: Do not be afraid. Open, or rather, open wide the doors to Christ. This appeal now echoes in the restored stones of Notre-Dame. The presence in the cathedral of leaders like Donald Trump on the 8th reaffirms the importance of protecting our Christian roots in the West. Movements such as Patriot for Europe and Make America Great Again reflect this political, cultural and civic resistance, at a time when many attack the symbols of faith to reach good men, their dreams and their achievements. At the limit, our way of life. But Notre-Dame also reminds us of our duty to protect Christianity in the world. All our attention and prayers are with the Christians of Syria. Europe must safeguard itself from a new migration crisis, which it cannot endure without leaving the Syrian Christian community unprotected. Let us celebrate the strength of the Christian heritage as a beacon for the future. May this reconstruction inspire not only Europe, but all those who believe in freedom and human dignity sustained by faith.

Mr President, on the subject of revolt, Albert Camus reminded us that freedom is that terrible name inscribed on the chariot of storms. In Iran, this name echoes today in the voice of women who refuse the veil and, even under the whipping of the whips and the darkness of the prisons, dare to say: We are the storm. The veil imposed upon them conceals the flesh, but it does not cover the truth which they bear, nor does it cover the tempest which the skies of Persia, heavy with the most indomitable promise ever made to the human soul, announce. They are the storm. Oppressors who do not understand freedom, because they do not understand either the coming of storms or the determination of women, are doomed to be swept away by one or the other. They are the storm. One day, the long but already decrepit shackle of the Iranian theocracy will be struck by a Persian storm under the name of woman. Because in its essence, Iran will always be Persian and woman will always be free. The skies of Persia no longer deceive and the veils of Iran can no longer stand. They are the storm.

Mr President, Donald Trump's landslide victory in the recent election in the United States is a historic break almost as deep as the fall of the Berlin Wall or the end of the Soviet Union. Born from the strength of a wider popular movement, this election inhabits the hearts and minds of the American people and also of the European. Europe now faces a choice: subject transatlantic relations to outdated ideologies and party-political interests or stand up with dignity, aligning with this irreversible change and seizing this opportunity. Regrettably, what we see in the reactions in Parliament and the Commission, in the parties on our left, including part of the EPP, is a total failure to understand this historic moment, persisting in the criticisms and offenses of Donald Trump and the lawsuits against Elon Musk. Let us be clear: In this way, it will be you, not Trump, who will end NATO. You should be the first to remember Gore Vidal's warning in his book Empire. When the story starts moving under our feet, we have to hitch a ride or we're hit by it.

Mr President, in the same city where Anne Frank sought refuge, lived in hiding, wrote her dreams as a girl, was captured by the monstrous Nazis and is today remembered as a symbol of our promise to never again, the horror of the hunt for Jews has returned to the streets. The spectre of anti-Semitism returning to Europe shows the need for our unequivocal support for Jewish communities and the State of Israel. Europe cannot capitulate, once again, to anti-Semitism and its modern disguise anti-Zionism. But let's hope. Donald Trump's victory represents a historic opportunity for the Middle East, because the Abraham Accords, a symbol of light that tears apart the darkness of intolerance, are more than a convention between states, they are a long-awaited recognition between brothers.

Honourable Member, I confess that I thought I would speak precisely about what is happening in Portugal. Then I thought I shouldn't do it here, in this place, I should do it in Portugal and for the Portuguese. What I think contributes a lot to hate speech – indeed what is happening in Portugal, yes – is when we confuse police with thieves, when we side with those who do not comply with the law and incite violence, rather than protecting the authority of the state and the forces of authority. I think we should think very carefully, because your own question, itself, has behind it – I know it was not with intention – to extreme, behind it, to polarise, behind it, to create this vision of good and bad. I, by the way, will be happy to have this debate with you, but I am not going to do it here. I'll do it in my country.

Madam President, we live in a time when hate speech and anti-democratic rhetoric have become perfect excuses for justifying a new despotism – censorship camouflaged as virtue. Whenever power feels threatened, freedom is its first target, and the case of Elon Musk of the Sakharov Prize is an example of this – excluded in an opaque process, a silenced voice, on the pretext of freedom of expression itself. The European Commission has clashed openly with Musk, accusing him of failing to monitor hate speech on its platform X. Controversy has already brought down former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, but the legal proceedings the Commission is pursuing against Musk’s companies, including possible severe fines if they fail to comply with the Digital Services Act, are still alive and well. This weekend, the Der Spiegel He called Elon Musk public enemy number two, behind Donald Trump, imagine. The European Union and the Der Spiegel Musk is doing the same thing as Lula's Brazil and Maduro's Venezuela. As in The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco, where books were poisoned to protect monks from doubt and laughter, today public debate is poisoned to protect society from freedom. And, as we know, only death can always result from poison.

Madam President, Iran, in every proxy war it instigates, in every terrorist militia it sustains, stands today as the great shadow that hangs over the Middle East, and the complacent blindness of the West, forgetting the lessons of history, repeats Munich in 1938. To appease the tyrant does not avoid confrontation, on the contrary, it makes ‑o inevitable. Iran is not just a regime among regimes, it is a project of darkness, a civilizational eclipse, a long veil of fanaticism that covers the faces of women who dream of freedom and the longings of men who fight for peace. Against this darkness, Abraham's agreements, led by the Trump administration, were and are an explosion of light. In order for Abraham's flame to prevail in the region, we must have the muni‑la of ruthless sanctions, the strengthening of deterrence and the isolation that Iranian tyranny deserves. What is at stake is not only the fate of the nations of the region, but the fate of the human spirit. This is a civilizational battle between the clear dawn of reason and the dark night of fanaticism. Between the light of Abraham and the darkness of Khomeini, Europe is also an Abrahamic legacy, it can only choose light.

Madam President, Madam Representative of the High Representative, we have reached a crucial point in the history of our world and our Europe. The time for promises and empty words is over. Now is the time for action. This was made very clear at the Summit of the Future. Ambitious words that should have practical consequences. The physical and material security of our continent is threatened by uncontrolled illegal immigration and unhealthy welfare. Every day we lose ground to countries like China and the United States. International cooperation should be reflected in the effective fight against illegal immigration. Development aid programmes must be accompanied by policies to strengthen borders and create incentives for people in countries of origin to build a future on their own land. We advocate a new European pact to combat criminal networks of illegal immigration, with reinforced control of our external borders and an efficient return or remigration policy. This is the only way to ensure the security and stability of our citizens. Programmes such as Global Gateway have potential, yes, but they will only succeed if they are accompanied by strong policies, private sector involvement and genuine cooperation between Member States with respect for national sovereignty. Unfortunately, the left has distorted international cooperation and development aid, turning them into tools of its power, ideology and self-interest. We see this in the ongoing attack on birth, family and values. We need a new vision for official development assistance. The focus should be on tangible and concrete results, promoting sustainable economic development in third countries, rather than perpetuating welfare dependency. Europe must support the private sector to create jobs, infrastructure and energy independence and foster a genuine market economy in these regions. Europe needs to lead, because if it does not, others will. And that is what we Patriots for Europe, the third largest force in the European Parliament, demand.

Madam President, Commissioner, today we are not just talking about ravenous flames or fierce winds; We talk about courage. We speak of the men and women who, with an uplifted face and a firm heart, face hell with unwavering determination: The Portuguese Firefighters. Year after year, when the country succumbs to the flames, it is they who, without hesitation, run into danger. It is they who, with calloused hands and exhausted bodies, face what would be impossible for many. And they do so not out of recognition, not out of glory, but out of a profound duty to protect what is ours, our forests, our homes, our lives. A few days ago, we witnessed a historic firefighter demonstration in front of the Portuguese Parliament, a cry for help from a class that, despite being socially heroic, is politically forgotten. As the state abandons them to the abandoned forests, these heroes continue their struggle. They fight against the action of flames and against the inaction of politicians. They are not just firefighters; They are guardians of hope in every tree and every life they save. Portuguese firefighters, thank you very much. We won't fail you.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, on that dark morning, when some were dancing with their friends and others were sleeping with their families, it was not only Israel that was attacked; These are the fundamental values that give meaning to our humanity. Wounded, mutilated, raped, abducted, humiliated, Israel stood up and resisted, fighting as it always did, not to commit genocide, but to prevent being targeted for a second. Today, a year later, we remember the victims and heroes of that dark morning. We remember in particular the hostages, from the elderly to the babies, who have been held captive for 365 days in the tunnels of terror. The lines of a fractured life, the violent breaking of a fragile peace and the attempt to tear apart an eternal symbol of light, broken, the star has not lost its brilliance, but reveals the scars it bears - an open wound that shapes the very number of tragedy and, at the same time, bears indomitable and luminous witness in the face of darkness. As we did 80 years ago, today we say: "never again".