Speeches

Madam President, thank you very much. Iran is a diabolical force in the Middle East, a regime that funds terrorist organisations such as Hamas, while working with Russia and China to undermine the rules-based international order. Iran has repeatedly violated the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and several reports have confirmed that Iran was close to developing full nuclear capabilities, which Israel appears to have temporarily prevented. I therefore welcome the EU's decision to reintroduce previous sanctions against Iran. But we must draw lessons from the measures taken against Russia, which, after 18 packages of sanctions, has still not subdued Putin. Our naivety about Iran's ambitions must stop. EU sanctions must at least match those of the US and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps must be stamped with terror. If we do not act now, we will have to act later at a much higher price. Iran is preparing for confrontation, not dialogue. The question is whether the EU has the courage to prevent rather than react.

Madam President, thank you very much. Do we want to live in a society that needs police supervision of Jewish schools and synagogues, where Jews are forced to live behind walls in order for terror-ridden anti-democrats to move freely, where students are met with squabbles, posters on hostages are torn down and shops selling food produced by Jews are subjected to sabotage, where Jews are now selling their houses, resigning from their jobs and fleeing Europe? I accuse politicians of repeating that Israel is allowed to defend itself, but not if civilians die, which inevitably happens when Hamas hides among civilians and denies them protection in the tunnels under Gaza, funded by Western aid. I accuse the media of relaying Hamas's war propaganda and statistics and making the victim the perpetrator and the perpetrator the victim, the consequences of the war the main thing and the main thing - the massacre two years ago - a peripheral incident. I accuse everyone who celebrates October 7 on a daily basis, who shouts anti-Jewish slogans in the hate marches in our cities, who shares anti-Jewish images and bloodshed in social media, who calls for global intifada, who divides Jews into good and evil based on whether they distance themselves from the only state that will always protect them, all who portray Jews as bloodthirsty child-slaying colonists, who equate them with the Nazis and thus water down the memory of the Holocaust to legitimize hatred and violence. Europe bears a special responsibility to never accept the hatred that once again forces the Jews into the shadows. So ask yourself what you can do to counter Jewish hatred. Let us declare war on anti-Semitism.

Madam President, thank you very much. October 7th never ended. Not for those who were murdered, those who were taken hostage, or those who hold their breath waiting for a body bag or a rubble of a loved one who may soon return. The peace plan presented by President Trump and immediately endorsed by Israel – as well as the Arab states and Turkey – is the only opportunity for peace of our time. The hostages are allowed to return, Hamas is disarmed, no occupation and a new security force for Gaza, backed by the Arab world. The EU should stand behind any solution that upholds the right of both peoples to exist, while eliminating once and for all the ideological breeding ground for terrorism, martyrdom and the annihilation of Israel. Gaza needs to go through the same process as Germany after the Nazis. Otherwise, it is only a matter of time before other radical forces regain power. Those who oppose this agreement because they refuse to direct their demands against Hamas never defended the children of Gaza. Their hypocrisy is a confirmation that peace is only possible when Palestinians love their children more than they hate.

Madam President, thank you very much. Called the Commissioner! Two Palestinian terrorists carried out another cold-blooded attack yesterday when they murdered innocent people on a bus in Jerusalem. At least six people lost their lives and many more, including a pregnant woman on her way to work, are seriously injured. Hamas and Palestinian Islamist jihad celebrate the terror and instruct in a fresh clip tomorrow's terrorists in killing more innocent bus passengers. All the evil that the West wrongly accuses Israel of, carries out and celebrates the Islamists. Yet it is Israel that is to be pressured into submission according to naïve Westerners, who do not understand that we are next. The EU must make it clear that there is no peace to be built with a cult of death as counterpart. No peace can grow where schoolchildren are indoctrinated into dreaming of martyrdom, where the Palestinian administration rewards the families of terrorists financially. Hamas must be defeated once and for all. If Israel fails, more terrorist acts remain until there is no Israel left, until all Jews are destroyed.

Madam President, thank you very much. There are talks about a possible ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The release of hostages held by Hamas for over 600 days must be a top priority. If we want to avoid a new October 7, Hamas, whose goal is not peace but the destruction of Israel, must be defeated militarily and ideologically. The Palestinian people deserve better than a life under brutal terror rule. Despite the risk to their own lives, many courageous Gazans have begun to protest against Hamas' oppression. These are the voices we need to support. A lasting peace requires two states, but only if both states recognize each other's right to exist. The conditions for peace do not begin with the ceasefire. It begins with the desire for coexistence.

Mr President, thank you very much. For almost a decade, the Swedish-Iranian doctor Ahmadreza Djalali has been imprisoned and tortured by the executioners of the theocratic dictatorship of Iran. He is one of many who have paid the highest price for the Islamist tyranny of the mullahs, in the country that executes the most people in the world per capita and where people are hanged from cranes at sunrise. whereas the regime’s systematic repression of women, opposition figures and homosexuals has curtailed the freedom of generations of Iranians and forced millions into exile; Meanwhile, Iranian hydra has for decades destabilized the region with its proxy armies in Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen, and was now in the process of producing nuclear weapons. Among the mullahs' allies are Syria's overthrown Bashar al-Assad, North Korea's Kim Jong Un and Russia's Vladimir Putin. An axis of evil that threatens global peace and security. Thanks to Israel's brave precision attacks, we may see a historic breakpoint, a possible end to 46 years of Islamist oppression and worldwide terror. But the fight is not over. Djalali is still imprisoned, suffering from severe health problems. He must be released immediately.

Madam President, thank you very much. Russia's war in Ukraine is not just about imperialist ambitions of great power, about claims to a world order in which military force trumps international law. It is equally about destroying the identity, culture and language of Ukrainians, depriving them not only of the future but also of history. By kidnapping tens of thousands of children in order to russify them, Russia is committing the most vile of crimes against the most vulnerable individuals in Ukrainian society. This deliberately diabolical strategy bears witness to the borderlessness of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. We should not imagine that they would have treated our children differently. We should also not imagine that Putin will be satisfied with Ukraine. Europe has a duty to act; for the kidnapped children, for all the mothers and fathers who fall asleep without their children one more night and to guarantee the peace that we are reminded on a daily basis that we must never take for granted.

Mr President, thank you very much. Citizenship is a privilege that binds. This is the opposite of a commodity. Citizenship cannot be bought by anyone who wants us badly or refuses to support our fundamental common values. It is to be issued to the one who has earned it, to the one who wants to live among us according to the obligations and rights arising from our laws and norms. The European Court of Justice's ruling that Malta's so-called gold passport system is contrary to EU law therefore did not come a day too early. Not least Russian citizens, in many cases with clear links to the assassins in the Kremlin, have used this opportunity to circumvent sanctions, undermine our common security and weaken the integrity of the entire Schengen area. The fact that European rights have been sold to our enemies is a disgrace to our Union. A strong and cohesive Europe presupposes that we value citizenship.

Mr President, thank you very much. There was a time when many hoped that Turkey would come closer to Europe – our values, our respect for the rule of law and our respect for human rights. But that trend has gone in the opposite direction. Under President Erdoğan's rule, we have witnessed the systematic dismantling of democracy. whereas independent courts have been weakened, journalists and opposition figures have been imprisoned and freedom of expression has been silenced; A particularly worrying example is the arrest of Swedish journalist Joakim Medin – a case of arbitrariness and legal uncertainty illustrating repressive developments in Turkey. Several years ago, the European Parliament voted to suspend Turkey's accession process, but that is no longer enough. Erdoğan shows no willingness to change course, quite the opposite. There is currently no credible way forward in the negotiations. That is why we Christian Democrats believe that Europe needs to continue to put its foot down. Turkey's accession process must not only be paused, it should be terminated and it is time to stand up for our fundamental principles and make it clear that repression is not accepted.

Madam President, thank you very much. The humanitarian situation in communist-controlled Cuba is appalling and deteriorating. Through the cooperation agreement between the EU and the Cuban regime, we are giving de facto legitimacy to a brutal dictatorship that cracks down on freedom of expression, imprisons dissidents and denies fundamental freedoms to its people. Even when the agreement was concluded, we Christian Democrats warned against the naive belief that increased cooperation would in itself lead to democratisation. Today we see the result: continued repression and, in addition, a Cuba that actively enables Russian recruitment of troops to the front in Ukraine – Cuban men lured with false promises of citizenship in exchange for fighting Putin’s illegal war. Just reviewing the partnership agreement is insufficient. It is high time that the EU showed solidarity with the Cuban people and suspended the agreement.

Madam President, thank you very much. "Down with Hamas," recently chanted brave Palestinians with their lives at stake, while spoiled Westerners would never take equivalent words in their mouths. On European streets and squares, terrorists continue to be portrayed as freedom fighters. Odai al-Rabei was only 22 years old when he was tortured and murdered as a punishment for his participation in the protests in Gaza. The same fate has met yet others who have expressed their anger at Hamas, which continues to hold 59 Israelis hostage, while at the same time making impossible the ceasefire that would free the Palestinians from the suffering of the war. The popular uprising may be small in scale, but its symbolic value is extraordinary. A two-state solution presupposes a Gaza free from Jew-hating terrorists, free from those who see only the Palestinian population as grateful civilian shields in the propaganda war against Israel. Unfortunately, the silence of the alleged pro-Palestinian group indicates that it was never about solidarity with the Palestinians, but hatred of the Jews. With such friends, the Palestinians need no enemies.

Madam President, thank you very much. "You must never tell anyone what we are listening to." My five-year-old self nods and repeats the exhortation. Listening to Europa Liberă, thus Radio Free Europe in Ceaușescu's unria communist hell could be fraught with mortal danger. The decision by Trump, now happily withdrawn, to phase out channel funding is alarming and yet another testament to Trump's failing moral compass. Free media plays a role today when the Iranian ayatollahs, Chinese and North Korean communist leaders, as well as the autocrats in Moscow and Minsk, air the morning air. They play as important a role as during the Cold War. Freedom is the same regardless of geographical coordinates. Against the propaganda of these regimes there is only one remedy in the form of free opinion and freedom of expression. That's why Putin and his peers choose censorship over pluralism. It was in the struggle for freedom that Europe and the United States once united, and it is in this struggle that we need to reunite.

Madam President, thank you very much. The use of human beings as ammunition in the hybrid warfare of dictatorships is the definition of anti-humanism. Just look at how Putin tricked, lured and pushed migrants against the EU's borders. The solution to these cynical attacks is not to open the borders. Europe cannot continue to accept economic migrants to the extent that we have. I therefore welcome, in this context, the fact that this year's report makes it clear that the EU must take responsibility for disseminating information in order to prevent people without asylum from travelling towards Europe. This is crucial to ending hybrid warfare with migrants. In the EU, we will help those most in need – not the most fortunate or the fooled. However, in the future, the process itself should be managed outside the EU in order to minimise incentives for illegal and lethal travel by smugglers and hybrid fighters.

Madam President, thank you very much. The situation in Gaza is deteriorating every day that the ceasefire is not extended. But why hasn't it been extended? Why is Hamas still holding 59 innocent people, most of whom are likely dead, hostage? Why does Hamas not lay down its arms, surrender and call democratic elections if it is concerned about the situation of the civilian population in Gaza? The answer is that capitulation is not in their interest based on the long-term goal of eradicating Israel. The answer is that they do not worry about Gaza's civilians, whom they see primarily as civilian shields that can be sacrificed in the fight against Israel. As long as these circumstances persist, no lasting peace will be achieved. Therefore, the EU needs to increase pressure on the Palestinians and their leaders in both Gaza and the West Bank, by making aid conditional and imposing sanctions on Hamas' economic structure. The Palestinian Authority needs to take action to distance itself from Hamas, and Gaza is being demilitarised. The Palestinian people need to realise that the road to peace presupposes a total renunciation of terrorism.

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner Kubilius! We need to talk about the elephant in the room. Is Europe's existing nuclear weapons enough to deter the world's largest nuclear power, Russia, even without the US in the back? Today, the U.S. and Russia together hold over 90%, equivalent to just over 5,000 warheads each, of the total nuclear arsenal. In Europe, France and Britain have nuclear weapons equivalent to 515 warheads combined. Ukraine signed the Budapest Accord in 1994, after which it gave up its nuclear weapons. In return, Russia assured not to use force or threaten the territorial integrity and political independence of Ukraine. Russia breaks that promise every day. We must not be naive. If we do not want to risk Putin’s war of conquest continuing further into Europe – at a time when Trump’s statements raise questions about US loyalty and interests – we need to acquire our own credible deterrence capacity, which in plain language means a greater nuclear arsenal. In a perfect world, we wouldn't have nuclear weapons. But as long as European deterrence is based in practice on American capabilities, we do not own our own security.

Madam President, thank you very much. The long-term legitimacy of migration policy presupposes that a 'no' is a 'no'. The EU needs to deal with the fact that only one in four who have been refused return to their home country. The EU must use return hubs in safe third countries, where rejected migrants can be expelled if their home countries refuse to accept them. These countries should be penalised by the suspension of EU funds. The European Commission's proposal is welcome but, in the broader context of migration policy, insufficient. If people without asylum were never allowed to come to Europe, we would never have needed return measures. It is therefore how and where asylum is sought and granted that needs to be changed. Therefore, the need for a new return legislation is yet another argument for the need to design a new migration policy system, where asylum is sought and tried outside Europe.

Madam President, I would like to thank you for your Imagine that an international court like the ICC had issued an arrest warrant after 9/11 against both Bush and bin Laden. It is just so absurd that the ICC, through its arrest warrant, effectively equates Hamas's monstrous attack with Israel's defence. It is provocative and wrong in substance. The ICC was created to ensure that there is a judicial body that can try crimes under international law, even when the responsible state is unable or unwilling to try the accusations. But Israel, which is a democracy and a well-functioning rule of law, has been denied this possibility. In addition, Israel has not signed the Rome Statute, so the Court has no jurisdiction, which is not altered by the Court's recognition of Palestine. The mere suspicion that political considerations underlie the decision harms the legitimacy and independence of the court at a time when the court is needed, and at a time when dictators around the world are exposing people to war crimes. In addition, the action raises a number of questions. First, why has the Court not acted against countries such as Syria, Iran or China whose crimes of international law are agreed upon? Secondly, do we really want to create a precedent where Western democracies should not be allowed to defend themselves against actors who want to exterminate them if, as part of their strategy, they use civilians as shields? Thirdly, do those who support the court's decision, along with Iran and Hamas, realize that they are making it easier for Putin, for example, to dismiss the legitimate accusations made against him? Then tell it like it is: You want to deny Israel the right to defend itself because you believe that Israel should not exist.

Mr President, I would like to thank you. This year marks 80 years since emaciated, hollow-eyed Jewish prisoners were liberated from the Nazis. On Saturday, three emaciated, hollow-eyed Israelis were released from the devil's tunnels in Gaza, and their mere revelation was a reminder that what would never happen again has happened again, with our knowledge. So as we stand here debating a new Middle East strategy, while Hamas has announced the indefinite suspension of the forthcoming release of hostages, I would like to remind this House that such a strategy must be based on Israel's right to exist and its right to defend its existence. The road to peace in the region involves a joint fight against the terrorist state of Iran and its proxies. If the EU is not to be reduced to an unconditional cash machine for terrorists, we need, before it is too late, to demand the release of the hostages and the immediate surrender of Hamas and anyone else who wants to destroy Israel.

Madam President, I would like to thank you for your "Let's blow up and shoot, guys!" "We'll make 2025 the best year in history with blasts!" It writes gang criminals in channels where murder assignments are outsourced to queuing child soldiers. During 28 January days, Sweden was subjected to 32 blasts, in addition to the 18 shootings that also took place. What is happening now is unprecedented in the Western world, and it almost resembles a civil war that instills fear and damages trust in the state and between people. The freedom of the well-behaved majority can only be reconquered by curtailing it for the criminal minority. The EPP Group's Stockholm Declaration points the way: strengthen Frontex, Europol and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Strengthen anti-money laundering legislation and facilitate the seizure of criminal assets. Restrict, also preventively, the free movement of gang members. Thread crime has not arisen in a vacuum. It is the consequence of politically driven social changes, usually from the left, of value conflicts and undemanding integration policies. It is the task of politics to address, alongside repressive measures, that every society needs a basic set of values, an ethical minimum. These fundamental, non-elective values are the prerequisite for people to want, and choose, to create – rather than blow up – the society they have been given. Anyone who is driven by other ambitions has nothing to do in Sweden.

Mr President, thank you very much. For almost three years, the EU has introduced 15 different packages of sanctions against Russia. That's good, but it doesn't matter how many sanctions we impose when they can be circumvented. whereas in recent years Russia has massively expanded its shadow fleet and is now deemed to be controlling hundreds of foreign-flagged vessels carrying Russian oil, in order to circumvent sanctions and finance its brutal war against Ukraine; These ships are often old and uninsured, and the risk of major oil spills is serious, not least in sensitive waters such as the Baltic Sea. The EU has so far imposed sanctions on only 79 ships, while the US recently imposed sanctions on 183. I propose that the EU impose sanctions on all Russian vessels suspected of being part of the Russian shadow fleet, while at the same time reviewing the possibility of seizing oil from these oil tankers if they deploy in a Member State. Finally, the EU and its Member States must exert both economic and diplomatic pressure on the co-runners of states that enable the existence of the Russian shadow fleet. If Ukraine is to win the war, we must strike with all means against the Russian shadow fleet.

Mr President, thank you very much. The United States has been and will continue to be an important ally and trading partner of Europe. It is therefore of great importance that we maintain good relations based on our common interests, not least at a time when the Axis powers of evil are trying to divide us. However, from a geopolitical perspective, rightly described as the most serious since the Second World War, Europe needs to realise that no lasting relationship can be based solely on the goodwill of one party. The US administration is not wrong to say that Europe has been freeriding for far too long. In plain language, this means that our most important investment in the transatlantic relationship is that in ourselves. We must tear down the regulatory burden on European business while arming ourselves militarily. And for those of us who believe in free trade, the lesson is to open more doors to increased trade with strategic partners. It is through reduced vulnerability and a stronger economy that Europe can become a better ally of the United States, in defence of the rules-based international order, while at the same time being better placed to meet the challenges of the outside world.

Madam President, thank you very much. Everyone professes freedom of expression in theory, but the majority with the complaint that they themselves as good, of course, have a duty to protect society from dangerous statements from the bad. As long as we are stuck in this corrupt, but effective way of thinking, our free society will not be able to benefit from the merits of freedom of expression, while underestimating that it is reality that influences people's political choices. For anyone who restricts freedom of expression in order to strengthen democracy undermines it, while anyone who dares to strengthen freedom of expression, which always aims to protect the deviant, also strengthens democracy. Therefore, no EU legislation should be enacted or used to stifle political dissidents. Freedom of expression as a principle does not give us an exact template for how best to deal with the trolling of bitter desk warriors or the disinformation of hostile states. On the other hand, it provides us with our most important tool, and that is the free exchange of views. Europe's freedom of expression must be the cornerstone and guideline for the interpretation and application of modern legislation such as the Digital Services Act. Especially when there are plenty of short-term opportunistic arguments to the contrary.

Yes, the point here is that this is a conflict with long roots, and it gets worse every time Israel is forced to negotiate with all sorts of terrorists. What we are seeing is a conflict that will not be able to end as long as the other side does not recognize Israel's right to exist. That is the basis of a two-state solution. As long as the Palestinians choose a regime that uses them as civilian shields and that uses Israelis as hostages, there will be no peace. If you want peace, you oppose Hamas.

Mr President, thank you very much. Yes, the masks have fallen by the so-called freedom fighters, who, along with many of those taken for innocent civilians like hyenas, surrounded the young women who yesterday were taken out of Hamas violence; by the Red Cross and other so-called human rights organisations who did not lift a finger for the innocent hostages, and by those who talk about a two-state solution while welcoming the release of terrorists from Israeli prisons. The masks have fallen on Western invertebrate politicians, activist journalists and corrupt judicial institutions forcing Israel to make a deal with the devil, when the pressure should have been on Hamas to release the hostages immediately – otherwise... By turning the victims into perpetrators, the limits of what can be accepted have been radically shifted. When nothing is sacred anymore, when you take a nine-month-old baby hostage, and more people are outraged by Israel's defense than by Hamas's sadism, then the main thing has been made secondary, and all barbarism in the future has been allowed. The return of the hostages is a great victory, but we cannot be satisfied with almost extinguishing the fire. Because by 1945, we would hardly have accepted Hitler’s promises of liberation of a few Jews from Auschwitz – some ash – and the parallel release of thousands of prisoners of war in the hope that the Nazis would miraculously be converted. Hamas, as an idea and organisation, must be eliminated, and the question is whether we are capable of harshly fighting now that the masked monsters have been unmasked, stomping on a Red Cross ambulance and thus on our Western values.

Mr President, I would like to thank you. In just two months, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been going on for three years. But the war began back in 2014 when Russia illegally annexed Crimea. During this decade, Russia has systematically violated the human rights of opposition figures and forcibly relocated thousands of Ukrainian children to so-called re-education and adoption facilities. A report from last year identified at least 43 places working on so-called political re-education of Ukrainian children. If you add the executions, the rapes and the merciless bombing of civilian targets, the image emerges of an enemy who shuns no means in the fight against the current rules-based world order. Many in the West relativized both the invasion of Georgia in 2008 and the annexation of Crimea in 2014. And a few more believe that the West should at all costs avoid escalation out of fear of Putin's response. I think just the opposite. For the rest of the world, including the EU, had acted resolutely against Russia already in 2008, or for that matter in 2014, when Russia acted in violation of international law with the aim of expanding its territory, the full-scale invasion in 2022 could have been prevented. We betrayed the Georgians and Ukrainians then and that mistake must not be repeated again. Russia must immediately and unconditionally surrender, return occupied land, release all children and political prisoners, and compensate the victims. These demands we need to be prepared to back up in action. The fact that Putin, who understands nothing but brute force, continues to fight is due to the fact that our response so far has not been sufficiently deterrent. The consequences of our awkwardness will be felt within another ten years.