Speeches

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 The decision by Trump, now happily withdrawn, to phase out channel funding is alarming and yet another testament to Trump's failing moral compass.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.

Madam President, I would like to thank you for your Historical revisionism is a Russian specialty. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has systematically rewritten the history books with the aim of glorifying alleged victories and erasing actual defeats. According to the homemade lie, Russia is a great country characterized by its superiority. The fabricated claims that Russia and Ukraine are the same country, populated by the same people, sharing the same fate, are used to deny Ukrainians their language, culture and identity. Putin, therefore, justifies a wrong war with wrong facts. For Ukrainians, it is not just about surviving the day, but about being given the conditions to live as free Europeans tomorrow. The EU must help Ukraine to defeat Russia and it is therefore crucial that we support Ukraine with what it demands, not least long-range weapons. We must make Putin understand that he will never win, that freedom wins over oppression. Only then will he back down. Because if Ukraine falls, Russian aggression will continue westwards – and we are next.

Mr President, I would like to thank you. Iran’s Ayatollahs not only hate Jews and homosexuals – they also hate women. To be a woman in the stronghold of Islamism is to lack basic human rights, it is to be relegated to a life in the man's shadow and to fight for equal rights with life as a contribution. For the sake of women and the stability of the region, the EU needs to terrorise the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), impose broader and tougher sanctions on the Iranian mullahs – including on Supreme Leader Khamenei – and isolate Iran diplomatically, which means, among other things, that high-level EU representatives refrain from attending any Iranian inaugurations, as has been the case with Enrique Mora, for example. In order for the region to regain its stability, the mullahs need to fall. For the sake of women and for the sake of the entire Middle East.

Madam President, I would like to thank you for your Europe's security is threatened both from the outside and from the inside. We must now be able to assist both Ukraine and Israel, while at the same time dealing with organised crime, which threatens the security and thus the freedom of our citizens. Today, 70% of criminal gangs in the EU operate in at least three Member States, illustrating the need for intensified cross-border cooperation. We need to strengthen Europol with resources, an increased exchange of databases and criminal records, as well as intensified judicial cooperation with third countries and with EU candidate countries. Europe, and not least Sweden, needs to prioritise freedom for well-behaved and law-abiding citizens now. Those who pay for EU cooperation should at least be able to obtain the highest possible level of security in return.

Mr President, I would like to thank you. I'm not Jewish, the man screamed in the hope that the magic words would make him immune to the violence. But they beat him anyway. And no, they didn't ask about his view of Israel's war. Because the war is just a pretext for hatred of the Jews. The title of today's debate should therefore have been the unacceptable anti-Semitism in Europe and its latest manifestation of violence, the pogrom in Amsterdam. For that is the correct name for the planned Jewish hunt, which the perpetrators themselves called the attacks. Without the left's support and legitimization of the global intifada, we would not have been forced to relive anti-Semitism of the kind that has been banned in our streets and squares since the Holocaust. To those who play down the seriousness, who again blame the Jews, I have a suggestion. Put on a kippa in any western European city and take a walk in the neighborhoods of the intolerant. Endure the threats, hate and violence. Then consider whether this is the Europe you want to hand over to your children. The fate of Europe's Jews and, by extension, of all those who want to live in peace and freedom is determined by how we act now. So let the pictures from Amsterdam be a reminder that once again we are faced with the choice between civilization and barbarism.

Madam President, thank you very much. The link between internal and external security in Europe has rarely been clearer. The Iranian octopus is waging an asymmetric proxy war against Europe in general and Sweden in particular. In Sweden, Iran uses gang criminals to attack Israeli missions and companies, as well as Jews. A year ago, Iran's intelligence agency hacked a Swedish SMS service as part of a campaign against Swedish NATO membership, and in the spring there were reports that two of the Swedish gangs had established direct cooperation with the Iranian intelligence agency. whereas Iran’s actions – aimed at destabilising the Middle East, supporting Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and overturning the rules-based security order – need to be addressed with decisive action before it achieves the capacity to threaten the world with nuclear weapons; The EU needs to strengthen and extend sanctions against Tehran, terrorise the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and increase pressure on the regime to fulfil its commitments under the nuclear weapons agreement. If we experience the situation as serious now, it is nothing compared to what will happen unless the mullahs are stopped.

Madam President, thank you very much. I wonder how it is that Hezbollah has been able to attack Israel in the last year – the air alarm has sounded all over Israel this morning – while UNIFIL, for 18 years, has not fulfilled its mandate under Resolution 1701, which calls for disarmament and dismantling of Hezbollah. How has Hezbollah, despite the prohibition to operate at the border where Unifil is located, been able to establish tunnels, bunkers and weapons depots, as well as to repeatedly fire on Israel? Why does UNIFIL remain and allow itself to be used as civilian shields when they have failed their peacekeeping mission and are urged to leave? Israel is now doing what the UN has not been able to do, which highlights the impotence that the UN is characterized by. The EU urgently needs to terrorise the whole of Hezbollah and focus its attention on Iran, which is destabilising the entire region. If tomorrow is not to remind us of yesterday, the terror that Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese and other peoples are forced to live with must be eliminated once and for all. That is why we need to stand behind Israel, which is in front of us, in the fight against the terrorists. Only then can there be peace.

I'm trying to answer your question. You don't seem interested in an answer because you don't care about peace. You do not put pressure on the party that denies Israel its existence in its statutes. That is the essence of the problem. Do you want peace in the Middle East? Ensure that a democratic force is put in place in Palestine, so that there is someone to negotiate with.

First, we do not know how many of the 40,000 are terrorists and how many are civilians because Hamas deliberately does not separate them. And secondly, it is Hamas that is responsible for the suffering of civilians in Gaza, because it is Hamas that broke the ceasefire that was in place on 6 October. ...

Madam President, I would like to thank you for your Mr. Borell. We need to address the question of whether war can bring peace. History teaches us that sometimes it is necessary. The war going on in the Middle East is only wanted by Iran and its proxy armies, which from seven sides surround the only democracy in the region. Hamas, Hezbollah and the other like-minded people's air of life is terror, destruction and death. Since they were founded, their goal has been to destroy Israel. They are the antithesis to a two-state solution, which means that those who mourn Israel's attacks on the terrorists do not want any coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis. After yesterday's debate, I have to ask you, Mr Borell and Mr Incir: Do you really mean that Israel's war of defence can be equated with terrorism by Hamas and Hezbollah? Don't you see the difference between victims and perpetrators? I do, and therefore I believe that the world's eyes need to be directed towards Tehran's epicentre, from where the state-funded terror originated. The EU must terrorise Hezbollah, terrorise the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and adopt Resolution 1701. In order for there to be peace in the Middle East, the mullahs must fall.

Madam President, I would like to thank you for your On 7 October 2023, the world changed. There is one before and one after the worst pogrom since the Holocaust. That Hamas would be capable of the most inhumane of abuses comes as hardly a surprise. But the fact that the West would be so full of anti-Semitic terror hugs and anxious politicians and journalists is all the more surprising. Over the past year, European Jews have had to witness how they have been made perpetrators as victims. They have been forced to hide their Jewish symbols, refrain from social contexts, accused of being child murderers, seen how the children's schools were surrounded by police officers, while the protesters in the propalestinian demonstrations were allowed to vomit their hatred without consequences. We Europeans have a special responsibility. We have a responsibility to be consistent. It is not enough to dutifully assert Israel’s right to defend itself – while questioning every such act. I demand the release of the hostages and the fight against all parts of the Iranian hydra. The struggle that Israel is waging is that of the entire Western world. It is a struggle for civilization that can distinguish good from evil and victims from perpetrators.