Speeches

Romania has been eligible for Schengen membership for many years. There is nothing interpretable or questionable here, things are clear. Under these circumstances, it is humiliating to be kept at the door, treated like second-class European citizens. We know that economic interests govern the times in which we live, but it is unacceptable that this violates the principles on which the European Union is founded. Therefore, Romania's non-reception, as a matter of urgency, in the Schengen area tramples the very essence, the spirit of the European Union of which we are part! I do not think it is appropriate to wait for another round of elections, another Commission, another migration pact or who knows what other reason to give my country full rights to the area of free movement. I therefore request the completion of the agenda of the Justice and Home Affairs Council this week with the subject of Romania's full admission to Schengen and the urgent adoption of a decision!

So many innocent civilians have been murdered, women and men raped, bodies mutilated and children taken hostage. And yet, almost two years later, this Parliament still fails to state the obvious: Israel has the right to defend itself! What were Israel's options? Do nothing? Accept any demand made by the terrorists while the hostages were still being held? No country in the world would tolerate this! The EU did not negotiate with ISIS, nor did the US negotiate with al-Qaeda! Just as the EU sees peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine as dangerous and invalid without security guarantees for Ukraine, it should analyse the situation between Israel and Gaza in the same manner, as long as the hostages are not released. If not, let us admit that we are applying double standards in the EU institutions. If we truly want peace, we should start by standing with those fighting against terrorism, not by legitimising those who practice it – including here, in Europe, in Brussels, Strasbourg, Paris and many other places. Which of our children will be the terrorists’ next victim?

Mr President, thanks to organisations such as WWF and Agent Green, in Romania everyone has heard of the Arthur bear. Unfortunately, because of precisely these organizations and the policies pushed by them to the level of Brussels, no one in Romania knows that the shepherd eaten alive by the bear was named Mihai and that he had a little boy, Ionut, who now grows up without a father. Equally, no one will remember the 11-year-old girl stolen from her parents' yard by a bear to eat her, the 14-year-old girl attacked by the bear in front of the block, or the 21-year-old girl eaten alive last year. As no one here speaks to you, in this building, of the hundreds of bear attacks on animals, livestock breeders and farmers in mountainous, submountainous and even plateau areas. The actual bear population in Romania exceeds 12 000 individuals. No other EU country wants to take them over, but everyone is in a hurry to teach us lessons on how to protect them. My message to you today is: to know, dear Ionut, that your father, like all hardworking animal breeders, was a hero, a hero who worked hard and gave his life, unfortunately, because we, in Brussels and in the Romanian Government, did not know how to make policies in which to put man first and not the bear.

Mr President, my conclusions after deepening the report: Although the European Commission announces for the period 2028-2034 the largest budget in the history of the EU, at almost 1.8 trillion euros, it is in fact much smaller than the previous budget year. A significant part, EUR 150 billion, i.e. NRRP loans, needs to be returned. Although the European Parliament boasts that it is increasing the so-called historical budget, the extra difference of tens of billions of euros is actually generated by new taxes that will be paid by citizens, including Romanians. 60-year-old policies, such as agricultural policy, for example, or cohesion, both vital for Romania, will not only no longer have their separate budget, but will have drastic ‑ cuts in the case of European agriculture, 30% less than the current financial year. I come from the country where the elections were canceled without evidence and I firmly say that this new conditionality can easily become a tool of blackmail. Therefore, if the annulment of the elections in Romania could be considered a breach of the rule of law, the money for agriculture or cohesion could be suspended on the spot. If the European Union wants to continue as it started, in full respect of the interests of European citizens, then it must build a future budget dedicated to these values that prioritises key areas such as agriculture, cohesion and industry.

Madam President, corruption, this cancer of our society, perverts all categories of society and all areas of activity, from civil servants, magistrates, policemen, to doctors, teachers or ordinary private employees. Corruption often paralyzes public administration and creates inequities or discrimination, where the state should function flawlessly in the interest of citizens. Worse than that, corruption wastes public money. Any euro that goes into the pocket of a corrupt person is a euro that is lost from a hospital, a highway, a school or a factory. However, corruption cannot be combated by politicizing, it is necessary to strengthen the anti-corruption structures and to exclude the political factor from any form of appointing or controlling these units. In order for justice, and therefore the fight against corruption, to be truly independent, we need honest, incorruptible, politically influencing and courageous magistrates. Magistrates who respond when they are wrong and who advance their careers exclusively on meritocracy criteria. And if we want to fight corruption, let us check how and where every euro that has left Brussels has gone, not only in the Member States, but especially outside them. Then we will have the true measure of corruption.

(the beginning of the intervention was not done on the microphone) ...but not under the pretext of nullifying the fundamental right to privacy. I am a criminal lawyer and I say it clearly: Privacy is a fundamental right that cannot be negotiated. On the other hand, I am a mother and I declare with the same firmness: the right of minors to protection online is vital. Appropriate criminal penalties are therefore imposed on offenders, but the two rights do not nullify each other and are not in conflict. They must be guaranteed in parallel and it is up to us to find the right solution for this. The fight against child abuse must not turn into widespread surveillance and prosecution of all bona fide citizens. Any restriction of people's rights must be only exceptional and only in certain specific situations. That's not what the European Convention on Human Rights says. I support the need for effective mechanisms to combat child sexual abuse material. However, I reject technical solutions that would undermine global cybersecurity. We tabled targeted amendments to the Regulation extending the current rules, calling for end-to-end encryption to remain intact. It's the only guarantee of the confidentiality of our communications.

Madam President, Europe is facing the biggest housing crisis since the Second World War - a crisis that is at the root of the continent's demographic decline. A nation that cannot guarantee a roof for its young people is a nation without a future, and the solution to the shortage of its own migrant population is not a solution, it is suicide. Unfortunately, the European Commission has taken a little haste and launched its vision to combat the housing crisis, without listening to Parliament. After the vote on this report, I strongly call on the Commission to ensure that its future proposal faithfully reflects the content of our work here. As the ECR political group negotiator on this file, I have three strong messages. First of all, no more financial crumbs. In the negotiations for the next MFFWe need the money. We strongly demanded and obtained in the report a clear program for housing financing, modelled on the SAFE program. If we are to find money for everything and everyone, we must also find it for the homes of Europeans. Second, stop the Green Deal bulldozer before it destroys what is left. Anyone who does not vote on the ECR amendment on the abolition of prohibitive green legislation will contribute to the demographic death of the Union. Mandatory green renovations exhaust the savings of citizens, can cost between 30 and 100 thousand euros per unit, often exceeding the total savings of a family. Thirdly, no illegal occupation and migration. This so-called "squatting" must not be seen as an isolated phenomenon, it concerns us all. It is not just an attack on the fundamental right to private property, but on the legal protection of property in general. Illegal employment is not a housing solution. We therefore need a functioning budget, made available to the Member States, legislation that respects the citizen's wallet and a legal framework that honours the right to property and the competence of the Member States.

Mr President, Europe has tried to solve the demographic crisis and the crisis in the job market through migration. It was not a good idea and we have thousands of victims of increased crime demonstrating this, as well as official reports from Frontex, Europol and other similar institutions, where illegal migration and migrant crime are extensively analysed. This year we will also see the effects of the Pact on Migration and Asylum in EU member countries where illegal migration was low. Are we really ready? Is the police in the member countries sufficiently prepared? Seeing what's happening on the streets of Brussels, I'd say no. Perhaps the right solution is not to save these people by bringing them to Europe, but to help them stay in their countries, as Giorgia Meloni, for example, thought of Matta's Plan. If we find financial resources in Europe for everything, maybe we should also find financial resources for the safety of European citizens. The lack of ownership on the issue of migration in Europe is not just an act of political weakness, it is a real act of sabotage against the security and sovereignty of the European Union.

Madam President, after more than five years in which, at the negotiating table, the European Union took decisions based more on ideology and less on strategy, the bill came. Progressive dinners are expensive. Large companies in the automotive industry, whose brands have been not only engines of the European economy, but true ambassadors of this continent, are silently moving their production to countries such as Mexico and India. Combined with fertilizers for agriculture, strategic production units on which European farmers are dependent, either they have already closed their doors, such as the case of Azomures in Romania, or they are preparing to do so, such as a colossus in Germany that reduces its business in Europe to invest 10 billion euros in China. An entire destroyed mining sector finds Europe not only unable to meet its energy needs, but unable to relaunch its defence industry, which, as much as we would like, cannot be rebuilt with any kind of green energy. But there's a cost, the most expensive of all: unemployed people. While Europe still hopes for the green dream, and large companies justify their relocations by conveyor belt to other continents under the argument of the free market, hundreds of thousands of people remain without hope and job. This file on just transition in the labour market must be seen in a responsible note. As ECR rapporteur, I strongly believe that we have managed, following negotiations over the last half year, to build a pragmatic compromise. The European Commission needs to hear the message of the report very clearly. Money is urgently needed to ensure this just transition in the labour market. And he needs to understand something else: that the reluctance about the need for new legislation also stems from the lack of transparency with which the Green Deal was launched, which has destroyed the competitiveness of the European economy. It's time to responsibly repair what's broken in recent years. We are already playing with the fate of some workers, their families, their children and future generations.

Madam President, the simplification regulation of the common agricultural policy must not be regarded as a whim of the sector, nor as a free concession to the European farmer. After years in which the European farmer has been either the guinea pig of green ideology, or an unwilling soldier in a war fought on the EU's borders, or even a bargaining chip in economic conflicts between continents, he deserves a breath of fresh air. But that's not enough. In the corner lurks an adversary even more feared than the Brussels bureaucracy. It's called Mercosur and if we don't equip the European farmer, already properly weakened, the battle is lost. Hallucinatoryly, in the same voting session, on the one hand, we will lift the veil of restrictions that have eroded European agriculture, on the other hand, we will adopt a mechanism to protect the European farmer from the danger of Mercosur, peak, with the same money allocated to him, for other emergencies. One amendment that I have initiated is a life jacket for the European farmer. It is Amendment 80 of the Mercosur Safeguard Mechanism. And if you care about what we all eat, I ask you to support it and vote for it tomorrow.

Mr. President, would you advise your son or daughter to become a policeman? From the rush of the car with a driver or from the comfort of the offices, some MEPs and MPs do not see the risk that lawmakers are exposed to every day in order to defend them, but they feel it in the street. Right here in Brussels a few days ago, a recognized criminal drove his car full into a police crew, and this spring two gangs faced Kalashnikov in the middle. Police are struggling not only with criminals, but also with the populism of those who demand more understanding for criminals and more gentleness in police procedures. As a criminal lawyer and a law professor, I say clearly: You can't fight crime with silk gloves. Prevention means action, investment and respect for those who defend us. That is why I support an urgent legislative initiative to declare police, military personnel, border guards and customs officers high-risk occupations and to give them the status and salary they deserve. And to those who think police work isn't risky, I ask a simple question: if your son or daughter were a police officer, would you sleep peacefully the night I am on duty?

Madam President, our children must be protected at all costs! I am a mother and believe me, there is no legislative issue more important to me than the safety of children, and if we are talking about this, it is vital to also consider prevention, not just catching and criminally holding predators after they have already committed a crime. Prevention also involves stopping the stimulation of deviant urges. Personally, we tabled amendments in several parliamentary committees to ensure that any child pornography content, even that generated by artificial intelligence or disguised as cartoons, is banned altogether in the European online space. In addition, also to prevent the feeding and propagation of deviant behaviors, which often lead to the commission of crimes, I support the elimination from the European market of any inflatable dolls with a child's face, which today sell freely. Who do you think would buy something like this other than those directly interested in sexual acts with minors? It's not just disgusting and outrageous, it's absolutely hallucinatory. If we really want to protect our children, today we must put an end to this monstrous trade!

Madam President, my country, Romania, is facing a painful reality today: the highest cancer mortality rate in the entire European Union. Every year, nearly 60% of people diagnosed with cancer lose their lives. Breast and cervical cancer remain the leading causes of death among women in Romania. More than 80% of cases are detected in advanced stages, when the chances of survival decrease dramatically. This is not just a medical statistic - it is a human and social tragedy. Behind each number is a woman, a mother, a daughter, a sister. Women who, in many cases, could have been saved through accessible screening and appropriate treatment. While the European Union is allocating significant funds for defence, green transition, external support, it is time to ask ourselves: Do we give the same priority to protecting the lives of our citizens? I strongly believe that health must be a strategic priority of the European Union. That is why I call on the European Commission to allocate funds for free screening and cancer treatments for all European citizens. We cannot speak of a united Europe if we accept that the difference in resources means the difference between life and death. Let us demonstrate, through facts and budgets, that the lives of every woman in Europe matter.

Mr President, are you surprised that in just three months we have come to vote on three no-confidence motions against Ursula von der Leyen, initiated by different political groups? One of the main criticisms of the Commission in these motions concerns the infamous Green Deal and its destructive effects on the European economy and industry. Today we are analyzing the situation of the automotive industry and we cannot do it without mentioning how affected this area has been by the Green Deal policies: closed factories, hundreds of thousands of people left without jobs, increasing costs for the production of cars, and even more, the appearance on the market of a dangerously cheap competitor, China. Just today it was voted here, in this plenary, to help Germany and Belgium with money because of the closure of factories in the automotive industry. On the sixth place in Europe in car production, Romania is among the most affected states. As we debate in plenary today, 200 workers at a factory in Dej have just lost their jobs. Thousands more went through layoffs last month. The Green Deal must be urgently suspended and the European economy saved.

Madam President, my country, Romania, contributes to the food security of the European Union side by side with the other EU countries, but with an enormous handicap: with a Romanian farmer overwhelmed by inflation, severely affected by the sale of Ukrainian grain on the black market, indebted to the highest interest rates in Europe and with a subsidy much, much lower than that of his colleagues in the West. And if that wasn't enough, the European Commission comes up with one more blow: allocates less money to Romania from the future agriculture budget than at present, excludes from financing an area of about 4 million hectares of arable land for which no subsidy will actually be received and opens wide the doors of the largest trade agreement in the history of the EU, the one with Mercosur, which will flood the market with cheap and poor quality products. The Romanian farmer is not a second-class citizen, he respects all European norms, so it is the turn of the European Commission to guarantee him a sustainable future in agriculture.

Mr President, European farmers are not just producers of meat, milk or cereals. They are the ones who bring villages to life, preserve traditions and ensure that every family in Europe has healthy food on the table at affordable prices. They work in the cold, in the heat, in times of uncertainty, for 450 million European consumers and for their fundamental right to food. We cannot remain indifferent when political decisions risk weakening their work; reduced budgets, unfavourable trade agreements, harsh conditions and counterproductive legislation, all in recent years. European solidarity must mean more than words, it must be a real shield for those who feed us. At the same time, we know that our relationship with China is strategic and of great value. We're not looking for conflict, we're looking for cooperation. We believe that any challenge can be overcome through sincere dialogue and mutual respect. Europe and China can find balanced solutions that protect the interests of both sides. In an increasingly complicated global context, it is vital that the EU and China find a diplomatic way to make concessions to each other so that relations can develop for the better. It requires wisdom and flexibility. European farmers wake up every day before sunrise to feed millions of people. It is our obligation to awaken as leaders and defend them with the same dedication.

Mr President, this is a message for all moralists who are teaching us about generosity, accusing us of being extremists because we do not open Europe's arms wide to migrants. We are elected by European citizens from EU Member States. We have a mission to prioritize their interests, the interests of those who have chosen us. This means putting first their right to occupy existing jobs, their safety on the streets, their access to health services, their right to manifest their belonging to a religion. In the struggle to publicly demonstrate how politically correct you are, you end up sacrificing the European citizen in order to help another. You may not know, but the European Commission itself has adopted a proposal for a regulation for the return of illegal migrants to their countries of origin. Moreover, new attributes of Frontex to combat this overwhelming phenomenon, to increase the number of troops at the border by 10 000 and to triple the number of coastal personnel. If the European Commission is also extremist for you, I challenge you to demonstrate your so-called generosity with facts, not words. All those who dare to attack us, open your homes and welcome a migrant family to live with your children. It's only after you do that that you have the right to give us lessons.