Speeches

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, schools, parents and young people in Romania are facing an extremely serious social problem: Alarming drug use among schoolchildren. Nearly three thousand students were declared drug users last year, and the average age at which young people start using drugs is only 13 years old. But the statistics capture only a small part of the reality, and behind the numbers there are many more unseen victims, including stigmatized parents who do not have the tools to get their children on the right track. What do we do to protect young people? We need a profound reform of the education and health system, including measures to prevent and combat drug use. We need to join forces at national and European level to provide support to parents and real solutions to young people affected by this scourge.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, together with my colleagues in the ECR, I voted today in favour of the resolution on the situation in Venezuela, a country where anti-democratic abuse has reached its peak. We have to take a stand! Under President Maduro's totalitarian regime, Venezuela has been driven into chaos. Under the aegis of communism, Maduro continued to destroy what was once the pride of Latin America, a thriving and vibrant Venezuela. Now, instead of prosperity, we see only an oppressed population, silenced, deprived of rights and freedoms. More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have been forced to flee their country in search of a dignified life. The recent elections, declared undemocratic by independent observers and defrauded by the National Electoral Council, only confirmed the desire of this regime to cling with power, at any cost, to power. The illegitimate president, Maduro, effectively subjugated the country's institutions in the service of his own interest. The international community, including the European Union, cannot recognise this regime. After decades of totalitarian rule, Venezuela is now a failed state. These are the fruits of communism. We can't let history repeat itself.

Madam President, dear colleagues, dear Romanians, the situation of 1 347 political prisoners held in inhuman conditions in Belarusian prisons shows that the fight for freedom, dignity and justice is not just a matter of the past. The situation of political prisoners in Belarus reminds me of the situation of those during the communist regime in Romania. I know how hundreds of thousands of Romanians, labelled as enemies of the people, were imprisoned or killed and their families persecuted. Brilliant students were kicked out of universities, guilty only because they had a supposedly unhealthy social origin. Among them, my father, priests, teachers, doctors or simple peasants. Guilty of conspiring against the social order, they were arrested, tortured by the security and thrown into prison without the right of appeal. Unfortunately, history is repeating itself, and we must oppose the actions of totalitarian regimes in Europe.

Mr President, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, while respecting the sovereignty of our Hungarian neighbours and the fact that Hungary is legitimately able to decide who it accepts or does not accept on its territory, we cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that, once again, Mr Orbán's policies are contrary to the spirit of European cooperation and solidarity. All Europeans, including Romanians, want to bring peace back to the continent. So what exactly do we do for the security of the Schengen area? Romania is a deep European fund state and certainly not on Putin's friends list. In addition, we are also a country that has been fully compliant with the Schengen regulations since 2011. However, we are still kept at the gates of Europe. Why do we forget about Romania, when the security and stability of the European project is at stake? It is time to further strengthen the European free movement area that unites us, and this means that Romania must be fully part of the Schengen area in the shortest time, without half measures.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, one of Romania's biggest problems is the demographic one. We have a Romania outside of Romania. Of Romania's entire population of 19 million citizens, almost eight million of them live and work abroad. More Romanian children are born abroad than in the country, and at this rate, if we do nothing, Romania will die. Those in charge of Romania do nothing to prevent young Romanians from leaving the country and those who have left to be motivated to return home. Due to a lack of vision, one in three young people under the age of 20 has come to want to leave Romania. In 20 counties of Romania, the number of pensioners exceeds the active population. It is time for Romania to regain the trust of its young people. So help us God!