Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, the report presented confirms that livestock production is a pillar of our food security. They account for 40% of agricultural production, worth EUR 214 billion, yet we have lost 37% of farmers in the last 20 years. The report clearly warns that the overwhelming legislative burden and constant changes to the rules are to blame, destroying farmers' willingness to invest. In particular, I fully support paragraph 10 of the report, which calls for the funding of non-profit organisations carrying out militant lobbying against breeders to be stopped. We must stop paying for an ideology from the LIFE programme that paints a misleading picture of our countryside. The report also clearly rejects the uncritical promotion of laboratory substitutes. These are energy-intensive, dependent on chemical inputs and endanger our family farms. In international trade, the report finally calls for mirror clauses and reciprocity. Our farmers must not face unfair competition from imports that ignore our standards. I am glad that we defend, as we in the Czech Republic say, common sense and our farmers.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, when we talk today about simplifying the CAP – the common agricultural policy – it is worth taking a moment to look back. Its rules started to apply in 2023. In 2024, we modified them for the first time. In 2025, we are simplifying them, we are modifying them again. The next round is coming up. This is clearly due to the fact that the initial set-up was too complex and too far removed from the reality of farmers and practice. I will not list everything that the rapporteur has said here, specific concessions, fewer on-the-spot checks, more flexibility in the GAEC, more support for farms, the possibility of one-off support for their development. These are changes that will come into effect immediately, thank goodness, but at the same time we should ask ourselves a fairly simple question: Why are we only getting these repairs now and gradually? Why do we first approve a complex system and only then correct it? It doesn't work that way in a normal company or business! The answer is clear. It's hard to listen to what's really going on, and it's coming from a desk. We will support this proposal. He's very good, he'll make the farmers feel better, and he'll do it fast. And again, I would like to highlight the work of the rapporteur and thank him for it. But with the new common agricultural policy, we should not allow the same procedure to be repeated. These rules have to work right from the start. We must not wait to “see what happens and then maybe re-evaluate it and repair it and change it and simplify it”. This is not how it works. More common sense, more listening.

Mr President, Commissioner, it is good to acknowledge the mistakes and try to correct them. The simplification package is a step in the right direction. The Commission was forced to do so only by protests in the streets, and only began to listen when voices penetrated the windows of Brussels offices. And it's too late. But it's not just the Commission. So far, Member States' strategic plans have often been the result of everything but dialogue. Farmers have been literally ignored in many countries. In our country, the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Agriculture prepared the so-called 2030+ Strategy, but during its preparation no one ever met with representatives of farmers, although they had a lot of comments and ideas. They then prepared their own document in parallel. And that, of course, is completely wrong. It is therefore a good thing that the report agreed by the Committee on Agriculture included, among other things, the obligation proposed by me as shadow rapporteur to consult farmers on an ongoing basis on the drafting of strategic documents. Member States must be required to involve professional and interest organisations in the development of strategic plans from the outset and not only when commenting on the final text. One more step is missing. Approve the obligation to document the process and publish it transparently. That will be the voice of farmers that will be heard without protesting through the streets, not the voice of those who are preparing analyses in office buildings. Finally, I would like to thank my colleague Rodrigues, as rapporteur, for a very cultivated debate on the draft report.

Madam President, Commissioner, I have become accustomed to hearing from the left side of the room that Israelis are expected to stop a war they have not started, to negotiate peace with those who do not want it, and to provide humanitarian aid to those who want to kill them. So, as of 7 October 2023, nearly 30,000 humanitarian aid trucks worth more than $3 billion have been sent to Gaza. And what happened to the help? Hamas, which controls Gaza, abuses it, distributes supplies to its fighters, sells them on the black market, and leaves Gazans in misery while their propaganda accuses Israel. Hamas is using this suffering as a weapon to collect more money from the West. This is the worst case of organized crime in human history, with Hamas abusing civilians as a weapon and instrument of extortion, and torturing and killing those who protest. It's time for the world to stop just throwing help into Gaza and start demanding responsibility for what's going on there.

I will continue in Czech. Have you heard a single word from me to say that we should continue to buy fossil fuels from the Russians? I never once said anything like that. I'm talking about reckless deployment Green Deal, about the completely meaningless continuation of what destroyed the distribution system of this Europe. I was talking about the destruction of resources such as nuclear resources. Those are the clean ones. And that's where we can buy fuel from the Americans. I never said I would support the aggression of Russia and Putin. I beg of you.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, in an international group of experts, we dealt with energy poverty in Europe some 15 years ago. At that time, however, it concerned a commodity, i.e. power electricity and its price. In a liberalized market and in extreme social situations, someone simply did not have the money for the goods. Occasional sources of electricity, which is a more accurate name for renewable sources, not only will not reduce the price of electricity, but, moreover, due to their reckless expansion, the stable environment of the regulated component of the price, in simple terms, the price of distribution, has completely out of control. Under the influence of a doomsday prophecy that denies the laws of physics and economics, some countries have destroyed their climate-friendly energy sources. baseload, Others are preparing for it. They replace them with resources that mean paying customers for expensive system services, huge network investments and even traffic subsidies. Energy poverty is now caused by irresponsible ideological-political decisions, which are likely to continue with this composition of the Commission, to the misfortune of the citizens of Europe. Headlessly performed basically right Green Deal and other photovoltaics and wind farms will not improve the situation and, on the contrary, will exacerbate energy poverty.

Mr President, I will start with the quote: 'We failed the Jewish community of the Netherlands during World War II, and last night we failed again', said His Majesty King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands on Friday. What happened in Amsterdam, almost on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, was a textbook case pogrom. Jews were stabbed with knives, thrown or chased into the water and kicked in the face when laying on the ground. Attacks were planned in advance and coordinated using WhatsApp and Telegram. One example for all, one message says 'Tomorrow after the game, at night, part 2 of the Jew Hunt. Tomorrow we work them'. However, it does not end there. In Berlin, on Thursday, 13-year-old Jewish footballers were subject to anti-Semitic threats and attacks by Arabs. Paris has to deploy 4 000 police officers for the Israeli football team's match on Sunday, and so on, and so on. Europe is not far from a new Kristallnacht. Eight years ago, Europe killed millions of Jews and now, invited millions of their enemies.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, after the Second World War, Europe tried to become wise and, with some exceptions, succeeded. Religious intolerance has been gaining momentum in Europe in recent years. This is mostly manifested against religious minorities, but in Europe it is different. Of the 73% of religiously-based citizens, more than 90% are Christian. Yet Christianity is the target of the vast majority of verbal, physical, arson and vandalism attacks. According to the frequency of the second in order are attacks on Jews and Jewish objects. Their classification as an act of religious intolerance does not quite stand up, because the target of these attacks is not only Judaism, but Jews themselves, so it is actually racism, but let's count them as well. Please, let us leave out the self-censorship that is common among some politicians and journalists, and let us admit boldly and without euphemisms that the rise in religious intolerance in Europe is caused not only by the influx of people who bring into Europe a hateful Islamist ideology of which religious and racial intolerance is an integral part.