Speeches

Mr President, I regret that in this room we are almost only Romanians and Bulgarians. Apart from Mrs Düpont, to whom I also thank Mr Mandl, for a few seconds, we too often forget to be Europeans, to be united, to be in solidarity. The Austrian government believes that Austrians do not trust Romanians, but Romanian doctors treat Austrians. Romanians build houses for Austrians, Austrians do business with Romanians. What would Europe become if every national political party used the EU for political themes at home, regardless of truth or reality? Chancellor Nehammer, lack of compassion comes from fear. Sigmund Freud, your countryman, said it himself. But the Czech Václav Havel said that love conquers fear. This is what we must turn to, to return to a union of solidarity, of unity, of love.

Madam President, Romanians were promised eight new regional hospitals, which then turned into three. Today, zero will be funded by the NRRPs, because the authorities have not done their job. The government, in reality, does not want to build any new hospitals from the NRRP, but only to patch up existing hospitals. The Siberians have been completely forgotten. We have a county hospital project, but we don't have political approval from the Government. If we do not have this approval, the Sibiu people will not be able to build another hospital in the next 10 years, because they will not have money from where. So, Mr. Ciucă, Mr. Rafila, Mr. Boloș, put European money also for the construction of a new hospital in Sibiu. The Siberians cannot be the scapegoat of the Bushes in Bucharest. The European Investment Bank cannot finance the hospital unless the government approves at least half of the European funding. Give the Siberians a new hospital.

Mr President, "Warning, URS!" - this is how wild animals are protected nowadays, but this is how people are also protected. An SMS does not solve the problem at all, namely the fact that wild animals remain year after year without habitat due to illegal and aggressive logging. Forests are their home, their habitat, and it is lost year after year. But the struggle between the wild animal and man must not exist, that is not what civilization teaches us. Civilization teaches us that there must be room for everyone. Governments can do much more than just text, let's say, the right one. Affected farmers have to wait months before they receive their money for damages or simply do not know they are entitled to financial aid if they want to take action to prevent attacks by wild animals. The Habitat Directive allows all of this, it allows. Governments also need to do their job. Dear colleagues, instead of shouting at the moon about how we should eliminate the threat of wolves and bears, let's focus on prevention, on cohabitation, on education, needed in Europe where we care about the environment.

Mr. President, Commissioner Hahn, Minister Bek, right now a mother is lighting the oven to cook the children only once this week, so as not to consume gas, which has become so expensive. Right now, a student in Sibiu is abandoning the plan to study in France, because 500 euros are no longer 500 euros, but 420 euros due to inflation, and rents have increased enormously. Right now, extremists are preparing to set the Union on fire, and if we do not respond to these crises in 2023, it will be far too late in 2024. We fought together with those who were shadow rapporteurs here, with whom we were a team, to get more for Europe and for Europeans, and we got one billion euros more, for three directions that correspond to the directions that people asked us for, and these are energy and lower bills. We got an extra 80 million for Horizon Europe, an extra 100 million for Facilitating Connecting Europe that finances energy and transport networks. An additional 30 million for the LIFE Programme which is not only about the environment, it is also about energy. Two, we fought to mitigate the effects of the war. We got 120 million euros for Erasmus+, for students suffering in Europe, 50 million more for the Asylum Fund and from this money we want to see money that goes for Schengen too, so that we no longer have excuses on December 8th and let Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia enter, because we have all the necessary facilities. We obtained 210 million euros for Ukraine and Moldova, because these people suffer not only from war, they also suffer from frost. And finally, and it is important, for the European Union, for our integration, we have obtained extra money, over EUR 60 million for military mobility, because it is important to be together in the face of global crises. Let's not forget one thing European society is important. Churchill said: “if we cut off money from culture during the war, what are we still fighting for?”. That's exactly how we fought for people in culture to be helped. We fought for European civil protection, we fought for the European health that has just been born and, last but not least, we fought for the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, led by Laura Codruta Kovesi, to ensure transparency and justice in the use of European money. Ladies and gentlemen, the European Parliament has fought in these negotiations and is responding today with a solid budget of EUR 186 billion. It is a very important budget, but we have a problem, Commissioner, if we give more money for home policies, and if at home we are told that they cannot implement, that they do not bring the money home, it is in vain that we boast, it is in vain that I say Stefanita, Mr Hahn, Mrs Bek, that we support these important policies, if the Member States fail and if people do not see the result of my work. I believe, Mr President, that this is a good day for Europe today. We show unity, we show determination. But let's see, let's bring Europe into people's homes.

Mr President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, every time we pronounce the words no one will be left behind, at least one person dies of lack of water or food. At least one family loses their life's work because the waters have swallowed up their household. At least one farmer is left without a crop after the drought has cracked the land and burned its crops. The climate crisis has already hit, and those who will suffer are our children. It's so simple. What about the future for them? What remains for them in life? Let us not deviate from our common and international targets and let us not let other crises put climate chaos in second place. He told his German far-right colleague that the bill was high. Yes, the bill is high, but the bill for inaction is simply catastrophic. It means existence itself, it means denying the future to our children, and this bill we cannot leave behind, to say that our children do not deserve to have a future. So I want to encourage you, Commissioner, to represent our children at the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, to fight for them, to fight for their climate and for the future of this planet.

Mr President, Commissioner, thanks for being here today in the House of European democracy. Thanks to all the colleagues who have supported a reasonable, strong budget that responds to the European citizens. Domnule președinte, noi am plecat la război acum câțiva ani cu un arc și cu săgeți. Dar noi trăim în epoca în care suntem atacați cu drone, în care lumea a luat foc, în care avem cinci crize consecutive: pandemia, inflația, energia, noi state candidate, toate aceste lucruri trebuie să găsească un răspuns astăzi în ceea ce facem noi. Trebuie să schimbăm armele pe care le avem în dotare, nu să dăm vina pe săgeți. În acest moment avem păreri instituționale diferite pe buget. Consiliului i se pare că trebuie să facem economii pentru a avea bani rezervați pentru crize viitoare. Însă eu mă întreb care criză viitoare, că deja avem cinci crize pe care le-am menționat. Ce să le spunem oamenilor: mai puneți o geacă peste sau o să le spunem că Uniunea Europeană încearcă să vă ajute acum? Noi, Parlamentul, credem că trebuie să răspundem acum și de aceea punem acei bani pe care-i mai avem, puțini cum sunt, îi punem spre politicile care contează pentru oameni, pentru Uniunea Europeană și suntem uniți în asta. Am avut în Comisia pentru buget un vot de 31 la zero. Nici măcar euroscepticii domnului Kuhn, care spunea că Uniunea Europeană nu ar trebui să mai aibă bani și să acționeze, nici măcar ei n-au îndrăznit să voteze contra. Și chiar vreau să îl întreb pe domnul Kuhn, care nu mai este în sală, evident, cum ar arăta Europa dacă noi nu am reacționa? Costul inacțiunii nu este oare mai mare? Și atunci, domnule președinte, și atunci, domnule comisar, eu vă încurajez să găsim împreună soluțiile care trebuie, să găsim soluțiile acum pentru criza politică în care ne aflăm. Pentru că lupta este una dreaptă, este una dreaptă, este pentru oameni, este pentru democrație și este pentru libertate.

Madam President, I was a little nervous because I just gave a historic vote, an important vote by which Romania is closer to Schengen today. But today we are talking about the budget of the European Union, the money we have and what we will do with it. Martin Luther King, Commissioner, Madam President, my fellow shadow rapporteurs, said that "our measure is not where we are when we have comfort, when we have peace, but where we are when we have trials and tribulations." When I was appointed rapporteur for the 2023 Union budget, I felt honoured that the economic recovery was coming. But for many Europeans, for most Europeans, this year is the year of inflation, it is the year of home cold, and for millions of Ukrainians it is the darkest year. The year that took their loved ones, took their homes, the year that made people, normal people with their homes, displaced people, refugees. The year their lives changed. In this attempt, their courage and dignity moved us. Ukrainians reminded us how precious democracy, peace, freedom are. That's what they fight for, and that's what we have to fight for. We do not let ourselves be beaten, we stand and we say today united, that the European Union shows courage like it has never done before. With words, with deeds, with money, with weapons, where Putin destroys, we must rebuild. Where Putin drives away, Europe must welcome with open arms. Where Putin brings fear and terror, Europe brings peace and quiet. The European Union budget must be a shield for European democracy and must show a simple thing: that we are united both for better and for worse. Today we are giving a budget answer to three major problems of the people, of the citizens. 1. We have a border war that affects us too. We cannot accept that dictators win this war. Ukraine must win for democracy and rules to last. If not, we're all in danger, we're all in danger. This war has consequences in Ukraine, but also in Moldova and in all EU countries. That's why we've increased the budget where the war has left serious consequences. €853 million for the consequences of the war in Ukraine and Europe, to help refugees, to have money for our own defence, for our military mobility. Money for young people through Erasmus+. Money for Moldova, which is in great need of help now. Money for all our states to cope with the flow of people, and your state, Mr. President, has been much tried in this period. 2. We have a major energy crisis, with a very expensive price, which we are paying. On all energy bills this winter should appear the face of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, because people, all Europeans, suffer and suffer because of him. But we can't just show where the fault is. We need to give clear answers to people. So Parliament is proposing over €533 million, more than half a billion for energy, through aid for energy bills, aid for renewables and climate change adaptation. This money must, of course, be complemented by the REPowerEU programme and other money, in order not to let the European economy fall because of energy. Citizens need to have access to cheap and secure energy this winter, and if we have learned anything as Europeans from the pandemic, it is that together we are much stronger. When the states gave separate answers, the European Union suffered, and we see this in the case of Italy today. 3. The last priority, Madam President, and please allow me to conclude, is the European economy and society. Health must remain a priority in Europe, otherwise we have learned nothing from the pandemic. The rule of law and EU values must not change in times of crisis. We must support culture and we must support civil society organisations and European values. Churchill, during World War II, said this: ‘If we don’t support culture now, if we cut money, why are we still fighting with weapons?’ That’s exactly how our philosophy must be and not give up values. And dream pacem para bellumIf you want peace, you must prepare for war, and we must be prepared today to respond to what Europeans expect of us.

Madam President, today, many Romanian and Bulgarian colleagues convince you that it is worth entering Schengen, and so it is. But today is not only their day, it is the day of a united Europe. Is it not European patriotism to continue Schuman's European integration? Isn't it European patriotism to let Dacia take the cars produced in Mioveni faster to the customer in Marseille? Doesn't the French win, doesn't the Romanian win from this? What good is it to give money with one hand and tax these companies at the worst hour of the European economy? Isn't it European patriotism to respect Mr. Popa, who built your home in Berlin, but who has to stay on the border with the days when he returns home for Christmas or Easter? Then we're not a family anymore? Then we're not brothers anymore? Vorgestern will 33 Jahren ist in Berlin die Mauer gefallen. Il y a 233 ans, c'était le tour de la Bastille. And 33 years ago, Romanians took down communism and shouted: Freedom! What Romanians have never shouted before and what Europeans often forget is that solidarity, that fraternity, that equality. Let us show them that Europe is about this, let us show them that Europe is united!

Commissioner, dear Véronique, how long will we be second-rate patients? What is it like to be sick and know, for example, that in Belgium you would have immediate access, and in Romania you do not even have an empty bed in the hospital? No syringes, no soap, no toilet paper! Sometimes you have to buy the medicine from the hospital, come with it from home. My Siberians want a new hospital so badly that they've already made plans, feasibility studies, everything. All they need is money to build it. Let's send the promised health money to where it's most needed. We have been through the pandemic together for two hard years and Europe knew how to be together, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has been a real shield for life and health. But the agency needs us to move on. He needs money, he needs resources, he needs people. Now is the time to help her. We cannot continue for some Europeans to have and others not to have, for some to live and others to die by days. We want equality now, we want European health now!

Madam President, a war for values and principles, a war for freedom is at our borders. I hope you didn’t get used to it. This war has to be won, and the EU budget should come in support of our citizens and our friends who are fighting for their freedom. Does democracy have a price ? Yes, it has. The very high bills for energy and inflation are consequences of the unjust war that Russia is leading in Ukraine. But we can deal with this crisis together, not only with words, but with money. Here in the House of Europe, we will echo what President Zelenskyy said: ‘without gas or without Putin? Without Putin’. ‘Without Putin’ means more support from the EU budget, and each support means a faster victory. We are hearing some good news from Ukraine on the counteroffensive. That means that our support actually matters. Each euro will bring us closer to victory. Now the Council’s position on the EU budget is traditional in the most untraditional of times, in the most extraordinary of times. The Council makes EUR 1.6 billion in cuts overall from research, and even EUR 200 million from health. As usual, the Council cuts some priorities that are dear to the European Parliament, but these are not usual times. I have to say, Mr President, that margins should be created at the beginning of the process, not at the end. By reading the Czech Presidency’s position, I hope health and energy are important to you, just as they are important to us. What other crises do we need in addition to realise that these are not normal times? These are not times where we need to spare money for future years, but rather times where every cent should be spent to the benefit of our citizens. We also don’t want to choose which people we will be able to help: the Ukrainian citizens, the refugees, the poor EU citizens who are the victims of the energy crisis and inflation. This is why, Minister, my message is clear. We need an urgent revision of the MFF to be able to help our citizens in these extraordinary hard times. This year we need to make do with everything we have got for the citizens. I give you an example of two important headings, very current ones: those dealing with refugees and with humanitarian aid, which are unfortunately empty. This is just not normal. The EU’s credibility is at stake. We have to help our SMEs. We have to help the health sector, we have to help the youth that has been very affected by the pandemic. We need to invest more in defence and military mobility, especially in these times. Beyond money, we also need to understand the importance of Schengen enlargement for Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia this year. This doesn’t cost you anything, and it costs us a lot. This will ease military mobility, but also we can boost the European economy by billions. Let’s think also in terms of economics in this. Our friends from Ukraine and Moldova need our support right now. Madam President, Commissioner, as the general rapporteur, I don’t speak just for myself; I speak for all the shadows who are here in the room or the chair. I speak for Parliament with one voice. We think that this year, more than in others, the EU budget is just too modest. Ten years ago, the European Union received a Nobel Peace Prize for creating a space without war. But today, instead of celebrating peace, we have an unjust war at our borders. And yes, democracy has a price. Peace has a price, too. And we need to spread peace and say it out loud: ‘peace, also with the support of the European Union budget’.

Mr President, Commissioner, rapporteur, in Romania, there is an old saying: “He who has a forest has gold” – it is the most precious thing we can have. Why do we continue to put our forests at risk? Why are we still assaulting nature - as in the case of Comorova forest in Constanta County, the only forest still alive on the Romanian Black Sea coast -? Luckily, there are still people who do not give up and fight for every tree in their city, people like Abdurefi Semiran or Dumitru Paris, who take things in hand and stop the abuse. They don't close their eyes for money. It is very important, but their civic initiatives still mean little. Politics needs to do more. In Bolsonaro's tenure, deforestation in the Amazon has reached its highest level in 14 years before our eyes. We need global action, not just European action, but it is good that we start today with European action. What distinguishes great leaders from the weak at such a difficult time? Courage and taking difficult decisions.

Mr President, Commissioner, rapporteur, today, in the summer of 2022, which was the warmest in Europe's history, we are still irresponsibly cutting down forests. So don't think I'm talking about the Third World, I'm telling you that Europe has cut 842 000 hectares of forest this year, and the Amazon has lost 900 000 hectares, which is comparable. Not to mention the old-growth forests that, once lost, are lost forever. People, a well-protected forest is an investment in the future, it is an investment for my daughter, for your children, an investment that protects us from hot summers, when the air is unbreathable. We also have good news. At home in Sibiu, for example, the new King Charles launched the largest European project to restore European forest landscapes. I am also pleased to see in today's strategy initiatives such as forest monitoring, based on common indicators, and recommendations for nature-friendly forestry practices. People, the forest, the air does not stop at the border, they are our chance for life, they are the chance of future generations.

Mr President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, some people believe that money is the most important resource. But what happens when a resource like water disappears, like a river in Italy to Mr. Tajani in front of me, disappears from our planet? Water is an inexhaustible resource that cannot be quantified in its value. Europe is barely breathing. The forests, the lungs of Europe are burning before our eyes. The harvest burns in Timis, 16 fires in the last 24 hours. It hasn't rained in three months, really. Some guy drops 10 centimeters a day. In the city of Galati, sand islands have been formed for several weeks, in the Danube, islands. Do you realize that? The mayor of Dumbrăviţa commune urges his citizens to use the water with the portion at the least possible pressure and only for domestic purposes. Do you really think everyone's contribution, how small, doesn't matter? We need to stop pumping carbon into the atmosphere now. We must continue to provide the most important resource to our children.

Madam President, I’m looking around the room and there’s only five men, myself included. I’m not counting the Commission staff. And I think it is sad that only five men speak in favour of women’s rights because women’s rights are human rights. And it concerns us too. I grew up in Ceausescu’s Romania back in the eighties when abortion was banned, and I’ve heard terrifying stories, stories about women dying of complications of self-induced abortions or abortions performed somewhere on a ship or in some illegal place. And I think that striking down Roe versus Wade would lead to more than 20 US states banning abortion and perhaps to 36 million women having direct consequences from this on their right for their body, for their life. So colleagues, here in this House, let’s stop a war on women, men and women together. We have very clear values here in Europe. Let’s talk about them. Let’s speak to our American friends about them, and let’s fight so that banning abortion remains just a sad legacy of the past and not a miserable gift for the future.

Madam President, Mr Timmermans, Minister Zacharopoulou, I want to speak on behalf of millions of young people in Romania and across Europe today. It has already been three years since we spoke in this house, in the European Parliament, of the European Green Deal, three years in which, however, we have witnessed the hottest summer in Europe’s history – I mean 2021 – deadly floods and disastrous droughts. Three localities in southern Romania, where I come from – Călărași, Sărata and Dăbuleni, in Dolj County – receive spring water only in the morning and evening at the programme. People are given water with the portion because of the drought. Scientists are screaming desperately at us because we have the highest level of carbon dioxide in 4 million years. It's not a joke. Let's wake up to reality, because it's about the future of the young generation here. Yes, putting a price on carbon is not an easy task, but Europe has two decades of experience with it. It's not something new, it's something we're good at. We have experience. Commissioner, in theory we are ambitious, but the reality is that in recent years we have spent only 13% of the European Union budget on climate change. We can't afford this anymore. Let's really be climate leaders. Today, together, we give up borrowing from the days and lives of young people. I'm giving up borrowing from my 2-year-old daughter's life. That's what we're talking about today, we're talking about their future.

Mr. President, there are superheroes and there are heroes among us. During the pandemic, they were doctors, nurses, farmers, essential workers. Today, the heroes are the volunteers who help the refugees in Ukraine. They do what national authorities could never have done on their own. In Romania, however, the Government has not provided any financial support to the associations that do this work. We cannot wait for national politicians. The European Union must provide support managed directly by the Commission to NGOs and volunteers. We must do good together, more involved, closer to the citizen. "No one is useless in this world where we have to bear the burdens of others," said Charles Dickens. And in our world, with ever-increasing disasters, the heroes are you, and I thank you.

Madam President, I say to my colleagues: we are excited to vote again, presently. It’s been something that have we missed in this Parliament. But I ask you, colleagues, to give me 30 seconds also in respect of the victims of the Ukraine war, because we are talking here about the budget and we’ve been talking for the past two hours about what we can do for these victims and for the people who cross the borders into another country. Mr Commissioner, you have the toughest job right now. You always need more money, but help us revise the MFF. Help us, in relation to the Member States, call for a revision of the MFF, because we are already bound, the belt is too narrow to the body. We need the Member States to widen the EU budget now. One final word, because I am Romanian ... (the speaker was interrupted for a few moments) My final remark for all of you who are Poles, who are Slovaks, who are Romanians, who are Hungarians, who bear the burden of millions of refugees right now. Commissioner, Europe needs to help these countries right now because they have a very high role in what is going on now. They do a service for world peace, now.

Mr MEP, first of all, are you ready to give up your salary yourself, as you ask the Commissioner to do so? And then, how do you feel when you see the images that come from Bucha, you who are defending a regime that, right now, is killing?

Madam President, Commissioner, 2022, 2023 are special years in the history of the European Union. When Winston Churchill was directed, for example, to cut the budget of culture in the middle of World War II, he said: But then, what are we fighting for? And I think we're at a similar exact moment today. On the one hand, we're fighting a war, yes, we're fighting a war. On the other hand, we must defend our lifestyle, our European values. We have moved, Commissioner, from the last year of the pandemic directly into the first year of the war. But European money does not grow on trees, the Union budget is limited by the amounts that Member States give to the Union. Our annual budget, what a coincidence, Commissioner, is the same as that of Austria, the country from which you come. But our needs are huge, they're much bigger. We have a financial crisis, energy bills, inflation, health problems. We have young people in depression, we have war! Moreover, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the cruel war that this country is waging have made our countries' economies more difficult. That is why, Commissioner, the EU budget for this year is limited. We are limited. We are tied up by this multiannual budget, the MFF, for seven years. If we do not revise the MFF soon, we will always take money from other programmes, from cohesion, from other places. And so the needs for the economic recovery of the Member States will never be met. Here are the six major political priorities we are voting on today. First priority: Growth of the economy. We need to speed up access to and absorption of structural funds and NRRPs. Our citizens must once again feel proud to be part of this Union of prosperity, well-being. 2023 is also important for our farmers who put our food on the table. Second priority: Health for all citizens. Over the past year, the pandemic has turned our lives upside down. More than six million people have died in the world. Moreover, the chronically ill suffered greatly because they were neglected. There was no more prevention. That is why we must not forget that the EU budget is for hospitals to be built, to accelerate the pace at which our citizens can one day be treated the same in every Member State of the European Union. I dream that one day people in Sibiu, the city where I come from, will be treated as well as people in a hospital in Germany. Third priority: Accelerating the green and digital transition. Commissioner, every day, the countries of the European Union continue to send EUR 700 million to Russia. In total, more than 22 billion euros annually, money that goes to tanks and missiles, money that destroys human lives now. Therefore, to those colleagues who say that GreenDeal must be stopped because we need energy resources now, I say no, the opposite. We need to accelerate our green transition to renewable energies. We have to stay where it makes sense. We don't have to give in now, when it's most important. Fourth priority: Without the rule of law, there is no money. The European Union is not an ATM and we cannot accept that European money is sent where there are suspicions about the rule of law, to be left behind in the hands of corrupt people. That is why, Commissioner, I encourage you not to see the EPPO, the European Public Prosecutor's Office headed by Laura Codruta Kovesi, as a Union Cinderella. Every cent we give to this Public Prosecutor's Office brings back millions of euros to the European Union. A penultimate point: Commissioner, young people have suffered greatly in this pandemic: anxiety, depression, isolation. We need to restore the mechanisms by which they can see the world again. We need to help them go to Erasmus. With 400 euros, a young man cannot go to Erasmus if he does not have help from home from his mother and father. And, most importantly: Commissioner, we must have a stronger Union for its citizens and in the world because we have war. And we have four countries on the border: Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland, which are currently suffering for the entire European Union, taking care of all the Union's refugees. That is why, Commissioner, we must help these countries and not just by transferring sums that have not been spent. We have to help them with everything we can. Commissioner, "true generosity towards the future is in giving everything to the present". That's what Albert Camus said. I want us, the present generations, to give everything to the present.

Madam President, I might be the only non—Spanish—speaking author of this resolution, but that’s important because this is a European issue, defending the rule of law and defending journalists across the world. Exposing high—level corruption led to the death of Mexican journalist Roberto Toledo. Criticising local authorities for their relationship with Mexican organised crime got media worker José Luis Gamboa killed. Over the last two months, we’ve seen what’s very likely the deadliest time for the Mexican press in over a decade. Toledo and Gamboa are two of seven journalists who have lost their lives in Mexico since the beginning of the year, while others were threatened or went missing. There are two outstanding actors in these tragic stories. One is the violence unleashed by the war against the drug cartels. The other is the near total impunity. As the country’s justice system has eroded, corruption has proliferated at all levels. While 99% of all crimes are not prosecuted, Mexico is launching a war on truth, killing journalists and human rights defenders. Dear colleagues, here in this House, we defend freedom of speech as it is an essential part of our functioning democracy. It’s high time we called on Mexico to do the same, not to let murder go uninvestigated, to strengthen the protection mechanism, and to refrain from stigmatising media workers and let them do their job. Let’s remind those involved in such brutal murders of a simple truth: even if you kill the messenger, you will never kill the message. The people of Mexico are angry at censorship and they don’t want to be complicit in the murder of freedom of expression in their country. We also call on these people, who are very dear to us and who are very close to us, to fight for their right to speak freely and to stand for the journalists in their country. They don’t carry weapons: they only carry a notebook and a pen to defend themselves. One last message, perhaps, to the Mexican Government: you are an essential partner for the European Union, but we won’t close our eyes when your democracy, when your freedoms, are eroded.

Madam President, Commissioner, I wonder why we should think that one crisis eliminates another and why not two crises at once are worse. I believe that we have several crises at once and that in a world invaded by tragedies we must focus on how we can save ourselves from the rubble. We cannot delay the management of the crises we face, we cannot stop efforts to reduce emissions, pollution, protect biodiversity and human health. At this point, the scientific community's warnings about the climate crisis are becoming increasingly appalling. The effects of climate change will wreak even greater havoc, plunge the world into food insecurity, storms, fires, heatwaves, floods. The new IPCC report reminds us that we still have a short window to implement important measures and avoid the scenario where action is already too little and too late. We cannot continue to finance Putin’s army and war – you heard right, yes, we did – through energy dependence on imports. And the solution is by no means to increase Europe's long-term dependence on fossil energy sources. It will not be easy, nor will it be popular, for many Member States, but failure to implement climate measures will come at a cost, after all. The most important question is how much it will cost us if we do not act now, if we remain passive. Respecting and implementing your programme, the 2030 Action Programme, is an essential step. The climate is changing as a result of human activity and change is accelerating because we are doing nothing. Gentlemen, this is our fate, to save the planet from multiple hands at once.

Today, on their birthday, women in Ukraine do not receive flowers. I'm getting blood, suffering and tears. Today, they also receive separation from their husbands, husbands, sons, children. This is the greatest human tragedy since World War II, an exodus of women and children. What can we do for them? They need to go to hospital, they need to have papers, they need to go to school and they even need a job here in Europe. We, Europe, must treat them as our own because they are ours, they are our European brothers. Out of their poverty, Commissioner, the Romanians gave everything, they did not hesitate to open their house, to put on the table the polenta, the sarmale, to lay half a bed. They gave everything and what they didn't have. But the help of people, of these angels, is not enough when we talk about 5 million, 7 million people. Union, listen: Let us give as we have never given before, because the suffering now is nothing compared to anything else. What Putin destroys with one hand, let's hit with two.

Madam President, I want to speak tonight for some friends – for Maria, for Sasha, for Veronika, for Katia and for their mother. This is a family of refugees from Ukraine, whom I met yesterday and with whom I told a lot. These Ukrainians, these people left on February 24th, in the morning, hearing the bombs, thinking it was an earthquake, and they said: I wish it was an earthquake. Well, these people have arrived in Europe and are waiting for us to be able to work. They expect us to be able to communicate. I can't accept roaming charges. I can't accept not having papers as soon as possible. They can't accept not being able to speak in their own language. And I believe that – dear friends, dear colleagues – with 1.5 million Ukrainians all over Europe and a much larger number coming over us, we must be prepared to break down all the barriers that still exist, because these people are brothers. These people are Europeans, they are our sisters, and our girls, and our boys, and our children. I encourage all of you, dear ones, to make their lives as beautiful as possible in Europe.

Madam President, roads of humility. This is how a cancer patient feels at the hardest time of his life: unworthy, humiliated. You got money, get in the front. You don't have the money, you wait and maybe you're not when it's finally your turn to schedule. I come from Romania, the country where when the doctor says: ‘You have cancer’, a serious clock starts ticking quickly, swallowing minutes and swallowing days, because in our country, cancer does not offer much hope to a patient. Prevention is insufficient. Treatments are expensive, diagnosis late. Why die of breast cancer in the 21st century, when so many European women survive? Just because you're Bulgarian, because you're Romanian or because you're Polish? Unfortunately, there are too many patients defeated by the medical system: They don't have any medicines, even the simplest ones. The sick are taken for walks to buy their own pumps, to buy their own cytostatics. To their torment is added the humiliation of running after something that is not found. We can't have some of us, and some of us can die by days. Europe is investing €4 billion today to help its Member States beat cancer. It's money for prevention, diagnosis, treatment and recovery. I want to bow to two Romanian women, Carmen Uscatu and Oana Gheorghiu, from the ‘Give Life’ Association, who built an oncology hospital themselves, using society and its resources. And I also want to bow to two European women, one who is a survivor herself and is in front of us and is Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, and another who is an oncologist, she is called Véronique Trillet-Lenoir and she wrote today's report. Cancer patients are not just dry statistics: They are mothers, they are fathers, they are children and friends, they are my grandparents. But they are mostly European citizens. We've been able, in a year, to find a vaccine for an epidemic we've never seen before. I believe we can find a cure for this relentless disease. One day we're gonna beat all the cancer, I promise you that. Why shouldn't that day be today? Because the sick only have ‘today’!

Madam President, I want to send you a message from 400 ethnic Hungarian citizens in Transylvania. I am Romanian MP, but I am also Transylvanian, I am also European. They say: "We want fair elections in the Hungarian elections, in which more Hungarians in Romania can vote. We oppose all forms of influencing the voting process and against electoral fraud. Hate campaigns over the last decade have affected our social relationships. There's no reason to be afraid. We refuse to fear Brussels, George Soros, migrants or sexual minorities. We do not need politicians to protect us from them.” Ladies and gentlemen, Hungarians are not anti-Europeans, as Mr Orban wants you to believe. They are our European brothers, my brothers from Romania or from outside. Ahogyan élek, az a hazám. said Balla Zsófia. “As I live, so is my homeland.”