What Nicolae spoke about.

2 May

2022

RO Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

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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. W…

5 Apr

2022

EN Speech

Guidelines for the 2023 budget – Section III (debate)

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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…

5 Apr

2022

FR Question

Guidelines for the 2023 budget – Section III (debate)

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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?…

5 Apr

2022

RO Speech

Guidelines for the 2023 budget – Section III (debate)

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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 def…

10 Mar

2022

EN Speech

The situation of journalists and human rights defenders in Mexico

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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 …

9 Mar

2022

RO Speech

General Union Environment Action Programme to 2030 (debate)

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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…

8 Mar

2022

RO Speech

The deterioration of the situation of refugees as a consequence of the Russian aggression against Ukraine (debate)

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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 ne…

7 Mar

2022

RO Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

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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 peop…

15 Feb

2022

RO Speech

Strengthening Europe in the fight against cancer(debate)

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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 s…

14 Feb

2022

RO Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

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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 aff…

14 Dec

2021

EN Speech

Cooperation on the fight against organised crime in the Western Balkans (debate)

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Mr President, these are not ‘far away places about which we know nothing’, as Chamberlain once said. They are family; they are part of our destiny; their security is our security. Look at what is happening near Ukraine’s border. A build—up of fighting vehicles and armoured units is taking place as we speak. So by bringing the Western Balkans – our nearest and most diverse neighbour – closer, we ac…

13 Dec

2021

RO Speech

Health technology assessment (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, long illness is certain death, say the Romanians. But sometimes the disease of some Europeans is far too long. That's because we have different rules for new medical technologies and new drugs. How is it that in Romania patients' access to the latest medicines can be longer and by 240 days (i.e. by 8 months)? Thousands of people die in 8 months and it is not allowed …

24 Nov

2021

RO Speech

The EU's role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic: how to vaccinate the world (topical debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, long illness is certain death, as the Romanians say. The long illness now is not only the virus, it is also disinformation. High vaccination overturns mortality, that's the ratio. Unfortunately, the countries with the highest mortality are also the countries with the highest disinformation. We see it here too, in our European home, that it is intolerable how politici…

23 Nov

2021

RO Speech

2022 budgetary procedure: joint text (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, an extra half a billion euros to the budget of the European Union – that is all we achieved, as Parliament, in 2022. The European Parliament was united, which made us stronger, so I want to thank Karlo, Johan, Henrike, Damian, everyone who made a strong team this year. In fact, these are investments, not money falling from the sky. Every euro, for example, going to the …

22 Nov

2021

RO Speech

The revision of the Financial Regulation in view of the entry into force of the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner Hahn, the future European rules must increase citizens' confidence in the Union that money is well-thought out, that it is not given to anyone anyway, that relations and policies do not matter. I hope that translators know what a "pill" is because in some countries it is practiced a lot. Firstly, it is necessary to simplify the rules in order for more companies and ci…

11 Nov

2021

EN Speech

The outcome of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) (debate)

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Mr President, today is 11 November, it’s Remembrance Day, the day that weapons stood still in Europe. I think it is time to remember that, because working together on trade and technology is also about peace, not only about the economy. It will help us win an international competition with China and neutralise its ever-expanding power on the world stage. It is time we fought together unfair trade …

21 Oct

2021

EN Speech

The outcome of the Western Balkans summit (continuation of debate)

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Mr President, I know that external affairs is not the Commissioner’s topic but then the Western Balkans is not a matter of strictly external affairs. I think it concerns us almost internally. We have stated numerous times that the future of the Western Balkan countries lies in the European Union, but stating it, including at the EU-Western Balkans Summit is not enough. Words are not enough. We nee…

20 Oct

2021

RO Speech

UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, the UK (COP26) (debate)

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Mr President, Mr Sinkevičius, today I am a simple postman, because I bring the voice of young people in Romania. Two weeks ago, this Parliament was holding an event called ‘The European Youth Event’ with the motto ‘The future belongs to them’. But does it really belong to them? What do these young people really want? They want a healthy planet, they want forests, they want a clean, fair, environme…

19 Oct

2021

RO Speech

General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022 - all sections (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, "never have so many owed so much, so few", said Winston Churchill in the midst of the war. We must live with this spirit again today, because Europe is, in fact, at war, and Europeans must see in what we are doing here, a shield. While many are preparing to emerge from the pandemic, my country, Romania, unfortunately, is entering a wave four, which is not a wave, is …

7 Oct

2021

EN Speech

The state law relating to abortion in Texas, USA

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Mr President, isn’t it regrettable that I am the first man today to speak in favour of this resolution on this floor? I was only a child when Ceaușescu was ruling Romania and I remember how thousands of people would rat on their neighbours and family for choosing to terminate a pregnancy. The new state law might turn Texas too into a snitch state because it might seem unbelievable, but any citizen…

5 Oct

2021

RO Speech

EU Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority: ensuring a coordinated EU approach for future health crises and the role of the European Parliament in this (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, please do something! It's getting worse, a doctor from my home in Sibiu told me today. The Romanian government, which fell through a no-confidence motion, has asked for emergency help from the European Union, because today we have 15,000 new cases and 254 deaths, an absolute record. Unfortunately, the authorities only ask for help when it's too late, because they don…

5 Oct

2021

EN Speech

The future of EU-US relations (debate)

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Mr President, colleagues, I condemn the US-bashing coming from some parts of this House on this floor. The United States has no better friend in the world than the European Union. We have built a relationship based on history, on values and on interests, but now it’s time for the big game. We can no longer think regionally. NATO is the foundation for our collective defence, but America also needs …

14 Sep

2021

RO Speech

Natural disasters during the summer 2021 - Impacts of natural disasters in Europe due to climate change (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, the summer of 2021 taught us all an important lesson: no country in Europe is immune to natural disasters; Whether it is a fire, a flood, we cannot let such events become a normality for us. Passivity will cost us lives. It costs us time, recovery, reconstruction and, most importantly, it costs us the future of our children and I give you an example: My daughter is a ye…

13 Sep

2021

EN Speech

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control - Serious cross-border threats to health (debate)

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Mr President, healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have, said Churchill. But how about the European Union? Do we have a European health for all our citizens? Seventy-four per cent of Europeans want the EU to have more competences to deal with crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis needs to be turned into an opportunity to build a strong European Union for Health. You h…

8 Jul

2021

EN Speech

Hong Kong, notably the case of Apple Daily

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Mr President, a few months ago Carrie Lam said that foreign powers should not intervene in Hong Kong’s affairs because they are China’s affairs and this jeopardises national security. But what does national security really mean? Let me tell you, for the people of Hong Kong, it is the forced shutdown of the only pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily. It is journalists that are being detained and arr…