Speeches

Madam President, why do extremists win? The Russians are cold. In my country we are again on the verge of elections, but people do not necessarily think about elections, but they think, perhaps, to turn the heat a little slower, because it costs money. Politicians, that's what we think. that they worry about elections, when in fact 5 million of them worry that they don't have firewood. Even though they work, they can't afford gas bills and they're cold. These days, many of us have more in mind: ‘I need to turn down the heat’ or ‘who am I voting for?’. I want to say this to you, dear Romanians and dear Europeans: it is very important to vote for people who care about housing, about energy, as a right and not as a commodity.

Mr President, Romania woke up with a shock this morning. Elections divide and sometimes divide children from their parents. Everyone sits on their phone and everyone has their own policy, instead of meeting in the kitchen, talking to each other. Dear Romanians, whether you voted for candidate Georgescu, I understand your dissatisfaction. I understand your anger. I know you've been unheard for too long. But we must learn that division is not good, and this is a divisive candidate, who urges hatred and division and a perspective and future for Romania that are not European. On December 8, please do not vote for this divisive candidate. The teachings he sells are not of love, they are of hate. I want to see bridges between generations. I want to see children reunited with their parents and in politics.

Mr President, I look at the young people there in the gallery and I think about what I heard in the campaign. I went to universities, high schools, and the young people said that the teachers told them: "You're too sensitive! Anxiety at 16? I'm sure you haven't eaten today. What psychiatrist, go? Are you crazy? How to go to a psychologist?" That's what young people hear when, in fact, they ask for our help. That's what they get from a generation that doesn't understand what the problem is. And the underlying problem is that mental health is exactly equal to health. Nine million adolescents under the age of 19 live with depression, with anxiety. There's a lot of people, Commissioner. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the country I come from. And a therapy session can cost up to 400 lei, that is to 80-90 euros, which in a country like mine is very, very much. A student can't afford that, especially not to go on a weekly basis. Access to therapy is far from reality, Mr. Schinas, you said that's what you wanted. Then, if that is what you want, please make it very clear to the Member States: you must have a number of sessions reimbursed by the therapy. I have proposed that this number should be at least 30 in every state in Europe and especially in my home, where they have nothing. Instead of words of sympathy, it would be useful to come up with concrete actions, because this is what people expect from us. That's the only way we stop stigma, that's the only way we stop death, that's the only way we give young people a chance at a happy life.

I just wanted to ask if, in your view, there is a link between what you say about the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine and freedom of religion. Perhaps there are doubts about the actions of this institution in favor of the Russian state in a context of war.

The next item is the Commission statement on the urgent need to revise the Medical Devices Regulation (2024/2849(RSP)). Commissioner, if you can have a sip of water or catch your breath, because I think it's again you who's going to introduce the topic.

We move to the next item on the agenda, namely the fact that the S&D Group informed the President of a decision to change some appointments in committees. This decision will be recorded in the minutes of today's meeting and will take effect from the date of this announcement.

Mr. President, a young man from Cluj needs 11 years of work to be able to afford an apartment with two poor rooms. 11 years of average salary only for housing, not for food, not for anything else. 11 years in which this young man will stay either with his parents or in rent. 11 years in which he or she will be prey to real estate sharks. 11 years of living in overcrowded homes. What do we have to do, Commissioner? Social housing, not LNAs, which are given by mayors to their friends; protection against real estate thorns, as a famous Black Sea case now shows; interest in tenants because they do not even have power over the owners; and homes that are prepared for extreme temperatures, so that there are no more energy poor in the European Union. Housing is not a speculation on the real estate market. Housing must be a fundamental right. And because on the far-right side I make all sorts of curly proposals, one of them is in my country, with EUR 35 000 I propose you a house, but today no one asks them questions, because they have no solutions, they have only lies.

Mr. Late, I listened to your speech. I think you have traveled through Bucharest. Have you been walking in Bucharest lately? Did you inhale those fumes? Have you talked to the Nasta Institute to find out how many lung cancers there are in Bucharest because of the pollutants in our cities? If you have children, have you discussed with your children what the future of our mobility means and that they want a future free of pollutants and fossil fuels? And lastly, you know that the automotive industry itself wants a transformation. Not necessarily on electricity, but on everything but fossil fuels, for our children and their future.

Madam President, you have 24 hours to become more productive or you resign! This is the level of pressure faced by young people in Romania, as shown by a recent Atos case. And yet, for what? Boss bonuses, burnout, burnout, and even sometimes death for employees. And these cases are not isolated, the needs of employees are ignored. Is this how we want them to start their careers, young people, with unpaid overtime, unfair dismissals, wage delays and unpaid internships? This is how the state and employers see them as parts that can be easily replaced, discarded, ignored. Then why do you have the courage to call lazy or ignorant the young people who no longer accept such a thing? They're looking for a safe place to respect them, and they can't find it. Employees are not just assets in the company. They are first and foremost people.

The next item is the Commission statement "Confronting fake news, populism and disinformation in the EU - the importance of public broadcasting, media pluralism and independent journalism" (2024/2848(RSP)) and on behalf of the European Commission we have Commissioner Věra Jourová, who is just settling in. I'll give him a few seconds.

Please note that what you have done is unethical, because your colleague does not have the opportunity to respond to catch-the-eye. Catch-the-eye It is a section dedicated to one's own opinions and not to accusations against other colleagues. I want to... have Mrs. Sunčana Glavak on my list. One minute.

Thank you, Mr. Nemec, and I congratulate you on being the first man of this discussion! I believe that men should be with their colleagues, women, in this discussion, and if I were on the other side, I would certainly have contributed to the debate. Mrs. Heléne Fritzon.

Thank you, Commissioner, and thank you for your very important words on combating gender-based violence and violence against children in Europe, and I give the floor on behalf of the European People's Party group to Mrs Meleti Eleonora.

We move on to the next item on the agenda which is the Commission statement on the need to tackle the systematic problem of gender-based violence in Europe (2024/2847(RSP)). We are opening the debate with the presence of Commissioner Helena Dalli. Thank you, Commissioner, and this is an important issue throughout Europe. I invite you to the lectern.

To all my colleagues, this is obviously a very sensitive topic. Commissioner Johansson, you see, I tell you, not only as a Romanian, but as a European, Schengen is important to many of our colleagues. I give you the floor to answer them.

Madam President, it was said today, it is not the flood of the century, it is the century of floods, and today I feel a bit like a family funeral, because we are all suffering, from Gdansk to Budapest, to Bucharest, to Galati, to Vaslui and to many other European places. We wake up with pictures on TV, with people on the roof, we see bridges being taken as if they were sand castles by rivers, and we realize how powerful the climate change we are going through is. A representative of a Romanian far-right party said this: "substantive issue". Let's say "climate change" directly in Romanian, not the "substantive issue", "climate change" that are here. If we want to solve people's problems - and we have to solve them by strengthening the part of rescuEU, of European civil protection, with our own planes - we solve these problems by also strengthening the Solidarity Fund. You know, even the richest: Germany, Sweden, the Nordic states, no state in the European Union is rich enough to cope with climate change alone. That is why we need to mutualise, to put together this effort to combat and adapt to climate change. I also want to say: I respect the firefighters and soldiers who are risking their lives at this time for our brothers and sisters to survive!

Thank you, Commissioner, thank you, dear colleagues, for setting yourself in time with respect for European democracy. I want to thank you, this is the first time I chair this forum, on my behalf and on behalf of the Romanians. The following is Mr Mario Draghi's speech.