Speeches

I want to tell you that your visit was much appreciated. I had the same impression, and I wish to convey the thanks of President Maia Sandu for your very big effort, together with the Members of the European Parliament. It was much appreciated. It is an honour to open today's debate, and we open it with Andrzej Halicki, on behalf of the EPP Group.

The next item is the debate on the report by Sven Mikser, on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the Commission Reports on Moldova 2023 and 2024 (2025/2025(INI)) (A10-0096/2025).

Madam President, last year, 20 000 cases of child abuse and exploitation were reported in Romania, and 4 000 rapes, of raped children. And abuse doesn't just come from the house or from the surroundings, it also comes from online. There are sites like onanisti.ro that incite such abuse, and when children, girls go to ask for help, they are told that it is their fault. If after the abuse the girls get pregnant, as it happened last year with over 600 girls under 15, how can they continue their lives with a child at that age and with the constant thought of the man who raped them above them, with a horrible thought. And to think that there are six-year-olds who have this happening to them. I have a 5-year-old, too, and I can't imagine a world where we don't protect them from these abuses. What future can you have if you wake up at night scared, if you have not learned that you are entitled to protection, to protection orders? So I believe that the European directive must also include the obligation to sexual education, to a real right to abortion, not to doctors who hide behind old-fashioned personal beliefs. We can't close our eyes anymore.

Mr. President, the murder of Teodora Marcu shocked our country and since then 26 women have been killed for the simple fact that they are, that they were women. Their only fault was the desire of men to treat them as property, to beat them wildly and even kill them if they so wished. Millions of women suffer in silence and can thus become the next victims. That's why we need to talk about femicide. Why? Because it is considered an aggravating circumstance that adds to the criminal penalty. We need to talk about femicide to show that it's the biggest crime of gender-based violence. We also need to talk about consent, about rape, about psychological abuse, psychological abuse, physical abuse against women. And one more thing: women must not always do this, but all the men of Europe must stand by them.

Mr President, I am angry because this debate that has to be about anti-discrimination started with Mr Ciriani, who said that the Roma are stealing, and Mr Mazurek, who said that the Roma are making a family business out of having children. It is not possible to accept this in the European Parliament. It's not possible, it's shameful! And you know what's even more shameful? It is shameful that Roma are in segregated schools, are discriminated against in employment, live in poverty, 77% of Roma children do not finish school, and only 28% of adults manage to have a child. job legally paid, that the life expectancy of Roma in my country is 10 years lower. These are things that we should be ashamed of. And it is not just the problem of the Roma community, it is the problem of all of us, of the European Commission, of the European Union. In this respect, because we are talking about a strategy for Roma, how can we talk about a strategy if we withdraw the anti-discrimination directive? Please take her back to the table. Please ensure equality for the Roma.

Madam President, I have a message to every European: when they spit on our European values, we do not apologise for them, we do not explain ourselves for them – instead, we pick them up and put them in an even shinier place for everyone to see. I'm so tired of us being always in a defensive mode, as if we apologise for something, as if we look for a world that isn't there anymore. For today's world, Europe needs again the path of unity, of standing together, of strength. We need to be adults responsible for ourselves. We don't need to point to the outside. We need to look inside and really work hard. This continent will prevail because it is what humans have aspired to for so many centuries. Do I need to remind the House that this continent only had peace when it was together? For the rest of its historic millennia, it only had war if it was not united. It is time to make Europe believe in itself again. It is time to have a more united Europe again!

Now, Mr Commissioner, I invite you to respond. I would like to particularly ask you, if you heard the information in the room that was not accurate, that you address it for the members of our audience.

Mr Sanchez, you have misused your speaking time since we are debating the European budget. Your colleagues all follow the same rules, you have to follow them too.

The next item is the debate on the report by Andrzej Halicki, on behalf of the Committee on Budgets, on general guidelines for the preparation of the 2026 budget, Section III – Commission (2024/2110(BUI)) (A10-0042/2025).

Madam President, (the beginning of the intervention was not done on the microphone) We are both Romanians and last night we heard a well-known voice in Romania, of populism, which said that the European Union does not want your diaspora at home, because Europe needs salahors. And frankly, I hate that term, salahors, because no one who works should be demeaned. Work and craft are gold bracelets. There is no shame in doing any work. And we need to protect everyone in Europe, those who are building Europe today, people who are working in construction and from their hands are building construction sites all over Europe today, including in us. Moni, who works in agriculture and who, out of the sweat of her hands, feeds us all, as the famous pictures on the Internet say, and nobody appreciates it. Cristina, a doctor in a Western country who takes care of patients, many of them Romanians. So my message to all these people is this: be proud of what you are doing, because it is a pride to build this continent. And if you have problems, come to us, come to Roxana Mînzatu, let's solve them. Don't go to the populists, they don't have any solutions.