What François spoke about.

27 Feb

2024

FR Speech

Closer ties between the EU and Armenia and the need for a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia (debate)

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Mr President, the situation in Armenia is alarming. In 2020, the war against Artzak killed thousands of Armenians and demonstrated the overwhelming military superiority of Azerbaijan and its Turkish ally. We've been alerting relentlessly. The Azeri aggression was still in its infancy and the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh was inevitable. The blockade of the Lachin Corridor was the prelude to…

17 Jan

2024

FR Speech

Situation of fundamental rights in the EU in 2022 and 2023 (debate)

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– Madam President, Commissioner, the annual report on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union is a report that regularly monitors this issue, which is at the very heart of European integration and its values. With regard to the opinion of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, our vigilance focuses on the progress of the procedure for the accession of the European Union to the …

16 Jan

2024

FR Speech

Implementation of the Treaty provisions on national parliaments - Implementation of the Treaty provisions on EU citizenship (joint debate – Implementation of the Treaty provisions)

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Mr President, Commissioner, these two reports on European citizenship and on the integration of national and regional parliaments into the decision-making processes of the European Union address the very heart of European integration and its future. The first report concerns the rights and freedoms of every European citizen, irrespective of the Member State in which he lives and irrespective of hi…

13 Dec

2023

FR Speech

One year after Morocco and QatarGate – stocktaking of measures to strengthen transparency and accountability in the European institutions (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, it is not the few measures taken in the wake of this scandal that really deserve a debate. Instead, we need to talk about the facts that have been revealed and their major political consequences. The European Parliament’s international influence is largely due to the power of democratic influence it wields as the sounding board for all those fighting dictatorships aroun…

21 Nov

2023

FR Speech

Proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, the launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe had raised many hopes that Europe would move towards more democracy, more efficiency, more convergence and more respect for diversity. Unfortunately, the process will remain unfinished. It is a failure for our mandate not to have obtained the process of Treaty revision that the European Union so badly needs. The repor…

13 Sep

2023

FR Speech

The case of Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu, imprisoned in Azerbaijan

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Madam President, Commissioner, this resolution denounces the imprisonment and conditions of imprisonment of Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu, the opponent of Mr Aliyev, the dictator who heads Azerbaijan. The case of this personality recognised in his country for his struggles for democracy and human rights illustrates the appalling democratic situation in Azerbaijan. With him, dozens of political prisoners are …

12 Sep

2023

FR Speech

2022 Report on Türkiye (debate)

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Mr President, Mr Nacho Sánchez Amor's report on Turkey will be a landmark. It is a comprehensive document that describes precisely the situation in Turkey after the re-election of Mr Erdogan, as well as the developments that lie ahead: Putin’s rapprochement with Russia at the time of the war in Ukraine, a democratic retreat that continues and worsens, justice increasingly exploited by the authorit…

11 Jul

2023

FR Answer

Nature restoration (debate)

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... it is global warming and that Europe, in 50 years, has seen a considerable decline in nature under the pressure of certain economic activities, particularly agriculture, and that we must reverse this trend if we want to give our citizens back a living environment where they will find not only work and economic activity, but also well-being.…

11 Jul

2023

FR Speech

Nature restoration (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, the Nature Restoration Act is a climate necessity. It is also necessary for all Europeans and for all European territories, both on land and at sea. I want to stress here the consequences of global warming in the Mediterranean where I live. As climatologists have said, this is where the impact will be greatest. Posidonia beds in the Mediterranean form an exceptional …

10 Jul

2023

FR Speech

Order of business

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Madam President, our fellow Members Carles Puigdemont and Antoni Comín did not come to Strasbourg to participate in this session. The reason for this is the lack of guarantees on the respect of their parliamentary immunity at the time of winning the Parliament in France. This session is very important and each vote will count towards the adoption, or not, of some of the most important texts of the…

13 Jun

2023

FR Speech

Question Time (VPC/HR) - Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and at the Lachin Corridor

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Mr President, Mr High Representative, in your previous statements you said that the maximum pressure had been implemented and, in the course of the debate, we found that the pressure of sanctions had not been implemented and that it remained available. The most pessimistic scenario in this region would be a worsening of the conflict, ethnic cleansing in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, given Azerbaija…

13 Jun

2023

FR Speech

Question Time (VPC/HR) - Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and at the Lachin Corridor

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Mr President, Commissioner, thank you for your presence and for your reply. The interest of this debate this evening has already been to show how sensitive the European Parliament – and Europe in general – is to developments in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. You said in one of your first interventions that we put as much pressure as possible. Then the debate showed that pressure was not implemented…

9 May

2023

FR Speech

Role of cohesion policy in addressing multidimensional environmental challenges in the Mediterranean Basin (A9-0094/2023 - François Alfonsi) (vote)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Mediterranean Sea is a European sea for half its extent. Europe cannot remain passive any longer in the face of the uninterrupted regressions in this ecologically fragile area. These regressions are further increasing as a result of global warming, to which the Mediterranean is particularly vulnerable. Climatologists estimate that its impact…

20 Apr

2023

FR Speech

Cohesion dimension of EU state aid and de minimis rules (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, this debate on the State aid system leads us to denounce the fundamental error of defining single and uniform regulations in a territory as vast and diverse as that of the European Union. This can only increase inequalities and give an advantage to regions that do not suffer from any structural handicaps. It has been thought in the past that equality can be restored …

18 Apr

2023

FR Speech

EU relations with Iraq (debate)

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Madam President, the holding of the recent meetings of the Cooperation Council between the European Union and Iraq, after a seven-year standstill, is good news. It marks the gradual return to normalcy of the situation in Iraq after the terrible period of the fight against Daesh. Your account of the last meeting shows that relations with the new Iraqi leadership are now constructive. In your press …

17 Apr

2023

FR Speech

Institutional relations between the EU and the Council of Europe (short presentation)

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Mr President, Europe’s action for the values of democracy, the rule of law, human rights, women’s rights and minority rights is recognised all over the world. The European Union and the Council of Europe are leading this common fight and the report already highlights the important convergences that exist. What is proposed is to go further, to pool resources, to place the European Union within the …

14 Mar

2023

FR Speech

Implementation report on the Agreement on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU - The Windsor Framework (debate)

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Madam President, Brexit was a bad decision. It has a negative impact on the European Union, just as it has a negative impact on the United Kingdom. And within the United Kingdom, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are suffering the most serious consequences of this decision. I would remind you that Scotland and Northern Ireland voted overwhelmingly against Brexit and are suffering the consequenc…

13 Feb

2023

FR Speech

Electoral rights of mobile Union citizens in European Parliament elections - Electoral rights of mobile Union citizens in municipal elections (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, the report on the rights of EU citizens to participate in municipal elections leads to the strengthening of European democracy, through the rights of European citizens living outside their country of origin. It will facilitate their integration into democratic life in general by improving their ability to get involved in local democracy where they live, in particular…

15 Dec

2022

FR Speech

The 30th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, at the instigation of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages, the EPP and Greens/EFA groups had proposed that a resolution on minority rights be put to Parliament for a vote on the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethni…

13 Dec

2022

FR Speech

Turkish airstrikes on northern Syria and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (debate)

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Mr President, thank you. Where are you, Mr. Borrell? Can't you see anything? Did the High Representative of the European External Action Service not understand that Mr Erdoğan wants to start a war in northern Syria? So would Europe have nothing to say to prevent Turkey’s planned invasion of northern Syria? Erdoğan is violating international law. It threatens millions of Kurdish citizens and other …

4 Oct

2022

FR Speech

The situation in Burkina Faso following the coup d'état (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, the Sahel region is a major concern for Europe. What is happening in Burkina Faso at the moment is evidence of the political collapse of the states in this area. France’s military intervention in Mali in 2013 had prevented a second outbreak of terrorism in the Sahel, when the Islamic State was already ruling over Syria and Iraq. This intervention was indispensable. The …

15 Sep

2022

FR Speech

Statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations (debate)

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Madam President, political parties and political foundations are an essential vector of democratic life. What we will vote for today will only be a simple improvement of a situation that is set to change profoundly. Among the proposed developments, the most interesting are those that respond to the new political situation, such as Brexit and the enlargement project, made even more necessary by the…

14 Sep

2022

FR Speech

Economic, social and territorial cohesion in the EU: the 8th Cohesion Report - EU border regions: living labs of European integration (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, this report on border regions, living laboratories of European integration, shows how interesting it is for the European Union to define targeted policies for these specific territories, such as islands and cross-border regions. These regions are indeed living laboratories of European integration. If we were to take stock of the situation before being in Europe and t…

6 Jun

2022

FR Speech

EU islands and cohesion policy (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, the own-initiative report that we are due to adopt at this session is the starting point for a vital process for the future of the island territories of the European Union. For a quarter of a century, the programming periods of the European Union's regional development policy have followed one another without any improvement in the situation on the islands. This is veri…

4 May

2022

FR Speech

The case of Osman Kavala in Turkey

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Mr President, the dictatorial regime imposed by Mr Erdoğan in Turkey has just been laid bare by the monstrous sentencing of Mr Osman Kavala, an exorbitant sentence: from life in prison. Mr Kavala is a person committed to democracy and human rights. By ignoring the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, which had requested his release, despite the total absence of charges, this conviction…