What Monika spoke about.

13 Mar

2024

DE Speech

Allegations of corruption and misuse of EU funds in Spain during the pandemic (topical debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, dear President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen! It is already worrying what you get from Spain in the Koldo case. It is probably about orders of magnitude that affect European funds of up to almost 18 million – and that is already a lot of money. And I now have three very concrete demands. First of all: The Spanish government should work much more closely…

17 Jan

2024

DE Speech

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 14-15 December 2023 and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of 1 February 2024 - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds (joint debate - European Council meetings)

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Mr President, Commissioner Šefčovič, ladies and gentlemen! First of all: The rule of law, democracy and the economy are going down the drain in Hungary and thus also the social security of many people. Instead of finding solutions together with the EU's partners, Viktor Orbán plays a double game. He wants billions of European funds on the one hand completely conditionless and at the same time deni…

16 Jan

2024

DE Speech

Transparency and accountability of non-governmental organisations funded from the EU budget (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! First of all, I should like to say to the previous colleague: In our report, we first express our appreciation for non-governmental organisations. I myself belong to tens of non-governmental organizations on a voluntary basis and am involved in various social, cultural areas. So it's not about the question of appreciation, it's about the question: …

13 Dec

2023

DE Speech

Planned dissolution of key anti-corruption structures in Slovakia and its implications on the Rule of Law (continuation of debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Developments in Slovakia are worrying. Together with his new Social Democratic government – these are not right-wingers who come from Social Democracy – Prime Minister Fico has decided, first of all, to significantly reduce penalties for corruption, to make limitation periods so short that convictions are ultimately no longer possible – especial…

18 Oct

2023

DE Speech

Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report 2022 (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, dear President Tony Murphy, dear Jan Gregor, a cordial greeting to the whole team of the European Court of Auditors. I would like to begin by expressing my sincere thanks for the fact that the Court of Auditors has once again provided us with a very valid and very good basis for our work in the Committee on Budgets. The report, of course, already presents us with a few …

17 Oct

2023

DE Speech

General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2024 - all sections (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner! The 2024 budget is under considerable pressure and difficult circumstances. And because the colleague complained earlier that the EPP was allegedly against humanitarian payments: The statement is simply wrong – but frankly, I don’t expect anything else from the left either. What we demand, and what I also demand in my motion, is that we acknowledge or condemn the most s…

31 May

2023

DE Speech

Breaches of the Rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary and frozen EU funds (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioners, dear Ministers, dear Presidency of the Council, dear colleagues! Let me start by saying: We all want the money to be made available to Hungarians as soon as possible and help them to build up and develop economically. To this end, however, it must be possible for everyone to have the same access so that all non-governmental organisations, all companies, all have the op…

9 May

2023

DE Speech

Discharge 2021 (continuation of debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, dear Mr President, dear Minister! Now I have all sides, because I did not mention the Minister in a brazen way earlier. Thank you very much for being there, because it is not always customary for ministers to be there with us. Dear colleagues! First of all, I would like to make two or three comments on the Corona Reconstruction Fund. Firstly: Dear Commissioner, we wi…

9 May

2023

DE Speech

Discharge 2021 (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! First of all, I should like to thank Mr Jeroen Lenaers, who will speak after me, but, Madam President, having just announced it at the vote, we cannot know that we will start beforehand. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to my shadow rapporteurs, whom we have had a very good cooperation. Many thanks to the European Court of Auditors…

18 Apr

2023

DE Speech

Guidelines for the 2024 budget - Section III (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! With regard to the 2024 budget, of course, there is a whole lot of concern, but I would like to choose three priorities. First priority: Funding under normal programmes outside the RRF – i.e. all cohesion programmes, agricultural programmes, programmes from all non-RRF sectors – is currently significantly delayed in the area of investment, especial…

15 Mar

2023

DE Speech

Need for immediate reform of the internal rules of the Commission to ensure transparency and accountability in light of alleged conflicts of interests (debate)

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I have only one short question for the speaker, Madam President. We're always talking about an ethics committee. That doesn't make any sense here. We must simply ban this practice. It also makes no sense if it is ethically controlled. We must prohibit the practice of officials travelling to these third countries to negotiate at the expense of third countries. This is simply forbidden. It doesn't e…

15 Mar

2023

DE Speech

Need for immediate reform of the internal rules of the Commission to ensure transparency and accountability in light of alleged conflicts of interests (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner! Thank you very much for your statement. At first, I must honestly say, I was a bit stunned by the good thing, because I thought that the European Union's budget should actually be sufficient to enable directors-general, directors or officials of the European Union to travel to congresses or conferences that bring substantial added value – in negotiations, in diplomat…

13 Feb

2023

DE Speech

Following up on measures requested by Parliament to strengthen the integrity of European institutions (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Madame Aubry! I am from the EPP and I am still there; In this respect, there is no emptiness in the EPP. Colleague Olbrycht was also there, but now he has to have another conversation. In this respect, you must now prefer with me, even if it does not suit you. On the measures to be taken – there is always the proposal of an ethics body. First of…

13 Feb

2023

DE Speech

EU funding allocated to NGOs incriminated in the recent corruption revelations and the protection of EU financial interests (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. First of all: Non-governmental organisations are a very important part of our society and, as the Commissioner has made it very clear, they take on essential and important tasks. I myself am involved in several organisations and am therefore very aware and know first-hand how valuable the work of NGOs and foundations is. Therefore, it is all the…

1 Feb

2023

EN Speech

Order of business

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Madam President, dear colleagues, in line with Rule 158 of the Rules of Procedure, I would like to ask for a debate to be added to the agenda with the title ‘Transparency in the funding of NGOs and the protection of EU financial interests’. The debate is meant as a reaction to the revelations newly appearing every day about the misconduct of certain NGOs like ‘Fight against Impunity’ and ‘No Peace…

18 Jan

2023

DE Speech

Protection of the EU’s financial interests - combating fraud - annual report 2021 (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! First of all, I would like to congratulate the rapporteur, Sabrina Pignedoli, on her excellent report. Although I do not want to list all the content that it has prepared very carefully and prepared in terms of content, the report is really excellent. I would like to address three points: First of all, on the issue that concerns us in the area o…

18 Jan

2023

DE Speech

Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2021 (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, dear EIB - let me just say this on the whole - dear EIB team! Dear Vice-President, I am very pleased that you are with us. And I am very happy that we can have this discussion again today. At the outset, I would like to expressly join the Commissioner and send my warmest condolences to Ukraine, because this is already a dramatic process, and we see every day how peop…

14 Dec

2022

DE Speech

Defending the European Union against the abuse of national vetoes (debate)

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Madam President, dear Commissioner, dear Minister, dear colleagues! I have been here in this European Parliament since 2009, and over the years I have noticed – dear Mr Verhofstadt, you are here even longer than I am – that there are always national vetoes on certain precarious files and that there are always long, long, long delays because a Member State crosses paths. In terms of foreign policy,…

19 Oct

2022

DE Speech

Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report 2021 (debate)

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Mr President, Mr President of the Court of Auditors, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Before I officially start speaking, on behalf of the Committee on Budgetary Control, I would like to warmly congratulate Tony Murphy for having been elected President and wish him good luck and success for the difficult tasks that lie ahead of him and his entire team of the Court of Auditors. We look forward t…

14 Sep

2022

DE Speech

Illegal detention of the opposition leader in Bulgaria (topical debate)

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Mr President! Today is a somewhat amazing day for me. Normally, the left and green sides of this House are very quick to write resolutions. But when it comes to an opposition leader coming from the conservative side, it's suddenly all harmless, all uncomplicated. Then suddenly what is the principle of a rule of law, Commissioner, namely that one must have arrest warrants, that one must also involv…

18 May

2022

DE Speech

Commission’s 2021 Rule of Law Report (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! I can speak today on behalf of Petri Sarvamaa, who unfortunately cannot be here and who wanted to address two special aspects. First of all, thank you very much for this year's report on the rule of law. We are glad that it has become a bit more precise this year, which is very important for us. From the point of view of the Committee on Budgetary …

4 May

2022

DE Speech

Discharge 2020 (debate)

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Madam President, Mr President, dear Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! First of all, a heartfelt thank you to Olivier Chastel and to the shadow rapporteurs for the really very fair and very good way of working together in the context of the Commission's discharge. The point I am most concerned about in the Commission's discharge – I want to choose a different focus this year – is the issue of pub…

24 Mar

2022

DE Speech

MFF 2021-2027: fight against oligarch structures, protection of EU funds from fraud and conflict of interest (A9-0039/2022 - Petri Sarvamaa) (vote)

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I can read a text very briefly. An error has crept into paragraph 28; for this reason, it was decided that the original text of the PIF report would be inserted and not an interpretation. The original text is: ‘Points out that according to Annex I of the Annual Reports for the Protection of the EU’s Financial Interests (PIF reports) for 2008 and 2019, Romania has, by active anti-fraud investigatio…

23 Mar

2022

DE Speech

MFF 2021-2027: fight against oligarch structures, protection of EU funds from fraud and conflict of interest (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner! Ladies and gentlemen, you are still late! Thank you very much for this. Oligarchic structures are a structural problem. This cannot be clarified by any public accusations only against individuals, but one must change the structures. Oligarchic structures are prevented by creating more transparency in certain areas. The transparency in observing where the European Uni…

23 Mar

2022

DE Speech

MFF 2021-2027: fight against oligarch structures, protection of EU funds from fraud and conflict of interest (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner! I welcome all those who have stayed here so late and I am pleased that we are discussing this very important own-initiative report with each other, albeit at a later stage. We find increasingly oligarchic structures within the European Union, and even outside the European Union, at our borders, very dangerous oligarchic structures exist. We are …