What Birgit spoke about.

21 Jan

2025

DE Question

Need to enforce the Digital Services Act to protect democracy on social media platforms including against foreign interference and biased algorithms (debate)

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Madam President, Digital platforms, protecting democracy – this is where we see a dangerous alliance: the return of imperialists on the one hand and tech oligarchs on the other, who together want to ruthlessly increase their profit, their power. But how free, open and diverse can a society be when people are unilaterally overwhelmed with opinions or fake news, while others are increasingly confron…

17 Dec

2024

DE Question

Misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms, such as TikTok, and related risks to the integrity of elections in Europe (debate)

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Madam President, What are the effects of so-called social media? They help us connect with others, find information in an incredibly short time. They create spaces for debate, civic participation and engagement and play an increasingly important role in public discourse and also in elections. Unfortunately, it is not only the recent presidential elections in Romania that have shown how our constan…

27 Nov

2024

DE Speech

Recent legislation targeting LGBTQI persons and the need for protecting the rule of law and a discrimination-free Union (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen! No one falls in love with the supposedly wrong sex just for fun and risks discrimination and violence. No newborn is born willingly with intersex characteristics. None of these children are sick or in need of therapy. Article 21 of our Charter is very clear: Discrimination on grounds of sex or sexual orientation is prohibited – and yet: Prohibitions on the de…

27 Nov

2024

DE Speech

Stepping up the fight against and the prevention of the recruitment of minors for criminal acts (debate)

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Madam President, Europol's warning is clear: An increasing number of criminal gangs are targeting minors in order to abuse them for the purpose of carrying out crimes and even to avoid prosecution. What is new is how many countries are strategically using this procedure to recruit minors for increasingly serious crimes, including murder, and what tactics are used to do so, via social media in yout…

26 Nov

2024

DE Speech

Full accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen Area: the urgent need to lift controls at internal land borders (debate)

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13 Nov

2024

DE Speech

Fight against money laundering and terrorist financing: listing Russia as a high-risk third country in the EU (debate)

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Madam President, Since February 2022, Russia has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine. As the EU, we have responded with many sanctions, including a directive on sanctions violations. And there are calls to put Russia on the list of third countries at high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing. It's about close financial and military ties with high-risk countries like North K…

23 Oct

2024

DE Speech

Findings of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on Poland's abortion law (debate)

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Madam President, Just over a year ago, a very high turnout in Poland helped Donald Tusk to change power, in particular through the participation of young people and many women. These women went to the ballot box for the end of PiS rule, but also for the election promise to make abortions safe and legally accessible within 100 days. After almost 400 days, almost nothing has changed. Worse: Tusk has…

9 Oct

2024

DE Speech

Presentation of the programme of activities of the Hungarian Presidency (debate)

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Madam President, Viktor Orbán has the Presidency of the Council – what a joke! More than six years ago, with Article 7, we called on the Council to identify the risk of a serious breach of EU values in Hungary. Nothing has changed – on the contrary. Among you, Viktor Orbán, Hungary is moving ever further away from democracy and the rule of law. Only last year, with the ‘Sovereignty Defence Act’, y…

7 Oct

2024

DE Speech

The reintroduction of internal border controls in a number of Member States and its impact on the Schengen Area (debate)

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Madam President, Open internal borders are one of Europe’s greatest success stories, and the reintroduction of border controls, especially when this happens indefinitely, is a danger – a danger not only for our economy, for jobs, but for European cohesion, for the daily cross-border encounters that strengthen us as the EU. Although a temporary reintroduction of internal border controls is possible…

18 Sep

2024

DE Speech

The Hungarian “National Card” scheme and its consequences for Schengen and the area of freedom, security and justice (debate)

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Madam President, It is about Orbán again – but not today for a change, because we are discussing Hungary’s breaches of the rule of law, and not because the European Court of Justice has once again condemned Orbán’s government for its illegal migration policy. No, today we are talking about the fact that Europe's self-declared migrant enemy number one wants to enable and facilitate immigration. Sou…

16 Sep

2024

DE Speech

Need to prevent security threats like the Solingen attack through addressing illegal migration and effective return (debate)

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Madam President, When people are brutally torn out of life or seriously injured, we are all shaken and our thoughts are with the victims and their families. But today I am also shocked by how the suffering of the people in Solingen is instrumentalized. Some are discussing border closures, a general rejection of people seeking protection at our borders or the blanket condemnation of people only on …

10 Apr

2024

DE Speech

Screening of third country nationals at the external borders - European Criminal Records Information System - Third Country Nationals - Common procedure for international protection in the Union - Establishing a return border procedure, and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1148 - Asylum and migration management - Addressing situations of crisis and force majeure - Establishment of 'Eurodac' for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013, for identifying an illegally staying third-country national or stateless person and on requests for the comparison with Eurodac data by Member States' law enforcement authorities and Europol for law enforcement purposes (recast) - Union Resettlement Framework - Standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection - Standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (recast) (joint debate - Migration and Asylum package)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I think this debate has shown that the compromise at hand is certainly not an easy one. However, some speeches have also made it very clear why it was so difficult to come up with an appropriate solution in the face of a very complex challenge. Nevertheless: Despite distant starting positions, we managed to reach a comprehensive agreement in just a few months…

10 Apr

2024

DE Speech

Screening of third country nationals at the external borders - European Criminal Records Information System - Third Country Nationals - Common procedure for international protection in the Union - Establishing a return border procedure, and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1148 - Asylum and migration management - Addressing situations of crisis and force majeure - Establishment of 'Eurodac' for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013, for identifying an illegally staying third-country national or stateless person and on requests for the comparison with Eurodac data by Member States' law enforcement authorities and Europol for law enforcement purposes (recast) - Union Resettlement Framework - Standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection - Standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (recast) (joint debate - Migration and Asylum package)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. The European migration policy of recent years is unsustainable. We are witnessing systematic violations of human rights at our borders, pushbacks that often go unpunished, and a Dublin system that does not work for Member States or for those seeking protection. Therefore, it is clear: Europe needs effective solutions to migration and asylum, clear rules for cont…

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! European taxpayers' money for Orbán? It is good that there are finally financial consequences for Orbán's constant disregard for European values. And the Commission, as guardian of the Treaties, has a special responsibility. Release of funds frozen due to the violation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights is absolutely wrong. ‘Respect for the Charter is a horizontal condition’ means:…

4 Oct

2023

DE Speech

Need for a speedy adoption of the asylum and migration package (debate)

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Mr President! In the coming months, we could complete years of work on asylum reform. We are working intensively on this, and that is necessary. Because what exactly this reform should look like, the positions of Parliament and Council are still far apart. My Socialist Group is prepared for difficult negotiations. Manfred Weber from the EPP seems to see it differently. Ignoring Parliament's positi…

12 Sep

2023

DE Speech

EU-Tunisia Agreement - aspects related to external migration policy (debate)

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Mr President! The Tunisia agreement of the self-proclaimed Team Europe raises serious questions. In July, the UN raised concerns about the situation of migrants in Tunisia. However, reports of ill-treatment and the catastrophic situation of children and pregnant women at the Tunisian-Libyan border have not prevented Commission President von der Leyen and her team from making promises to the Tunisi…

12 Jul

2023

DE Speech

The need for EU action on search and rescue in the Mediterranean (debate)

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Madam President, We have been discussing a European migration and asylum policy and the many related aspects for years. But today, in this debate, it's all about one thing: saving people from drowning. And this is not some political decision, it is a humane and legal obligation. I do not know how many times I and many others have discussed this in this House for years or how many times it still ne…

12 Jun

2023

DE Speech

Electronic evidence in criminal proceedings: legal representatives directive - Electronic evidence regulation: European production and preservation orders for electronic evidence in criminal matters (debate)

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Mr President! I listened very carefully to the debate, both the very positive feedback and the very critical comments. In a way, both are right. This system – if we adopt it, if we implement it – can only work if there is a rule of law and an independent judiciary throughout Europe. It can only exist if the Member States take a concrete stand against anti-democratic tendencies, if the Commission f…

12 Jun

2023

DE Speech

Electronic evidence in criminal proceedings: legal representatives directive - Electronic evidence regulation: European production and preservation orders for electronic evidence in criminal matters (debate)

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Mr President! The laws on electronic evidence in criminal proceedings represent a massive change in cross-border cooperation between the police, the judiciary and service providers. For the first time, national investigative authorities will have the possibility to directly request service providers in other Member States to produce data and secure electronic evidence – with clear deadlines and un…

10 May

2023

DE Speech

Adequacy of the protection afforded by the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (debate)

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Mr President! Improved EU-US data protection – let's not fool ourselves! US surveillance laws still allow massive access to data of European citizens, acting in a way like a big data vacuum cleaner. And yes, the U.S. president's executive order shows improvements and still contains problems: the list of legitimate monitoring objectives that can be updated without public debate, different definitio…

20 Apr

2023

DE Speech

Decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations: Screening of third country nationals at the external borders (A9-0149/2023 - Birgit Sippel) (vote)

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Madam President, Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, in particular for the months of work we have been wrestling with the rapporteurs to develop a common position. And in all these months, ECR and ID MEPs shined above all with one thing: by absence. They then voted against the mandate in committee and still want to bring the mandate down today. I do not want to point out that negotiations with the Co…

30 Mar

2023

DE Speech

2022 Rule of Law Report - The rule of law situation in the European Union - Rule of law in Greece - Rule of law in Spain - Rule of law in Malta (debate)

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Mr President! The 2022 Rule of Law Report was the third of its kind with improvements over its predecessors, in particular the country-specific recommendations that we as Parliament have long advocated. But country-specific recommendations do not help if they remain far too vague when there are no deadlines. And country-specific recommendations certainly won't help if there are no consequences for…

1 Feb

2023

DE Speech

Preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February, in particular the need to develop sustainable solutions in the area of asylum and migration (debate)

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Mr President! Special Summit on Migration and Asylum: The European Union is happy to commit itself to democracy and fundamental rights, to the fundamental right to asylum and to respect for human rights. This is also the basis of all decisions taken by all Member States, but their practice is all too often different. And now conservative parts of this House are popping up old-fashioned ideas from …

18 Jan

2023

DE Speech

Criminalisation of humanitarian assistance, including search and rescue (debate)

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. – Mr President. Today we are talking about the criminalization of humanitarian aid. It's about people who courageously stand up for our values, for ours, who save people from drowning. It is about people who show civil courage and take on a task that is actually the responsibility of all Member States. This effort deserves support. Instead, we are witnessing the Italian government harassing sea …

17 Jan

2023

DE Speech

Presentation of the programme of activities of the Swedish Presidency (debate)

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Madam President, Digitalisation and artificial intelligence: Motor for more innovation and opportunities in Europe. However, respect for digital fundamental rights must be borne in mind from the outset. But after reading the Swedish Presidency's work programme, I must say once again: The digital agenda is not particularly prominent. The e-privacy regulation finds only an almost stepmotherly mentio…