Speeches

Madam President, the European Union must double or triple its efforts for the accession of the countries of the Western Balkans, especially in the current geopolitical environment. That should be one of our top priorities. However, I will deal specifically with Serbia, because its politics have influence in many countries of the former Yugoslavia. It is in the interest of both Serbian citizens and the European Union that this country becomes part of the European Union as soon as possible. However, by adopting all elements of our policy, including with regard to Russia, it is regrettable that Serbia is currently acting in support of Russian interests in the Balkans. This has a very negative impact on neighbouring countries. It is sad that North Macedonia is still not addressing hate speech and discrimination against citizens who identify as Bulgarians. The shameful act of a few days ago, when a club of the Bulgarian community was attacked, must be condemned by the political class of this country and it must make efforts not to repeat this. Mr Pizzola, colleagues, this is not a bilateral issue, but a fundamental democratic value that is not a given, but must be defended every day, both in the European Union and in the countries that want to join. Here, too, I have always argued that, in terms of foreign and defence policy, the European Union must be flexible and quickly adapt to the geopolitical environment around us. Therefore, there must be a qualified majority for decision-making. But enlargement policy is not a foreign policy. When deciding with whom to be together in a family, this is not a foreign policy, and therefore there must remain unanimous decision-making.

Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, we should demonstrate again our constructive role the EU wants to play in the Middle East as a key partner and a credible mediator. I welcome the positive developments in the region, as has been mentioned: the normalisation of democratic relations between some Arab countries and Israel through the so-called Abraham Accords, the agreement between Lebanon and Israel on their maritime border, the decrease in the number of attacks around the Gaza Strip, the signature of the Israel—Egypt Memorandum of Understanding on Energy, among others. However, there are also quite a few remaining and very concerning challenges: the difficult economic, political and financial situation of Lebanon, fuelled by Iranian proxies there, the lack of positive change in Syria and the continued challenges posed by refugees in the whole region. I believe we need to acknowledge our strong cooperation with this vital—for—us region. The Commission and High Representative’s Joint New Agenda for the Mediterranean provides a solid basis to continue and build on our good relations. I also insist that security and prosperity in the Middle East must include the effective fight against terrorism and extremism. The EU and our southern neighbours are facing the same challenges. The war in Ukraine, which is Europe’s biggest political threat today, has also affected the Middle East heavily, from food and energy insecurity to Russian disinformation campaigning through the region. The EU needs to take into account the diverse impact of the war in the region, while also encouraging our southern neighbours to take a strong position to condemn the Kremlin’s aggression.

I am, unfortunately, disappointed by yesterday's decision of the Parliament of both the government and the opposition in North Macedonia to create new obstacles for the Bulgarian organizations in this country, to create an atmosphere of hatred and discrimination against the Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia. This has to stop and we have to be together.

Thank you very much, Vice-President, for this answer. One second issue on the responsibility of big platforms, Internet platforms. We have now the DSA and the DMA, but we see that these big platforms, especially private companies, US companies, are monetarising disinformation. Democracy cannot fall victim to a business model of a private company. We see that the fact—checkers, content moderators and trusted flaggers, especially in small—language markets, are not good enough to fight against disinformation campaigns started by the Russian Federation. Especially in small—language markets like in central and eastern Europe, we see a lot of spread and visibility of such Russian propaganda on the Internet platforms, especially on Meta, on their platform Facebook. So, the implementation of DSA/DMA: how can we push these companies that they do their best to demonetarise the visibility of disinformation?

President, Vice-President, I am going directly to the two questions which I have. It is common sense that a perpetrator who is guilty of destroying infrastructure and making a lot of casualties needs to pay for this destruction. We talked a lot about the assets of the Russian Federation – state and local authority assets – in the territory of the European Union, but also the assets of the Russian National Bank. And when we talk with High Representative Borrell, who was answering that the EU is looking for a possibility to seize or use these assets for the restoration of the damages in Ukraine. Where is the stage now? What we are going to do in this direction? And many of these assets, the properties are used for espionage in the territory of the European Union, pretending this is cultural or educational entities where they are using them for espionage. And I will ask my second question on the on the Internet.

Madam President, Vice-President of the Commission, Minister Beck, it is true that we have been discussing this topic in plenary for 11 years. I would like to express my great gratitude to the vast majority of colleagues who have always defended justice and the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area, which is already written in the pre-accession treaties. It was not requested by Bulgaria and Romania in 2011, as the previous speaker said, it is written in the pre-accession treaties that this will be a fact and this fact has not happened since 2011 through no fault of Bulgaria and Romania. Both the Commission and the European Parliament, and at expert technical level, have always assessed that Bulgaria and Romania are absolutely ready. We are part of the Schengen Information System, we feed information from our services into the information system, we contribute to the security of the European Union, of all European citizens, and we also protect the external borders of the European Union, of course, in solidarity with all Union instruments, with Frontex, etc. But citizens are tired of this debate. Bulgarian citizens are tired of hearing the same thing every time that one or another country in the Council does not take the decision because of their internal problems. Dear Minister Beck, I thank the Czech Presidency for taking up this topic and I really wish you success, success to all of us in December this year that this happens, that this justice is done and that there are no different categories of European citizens. Bulgarians and Romanians deserve to be full citizens not only in the European Union, but also in the Schengen area. The Bulgarian economy, as well as all fair-minded people, believe that the decision should be made.

Mr President, Ukraine has fought bravely against Russian aggression since the start of the war in 2014. Ukrainian citizens, regardless of their ethnic origin, are selflessly defending their country. All the expectations of the Kremlin aggressor that their victory will happen quickly do not come true. Ukraine’s counter-offensive has forced Putin to take insane steps, trampling on elementary international and moral norms, to illegally annex the territories of a neighbouring state, sovereign and independent, recognised by the UN within its borders, and recognised by the Russian Federation itself with the guarantees it gives in the Budapest Memorandum. The game with the atomic card represents another irresponsible escalation of tension and blackmail. The European Union and its Member States are obliged to continue with massive support for Ukraine – military, financial, intelligence, economic, infrastructure, medical, humanitarian. Ukraine's desire for NATO membership must be respected. The behavior of Petkov's previous Bulgarian government, which did not support the sending of military equipment to Ukraine, was shameful. Colleagues on the left, this was done in favor of your party. It is sad that Bulgaria also did not join the position of the Central and Eastern European countries on the topic of ‘Ukraine and NATO’, although the vast majority of Bulgarians voted for pro-European parties in Sunday’s elections. Bulgaria now needs a stable pro-European government. GERB will guarantee this and will do everything possible to make it happen.

A concrete question: did you contact President Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan for a possible date of their next meeting? Under EU mediation for sure.

Mr President, dear High Representative, peace and stability in the South Caucasus region can be only a result of serious and irreversible confidence-building measures. All prisoners of war must be released and all hostilities must stop immediately. The EU must play a very important role as a mediator. Russia, we see very clearly, is not interested in solving the issue, but is interested to have a leverage to stay there in the region and to increase their influence. I was shocked by the recently published videos on these atrocities committed against Armenian prisoners of war. A full and impartial investigation must identify those responsible and they must be held accountable. So my concrete question is: is the European Union ready to participate in this investigation to find out what exactly is happening, who is responsible? And to be very clear also on Azerbaijan, that Azerbaijan must clearly distance itself from these perpetrators and condemn all kind of violence. A second question one: does the EU have a plan for confidence-building steps between Armenia and Azerbaijan? And this is very concrete what needs to be done – returning of all prisoners of war – that was the resolution of the European Parliament, the goal was to stop all hostilities, achieving a clear demarcation of border and finding a sustainable resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

. – Madam President, Commissioner, Alex, dear colleagues, the main motivation for adopting this legislation is to make everyday life easier for millions of European consumers of electronic devices, not just mobile phones. We have waited long enough for the market to regulate itself. Now is the time to act. I am happy that after the abolition of roaming charges in the European Union, we will also vote on the single charger. With this act, the European Parliament has once again demonstrated its ability to meet the needs of citizens and facilitate their daily lives. I thank the rapporteur, Mr Alex Aliva, all the colleagues with whom we have worked on this file, and also the Commission. Thank you for making a joint effort to extend the scope of this act. I will not repeat what my colleagues said about which devices it is about. This is a huge achievement of the European Union. It creates convenience and saves citizens money while benefiting the environment by reducing the generation of e-waste. At the same time, we do not stop scientific and technical progress and will regularly take into account and adapt the state of the art, including the single wireless charger, as Alex just mentioned. We will also consider the possibilities of introducing a single charger for many other household and household areas, wherever there are no technical restrictions on the use of the single charger. Also, let's not forget that with this act we also set a standard for the world. I am sufficiently convinced that many other parts of the world will follow our act, so once again the European Union is a pioneer. With this legislation, we give freedom to consumers. They will be able to choose whether to buy a product with or without a charger. Last but not least, labels on device packaging will be easy and clear enough for citizens to know exactly what they are getting. Thanks again, everybody. I think this is a very good day for European consumers.

Mr President, Commissioner, honourable Members, the rule of law cannot be considered selectively only if it meets the political objectives of a party. Is it a coincidence that on the day Mr. Boyko Borisov was arrested, he stated publicly that he would support sending military equipment to Ukraine. At last, second instance, the Bulgarian Court found that the detention order did not meet the standards of legality and non-arbitrariness. Who made that decision anyway? It was a personal decision of the then Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, who gave instructions to the Ministry of Interior, to Boyko Rashkov about the arrest of his predecessor and brutally interfered with the name of the European Public Prosecutor's Office in this shameful act. In this way, Petkov tarnished the image of this new institution, which we support in the fight against corruption, money laundering and fraud. Two other people were illegally arrested, the former finance minister and the PR of GERB. The same Kiril Petkov found himself in the scandalous situation as prime minister to be a witness before the police of an oligarch who fled from the Bulgarian justice in Dubai and in his cabinet as prime minister. Petkov's government pursued the most pro-Russian, pro-Kremlin policy in Bulgaria. We did not send any weapons to Ukraine, we increased the financial flows for the budget of the Russian Federation three times compared to the last period of last year. Democracy requires us to condemn any act of political arbitrariness and repression, regardless of our political sympathies for someone or likes or dislikes. That is why I expect the Commission, the Council, all the political parties here, the Greens, the Socialists, the Liberals to clearly condemn this act of illegal arrest of anyone, in this case the leader of the largest opposition party in Bulgaria. The fight against corruption is not a personal war against the opponent, but an effective judicial reform and practice, which we propose from GERB and support. GERB is determined to restore the negative consequences of the deplorable management of Petkov and a company with a clear pro-European program, solidarity with Ukraine, compensation for the high prices of energy products, accelerated completion of infrastructure projects that were stopped by the government of Petkov.

Madam President, I welcome the European Commission's will to continue its support and solidarity towards Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, who are fighting for our common freedom against the Russian aggression. The Bulgarian motto ‘United we stand strong’ should also guide the members of the European Council. The more united we are on all topics - energy prices, the recovery and competitiveness of our European economy, social compensation and the creation of a hydrogen market - the faster we will overcome the challenges ahead of us. As we are talking now, Madam President, High Representative and the President of the Council, we have another mutually conflict on the sovereign territory of Armenia. I urge you very much that the European Union is doing the utmost to stop this killing of people. In the last two days, tens, if not names of people are changed. The civil infrastructure is destroyed. This must stop. I do not believe that the Russians are interested in a long-standing peaceful solution. They like to stay there and to have their influence there, but not to have a peace in the Caucasus region. So this is up to us, the European Union, to take the role of a mediator to stop this conflict.

Madam President, Kosovo has shown commitment to implementing the necessary reforms, there is huge public support for European integration, and now is the time for the government to use its stable majority in parliament and continue with the necessary reforms. At the same time, as we have often said, European integration is a two-way street. The European Union, the European Council must deliver on its promise and finally allow Kosovo citizens to travel visa-free for short-term tourism trips to the European Union. This should happen as soon as possible, I would say. I also expect decisive action from the government to move forward with relations with Serbia, and here the clear goal, we just said it during the debate with Serbia, is that the ultimate goal is the mutual recognition of the two countries. I am happy that in the text of the draft resolution there is also a paragraph on the Bulgarian minority in Kosovo, which calls for their petition to the Kosovo Parliament to be respected and for their rights to be respected and enshrined in the laws.

on behalf of the ALDE Group. - Mr President, on three main points, I would like to address. Serbia is the only candidate country for membership of the European Union that has not yet joined the European Union's common foreign and security policy, especially now with regard to Russia and Russia's aggression in Ukraine. Belgrade gives very often signals, now also, about close cooperation with Russia, both political, economic, energy and military. The Serbian political elite must clearly choose, with the European Union or with the Kremlin, or perhaps seek something similar, as in Tito’s time, for non-alignment. When we talk about Serbia, very often on paper the situation looks good, but in reality, unfortunately, things are not so. An example of this is the so-called National Minority Councils. They are subordinated entirely to Belgrade through the installation of people close to Mr Vucic's party, whose priority is to promote Belgrade's policy, which does not always correspond to the specific interests of the particular minority, both economic and social. In the case of the Bulgarian minority, there is indeed a risk of an environmental catastrophe, in addition to the economic and social one. We also look forward to decisive progress on Kosovo as soon as possible, with the clear objective of mutual recognition of both parties.

Mr President, honourable Members, Albania must start membership negotiations as soon as possible. The European Commission has repeatedly confirmed that Albania has met the requirements for starting these negotiations. I congratulate Tirana on its participation and its full support for all European Union policies related to the war in Ukraine. However, reforms must be deep, irreversible and cover fundamental areas, starting with the rule of law and the functioning of democratic institutions. Fighting corruption and ensuring the independence of the media without worrying about self-censorship are important elements for the democratic transformation of Albanian society. I welcome the legislative changes undertaken by Tirana, which strengthen the efficiency of the judicial system, and I believe that it is very important that they are implemented. EaP3 funds need to be used to support the reform process, economic development and increase competitiveness. I would like to underline Albania's crucial contribution to the protection of the Union's external borders and the prevention of cross-border crime, as well as the abuse of free movement within the European Union. Albania needs to step up its efforts to reduce the risk of poverty and social exclusion by improving access to social, educational and health services for all parts of society. Finally, Serbia-Montenegro started their negotiations separately. There is no logic to explain why countries should be grouped together. In addition, one of the main principles is that the achievements of each country should be assessed separately. Once again, I call for the immediate start of negotiations with Albania.

Dear Mr. Dzhambazki, this is exactly the case. I share what you say. We are not talking about an academic dispute between two countries. We are talking about basic human rights, discrimination, hate speech, it is dangerous to say your self-determination. Just as we respect the self-determination of every living person who defines himself as an ethnic Macedonian, so must the self-determination of everyone who wants to define himself as a Bulgarian be respected. There should be no negative consequences in his service, no career development, his children should not be threatened in school or receive insults from the surrounding negative environment, soaked, unfortunately, with hatred and with the inertia of the Yugoslav past.

Mr President, honourable Members, following Putin's aggression in Ukraine, the integration into the European Union of all the countries of the Western Balkans must now, more than ever, be supported. Macedonia is on a difficult path from a dependent entity in the former Yugoslavia to an independent European state. Bulgaria has supported Macedonia for the past 30 years in all respects on its way to Europe. Our European family must be united, strong and empowered to act in the face of the threats and challenges around us. It would be in the Kremlin's interest for our European Union to have misunderstanding, hatred and discrimination. Therefore, all these issues that lead to such negative processes should be cleared before the beginning of negotiations, or at least there should be a guarantee that they will be resolved during the negotiation process. Integration is a two-way street that requires efforts on both sides. However, the candidate country should be able to overcome the momentum and dependencies on the former Yugoslav ideology that led to the division and sowed hatred between two countries with a common history, such as Bulgaria and Macedonia. The treaty with Bulgaria must be respected, especially in its part on historical reconciliation based on common history. The work of the academic committee is based on original documents, as well as the non-discrimination of openly stating their Bulgarian identity and origin citizens. Measures must also be taken to address hate speech, such as changing school curricula and monuments. Guarantees for progress can be the negotiating framework, where to take into account what has been done on these topics, without worrying whether another government will come to Macedonia, the opposition now, which is or is not such. I call on the political class of Macedonia to show courage, courage and leadership to start the negotiations. (The speaker agreed to respond to the "blue card" statement)

Mr President, the Russian regime has intensified in an unprecedented manner the brutal repression of peacefully demonstrating Russian citizens, independent journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders and civil society activists in an attempt to silence any criticism of and opposition to its illegal, unprovoked and unjustified military aggression in Ukraine. The Kremlin's propaganda is trying to identify its regime with the people of Russia. However, I am convinced that we must support the democratically thinking, civilized and cultural citizens of this country that has given birth to great composers, writers, artists, scientists who have contributed to enriching the world's cultural treasury. Certainly, these people are deeply ashamed of the Kremlin's rule, which has caused incurable damage to Russia's image around the world for a long time. Alexei Navalny showed reckless courage and heroism to return to Russia to be immediately arrested. He must be released unconditionally. I call on the Council and the Member States to step up their support for activists, independent journalists and human rights defenders by granting them visas and finding shelter in the European Union. Endangered organisations and scientists must be able to continue their work in the European Union.

Madam President, Mr Borrell, Commissioner, it is difficult to find words to express the horror of the Russian barbarism committed before the eyes of the world in Ukraine. When we are faced with a moral human choice between good and evil, we cannot be neutral. Neutrality means that we are together with the aggressor. Despite the huge investments in the Kremlin's propaganda war, however, there can be no doubt who is the aggressor and who is the victim. War always leads to great suffering, war must stop today, but it must stop not with victory for the aggressor. There's no time to delay. That is why I am addressing you, and the Council, and the Commission, but also the Member States. Double and triple your efforts, Ukraine cannot wait. If one or two countries do not want to participate in enhanced measures or sanctions, or do not want to participate in the supply of defence equipment, then without them should be continued. Ukraine is now on the border between civilisation and barbarism. A potential loss for Ukraine is a loss for our freedom and security. I support my colleague Verhofstadt, who just said maximum tightening of sanctions and ensuring their effective implementation by Member States but also candidate countries. They should also, together with us, participate in all sanctions. We must close all possibilities for financing the Russian war machine. The maximum amount and scope of support must be given to Ukraine – defence equipment, humanitarian aid, macro-financial assistance, as well as support for refugees, children fleeing war. Here I would like to address both the Commission and the Council to find opportunities for Russian state assets that are on the territory of the European Union, as well as the assets of oligarchs, to be used to support Ukraine. Finally, something very sad for me. Shameful and disgraceful is the behaviour of the Bulgarian government, which, for fear of the coalition collapsing, is being lowered, I will put it this way ‘under Todor Zhivkovski’. They do not want to support with defensive equipment those fighting for our freedom in Ukraine. And one last point, I'd like to pay my big respect to President Metsola. She was there in Kyiv. But I would also like to ask if the Bureau of the Parliament could please return the Ukrainian flag here to the plenary until the war has gone with the victory of freedom and Ukraine. Slava Ukraini!

Madam President, the reality of today shows us that history, identity, culture and religions matter. Manipulation, falsification and destruction of historical heritage leads to hate, discrimination and violence. The war of Putin against Ukraine proves this one more time. He's also using these ugly instruments of history manipulation for justification of these terrible actions. Reconciliation can be achieved only by reaching mutual trust. The topic of the destruction of cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh against Armenians is just one example of how important is trust. The destruction of any cultural heritage sites, artefacts and objects contributes to the escalation of hostilities, lack of mutual understanding and prejudice between and within societies. On the contrary, the respect of minorities, which is one of our core values, includes the protection of their cultural identity and heritage. The urgency resolution which we are voting today welcomes the UNESCO proposal to send an independent experts’ mission to visit Nagorno-Karabakh and assess the situation on the ground. We request further that international experts be given unhindered access by Azerbaijan to all cultural sites for a proper inventory to be carried out. It is critical to remember that the protection, rebuilding and restoration of historical heritage and religious heritage should be seen in the broader framework of the conflict resolution between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and needs to be requested, supported and welcome. This process includes also the condemnation of any destructions of cultural, religious and historical sites, regardless of whether this happened in the past or in the present day, or by whom. The new generations need to have a peaceful and secure future without the hate from the past.

Madam President, the European Union has always laid stress on the European perspective of all the Western Balkan countries, including Bosnia—Herzegovina. The stability of all of these countries is of vital importance for the citizens in this region, but also for the European Union. In order to secure peace and stability the three communities have to be represented in a fair way. This is why changes in the electoral law are in high demand to provide the Croats in Bosnia—Herzegovina with the opportunity to be on an equal footing in terms of representations with the other two communities. However, all three communities have to come together and be ready to compromise in order for a sustainable solution to be found, not only for the reform of the electoral law, but also for all other important topics related to the security and social perspective of the citizens of this country. The PPE Group has always been on the most supportive front for the Western Balkan states in their part of the European integration. Our commitment and engagement with our partners in the region have remained unchanged. We should give again a strong, united signal in support of Bosnia—Herzegovina and its European future, and by European future must be understood full membership in the European Union. Very destructive are the signals coming from the President of Republika Srpska, Mr Dodik, who announced in October plans to withdraw from many common institutions of Bosnia—Herzegovina. This gave a very wrong signal and could lead again to conflict and ethnic violence. And at the end, please allow me to inform you about a terrible accident which happened last night on the territory in Bulgaria, leading to the death of 45 citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia, which is the worst accident in the history of my country and my condolences go to the families of all the victims in this terrible accident. Prime Minister Zaev and the Foreign Minister in Sofia will investigate together with the Bulgarian authorities this terrible situation.

Minister, Commissioner, I and my colleagues from Bulgaria, as well as the Bulgarian state, have always supported the integration of the Western Balkans. This is in our interest, in the European interest. However, European integration is a two-way process, as we must be ready, and the countries of the Western Balkans must make every effort to overcome all that has divided them and divided us in the past. Minister, in the remaining few months of your Presidency, let us make every effort to do what some of our fellow Members have said. The visas for Kosovo, this must be really stopped, this discrimination against the citizens of Kosovo. The start of negotiations. Yes, when we really cannot do the maximum we want, at least with Albania to start negotiations. I cannot understand why, if 27 Member States say yes to the opening of negotiations, why not start at least with Albania, give a little positive signal to something good to happen in the Balkans? And to make our best efforts to overcome the last obstacles in terms of good neighbourliness, finding a mutually acceptable road map to enter the negotiating framework as a guarantee that the Good Neighborhood Treaty with Bulgaria will be implemented, and all things related to the basic human rights of Bulgarians who are discriminated extremely severely, unfortunately I say this, in the Republic of North Macedonia. The legacy of communism, oddly enough for some of my colleagues, but I repeat a second time, the legacy of communism and Tito's dictatorship (although Tito broke up with Stalin, this does not mean that he is a good democrat) has no place in the European Union. This is an issue, not a bilateral dispute, but a fundamental issue of human rights, which must be addressed through European integration. I want all citizens of the Western Balkans to become European citizens as quickly as possible. This is in our main interest, but in this way we have to overcome the past and communism. Communism is not a good thing.

Mr President, as the Commissioner knows very well, this House has many times requested that we should start with the preparation of the EU—Taiwan bilateral investment agreement. We want to see concrete steps from the Commission, but also from the Council, especially the scoping exercise and the impact assessment, in preparation for the formal launch of the negotiations. Taiwan is a close partner of the EU. We share core values such as democracy, freedom and the rule of law. Developing closer investment links would not only create economic benefits for both sides, but also allow us to strengthen strategic cooperation in critical sectors like semiconductors. For more than a year, we have been discussing how to reshape and reconfigure our supply chain for the post—COVID era. When we do this, I think it’s very important to consider factors such as democracy, trust and the consequences if we pursue closer cooperation and alliance with like—minded countries like Taiwan. It’s very strange that the Member States expressed solidarity with Lithuania, but some of them are very hesitant to give the mandate to you, Madam Commissioner, to the Commission, to start even the scoping exercise and impact assessment. What we are afraid of? I understand that some countries are afraid of reactions from mainland China, but this is something that is against our autonomy, and we always think that we should be autonomous as a European Union.

Madam President, everyone has the right to his own opinion, but no one has the right to his own facts, to his own facts. Freedom of expression does not mean allowing the coordinated actions of thousands of anonymous profiles or troll factories coordinated by third countries to influence our democratic processes or polarise our societies. Whether we like it or not, big social media has become the dominant arena for public debate. It is appalling to see how supposedly educated people, politicians, cite what they have read on the Internet and cite conspiracy theories and fake news and try to change public opinion. Online platforms must be required to be transparent about algorithmic content moderation. Why is one publication being removed and another not? But also transparency on fact-checking resources and countering disinformation. Small language markets, such as Bulgarian, should not be ignored due to a lack of commercial profitability for companies and become easy prey to third countries such as China, Russia and the like. This also happens with secret funding of organizations and political parties in my country, against Bulgaria Russia finances enough of them. What you need, Commissioner, you said: education, critical thinking, education, media literacy. This has to happen since school.

Madam President, first of all, it is very sad to see that the Lebanese people in this beautiful country are in this terrible situation. Lebanon is of strategic importance for the European Union. The current crisis could turn into a full—scale catastrophe with an impact on the whole region, and we don’t need another failed state in the Mediterranean, like we have around Libya, Syria and Afghanistan, with another refugee crisis. To avoid this, Mr Borrell, you mentioned what we need to do, but we need to do it now. I also request that the European External Action Service come forward with a list of individuals and entities which should be on this sanction list of people who are responsible for undermining democracy and the rule of law, and are involved in corruption, etc. This is what the Lebanese people also expect from us. The second thing is what you mentioned. It is very clear that timely and transparent elections need to be held next year. This is an opportunity for the Lebanese people to hold political accountability for their future and for the political representatives which they would like to choose. We need to insist that an international fact—finding commission investigates the Beirut port explosion, and we need to show full solidarity with the Lebanese people, providing additional financial assistance in agreement with the International Monetary Fund. I also think we should send a special administrative advisory mission to support the Lebanese state building there with administrative advice. Thank you very much. Mr Borrell, please, let’s act now.