Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we often speak of European solidarity. Some states are extremely supportive when it comes to third countries, but more reluctant when they have to give their consent to the completion of Romania's European path, i.e. joining the Schengen area. It's not fair. We have done our homework, the technical access criteria have been met for more than ten years. In recent months, the Romanian authorities have managed more than two million Ukrainian refugees. Romania showed full solidarity in the context of the war in Ukraine and demonstrated once again that it is ready to effectively control the external borders of the European Union. Delaying accession to the Schengen area costs companies, carriers money and is an unnecessary waste of time for citizens. Plus a cost to the environment due to the thousands of trucks that spend tens of hours in traffic. The message of the citizens of Romania and Bulgaria is unequivocal: we no longer accept to be considered as second-class European citizens. Here, the European Commission and Parliament reaffirm their strong support for accession, and the Council must follow this just approach without further delay and conditions.

Madam President, I'm sorry. I read in the draft: the rights of persons belonging to minorities, including Roma and Jews, and protection against hateful statements against minorities. Anyone who hears this statement clearly believes that the Orbán government is anti-minority, anti-Semitic and anti-Roma. There's one problem with that: it's not true. So much so that the reporter cannot substantiate his serious finding with facts, this topic was addressed exclusively to Roma. Of course, a single discriminatory measure is reprehensible, but show me a single EU Member State where Roma employment, social affairs, education and housing issues are fully resolved. They will not find one, but there will be no report condemning the other Member States. The truth is that Hungary provides one of the most favourable legal frameworks for minority issues in the EU. This is said by the 13 national minority self-government leaders with whom I have personally discussed this. To call Hungary's national minority policy anti-minority is simply a lie. The alleged anti-Jewishness does not stand up either. It is no coincidence that the report does not contain a single word on this. On the other hand, Israel's Chief Rabbi David Lau thanked the Hungarian government for its support in strengthening Jewish communities around the world. At the beginning of the summer, Chief Rabbi Mayer Tzvi Stambler, President of the Association of Jewish Communities in Ukraine, thanked Hungary for its help in welcoming Jewish refugees. I have only singled out one subject, honourable Members, from the report, but it is already clear from this that the text is severely biased and not factual.

Mr President, Vice-President, dear colleagues, the first question one could raise is whether there is a treaty-change opportunity. After all, there is a war in our neighbourhood, a severe recession is looming, energy prices are going through the roof… Why start a long and complicated political and legal procedure now instead of seeking fast and effective answers to the most pressing questions? Some say the Conference on the Future of Europe legitimises starting treaty change. But let’s be honest, we know the Conference was neither sufficiently representative in its choice of stakeholders nor sufficiently pluralistic in the way it adopted its decisions. Yet, colleagues, I say there is a treaty-change opportunity. The past decade has shown us that a stronger, faster and more united Europe is needed to answer challenges during economic crises, health crises, in areas like border protection, defence, climate change and energy security. We can certainly have a successful convention if we allow ourselves sufficient time to seek pragmatic consensus – if we avoid ideologically driven, dead-end debates and do not waste our energy discussing issues that are completely irrelevant for the majority of citizens, such as transnational lists, and if we do not pursue the nuclear option of forcing the will of the majority on all, at any cost, by abolishing the unanimity rule. We will need wisdom to respect the diversity of the Member States, having in mind a difficult ratification process in the end. It is not uniformity that makes us stronger, but our diversity in pursuing common goals.

Mr President, Madam Commissioner, dear colleagues, the precarious situation of Roma has been acknowledged in the EU and in the Member States. National strategies have been in place for over two decades now. But the hard truth is that little progress has been achieved. The majority of Europe’s Roma communities still live in poverty, often in favela-type settlements. This fact, honestly, is a shame for Europe. In Romania, eight out of ten Roma live in a house without running water and seven out of ten children drop out of school. Improving this situation requires three things: more humility, more empathy, and more well-coordinated work. We need more humility because we should not remain satisfied that we have a strategy. There is no quick fix to century-old prejudices, deprivation and segregation. We need more empathy. We must try to put ourselves in the shoes of a child living in a mud hut, going to school dirty, and being looked at badly by colleagues. What it means for a child when his parents cannot help him learn to read at home because they themselves cannot read. We cannot expect Roma people to come out of their condition on their own. We must understand that also a Roma child, like everyone else, is able to go to school if he’s fed, has clean clothes and is able to buy a bus ticket. Lastly, we need well-coordinated, hard work at all levels. The Member States cannot do this without the EU, but the EU cannot do it without the Member States. We must move beyond formal requirements. We must develop better coordinated, comprehensive and well-funded transfer policies that are, in turn, implemented on the ground by the local authorities.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, around 650 000 refugees have already arrived in Romania and almost 80 000 have remained. More than 43% are minors and 24,000 of them are of school age, many even without a parent. Beyond these figures, however, we are talking about families torn apart by this cruel and bloody war. It's hard to imagine the drama of every family leaving behind a lifetime and a father they're not sure they'll ever see again. Ensuring the integration of these children and young people into care and education must be a top priority for the Union and the Member States. The Romanian Government, together with local authorities and civil organizations, is making significant efforts for Ukrainian students who want to continue online school to have this opportunity, or to be integrated into Romanian schools. And due to the fact that a large Ukrainian community lives on the border with Ukraine, which benefits from education in its mother tongue, it has helped a significant number of refugee children to quickly integrate into these units. This is how important education in minority languages becomes, as is also called for in the resolution that we are going to vote on today. National authorities must be supported in overcoming the language barriers faced by these children. We need to contract interpretation, language courses and special programmes to recruit teachers speaking Ukrainian and other minority languages from Ukraine. This is something I also raised with the President of the European Parliament during my visit to the border with Ukraine. Let's not forget for a moment: The refugee children of today represent the future of Ukraine of tomorrow and we hope, together with them, that they will soon live in a country reborn from the ashes of today's bombings.

Dear Mr President, In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Fidesz-KDNP party alliance won a huge two-thirds victory in yesterday's elections. Hungarian communities living outside the borders of Hungary, including Hungarians living in Transylvania, contributed to this result. Hungarian citizens have chosen security and predictability, rejecting the unnatural party alliance, which is a platform built on hatred against Prime Minister Orbán and his politics, from the far right to the far left. Here in this House, undoubtedly, many expected a different outcome, but the fact is that in a democracy, the people choose. The Hungarian people voted, and democracy won. The current government will remain in Hungary for four years. The result of the democratic elections must not only be accepted here in the institutions of the European Union, but must also be taken into account. It is time to end the ideological war against the government of Hungary and start pragmatic cooperation on the current numerous European challenges. There's enough to do.

Madam President, I would like to thank Madam Ombudsman for her commitment to achieving the highest standards of good administration within the EU institutions. I am glad to see that the activities of the European Ombudsman gain more and more visibility. You updated and made the communication channels with the public more effective. I also applaud your engagement towards multilingualism, including Irish. It is of utmost importance that we reach citizens so that they know about their rights and about what we can do for them. As regards some proposals in the reports we are about to vote on, I am worried to see that several paragraphs aim to change the role of the Ombudsman office and maintain recommendations that do not fall under its competences as set out in the statutes. I believe that we must act based on democratic principles and rules and that we should not lay on the Ombudsman roles that are clearly played by other institutions, such as the Commission, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). As regards transparency, I believe that improvements in this field are to be welcomed, for example, when minutes of the Council meetings are published. But we also have to acknowledge that we must leave room for an efficient political process, for reasoning, for negotiation, reasoning in our institutions. Dear Ms O’Reilly, please allow me to wish the office of the Ombudsman a further successful 25 years, and you can count on our support also in the future.

Madam President, I'm sorry. We have heard from the European Commission that it is withdrawing the published document for recasting, and we have not been waiting for this response, because this means that this ambition for language censorship will remain and will come back in the form of a new proposal, but still. I lived under the communist regime, and I have to say that the current text of the Commission could have been in honour of the party bureaucracy of that time. The name "Christmas" or "Jesus" was not to be pronounced, but at least the name "John" or "Mary" was not to be offended at that time. There are many religions living side by side in Europe. I am convinced that the supporters of neither of them would like us to no longer welcome Christmas, Hanukkah or Eid Mubarak for the sake of equal opportunities. And atheists should be tolerant to hear religious greetings for a few days a year. Commissioner Dalli is attempting to abolish Christian culture and religious traditions, and she has no authority to do so. There's no excuse for that, Mr. Vice President. This document should not be corrected, but should be solemnly burned in front of the Brussels Commission building and its ashes thrown into the North Sea so that it does not come out again in any form. Merry Christmas, dear friends.

Dear Madam President, Mr. Secretary of State. You must be madam. Excessive authority and police violence against Roma are not new. We must experience that, unfortunately, there is still such a phenomenon in Europe today, and each case is one more than is acceptable in a democratic welfare society. I am concerned that we are devoting little time and attention to this phenomenon. In addition to the legal violations outside the seven-seven countries, we should deal with racial hatred, ethnic exclusion and violence at home in Europe at least as much as we do. We cannot say that such cases sometimes happen. We cannot allow it to happen in the Czech Republic or anywhere else. In addition to detecting, investigating and holding those responsible to account, Member States have a duty to prevent, raise awareness, counter hate speech, encourage inter-community dialogue, social inclusion of Roma, and the Commission should act more quickly when it finds that police violence against Roma is being suppressed by some German national authorities.

Mr President, Myanmar is not in the news every day. For a few weeks after the military coup, there was strong interest and world indignation when witnessing the atrocities committed by the new regime. Colleagues, our role today is to send a very clear signal to the world, especially the states in the regions and international organisations. The truth is that Myanmar (Burma) is the stage of one of the world’s longest ongoing civil wars. The military junta’s rule from 1962 until 2011 was marked by the most brutal crimes and human rights abuses. One decade ago, the hope with which the Burmese and the world greeted the rise of Aung San Suu Kyi to power proved to be misplaced. Her rule was also marked by continued abuse and severe persecution of smaller ethnic and religious groups. Unfortunately, in recent months, things have turned even worse under military rule, in such a short time. Since the coup, more than 1 100 people have been killed, over 8 000 people arrested, and over 300 people have been sentenced, a number of them to death, including children, with others dying in custody or being subject to torture. This year alone, over 200 000 people have been internally displaced, while over 3 000 000 are in need of humanitarian aid. The Rohingya has been the most severely impacted ethnic group over the past seven decades. The situation of other ethnic and religious communities is no better. They are the subject of direct attacks by the army or attacks by the main population that are sanctioned or even encouraged by the army. As a Christian and democratic group, we witnessed with horror the human rights abuses in Kachin and northern Shan states, where the majority of Christians live and where churches have recently been raided, priests and pastors have been arrested, and military troops have set up camps in church compounds. One of the most recent examples of Christian persecution is the murder, three weeks ago, of a 31—year—old pastor, Cung Biak Hum, in Chin State, who was shot dead as he tried to extinguish the blaze from a house fire caused by military artillery. Such terrible events pose the risk of an even greater escalation of violence and a larger humanitarian emergency. The recognition of the National Unity Government by the UN General Assembly as the legitimate representative of the will of the people would be a first step in restoring the basic principles of democracy. Should the elected government be restored, much more sustained effort would be needed to transition to a true democracy and a tolerant society in Myanmar. As stated in the resolution, we must, therefore, use all the EU, UN, ASEAN and other international means at our disposal to avoid the loss of innocent women’s, men’s and children’s lives, and to ensure that everyone in Myanmar can enjoy the right to their identity and belief without fear of persecution.

Mr President, the United States has always been the European Union’s closest and most important strategic partner, and so it should remain. However, looking to the developments on the global stage in the last decade, it is clear that the EU is lagging behind in policy areas that represent a priority for the US. The Australia–United Kingdom–United States (AUKUS) deal and the abrupt US withdrawal from Afghanistan must be a wake-up call for the EU to place this partnership on a new footing. We must be aware that America will always place its own interests at the forefront. The US security pledge makes us dependent on Washington to act. The rhetoric may have changed with the new administration, yet its intensifying focus on its rivalry with China has not. As strange as it sounds, the EU needs to become more egoistic. The US will accept us as a partner on the global stage if we are able to defend our own economic and trade interests, if we are able to develop a robust EU defence policy. Filling up this partnership with content depends today more on us than on our transatlantic partners.