Debate contributions by Davor Ivo STIER

Madam President, dear colleagues, as we have responded to the Russian aggression by making bold strategic decisions, including the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, the same level of strategic thinking should guide us in our approach to the Western Balkans. All the six countries from this region have been promised a European perspective at the Thessaloniki summit already two decades ago. It was true then, but it is even more today. The enlargement of the EU to the Western Balkans has a prime geopolitical importance. The accession negotiations will certainly remain merit based, but we should not neglect the wider strategic implications of the integration of this region into the European Union. Being fully aware of the new geopolitical circumstances and the challenges posed to us by strategic competitors and adversaries, it is also crucial that the candidate countries seize the opportunity of a reinvigorated enlargement process that speed up reforms, recognise and reconcile with each other, respect the rule of law, and particularly important, that they align with the EU's foreign and security policy in this defining moment. At a time when Ukraine is showing its geopolitical alignment and commitment to Europe every day on the battlefield, a clear alignment is also expected from all the countries in the Western Balkans. We commend those countries in the region that have already sided with us in confronting the autocracies that challenge our democratic values. Their geopolitical alignment was backed by domestic reforms, regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations, thus paving the way for significant progress in the accession negotiations during this year. In the cases where the ruling political structures did not achieve such a progress, their citizens, however, remain committed to the EU values and we will not turn our back to these future EU citizens. We will, through the Growth Plan, intend to bring to them some of the benefits of the EU's freedoms even before membership. But we also need to move faster in some areas, like the integration of the Western Balkans to the European roaming-free area. This is important that we make even better progress there. The Commission can count on our support to accomplish the strategic task of integrating the Western Balkans into the European Union.

Yesterday, two important things happened for the enlargement process, which is on the agenda of the European Council. One good news is from Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the Council of Ministers adopted two laws that are crucial for the country's European perspective. We must also welcome this and be ready to support the opening of accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina as soon as possible. Another news item was the meeting of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs in the Parliament of Montenegro, where another fragmentation and polarization of not only the political scene but also society there, now around the Constitutional Court, was shown, but in fact it was a conflict over geopolitical orientation and political identity. And that is why we must say that people in Montenegro have the right to a sovereign Montenegro where Montenegrins will be their own and be able to decide their own destiny because they too have the right to a European Montenegro. Our common goal must be the Europeanisation of the whole area and the integration of the Western Balkans into the European Union.

Dear President, colleagues, Shaun Walker, journalist of the left-wing The Guardian, wrote a book back in 2018 in which he claims that Putin manipulated the memories of the great victory of '45 so that Russia would actually forget about '89, that is, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the crimes of communist dictatorships and the disintegration of the Soviet Empire. Manipulation with historical themes is characteristic of autocratic regimes and often precedes military aggression, and the tactic is clear – forget the crimes of communism, homogenize the nation on the memory of the fight against Nazism and fascism, but then portray Ukraine as a fascist creation and initiate the occupation of Ukraine. Nothing new. Slobodan Milošević did the same in the 1990s. And that is why people are so sensitive today in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina or in Kosovo when such dangerous narratives are repeated. In contrast to this falsification of history, in contrast to the war narrative promoted by Moscow, Europe must do more to promote a true culture of remembrance. It must condemn all totalitarianisms and, of course, Europe must always remain faithful to the politics of peace, reconciliation and democracy.

The fall of the Assad regime is a geopolitical blow to Iran. Russia is also strategically weakened. Will she be present in Syria? This depends primarily on talks with the new authorities, but also on talks between Putin and Erdoğan. Turkey is obviously the biggest winner in this situation and we see, as it was in the South Caucasus, now and in Syria, the withdrawal of Russia leaves one vacuum which is then filled by Erdoğan's Turkey. Trump has said that America will not be more engaged. In this context, Israel shall do whatever it deems necessary to protect its security. The European Union must also take into account and I welcome the new approach of the European Union led by the High Representative, which is pragmatic but takes into account our values and interests. This must of course also be the protection of Christians, but above all the protection of the security of European citizens and of the European Union.

Dear President, colleagues, in the week when we celebrate the Day against Violence against Women, it is especially important to look at the situation in Iran. And despite hopes for policy change with President Pezeskian's new government, Iran continues to systematically repress women, especially through the so-called moral police. The authorities are increasingly restricting women's rights, including through new laws and regulations. Women who break hijab laws by appearing in public without a hijab are often abused, imprisoned, tortured, and even killed. At the same time, we see that Saudi Arabia is going in a different direction. Gradually, but still in the direction of greater freedoms and rights for women. And we have to take this into account in a broader regional aspect. Therefore, by supporting women's rights in Iran, we support greater freedom, stability and prosperity throughout the wider Middle East region.

Madam President, let me start by praising Brazil for the leadership it has shown by launching the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. It addresses the SDG one and SDG two, the most urgent ones, and that should be acknowledged and supported. Having said that, I regret that the G20 failed to address all the causes of poverty. They did address some of them, like inequalities, like the Commissioner has mentioned, but they did not address, for example, the lack of good governance. As a former rapporteur of this House for the 2030 agenda, we worked hard to include that SDG 16. They missed to address the lack of good governance as a cause of poverty. And they had a good example, unfortunately, of that situation in the vicinity, in the neighbourhood, in Venezuela, a country very rich in oil but unfortunately poor due to the mismanagement of the regime of Nicolás Maduro. Why that was not mentioned? Well, because Russia and China are supporting Nicolás Maduro. They did not want to have this mentioned at the G20 in Rio. But I believe that that was necessary because here we saw all the hypocrisy of these countries that say that they are caring about the interests of the citizens of the Global South, but what they are really doing is to support a dictator to stay in power against the will of his own people. So I believe that the leaders in Rio should have addressed the situation in Venezuela. I regret that they did not.

Dear Speaker, colleagues, irregularities in this election in Georgia, the interference of the Russian Federation is something that we have to put into a broader context, and that is the goal of the hybrid action of the Russian Federation to thwart the free will of the people to decide their own destiny. This is done in Georgia, it is tried by Moldova, it is also tried in the Western Balkans that people cannot decide their own fate, and not on the basis of disinformation, on the basis of fear, fear of war, fear of the Russian Federation itself. That's why we need to increase our policy with anticipation, not run behind events. In Moldova, where the Russian Federation has failed, we need to support democratic forces more strongly. Recognise in the Western Balkans that we have such cases as the "Georgian Dream" where parties talk about the European path but behave according to the Russian matrix. There we must also support true European forces and then do the same in Georgia so that the people of Georgia can decide their own fate.

Madam President, allow me at the outset to express my condolences to Spain, to the Spanish people and, in particular, to Valencian society. A solidarity that Europe demonstrates by making available the civil protection system and solidarity funds, as it did also for floods in Central Europe or in candidate countries, such as in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Now, the tragedy is such that, obviously, the political system must assume its responsibility. And when I say this, I think that the scale of the tragedy is such that neither can the national government shirk its role and its responsibility. Our role in Parliament is obviously to question the management of those who are candidates for Commissioners and then to make an assessment of their answers or of the lack of answers. Our role is to demonstrate solidarity with the Spanish people and provide the means for reconstruction and to avoid new tragedies.

Dear Chair, Mr Letta speaks correctly about what the acceleration of the integration of the internal market has a geopolitical importance in today's conditions. I would complement this by linking the internal market to the enlargement process. Let's look at, for example, the situation in the Western Balkans, there are a lot of political problems. We must not wait for them to be resolved, for these countries to become full members, but we could, perhaps in a gradual way, integrate them into our single market sooner rather than later. Like, for example, we do when it comes to roaming. I think it's a good example, but we have to extend it to other freedoms. In this way, people in the region will also have their right to stay, and the European Union will have more influence and will contribute more to the stability of this part of the European continent.

Dear Chair, I think that my colleague Isabel Benjumea explained very well that the attack on Christianity is in fact an attack on tolerance, an attack on faith that teaches that we must love not only our friends, but also our enemies, that we must respect the dignity of every human person. And that is why, uh, I congratulate the Commissioner not only for his speech, but for everything he has done in the Commission. He was in charge of combating anti-Semitism, against hatred against Muslims, but unfortunately, as we have seen in this debate, the number of attacks against Christians has also exploded, and therefore I really think that we must also have a coordinator in the new Commission to fight hatred against Christians. If we don't want this topic to be abused by the extremes to encourage, in fact, intolerance, then we, the center parties, the parties that we are pro-European, have to deal with this topic much more.

Dear President, in this Parliament we often express our solidarity with the different peoples of different countries because they need us to stand by them in difficult times. We did this, for example, also in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina because of these terrible floods that were truly devastating and we asked for the activation of the Solidarity Fund. But there are times when we have to ask the same thing, when there are political attacks on a country, for this Parliament to raise its voice. And we did so in the case of Moldova because Moldova is today a victim of hybrid action of an aggressive policy of the Russian Federation and therefore this resolution should have had our support to stand with Moldova, to support the perspective of a free, sovereign and European Moldova.

Dear Chair, Dear colleagues, this bill, which allows forced child marriages, is of great concern. It allows even 9-year-old girls to marry. We must raise our voice because by respecting the dignity of women we can measure the degree of development, we can measure the degree of freedom of a society. I think it's wrong for an AfD agent to accuse the West of all this. If we look at a broader geopolitical picture, then we see that while on the one hand Saudi Arabia is gradually but still introducing some positive measures in society, Iran is cracking down on women. Unfortunately, Iran's increasing influence in Iraq is also leading to these negative proposals, and that is why we must raise our voice and support the rights of women in Iraq.

Dear Chair, colleagues, is this resolution necessary? This is a question very legitimately asked by colleague Sánchez Amor, and I think she is needed. Why? Because we have to send a clear message before the election that you can't sit on two chairs? Of course the citizens of Georgia will decide, but we have a government that came to power with a pro-European rhetoric, which still says today that it wants to go towards the European Union, but actually follows the direction that Moscow wants. And therefore we must say that one cannot sit on two chairs, as we say to Belgrade, as we say to parts of the government and in Montenegro, so in this case of Georgia we must be clear. We also need to be clear when passing laws according to the Russian model, which are actually laws against civil society. And please, also about the so-called promotion of family values. There is nothing wrong with promoting family values, and what is wrong when it is done is actually to abolish pluralism in society, tolerance in society, when the dignity of every human person is not respected. And that is why it is our task to pass such a resolution because we do not impose anything on Georgia, as they wrongly accuse the far right, but we respect what Georgia itself says in Article 78 of its own constitution, which is that they want to be part of the European Union.

Dear Chair, colleagues, with this resolution we are sending a very clear message of support to Moldova. We are not promoting a single figure or political option, but we are supporting the whole of Moldova so that the citizens of Moldova can decide their own destiny. We support that Moldova can strengthen its resilience at a time when it is a victim of a hostile action by the Russian Federation, which acts in intelligence, hybrid, disinformation, corrupts politicians, tries to buy votes and does so not only in Moldova but also in Georgia, it also does so in Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other Western Balkan countries. This is also done by the Russian Federation in Moldova. And that's why our message with this resolution is very clear. We want Moldova to be sovereign, so that the people of Moldova can decide their own destiny. Our message, therefore, from this Parliament is that if you, the citizens of Moldova, want to decide to go further towards the European Union, you will be welcomed. If you want to continue implementing reforms, you will have our support. If you want to be a member of the European Union, you will certainly be more sovereign if you want to be part of Europe. For this you do not need to ask permission from anyone, and least of all from Moscow. Therefore, this support for this resolution is in support of Moldova’s vision. This is the support of one Moldova that will be free, sovereign and European.

In 2016, I resigned as a Member of the European Parliament to take up my new duties in the Croatian government. I have now returned to the European Parliament after eight years and I remember the entry into force in 2016 of this Political Dialogue and Cooperation Treaty with Cuba. We were very skeptical about the European People's Party. On the left side of this parliament, we were assured that there would be an improvement in the human rights situation. Eight years later, unfortunately, we see that we were right, that the situation has not improved. Unfortunately, she got worse. And this is shown by the case of José Daniel Ferrero Garcia. A man who has been detained since the age of 21 has now cut off communication with his family. Therefore, there is nothing else but to activate and put on the table everything we have at our disposal, including that clause suspending the contract with Cuba.

Madam President, despite all the popular demands in Venezuela, despite the requests of the international community, the diplomatic attempts of the governments of Brazil and Colombia, to this day the regime of Nicolás Maduro has not published the minutes of the presidential elections. The reason is very simple: the presentation of the electoral acts would mean the recognition of the victory of Edmundo González, it would mean recognizing that Nicolás Maduro and his regime have stolen the elections, it would mean recognizing that the regime has lost all legitimacy and remains in power only thanks to the weapons and the repression it exerts on the Venezuelan people. Therefore, the lie represented by the Maduro regime must be proven by clearly telling the truth, and the truth is that the Venezuelan people have voted for Edmundo González as president of Venezuela. Now, Nicolás Maduro exercises power de facto: we are in the presence of a dictatorship, a dictatorship that immediately received the support of Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, Havana, Managua – unfortunately also, in our neighbourhood, Belgrade – ... a dictatorship that seeks to buy time, divert international attention and thus perpetuate itself in power indefinitely. Precisely for this reason it is necessary to speak out clearly and call things by their name. That does not mean giving up diplomatic efforts or arrogating moral superiority; on the contrary, with this resolution we send a clear message of solidarity with the Venezuelan people, but also with all the American nations that love freedom. We often ask the countries of the South for a greater commitment to the struggle for freedom that is being waged today in Ukraine. Well, now it is our turn to listen to the countries of Latin America and show our commitment to the cause of freedom, democracy and human rights in Venezuela.

Madam President, first with the diagnosis and with proposals for the EU in a changing world: in a nutshell, the US continues to be the dominant power, but its position is weakening. And this is not necessarily good news for us, because the world is more unstable and we still need to form our defence Union. It is not good news because we are not fulfilling the gap left by the US. Actually, China is a rising power. So, it's time for action, for more realism and for a more pragmatic approach, especially when it comes to the green transition. More realism and less ideology. When we see that energy prices are three times higher in Europe than in the United States, where when it's feasible, like in Croatia, we need to invest more in geothermal energy, which uses our technology, not the Chinese technology, but in the rest of the continent, we need to use more nuclear energy and not less. So, getting rid of ideological approaches will be the first step to making Europe more competitive and more productive.

Dear Chair, colleagues, the aggressive policy of the Putin regime remains the biggest threat to European security and that is why it is necessary to show continued support for Ukraine in its fight for freedom at this plenary session. Europe has so far contributed more than EUR 100 billion in financial, humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine, but let us be aware that we are now providing military assistance to Ukraine to defend itself against aggression and we could have helped Ukraine more before 2022 to deter Putin from starting the war. We cannot move the time backwards, but today we can give Ukraine what it needs to defend itself, to change the dynamics of war and to pave the way for a just and sustainable peace. That is why, with this resolution, we ask all partners of Ukraine to immediately lift all restrictions on the use of weapons to defend Ukraine, targeting legitimate military targets on the territory of the aggressor and all in accordance with the UN Charter. In this resolution, we also renew our full support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine and this needs to be repeated as we hear again these days about the ideas for peace negotiations that should see Ukraine relinquishing the occupied territory. Talking about the surrender of Ukrainian territory would only serve as a kind of reward for the aggressor and could only be seen as a call for attacks in the future. And that is why, with this resolution, we are once again sending a clear message that we stand with Ukraine, for as long as it takes in its fight for freedom.

Dear Chair, I am pleased that the Commissioner started her speech by remembering the victims of the criminal attack by Hamas on 7 October last year, as just after that date anti-Semitism has risen significantly across Europe. Unfortunately, this wave of anti-Semitism has taken many academic circles, university campuses, right where our youth should be taught, formed in the spirit of democratic values, in the rejection of all forms of hatred, including in the rejection of anti-Semitism. Today, anti-Semitism is behind criticism of the state of Israel. Of course, it is perfectly legitimate to criticize the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, but when it is said that Israel is a genocidal state, and we heard this today from our colleague Sierra Sánchez, that Israel is a genocidal state, then what it is rather than supporting the destruction of Israel. Because if an entity is genocidal, then it no longer has the right to exist, if so, which is more than a new kind of anti-Semitism. This is unacceptable in the European Parliament.

Dear Chairman, I congratulate you once again on your election. We need our support for Ukraine to be permanent. Of course, this is support for our European values of democracy and freedom. There is no peace without justice and that is why we must say here: We need peace, but the price of peace cannot be territory. That would be a reward for the Russian aggressor. Therefore, as a man coming from a country that was a victim of aggression in the nineties, it is very important not to equate the aggressor with the victim. It is very important to accurately always take care not to reward the aggressor. And that is why I think that we need to send a clear message from this European Parliament and that we support the creation of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression. It is very important that we send a message that the aggressor will not be rewarded, that the aggressor will be punished and that must be our message today from Strasbourg.