Debate contributions by Davor Ivo STIER

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.