Debate contributions by Charlie WEIMERS

Madam President, across Europe, the fight against migrant smuggling and human trafficking demands results, not just regulations. The message from police officers who deal with these crimes daily is clear: the challenge is not a lack of EU structures; it's national tools not being fully used. Confiscation laws exist but aren't enforced. Intelligence flows too slowly. Financial crime units are underused. That's why the Commission's original plan for a major expansion of Europol's operational powers was the wrong path and thankfully the trilogue scaled it back. Instead of drifting toward federalised policing, let's double down on what works: fast moving intelligence, joint operations like EncroChat and stronger financial tracing. Europol does have a vital role, but it must support – not replace – national forces. Effective policing starts at home with the right priorities and political will.

Thank you for your comment. Now, the European Commission, during the previous mandate, had a Commissioner named Ylva Johansson, who happened to be from my country. She said Europe needs migration, and we need to have forced solidarity – which is to dictate policy from Brussels. And I do think that if Sweden gets the opportunity to work with the problems that we have without any further mass migration, we will improve our country. But if we keep on accepting migrants year after year, there will be no room for integration nor assimilation. So what I'm afraid of is parallel societies, segregation, violence, gangs. And you should come to Sweden, because it's a real problem. Welcome to my country from here, the ivory tower.

It's my birthday! I get to debate a lot! (Interjection: Happy birthday! Thank you, thanks. Madam President, Very good, Mr. Sieper. Please, nice.

My point is, Mr Sieper, that the European Union is establishing a system of redistribution, redistribution of migrants, and Sweden can take no more migrants from other parts of the world. Luckily, the system allows for Member States to opt out of this redistribution scheme, and Sweden will certainly use that option. So what I'm talking about is not in breach of EU law, but it is a challenge to the idea that Brussels should take the right to allocate migrants to our countries and dictate the futures of our countries. That's what it is.

Madam President, so, according to a report from the Commission, everything is fine in Sweden now. We're under no migratory pressure. Sweden should take in the migrants Europe's frontier countries don't want. And yes, you can adopt your migration pacts. You can publish your reports and launch your migration management cycles. You can propose your first solidarity pool of migrant quotas to be redistributed. But let me be very clear: if the Sweden Democrats and our partners win the elections next year, there will be zero migrants redistributed to Sweden. None. Nada. Noll. Your report claims Sweden is not under migratory pressure, Mr Commissioner. Herr Brunner, have you visited Sweden's migrant ghettos? Bergsjön, Rinkeby, Rosengård? Because if you did, you'd understand how detached from reality on the ground this redistribution discussion actually is.

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, the centre-right majority is ready to work with you on combating illegal migration. You had our support on the visa suspension mechanism. Now we expect results on the Return Regulation. So why are you opening the door to migration from Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt with so-called talent partnership and student visas? Who abuses our welfare systems? Who commits crime? Who become the terrorists? Is it the Europeans or could it be migrants from North Africa and the Middle East? And when they are ordered home, their governments refuse to take them back. Twenty years of negotiations with Morocco: still no readmission deal. When will you understand? We don't want more migration – not illegal, and certainly not from North Africa and the Middle East, legal or not!

Mr President, Commissioner, Swedish voters did not elect me to give away their votes to Brussels. Yet that is exactly what this report proposes; removing national veto powers and centralising decision-making far from the people. Here is why: can you explain to Swedish voters why we should grant EU membership to a country that hosts terrorists, fuels organised crime and drives migration into Europe. Can you convince them that EU citizenship should be handed to 85 million Muslims? Can you persuade Swedish taxpayers that they must pay even more into Brussels? Of course not – that is why you want to take away Sweden's sovereignty. I was sent here to defend Swedish democracy, not to dismantle it, and that is why I vote no. Sweden first – always.

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, migrant-fuelled drug gangsters flaunt stolen wealth: Lamborghinis, watches, designer bling. Every time I see them, I think, 'They steal from us, they poison our children, they murder with impunity'. No longer. In Sweden, if a gangster cannot prove legal income, the state takes it. Cars, watches, clothes, even villas – over 200 cases this year, millions seized. Imagine the message it sends when a gang boss is pulled over in his Porsche and, minutes later, must walk home with his girlfriend after police seized the car. That is deterrence. Police are the front line. They must be at the heart of Europe's strategy. And I've been waiting to say this: Sweden shows the way.

Mr President, Commissioner, the 2035 ban on combustion engines was never about the climate. It was about Brussels. It was about you. You politicians know better than engineers, better than workers, better than the market itself. Tell you what: factories are closing not because of Beijing, but because of Brussels. The EPP now admits the ban was a mistake. (The speaker gave a slow handclap) The EPP leads the way? Really? To what? To where? Ah, but the EPP Chair, Manfred Weber, promised Europeans the end of the combustion engine phase‑out. When? We have a centre‑right majority. Why are you so afraid to use it? Forget about the extensions, the reviews and revision. End the 2035 combustion engine ban! Let's go!

Madam President, Mr Commissioner, why are we having this debate? Because Jihad, an alleged rapist and 'British' citizen, attacked a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur; because two 'Germans' – Abed and Ahmad – and a Lebanese national plotted attacks against Jewish sites; because across Europe, 'peaceful' protesters are chanting 'Free Palestine', the new 'Allahu Akbar'. What they are really saying is 'death to the Jew'. Why is this happening? As Jimmie Åkesson says, if you import the Middle East, you get the Middle East. The Middle East: the most antisemitic region in the world. What should we do, then? Deny citizenship, reject asylum, mass deportations.

Madam President, thank you very much. When the imam in Kristianstad preached about how men best beat their wives, many were shocked. Politicians who in other contexts ticked and bowed when they met representatives of mosques linked to the Muslim Brotherhood were now really upset. That's good. But the debate must not stop there, because the imam actually quoted the Qur'an. What he said is sadly mainstream in Islam. Those who do not believe me can watch Swedish Television, their review from 2012, when imams urged a young woman who said she had been beaten to not go to the police. On the contrary, she would apologise to the wife abuser. The hijab is an expression of this institutionalized subordination in Islam. It is time for us in Europe to choose whether we want to continue legitimising it or whether we actually want to protect freedom. It should be the latter. The European Parliament should be at the forefront of freedom by banning hijab on our premises.

Madam President, Commissioner Brunner, colleagues, suspend visa free access for Israelis? Over two million Jews have already left Europe, not by choice, but because open borders, indulgence of Islamist hatred and soft-on-crime policies created the perfect breeding ground for anti-Semitism. And now some social democrats suggest Jews should need a visa just to visit the continent their families fled. That is posturing, not policy. Every year, around 150 million visa-free entries are made into the EU. Those who overstay, apply for asylum or commit crime are abusing that privilege. Visa free access is for tourism and business, not to live off European taxpayers. One in four asylum applications comes from visa free nationals, and the Commission itself admits that half of illegal migrants first entered legally. Sweden's present presidency under the Tidö government pushed to strengthen the mechanism and make it easier to suspend access. But what good is it to keep revising tools if we never activate them? Unless we use this mechanism, no one will take the EU seriously.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, should we have a debate on Greta's Gaza grifting boat? I think not. I urge colleagues to vote against this stunt from the Greens and the Left. They call it the humanitarian mission. There were more selfie sticks than actual aid on those boats. Even the organisers couldn't unite. The coordinator, Khaled Boujemâa, resigned over LGBT activists on board. What a perfect symbol of progressive incoherence: preaching tolerance while heading to Hamas‑run Gaza that jails or executes them. Chicken for KFC coming home to roost, I suppose. And the hypocrisy peaks here. Egypt too is imposing a blockade on Gaza for the same reason: to stop arms smuggling. On that, what do we hear from the left? Crickets. Maybe we should have a debate about Green‑Left MEPs turning the Mediterranean into a gadget dump ...

Madam President, dear colleagues, the murder of political activist Charlie Kirk – a husband, loving father and patriot – has shocked the world. We must strongly condemn political violence and rhetoric that incites violence. Please stand with me in reflection and prayer in his honour. I yield the rest of my time for a moment of silence.

Mr President, a parent's worst nightmare: your little girl never arrives home. You search the streets. Your fear turns to panic. You see the police blockade. Your worst fears are confirmed. She's found in the woods, brutally raped, bound and strangled with her own shoelaces. Luna, a beautiful nine-year-old girl, lived through this nightmare. Now she has irreversible brain damage and is unable to care for herself. She is a victim of mass migration. And why? The predator that attacked her, a teenage migrant, had already assaulted a woman and groped classmates. The authorities knew, yet did nothing. As a father of four young daughters, my duty is to protect my wife and my children. As legislators, our solemn duty is to protect Europeans. And to those of you that deny the link between migration and safety for women: how many more? Luna, Lola, Liana, Elin, Lisa, Alexandra, Saga, Philippine, Mia and Adriana. How many more will there have to be before you at least care?

Madam President, President von der Leyen, it's great to see you here. Last year you fled the Chamber after half an hour – much like public trust in your leadership has fled. Now, six in ten Europeans want you to resign. And who can blame them? You buried Europe under a mountain of regulations and danced to the tune of the Green-Left choir, while industry crumbled and taxpayers bled. You came in promising unity, and delivered debt and division. You claim to defend democracy but side-lined it with centralisation. You spoke of competitiveness while pushing businesses out of Europe. And don't take my word for it, Frau von der Leyen: ask your own party members revolting against your unrealistic 2040 climate target. They know it would destroy our industry. Colleagues, you saw a President of the European Commission taking a victory lap on a track she helped burn down. Europe deserves better. It's time to resign!

Madam President, thank you very much. Dear Prime Minister Frederiksen, For many years Denmark has been a role model for us Swedes. Your pragmatism, your pride in the nation and your willingness to stand up for Danish interests inspired. You said no to mass immigration long before everyone else did. You demanded a sober EU budget. That was good. But now we see another picture. You are embracing a larger EU budget. You take the easy way. Spending other people's money is probably the easiest thing to do. Real leadership is about prioritising and resolving Brussels' inefficiencies. Madam Prime Minister! Six years ago, you called the EU budget completely miserable. Absolutely right. As before, I use the term "compromising" like a Swede. The country that always votes yes never vetoes – the judges of Europe. Compromising as a Swede, would you really be remembered for that too, Madam Prime Minister?

Mr President, colleagues, the EU can't protect its borders, it can't return migrants and what we can't afford to pay, we borrow from future generations. So why are we adding more states to the mess? You call it enlargement; you say we're exporting stability – I say we're importing instability. Let's look at the Balkans' candidates: Bosnia is ready to implode; Serbia and Kosovo are one spark away from open conflict; Albania looks for money in Brussels, but they look to an authoritarian Islamist regime for direction. What regime? Türkiye – another candidate country. And the EU solution: not to fix the problems, but to make it easier to ignore Member States that say no. You don't build an extension while the house is burning – you put out the fire first.

Mr President, thank you very much. Rain – what else to call it when MEPs come together to debate how the EU will win the global tech race? It's not enough to say "innovation" ten times, "growth" 20 times and "competitiveness" 100 times while this house passed 13,000 new rules in five years. Now we are talking about simplification of the rules, and you know that we voted on it in the last session. Sustainability reporting: out of 1,184 points, 25% was dropped and you want to sell it as a simplification of the rules? It's worse than a bad car dealer. What is needed is a clean-up of bureaucracy. There is no need for more politically controlled money for projects that you happen to like, there is a need for private capital, there is a need for shorter lead times in the processes of starting a business and obtaining permits in order to develop a product. This is how we get startups to stay in Europe instead of moving to the US, for example.

Mr President, Commissioner Brunner, your predecessor Ylva Johansson's internal security strategy failed. Migrant crime, bombings, shootings and radical Islam is Europe's new normal. Across open borders, thieving gangs move freely, plundering Swedish farms and families. I therefore welcome your more pragmatic, security-first approach that builds on strict border controls and increased returns of migrants. Now say it slow so the left can scribble it down in their feelings journal: we need mass deportations. That's how we restore safety to our streets. It's time for those who talk about safe streets to deliver. More community centres, social programmes and mass surveillance are the distractions of the left. They're banning ninja swords, but keeping the ninjas. Ignore them and let's make Europe safe again.

Madam President, Commissioner, the ongoing mass migration to Europe is unsustainable. Member States realise this. They want the prevention and countering of illegal migration, more returns of migrants who should not be in Europe and designation of safe third countries to enable the return of more individuals. They want to secure the border. All of these demands are reasonable and could find a majority in this House if you look at the election manifestos of the groups. But, friends, we are facing a litmus test quite soon. As the European Parliament takes a position on return policy, we must address the fact that eight out of ten with deportation orders remain in Europe. If we agree on the deliverance of this policy, we can actually get a forceful return regulation together with the Council. But for that to happen, the Christian Democrats need to work with us conservatives. (The President cut off the speaker)

Madam President, thank you very much. Let me explain why it is so important that illegal immigrants are actually deported. An effective return policy saves lives! Football fans Kent Persson and Patrik Lundström, who were murdered by an Islamist in Brussels, would have been alive today if Belgium expelled Abdesalem Lassoued to Tunisia. Carola Herlin and her son Emil would not have been stabbed to death at Ikea by Eritrean Abraham Ukbagabir if he had been sent home when asylum was not granted. Eleven-year-old Ebba Åkerlund would have been alive if Rakhmat Akilov had been deported to Uzbekistan. The same goes for those who recently died in Munich. Now we can honor their memory by tightening the return rules considerably. The right-wing majority must ignore the protests of the left. Return rules need to be tightened before more Europeans are exposed to lethal migrant violence. Today, 80% of those to be deported remain in the EU. Law and order must be restored, and my message as the ECR chief negotiator is clear. We are ready to contribute to it.

Madam President, Europe's security isn't built on words, it's guaranteed by firepower. Strong national defences are key. I believe we can cooperate, we can scale up production, without surrendering national control. REARM Europe is a start, but without real output, it's just words. We need bullets, drones, missiles streaming quickly, unimpeded by delays. Last year we produced 500 artillery shells. Ukraine burns through that in two months. Scaling up – experts say years. We don't have years. Bureaucracy kills. Delays kill. Either we act or we fail. Ukraine needs firepower now. Tanks, jets, not just applause. Drop the taboos – landmines, cluster bombs – because Russia has no red lines. It's time to turn plants into production, factories into force. Support Ukraine now. Peace through strength now.

Mr President, don't do drugs. Then you might end up in a fairyland where your own disastrous failures are projected on others. A fantasy world in which those who have been right so far are being called 'far right'. No matter how much 'copium' or 'woke‑amin' the socialist green left snorts, injects and inhales, you will never escape from your economically illiterate, innovation-choking, debt-addicted, productivity‑killing, competitiveness-crushing greentopia. No pain, no gain? The Green Deal is all pain, delusional gain. EVs? Costly cars we cannot all simultaneously charge. Industry? Exodus. Solar panels, EVs, batteries all dominated by China – and you think China will keep their promises on emissions? Quit taking 'delusional'. Champagne socialists and the famous political centre have controlled the EU for 30 years. The result? Germany and France are the sick man of Europe, and Europe is the sick man of the world.

Well, I think that the European Commission should do like we did in Sweden: we replaced the word 'renewables' with the word 'fossil‑free', because we knew that industry, competitiveness demands a baseload energy production, meaning nuclear. The Commission has not yet understood that, but they will unleash new goals for renewables, new targets, making us even more uncompetitive. So this must be done as soon as possible, and I hope that the EPP will push for that. We stand ready to work with you to make policies sane again.