Speeches

Mr President, first, I want to thank all of my colleagues for their great cooperation on this important resolution. This urgent resolution proves that the European Parliament’s voice is strong and sound in defending human rights. Just one hour after the adoption of our plenary agenda on Monday, we received information that Dr Ibadoghlu had been released into house arrest. Great. However, this alone is not sufficient. I am honoured to welcome Zhala, his daughter, here in the European Parliament. She has been doing a tremendous job in raising awareness in international support for her father and other political prisoners is Azerbaijan. Thank you, Zhala, and welcome. I hope you will meet your father soon, once the travel ban has been lifted. This isn’t the first time we have demanded the release and a better condition and better medical care for Dr Ibadoghlu, whose life is at risk due to a lack of medical attention. He needs urgent surgery abroad, which is still not possible due to the travel ban. We call for the immediate release of all other political prisoners, such as Ilhamiz Guliyev and hundreds of others, including ethnic Armenian in Baku. To stress our point, we call again on the Commission to consider suspending the strategic partnership with Azerbaijan in the energy sector. We know how sensitive this issue is, but we are convinced that the EU cannot have strong relations with a country that is continuously violating human rights. Any further partnership agreements must be conditioned on the release of all political prisoners and the improvement of the overall human rights situation in the country. Thank you for supporting this important resolution.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the proposals put forward by the Commission for the production of plant reproductive material and forest reproductive material are important, but they are far from meeting the expectations of the professional public. I would like to thank my colleagues, Mr Dorfmann and others who worked on the European Parliament's report and tried to respond to the shortcomings of the Commission's proposal and to the criticism of the professional public. Among the shortcomings that have unfortunately not been remedied are, for example, the short deadline for implementing the regulation, the large number of provisions that empower the Commission to adopt delegated acts, for which we do not really know yet what form they will take and what concrete impact they will have, the abolition of the current category of commercial persons, the threat to the system of protection of rights and the associated negative impact on the production and use of certified propagating material. In short, the proposal is liberal in terms of certification, but very strict in terms of labelling. I could mention other concerns, such as phytosanitary impacts. In any case, the proposed legislation represents an increase in the administrative and financial burden for seed producers. Today, these producers are guarantors of quality and a wide range of products. Unfortunately, some shortcomings have not been remedied by the amendments adopted, as this is a conceptual shortcoming of the Commission proposal. I would like to call on the Commission to take greater account of the views of the professional public when drafting legislation, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises and seed producers in this case.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I cannot dedicate my last one-minute speech in this mandate to anyone other than the severely tried Ukraine. This week we finally got the good news from the US Congress, which decided to support Ukraine in the amount of $61 billion. To je jasný signál celému světu, ale také nám, Evropské unii, protože právě nás Ukrajina v posledních týdnech naléhavě prosí, abychom poslali na Ukrajinu systémy protivzdušné obrany. That is also why we called on the European Council to do so without delay, and until the Member States send this assistance to Ukraine, the European Parliament will not give its consent to the closure of the accounts. Unfortunately, the European Council has not yet taken a decision last week and so have the foreign ministers today. I appreciate that Germany has subscribed to this initiative. But there are other European countries that have these systems, and no one understands why they are still waiting, what they are waiting for. We need an answer to those who send their sons to the front, who die for us... (The President took the floor)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the welfare of farm animals is important for animals, but also for us, for people, for consumers. There is only one health, healthy nature, healthy animals and healthy people, so living in good conditions will be good for farm animals and it will be good for us, for people. It is also about a level playing field in the internal market. Member States, such as The Czech Republic has abolished cage breeding of laying hens since 2027. We expected the Commission to keep its promise of new legislation, but the Commission made a mistake. Unfortunately, it did not succeed in presenting such complex legislation, but it made the mistake of not even presenting a partial revision, e.g. the Directive on the conditions of protection of laying hens of 1999. It is an old directive, 25 years old, and could already begin to work in new conditions, that is, to improve the rearing of laying hens. I hope it succeeds.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I voted against the inclusion of this debate and I am against the so-called right to abortion because I am in favour of the right to life. Abortion is death. It is the killing or killing of a life that develops in the mother's body. And it doesn't matter, dear colleague, if the life is one day or nine months. There is no biological difference. Nevertheless, Member States allow abortion because there are situations where women find themselves in a very difficult health or critical social situation. And abortion is sometimes the starting point, but it is the competence of the Member States and we must not take it away from them. And let me also say that they do not condemn anyone, because it is the role of the family, of society, to create conditions for women, so that they do not have to make such decisions, so that they can give priority to life. That's what this is about.

Mr President, dear colleagues, Commissioner, after returning to power, the Taliban took over all aspects of everyday life through the immediate implementation of Sharia. It means the withdrawal of the country and human rights back to the barbaric age: flogging, stoning and public executions. On 23 March, Afghanistan’s schools will reopen for the new academic year. This will mark the third year that girls will not be allowed to attend school. This is just the tip of the iceberg in the systematic process of elimination of girls and women from public life. We praise the courage of Afghan women and civil society. We call for immediately restoration the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in public life, particularly access to education and work. The Afghan so-called authorities must abolish capital punishment and halt public executions and other inhuman punishment.

Mr President, let me reiterate our strongest condemnation of the barbaric attacks by Hamas on Israel. Israel has the right to defend itself against this terrorist organisation. Hamas is still holding a number of hostages, including women, elderly and the wounded. It is Hamas which refuses to release them and rejects the six-week ceasefire that is on the table, and instead favours continuing the war. In Gaza, we see humanitarian disaster. Almost 16% of children in Gaza are already suffering from acute malnutrition. Families have been drinking unsafe water for months and spend the days without eating. They are being used as human shields. So we demand immediate release of the hostages. This should be followed by the reconstruction of infrastructure to prevent the worsening of the catastrophic famine.

Madam President, dear colleagues, this discussion is because we want to stop the spread of this misinformation. So, this is the reason for this discussion: to stop to spread disinformation, propaganda – Putin’s propaganda – as previous colleagues said. Paní předsedající, dámy a pánové, já neumím odpovědět na to, proč je zde Putin. Proč je zde zase někdo, kdo unáší děti stejně jako kdysi Hitler? Valerie se v 15 letech ocitla u babičky na okupovaném území. Dostala se na území Ruska a myslela si, že bude studovat na střední škole. Ale brzy zjistila, že z ní Rusko chce udělat Rusku. Měla zapomenout na Ukrajinu. Měla zapomenout na svoji maminku, svůj ukrajinský jazyk. Pokusila se vrátit, ale povedlo se jí to až na potřetí a dosud na to nevzpomíná ráda. Ale dnes je šťastná. Je tady s námi. Je šťastná, protože se jí to podařilo. Kolika tisícům dětí se to nepodařilo? Zejména mladší děti nejsou schopny se spojit se svými rodiči či opatrovníky a vyhledat pomoc. Putin je rychlejší, dětem vydává ruské občanství, mění jejich identitu tak, aby nebylo už možné je vyhledat a vrátit. Zkrátka čas tady hraje proti nám, a proto bylo tak důležité mít tuto diskuzi s Komisí a s Radou ještě dnes. Ukrajina potřebuje naše zbraně, aby se ubránila ruské přesile. To je zásadní úkol pro dnešek. Ale nesmíme zapomenout na ukrajinské děti, protože to je budoucnost. Evropský parlament vyzval k pomoci ukrajinským dětem již v září 2022 a tehdy jsme žádali Mezinárodní výbor Červeného kříže, aby využil své pravomoci. Rusko 2 roky brání Mezinárodnímu výboru Červeného kříže, aby konal své poslání. I to musí vědět mezinárodní veřejnost. Dámy a pánové, já děkuji za vaši spolupráci, za to, že hlas Evropského parlamentu je slyšet, a my musíme spojit své síly s Komisí, s Radou, s ukrajinskou vládou. Sláva Ukrajině! Pravda a láska zvítězí.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, I will admit that what you have said here has not been comprehensible to me, because the situation is very serious in view of the situation where farmers are protesting against imports of Ukrainian grain and grain from third countries. We know that the European Union is self-sufficient in grain production. We do not need to import grain from Russia. This means that we must stop imports from Russia when we regulate imports from Ukraine. The European Union must not be naive and open to trade with Russia in both grain and other foods, because for Russia it is only a new tool to fight the European Union. I think you know that imports into the European Union increased to 1.5 million tonnes of grain from Russia between 2022 and 2023. We just don't need it here, and it's unacceptable to us. So it is our duty to stop these activities. I expect the European Commission to support the proposals of Member States such as Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Poland, and I expect the European Commission to present an EU-wide ban on the import of Russian and Belarusian food and agricultural products into the European Union. There's just no other way. That's the time. So, Commissioner, I hope that this expectation will be met.

Madam President, I would like to explain my support for the vote on geographical indications for wines, spirits and agricultural products. I welcome the agreement on this regulation, which introduces uniform provisions for all commodities, and I believe that the regulation will contribute to better protection of quality agricultural products, namely to preventing the illegal use of geographical indications not only offline, but also online, and to the protection of geographical indications for products that are also used as ingredients. I also appreciate the emphasis on protecting the wine sector, which is also covered by geographical indications. Wine protection will remain under the Single CMO Regulation with reference to the Geographical Indications Regulation.

You did not ask me a question, but you invited me to visit Gaza. You've named a lot of problems, but I've named it. These problems are because they have built Gaza into a fortress, a terrorist fortress for Hamas, and unfortunately it is very sad. But then the women, the children who live in this fortress, are being shelled by those who want to end this terrorist violence. I've been to Israel, I know Israel, and I know it's a democratic, peaceful country. She is very close to us and therefore has the right to defend herself.

Mr President, it has been almost five months since Hamas attacked Israel. Five months of violence and thousands of lives lost. We all know that Israel has the right to self-defense against terrorist attacks by Hamas. The call for peace is certainly appropriate, but I ask, how does Hamas respond to it? When will Hamas release the hostages? Unconditionally, because it was he who took these hostages, who abused them! How long will Hamas continue to take the lives of Israelis and Palestinians hostage? The crisis in Gaza is the work of those who have made Gaza a fortress of Hamas. Hamas is responsible for the crisis in Gaza. And I ask, how much longer will Palestinian women and children under Hamas have to suffer? International efforts for peace and the release of hostages are, of course, on the ground, but Hamas's hatred of Israel is preventing the agreement. Can we expect Israel to just give up its defense, to let itself be attacked? Israel reacted to violence and hatred against Israel. And if you ask the citizens, then they say – and I agree with them – that we are supposed to help humanitarianally, but not to send money to terrorists. And UNRWA is far from being the only charity. At this point, I want to thank the International Committee of the Red Cross for helping. Therefore, if humanitarian aid, then only thanks and through recognized international organizations. (The speaker agreed to answer the blue card question.)

Thank you for answering the blue card question. Zdá se mi, že ve svém vystoupení často zaměňujete příčiny a důsledky. Vy říkáte, že my, Evropská unie, jsme neudělali nic pro to, abychom pomohli obětem tohoto násilí. And I want to ask you, what did Hamas do? Co udělal Hamás pro to, aby zastavil násilí? Why didn't Hamas release the hostages? That would solve everything.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, teachers are key actors in education. They decide whether children get a good relationship to school, to learning, but also to life. Jan Amos Comenius, a teacher of nations, said that ‘school should be the workshop of humanity’. This is true today, as it was more than three hundred years ago, but teachers are now given a much greater claim as society changes. That is why teachers need to be adequately motivated and valued financially – the 150% they are entitled to, 150% of the salary level compared to the average in a company’s salary valuation, that is the basis, this cannot be abandoned – but also socially. What can we do at EU level? We are to support Member States in preparing these conditions for teachers. The European Union has an Erasmus programme, the Commissioner mentioned it here, and I think our aim should be for every future teacher to benefit from the Erasmus programme. I even think that he should have used the capacity of this programme to ensure that every future teacher has experience of the school system in the European Union for his professional growth and for building European belonging.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today we voted on the rule of law and media freedom in Greece, and I did not support this resolution. I intended to vote in favour of the resolution tabled by my colleague Elissaveta Vozemberg, but that was no longer the case in the vote. The resolution adopted, which was therefore approved by some colleagues, especially from left-wing parties, is just another political attack against the government associated with the European People's Party in Greece and the Prime Minister of Greece. The resolution is far from an objective description of the actual situation. It contains a number of unsubstantiated allegations and does not recognise the progress made by the Council of Europe in protecting the freedom of the media and journalists as an example of good practice by the Greek government. Greece, like all Member States, must take the calls of the Commission and other organisations seriously.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we adopted today a resolution on Norway's recent decision to move forward with seabed mining in the Arctic. I, along with many of my colleagues, supported this resolution. In the resolution, we call on the Commission and the Member States to promote an international moratorium on deep seabed mining until its impacts on the marine environment, biodiversity and human activities are sufficiently explored. The decision of the Norwegian Parliament does not and cannot imply an automatic permit for mining activities, as the first mining plans must be approved again. I believe that Norway will respect the international moratorium and treaties relating to the protection of the marine environment.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today was a very important day for the European Union, because we have taken the first step towards enabling European scientists, farmers, to use new genomic techniques to obtain new crop varieties. We have the position of the European Parliament, voted for by 307 Members, and we have a large majority of those who support this proposal. This means that we will be able to negotiate with the Member States and reach an agreement perhaps even in this mandate. It is about having crops that are profitable and that ensure food security even in the face of the major impacts of climate change, such as drought, disease, climate fluctuations. All of this is causing major problems for farmers. This way we will be able to face them better.

Mr President, fellow Members, while most of the world celebrated Christmas, 200 Christians were massacred in Nigeria. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. In 2023, around 5,000 Christians were killed worldwide because of their faith, 90% of them in Nigeria. Over the past 15 years, more than 52,000 Christians have lost their lives in Nigeria, thousands of churches and hundreds of schools have been burned down. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the worst place in the world for Christians is Nigeria. The European Parliament unequivocally condemns the violence targeting Christians and we call on the Nigerian authorities to act without delay. Commissioner, the European Union has a partnership with Nigeria, supporting Nigeria in its development agenda. However, such support must be conditional on respect for human rights and the safeguarding of freedom of religion. We therefore invite you to take action.

Mr President, colleagues, on 16 September 2023, protests throughout multiple cities in Iran erupted to commemorate one year after Mahsa Amini’s death. One of the protesters was also Mohammad Ghobadlou. This was enough for the Iranian regime to execute him over the death of a local official during mass demonstrations. The death sentence was preceded by unfair trials marked by torture and abuse of his mental condition. The death sentence was preceded, as I said, and he is one of at least 54 people who have been executed during the last month. Iran must cease these inhuman practices and release all those on death row, as well as other political prisoners. Among them are also EU nationals Ahmad Reza Djalali and Johan Floderus. So, we condemn Iran’s brutal repression and call for an independent, transparent investigation.

Mr President, dear colleagues, the last debate we had on the worsening situation of political prisoners in Belarus was in December. Again, persecutions escalate. Now Lukashenka’s regime is systematically targeting family members of political prisoners, mostly wives and mothers. We again urge Lukashenka to release all political prisoners, their families and the detained persons. Moreover, Lukashenka’s regime has been involved in a forced transfer of Ukrainian children, which is a war crime. Same as Putin, we need to treat Lukashenka also as a war criminal. At this point, it is clear that the upcoming Belarusian election will not meet worldwide standards. That is why we call on the EU, its Member States and the international community not to recognise the results. The High Representative and the Council need to impose stronger sanctions on the Lukashenka regime. We will learn something from Putin’s war: the sanctions are working.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, according to the World Economic Forum report on global risks for 2024, the biggest global risk to be expected is the spread of disinformation. And it's the social platforms where people live, where they get information. Most major digital platforms do not implement the measures they have voluntarily committed to in the Code of Practice on Disinformation. This at least follows from the review of the European fact-checking network. And unfortunately, it turns out that this voluntary framework is not working, which is why I am very happy that we have the DSA, our European law, in which we place great hopes that it will be enforced and that it will be binding on large digital platforms. That is why I appreciate the step taken by the European Commission, which has launched proceedings against Platform X and wants to enforce its liability under the DSA. It must be done in the interests of democracy and the security of citizens. And when someone talks about freedom, it's freedom, but it's also responsibility. Responsible for what happens next. Protecting the safety of children. Go explain it to the parents of the children who are committing suicide. So Mr Musk, Mr Zuckerberg – responsibility.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, water is life and it is a strategic raw material, so we must address its availability. Although water on Earth is not diminishing, its quality and availability are changing. The European Commission notes that it expects the availability of water resources to deteriorate even further. It is right for the European Commission to carry out monitoring, and I would like to ask the Commissioner whether he also coordinates monitoring with the Member States. In the Czech Republic, we have a very well-functioning Intersucho project, which continuously informs about water supply, soil saturation and is very well used by farmers. Farmers are very affected by the drought. It loses billions of profits in the event of drought, especially for crops that depend on water in the summer – grain, maize. So what am I missing? What was not mentioned here? Is there enough solution? What can we do? Retaining water in the landscape is an essential thing not only for farmers, but also for us, the citizens. And then the reaction of new technologies. Tomorrow, we will vote on new genomic techniques that can help farmers overcome these impacts.

Thank you for letting me ask you this question. You have publicly stated here that this is a deception of consumers who will not know by what breeding practices specific crops have been achieved. But that's not true. You know very well that the seeds will be registered. It will be possible to find out how the crop was bred, and this registration will be absolutely obvious. I would like to ask you if you are aware that this is the content of the legislation, so it is not true that the origin of the crop will not be traceable.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we are faced with an important decision on a regulation regulating the use of new breeding practices in agriculture. We need to stop the train that's missing us. Europe is the cradle of genetic research. Thanks to this, we have cancer drugs today, we have insulin, we have vaccines, we can fight off insidious diseases. Thanks to conventional breeding, our farmers have profitable varieties, but they know that we need new varieties and we need them quickly, otherwise we will not be able to face the effects of climate change and competition. We don't want to go back to GMOs. On the contrary, we want to stop the import of millions of tons of GMO soy and GMO corn from North and South America. We don't want to be associated with it. The difference is absolutely crucial. New genomic techniques only work with targeted gene changes, without the introduction of foreign genetic material. This brings us back to the natural processes of crossbreeding thanks to the CRISPR/CAS genetic scissors method in a targeted and very fast manner. I want to thank the Commission for a very good proposal and I want to thank for the cooperation in AGRI and ENVI for the benefit of improving the proposal in the area of labelling, verification and patenting. The only thing left to do is to let this proposal enter into negotiations with the Member States so that we can pass the new legislation in this mandate.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Ukraine has shown us enormous resilience in the fight for the freedom of its country. Thousands of young men have fallen, but they will not be forgotten. Likewise, hundreds of athletes who defended their homeland and died or were injured and were unable to participate in the Olympic Games will not be forgotten. We know their faces. Perhaps at least their photographs will be symbolically exhibited in Paris. It is unacceptable that their killers can compete in Olympic competitions. That is why we call for a ban on their participation in the Olympics in Paris. Not even the thousands of children Putin had dragged to Russia for re-education and russification will be forgotten. We will help them return home to Ukraine even faster. Russia must not steal children. Today's debate in the European Parliament has shown our determination to defend Ukraine in its fight for freedom. And we must persevere so that all the victims are not in vain.