Debate contributions by Nicolas BAY

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, our group of European Conservatives has always supported the withdrawal of this directive by the Commission, and our position remains unchanged. First of all, this proposal poses a major problem: it never clearly defines what is covered by the concept of discrimination. However, we know very well why the left is asking for this debate: it seeks to add more and more Wokist ideology to European law, under the guise of anti-discrimination. Next, it should be recalled that Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights already prohibits any discrimination based on, inter alia, ‘sex, race, colour and ethnic or social origin, religion, political opinion, disability, age or sexual orientation’. So a simple question: what additional discrimination would you like to see added to this directive? Moreover, the national laws of the Member States already provide protection against discrimination. In reality, you don't want to fight discrimination: you just want to blame or even discriminate against Europeans, whites, Christians, heterosexuals, under the guise of fighting against largely fantasized and imaginary discrimination, of which certain minorities would be the object.

Mr President, these things are beyond us, let us pretend to be the organisers: this adage could perfectly apply to the speech that President von der Leyen gave us earlier. Indeed, behind this discourse is the claim that the European Union, the European institutions, should intervene in all areas. Even though there is no common vision of the Member States and even though there is no strategic independence, especially on conflict resolution, whether in Gaza or between Ukraine and Russia. At the same time, we have a multiannual financial framework, an increasing budget of the European Union, and therefore an increasing contribution from the Member States, and especially from the States that are themselves net contributors: That is to say, more and more efforts for our citizens. We have a European Commission that is totally deaf to the aspirations of the peoples. Peoples demand the protection of borders: you refuse to finance physical barriers at our external borders. They call for our rural territories and our overseas territories to be respected because they are part of Europe’s influence: you delete the POSEI. They call for the protection of Europe’s identity: you continue to fund wrongly and through Oxfam, Femyso, Islamic Relief... all kinds of associations that seek to make an Islamist programme prevail. It is time for the European Commission to come out of its ivory tower and finally be connected to the aspirations of the people.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the spread of lumpy skin disease is another scourge that jeopardises farming and the balance of many farms. In France, every two days, a farmer commits suicide. In the face of this new health crisis, the only response from the state is strength and violence, where farmers expect dialogue, anticipation and effective health responses. We must not take lightly the slaughtering of whole livestock, which sometimes takes several decades to build up – as if farmers were not already suffering enough with the millefeuille of standards, constraints under the pretext of environmental costs that are as costly for them as they are inefficient for the real ecology, not to mention the unfair competition that you organise methodically by multiplying free trade agreements with the whole world. Our breeders expect an attentive ear, a proportionate response from the public authorities in the face of this epidemic, and they are received by CRS squadrons with a deluge of repressive means. Once again, the macronist state is both ruthless with our farmers and insensitive to their suffering, but at the same time it systematically gives in to the Commission, as it is preparing to do for Mercosur. As always: weak with the strong, strong with the weak. On the contrary, in order to combat this new crisis, it is essential to fully involve representatives of the agricultural sector in decisions, to adapt and simplify health protocols, to ensure the availability of vaccines and to ensure rapid and full compensation for losses. More than ever, the French public authorities and the European institutions must stand by the breeders in this ordeal. They only ask for one thing in substance: be respected and be able to live with dignity from their work.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, France and Europe are plagued by drug trafficking, and – it is no secret – this scourge is a direct threat not only to the health and safety of our fellow citizens, but also to the stability of our entire societies. On our continent, 40% of criminal networks and 50% of homicides are directly linked to drug trafficking. In France, drug-related violence left 110 people dead and 341 injured in 2024. Behind these figures are broken families, such as those of Mehdi Kessaci, and members of the security forces killed, such as during the escape of Mohamed Amra. They are also institutions that give in to corruption and entire neighborhoods taken hostage by these increasingly violent and organized criminal networks. This is the result of too many years of political and legal laxity; while drug trafficking thrives, it is the honest people who pay the high price. If we do not take strong action, we too are reduced to becoming a narco-state. What we are experiencing so far in France is just the beginning. If we are to avoid having to come to the radical but necessary measures of Mr. Bukele in El Salvador, we must raise the bar quickly. The European Union must designate drug cartels as terrorist organisations and cooperate with the countries of Latin America and the Maghreb to stop production. It also means denouncing regimes that turn a blind eye or even clearly support and protect these networks, such as Maduro's Venezuela, supported by a large part of the left in this Chamber. Drug trafficking is a major challenge for the stability and security of Europe. It is time to act without naivety, with total determination, for the security of our nations, our peoples and our youth.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, China controls more than 60% of the world's rare earths extraction and 90% of their refining. As we have known for a long time, it has a quasi-monopoly on resources in this area. These raw materials are essential for the production of a wide range of modern technologies, particularly in the automotive sector, semiconductor production and the defence industry. The restrictions put forward by China are therefore a real threat to many of our key sectors. The one-year suspension announced by Commissioner Šefčovič a few weeks ago must therefore be used to combat this Chinese monopoly. Let's use it to prepare our industry. So let's stop being naive. This situation is all the more unacceptable as the European Union has multiplied beneficial economic and trade agreements to the benefit of the Chinese ogre. There is now an urgent need for a strategic and long-term vision to ensure the sovereign development of our economy. We need to diversify our suppliers and therefore partner with other countries with rare earth resources to secure the supply of our industries.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, last Sunday, 19 October, the Louvre, the most visited and arguably one of the most illustrious museums in the world, was the victim of a burglary. Jewels of the French crown, worth an estimated 88 million euros, were stolen. This national shame, resulting from risky political choices and particularly questionable budgetary choices of the director of the Louvre museum, Laurence des Cars, is unfortunately not an isolated case in Europe. Therefore, in order to improve the security of our museums and preserve our cultural heritage, I propose the amendment to paragraph 34a as follows: Calls for the next multiannual financial framework to include, without increasing spending on culture as a whole, a budget line dedicated to the security of European museums and the restoration of the architectural and historical heritage of the Member States, in order to better protect the common cultural heritage of our civilisation;

Mr President,me von der Leyen has just spoken to us about 2026 prosperity and competitiveness. But it was she who stifled our competitiveness with her Green Deal. He had to green the European economy, he only makes it pale. Like Macron who gives in on his pension reform to stay in place, she is now unraveling her own achievements to save face. But it doesn't go far enough or fast enough. We urgently need to debureaucratize so that our companies can finally breathe. They must be freed from the regulatory and supposedly ecological straitjacket. 150 billion euros in administrative costs weigh on our European businesses today. This costs them up to 2.5% of their turnover. 60% of companies consider that regulation hinders their investments. 55% of SMEs consider that European environmental regulation is a major obstacle to their development. Similarly, we must leave our farmers alone. They are riddled with standards and, at the same time, free trade agreements with the whole world are being signed, at the very moment when the whole world is restoring customs protections. Europe must get out of this punitive logic to enter into a logic of pragmatism and economic efficiency. Clearly, today we urgently need more omnibus simplification to foster flexibility and innovation and fewer regulations, standards and bureaucracy.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we can obviously welcome the progress made by Donald Trump in the Middle East, the significant progress towards peace, the return of hostages, the return of bodies and a ceasefire, albeit fragile, but real. And we can a contrario regret, worry about seeing Europe totally absent while the Middle East is on our doorstep and we share with it the same civilizational sources. It is regrettable that Europe is totally absent from this conflict and above all from its resolution. The fight against Islamism, the fight against Hamas, against Daesh, against the Muslim Brotherhood, is a fighting unit that we must lead and that we must win both in the Middle East and on European soil. Finally, I would like to say that the far-left, far-left MEPs participating in the Gaza flotilla shame our Parliament, shame our nations and shame Europe with the kindness and connivance they express towards Hamas terrorists. On the other hand, I have just returned to Lebanon for a few days and I would like to say that we must not forget the Christians of the East. They are the forgotten ones of this conflict. I went to southern Lebanon, Christian villages were completely destroyed in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. We must support Lebanon and the Christians of the East.

Madam President, Prime Minister, you referred to a Europe of concentric circles to meet the challenge of agility and speed that European decision-making today requires in the international context. Indeed, we must stop wanting to do everything at 27. Effectiveness is also about respecting nations and their democratic choices, and freeing oneself from a kind of Brussels Jacobinism that characterizes the functioning of the European institutions. Some want to go even further with the end of unanimity, the end of the veto, that is to say, to again thwart nations and their democratic choices. You also mentioned debureaucratization. This is the top priority. We must continue and amplify the unravelling of the Green Deal, which is a real disaster for our industrialists, for our agriculture, and in general, for all our economic players. Just a few moments ago, and on a recurring basis, we often hear the reproach made to Luxembourg, your country, of being a tax haven. But the real problem today is that a number of European countries, starting with France, are a fiscal hell and that Europe has become a regulatory and normative hell. That is what must be ended. Finally, you mentioned border controls, but today it is a necessity. Why? Because Europe's external borders are sieves. They are sieves when it comes to immigration and goods, which creates unfair competition.

Mr President, we are talking about internet governance, but the internet needs to be protected more than governed. This space, while of course it can sometimes be misused, is above all a formidable tool for the freedom of citizens, the freedom to be informed, but also, and perhaps first of all, the freedom to express oneself. Now, what do we see now in France and in Europe? Well, we see the same willingness displayed by authoritarian governments to use the pretext of cybercrime to control populations. I am thinking for example of the scandalous Avia law that Emmanuel Macron wanted to vote a few years ago, or the hunt for so-called fake news which are often simply politically incorrect opinions. Today, our citizens are legitimately concerned about the CSAM regulation, dubbed "Chat Control", because some states want to take advantage of it to establish mass surveillance. The indispensable fight against child pornography must not be used as a pretext for censorship. How can we talk about governance when our own leaders, in Paris or Berlin, want to undermine privacy and control opinion? Europe is the civilisation of freedoms, the cornerstone of our democracies; Let us protect them at home before we give lessons to the whole earth.

Mr President, on 27 June, Donald Trump succeeded where the European Union failed, chairing a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We look forward to that, of course. The carnage taking place in the eastern provinces of the DRC is deeply destabilising an entire region. The crimes of the M23, supported by Kagame, and the Islamist abjections of the Group of the Alliance of Democratic Forces have not disappeared. Since the pro-Rwandan militia offensive, 7,000 people have died and 500,000 have been displaced. However, there is hope that Kinshasa’s sovereignty will cease to be abused in Kivu and that the Congolese will cease to be the atoning victims of European colonial repentance in the face of Kigali. I can only share with you my emotion when I think of all the victims of the Kasanga church, beheaded because they were Christians, last February, by the machete holders of Daesh in Central Africa. While the European Union had tolerated the plundering of the resources of many Congolese provinces by their neighbours, we should not be fooled by another reality. It is to compete with China, the beneficiary of a historic contract in Congo, that the US administration has just mobilized. It is therefore because the European Union has been ineffective that it will not benefit from any positive impact. Europe exchanges financial aid with Africa for migrants instead of seizing economic opportunities. The Democratic Republic of Congo, the second-largest French-speaking country in the world, must be a strong partner for European influence in Africa. Let us stop our blindness to Rwanda, and that will become possible again.

Madam President, war is on our doorstep. The world is always more unstable and we are wasting time. The Council has touched on a few hot issues that are essential to our interests and our security. Ukraine, first of all, for which a just and lasting peace must be achieved swiftly, which can only be achieved through balance of power and negotiation. We also welcome the announcement yesterday that President Trump has sent several Patriot defence systems. The Middle East, then. We will repeat it tirelessly, Israel has the right to defend itself by any means against Islamic terrorism and its threatening neighbors. It is imperative for the stability of the region and for the security of Europe that Iran and its mullahs regime never obtain nuclear weapons. On immigration, thanks to our Italian and Swedish allies, the Council is starting to open its eyes. Too late, too slow. We need partnerships with all our neighbours in the Mediterranean, modelled on what Giorgia Meloni is doing by outsourcing the management of migration flows in third countries. Our group, ECR, will be intransigent in the negotiations on the return regulation and the revision of the list of safe countries. Mass expulsions of illegal immigrants are now essential to protect Europeans. Finally, Mrs von der Leyen – as you mentioned a few moments ago, but you will be judged on the acts – regulatory simplification must be accelerated to free up our competitiveness. We must simplify procedures, reduce taxes, unravel the Green Deal to support our entrepreneurs in a global competition that has become fierce. Within a year, the right has already won a few victories in this Chamber. We have to go faster, further. Our autonomy and security depend on it.

You know, I think when we talk about children's rights, he's actually opposed to some kind of children's right, which was artificially built by LGBT lobbyists. We are told that we would have a right to the child, a right to adopt a child, etc. In reality, the fundamental rights of children are to protect them from propaganda. And in any case, we can. Again, these are democratic choices of sovereign nations. We can have different positions on that. And obviously, my dear colleague, we have a different view of these issues. But, in any case, Hungary is a sovereign nation, with democratic choices, with free elections, and it is on this basis that the Hungarians made choices. They're not yours, but you...

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the European Treaties make a clear distinction between the competences of the European Union and the competences of the Member States. Hungary’s 2021 legislation states that it is not possible to ‘promote’, I quote, ‘to minors homosexuality and gender change’. So, of course, everyone is free to agree or disagree with this law, but public order and the protection of minors are clearly national competences and the European Union therefore does not have to interfere. In addition, there are many examples of a ban on demonstrations in Europe: in France last January, agricultural demonstrations were banned; in Belgium, in 2024, a conservative conference was also banned. And there, we obviously did not hear the left and the progressives. Freedom of assembly is a fundamental freedom, but, of course, it is exercised within the framework of national laws. Moreover, so-called LGBT citizens, whom you very often reduce to their sexual practices, have the same rights as any other citizen. They do not constitute a superior caste and there is no justification for yielding to their demands, which are often far removed from the general interest. As the European Union achieves results in the areas it has been devolved to and as it ceases its permanent interference in the democratic choices of the...

Madam President, Commissioner, are you aware that this annual rule of law report is actually a joke that totally discredits the European institutions? Your report says, and I quote: Free, independent and pluralistic media are an essential element of the rule of law. Yet the Commission remains silent when the Tusk government shuts down opposition media outlets and has journalists expelled from their workplaces. The report says: The judiciary must be protected from political interference. But where is the Commission when the French justice system tries to prevent the candidate who is in the lead in the polls from running for the next presidential election? Where is Ursula von der Leyen when the Polish government dismisses judges and authoritarianly overturns court decisions? Finally, what is more important in a rule of law than guaranteeing free elections in our countries? But where was Brussels when, in Romania, the Constitutional Court simply annulled the presidential election on the grounds that it disliked the winner? In all these blatant cases, the Commission says nothing. It looks away, it acquiesces, in a double standard, which at the same time consists in fighting against Poland yesterday, against Hungary today. For you, the rule of law is not a democratic requirement, much less a moral one. It is simply a tool you use against patriotic and conservative governments.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, a few days ago Spain fell into the dark and Europe almost fell into chaos. Why? Because Mr Sánchez's Spanish socialist government wanted to play the best pupil in the European eco-class. In 15 years, Spain has gone from less than 30% to more than 50% of renewable energy and, of course, infrastructure has not followed suit. What prevented contagion on a continental scale, which ultimately saved Europe's electricity grid, was of course French nuclear power, which still accounts for more than 70% of our electricity mix. Because nuclear energy is reliable, controllable, therefore scalable and decarbonized. However, the European Commission sanctions France every year for failing to meet its renewable energy targets. This Iberian blackout should sound like a solemn warning to the ideologues and to the Commission. There is an urgent need to focus on nuclear power and a number of other energies that have the characteristic of being constant, such as geothermal energy. The unreasonable and unattainable objectives of the Green Deal, which almost plunged the whole of Europe into medieval darkness, must be urgently removed.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, one hundred and ten years since the Armenian people were subjected to a terrible genocide by Turkey, and the executioners have never recognised this genocide. Turkey and its vassal, Azerbaijan, still dream of rebuilding a great Ottoman empire and see Armenia and the Armenian people as an obstacle to this disastrous project. Their will has always been, without interruption, for one hundred and ten years, the outright annexation of Armenian territory and the outright eradication of the Armenian people. We have a duty of civilizational solidarity towards Armenia and Armenians. So, of course, the draft peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan is an undeniable hope. But let us not sin out of naivety: the latest requirements and conditions set by Azerbaijan show that there is probably a lot of hypocrisy and bad faith in Baku’s approach. We must now stand by the Armenians in practice, that is to say, make all political, economic and trade agreements – the customs union with Turkey, gas contracts with Azerbaijan – conditional on the two countries’ prior and indisputable recognition of Armenia’s territorial sovereignty and respect for the Armenian people.

Madam President, everything happens! Finally, Brussels sees that the Green Deal is a disaster for our competitiveness, our economy and our businesses. But you don't know how to get rid of it without losing face... Awareness is slow and action is even slower. Suspending the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive is not enough: It simply needs to be repealed. It is not a short respite that our businesses need, but freedom. They collapse, they suffocate under the administrative, declarative and fiscal burdens. In its conclusions, the Council calls for "efforts by States and regions". But let the EU start by removing the extravagant objectives of the Green Deal! We must put an end to gold-plating, to administrative and bureaucratic obesity, to all the balls you put at the feet of our entrepreneurs, our industrialists and our farmers. Without this, the European economy has no chance against its global competitors. It is necessary to simplify, to prune, to delete. To be competitive, Europe does not need a compass. Above all, it needs a chainsaw.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in connection with this resolution on the detention by Azerbaijan of Armenian hostages, including political leaders from Nagorno-Karabakh, you know that Baku has acknowledged and assumed to have carried out destabilization operations and interference, particularly in French overseas collectivities, in the West Indies and in New Caledonia, where the Baku regime seems to have played a decisive and active role in the riots that struck New Caledonia last May. I propose the following amendment: Strongly condemns the illegal detention of Armenian hostages by Azerbaijan as part of a wider campaign of subversive activities by the Government of Azerbaijan, which includes interference and destabilisation operations by the Government of Azerbaijan in Europe and in the EU overseas countries and territories;

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, 'simplification', 'protection' and 'competitiveness': one would think that the von der Leyen Commission is still in the election campaign, while forgetting that it will obviously be judged on the acts, not on the words. You claim to simplify: then, repeal the Green Deal and its procession of delusional standards, which are plaguing our industry, our businesses and our agriculture! You claim to protect the people: But give up the migration pact, which organises or aggravates the invasion of our continent! Do you want Europe to be competitive? Well, give up own resources, which add a European tax to a national tax that is often already confiscatory! In 100 days, you have already done exactly the opposite of what you are announcing: you insist on shutting down the engine by 2035; you are squandering public money, European money, wrongly subsidising migrants, LGBT activists or even pre-accession funds; you sign a free trade agreement with the Mercosur countries, which kills our agricultural sectors, such as sugar, poultry and beef. Listen at last to the wrath of the people! Radically change course! There are major upheavals going on in the world, and the risk today for Europe is to leave history.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner Brunner, for decades now Europe has been living in a time of urgency, and even chaos, of migration. Legal and illegal immigration combine, and today the loopholes in the current law and the Pact on Migration and Asylum, voted a few months ago, are such that 85% of expulsions that are pronounced by judges are not executed on the territory of the European Union. This new return regulation must include provisions of extreme firmness. First, abolish the distinction between safe and unsafe countries. Indeed, let us not forget one thing, however obvious: Those who are unsure are the migrants. Therefore, the question to which country they are returned should not be constantly asked. Secondly, direct financial aid, but also economic and trade agreements, must be conditional on the automatic readmission of illegal migrants, without waiting for a hypothetical consular pass. Detention and detention periods should be increased until effective expulsion. It takes bone and dental tests to put an end to the fake miners scandal. Clearly, we need political will, but we also need legal tools to protect our peoples. Those who enter or remain in Europe illegally must have only one certainty: They will sooner or later be expelled from our continent.

Madam President, criminal gangs are ravaging Sweden. After decades of irresponsibility and migratory laxity, the Swedish population is now paying the price of blood with two sad records: the first is that of being the first country in terms of firearm mortality in the whole of Europe, the second is that of having 20% of its population that is foreign, or two million immigrants out of ten million inhabitants. Sweden recently tried to change course under the leadership of the conservative right and the Swedish Democrats. We finally have a change of course and, now, we have the lowest number of asylum seekers in forty years in Sweden. But, of course, the situation is dramatic, and the situation in France is no better than in Sweden. Today, in the European Parliament, the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, comes to talk about the return directive. The Return Directive will only be really useful and effective for Europeans, for our nations and for our peoples if it allows for the simplification, fluidity and speed of expulsions: to ensure that all those who have entered Europe by trickery, break-in or laxity have only one certainty, that of being sooner or later expelled from Europe, with the impossibility of returning to it.