Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, I must say that I am very glad that we have come up with this subject, but, as was said here, if it took 10 years to keep discussing finding an instrument, I hope it will not take another 10 years until we apply it. Because, you see, we had discussed an important topic before. Parliament has no power of legislative initiative and we are at the mercy of the Commission: take or not take our resolutions. Life has priority, Commissioner, and you know this: wait 10 years for a decision, we lose the trust of the citizens. Yes, forced labour must be excluded, not only from third countries, because it also competes, in a way, with producers in the European Union, in the internal market, but it must also be eliminated within the internal market, because I have enough examples when citizens from the East are held to indecent work, not to say more, in other states. Therefore, I urge you to come up with a proposal, so that we have a trade instrument for the elimination of forced labour.

Mr President, Commissioner, representative of the Council, I can only begin with a criticism of you, because the reason is childish, to say that the train is late. You have to take action, to be here, on such an important subject. Because a colleague from Renew reminded me of what Mr Macron said, I will also remind you what he said in 2017. I am pro-European. I, I am pro-European and I want the European Union project to exist, because in the global context, we need to have a strong European Union. But not the one Mr. Macron wants. And as she said in 2017, I'll tell you now that I'll never support her: They want a two-speed Europe. I will support this resolution, we need the European Parliament to have legislative initiative. I no longer want unanimity in the Council, because my country is outside the Schengen area precisely because of the opposition of one or two heads of state. But, Minister, tell Mr Macron that the aim of amending the treaties is not to have a two-speed Europe. We are moving towards skepticism. Citizens need to have confidence in the European Union.

Dear colleague, I understand from your speech that you support this topic and I support it, at least from two points of view: the fact that Parliament does not have the right of legislative initiative and the fact that, behold, my country stands outside, because only one country opposes it, being unanimous in the Council. But, I ask you, do you think we need to go towards a federal union or remain a union of states with subsidiarity and national constitutions?

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, what we will do tomorrow will probably decide the direction in which the internal market of the European Union and the lives of its citizens will take. I am worried and I am worried because I know the situation in many countries very well. I am best aware of the situation in my country, in Romania, and if we apply Procust’s bed when we have states and citizens and companies developed differently, obviously the most vulnerable will suffer. That is why I very much believe that tomorrow there are some amendments that should be voted on in order to be able to correct what came from the Commission's proposal. Also, Mr Timmermans, I think you said very well that there must be fairness, but it is not fairness because, behold, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises are not protected by this package. And I also have a problem with the vulnerable consumer, the citizen. All the costs, all the taxes that go to companies, of course they ultimately go to the price of the product and to the citizen, and we have to understand – I come from the industry – that the industry needs time and money for innovation and repowering. I agree to have a clean environment, I agree to go in this direction, but we have to be realistic.

Dear colleague, you spoke of ambition and I want to ask you whether you now, knowing the package we have to vote for tomorrow, consider that the ambition is strictly in line with reality and whether it is covered by everything we have to vote for tomorrow, the issue of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, industry, because the French Commissioner, who belongs to your group, has just launched a reindustrialisation strategy last year. Do you think that this package will help reindustrialise the internal market and maintain competitiveness vis-à-vis other global powers, which otherwise pollute much more than the European Union?

Mr President, Commissioner, of course education is very important for economic competence and competitiveness and for the social order, after all, within the European Union. Of course, we must start from the idea that education is subsidiarity, it is the competence of the Member States. The question to the Commission is how, in a complementary way, the European Commission, the European Union, could support education, and here I think there are three essential things. On the one hand, the recognition of qualifications - and I would suggest, Commissioner, at European Union level, that we can have budgets allocated to studies related to vocational education and lifelong learning, because these two things are deficient in many Member States and we can come up with examples of good practice, with studies, how to make education based on the economic structure of each Member State and, obviously, that throughout the European area we have vocational, professional education, on what we need now, because we all know that we have a shortage of qualifications and, of course, the recognition of qualifications, Commissioner.

Madam President, Commissioner, I have chosen to speak today about dual citizenship in the European Union versus the double standard. And why I chose this. Romania has over one million workers in Spain. They live there, they have families there, they have children. And yet, they do not have access to all jobs - as we say, that in the European Union, all European citizens have access - because they are not granted dual citizenship, they are required to renounce Romanian citizenship. What is curious, however, is that Spain has a bilateral agreement with France and the French are granted dual citizenship without being required to renounce their citizenship. What can I explain to the citizens of Romania? I was there, I met them, they contribute their work to the GDP in Spain and I did not have a coherent answer, because no one gave it to me. I also wrote a letter to the Commission, a written question, because it seems to me that we are being discriminated against again. Once again, unity does not work, we no longer have a European Union, we no longer have a single market, we no longer have free access to jobs, as the Treaty says.

Madam President, Commissioner, I believe that the debates on this issue lead in one sense, namely that we must hurry to apply this minimum level of taxation for multinationals, because it is something that is expected not only by us, by the MEPs who have spoken here, it is expected by the citizens, it is expected by micro-enterprises, by small and medium-sized enterprises. We need to achieve a tax ethic in the European area, in the European Union area, and yes, as a former entrepreneur in the field of small and medium-sized enterprises, I can tell you that they are pressed by multinationals, because the best workers are taken by multinationals, the investment power, the capitalization power. And here, in addition, I go there, to the areas where the tax is the lowest. Therefore, I believe that you must make every effort so that we can apply as quickly as possible. It is a first step, maybe we should have had a lower rate, maybe we should have had a higher percentage for taxation, but I think we should not get stuck and we must now start this system proposed by you and voted by us, certainly, tomorrow.

Mr President, we all know that the Western Balkans are geographically part of Europe. We all know what has been repeated here: The Council has already approved the accession of North Macedonia to the European Union since 2020. And we also know, or should know, the leadership of the European Union, that we need to make political decisions in context, and we all know the context now: the war in Ukraine. Russia rejoices if we prolong the strengthening of the European Union with the Western Balkan states. That's why I think we need to be urgent. It is a pity that the Council is not here and has not been to Strasbourg. The council doesn't give us the presence, so they can listen to us here. So I support the accession of North Macedonia and let's not let them down, because if a survey is done, we will see the credibility of the European Union and confidence decrease, precisely on the delay of some decisions. And yes, you can try, Commissioner, to take a survey in Macedonia. If the citizens want, we must strengthen our European Union with the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership states. I therefore support Macedonia's accession to the European Union as soon as possible.

Madam President, Commissioner, we have debated the rule of law a lot. I am also a member of the Committee on Civil Liberties and Justice, I voted for this conditionality for European funds; I am also a member of the Committee on Budgetary Control, but I am also a Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Internal Market and the uncertainty that has remained in the minds of citizens is why the citizen has to pay if the politicians are wrong - because the failure of the rule of law actually depends on the politicians and not on the citizen alone. The question I'm asking you now would be: how to make this conditionality apply because yes, we must protect European funds, because yes, we must eliminate corruption, but do not affect the citizens of the country where we find, the European institutions, that human rights are violated, that justice does not work, that there is no separation of powers in the state, in order not to affect the lives of citizens. Because I do not think that we want this through the sanction that we actually give if we put the conditionality of the functioning of the rule of law. And frankly, it is not yet clear to citizens and we should know how to explain in order to increase citizens' credibility in the European institutions.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today's debate on the agreement on Moldova's accession to the European Union is welcome. Mrs. President is also welcome, who presented her point of view, but I think it is necessary not only to vote on this agreement, but to find a solution to help and support the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, now that they are in the face of fire, in the face of war, now that they no longer have a market, when they have economic and financial problems. Let's bring forward that help that we proposed, let's support them with procedures and regulations regarding the public administration, because Mrs. President said that they have a crisis regarding civil servants in the public administration and find solutions to bring forward that money that was scheduled to be given to the Republic of Moldova, because they know the Republic of Moldova very well. Moldovans are generous, but if they have nothing, they can't give more. And we have a historic duty now to support the Republic of Moldova to speed up accession and to financially support the citizens there.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we all know that traffic networks are becoming stronger and more active in the crisis. Women are the most exposed. Violence and rape is not only against women, it is also against girls, minors. I believe, Commissioner, that we need to have a record of the most vulnerable women who have remained in Ukraine, who have not been able to leave, who need shelter, who need support, a speed dial system to be a cell that goes to take them out to protect them. So we need us, at the level of the European Union, to do concrete facts, because it is horrible for young women to remain with this fracture in their soul and heart, being attacked, raped, mutilated even some of them. That is why I am also asking the Commission and us, Parliament and the Council, to come up with concrete solutions to support the women who are the most exposed and the most vulnerable, I am talking about the women who have remained there, they have not been able to leave.

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, from the outset, as a Romanian, as a member of the delegation for the Republic of Moldova, I support the resolution. I support everything that has been discussed here and the Commissioner has said about aid. But Commissioner, I was saddened by what you said. You said that you expected the Council to give you its opinion in order for these aids to be practical, not on paper. Moldova now needs, needs financial aid, needs technical assistance, needs security in front of Russia. That is why, Commissioner, I am addressing a public message to you now, through you and through the European Parliament, to the Council. The Council is not present here. I ask, first of all, the President of Romania to support the immediate release of money and the granting of money to the Republic of Moldova. Citizens of the Republic of Moldova are Europeans. I know well Moldova beyond the Prut which was historically separated from Moldova on the other side of the Prut. Therefore, help for Moldova from all points of view, European road and immediate support. Commissioner, I expect you to do this and ask the Council not to block, as always, everything we decide here. Political statements do not help Moldovan citizens.

Madam President, Mr Member, thank you for the question, I would propose that we have the debates on discharges separately: agencies, businesses, let us allocate some time, after which the Council, the Commission and the Court of Auditors, because they are institutions that, in turn, control agencies, and let us have for each type of agency at which we discuss discharges a time of two hours, as we now have a total of two hours.

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, President of the Court of Auditors, I will talk about principles, because in one minute you cannot talk about 53 discharges. That's why I'm making my first proposal. I think we need to spend more time. We need to have debates, views from several colleagues in the European Parliament. That's why I propose the following now. First, the Court of Auditors. Last year I proposed to you, Mr President, to think not only about whether accounting was spent correctly, but also about efficiency, and maybe in the future you put an efficiency indicator on how money is spent in all the institutions, because you see, in the member countries, we emphasize that European funds bring a benefit, not just to be spent correctly accounting. Secondly, we definitely need to solve the Frontex problem, because here it is, he resigned, but that does not mean that the problems are solved. And thirdly, the European Commission, in my view, and the Council are important institutions, as is the Court of Auditors, and we must fight for credibility. If these controlling institutions are not credible, they will not be listened to by anyone. (The speaker agreed to respond to a blue card intervention)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I had high expectations in today's debate because the theme was the consequences for the European Union. Unfortunately, the President has not presented us with the consequences. I will speak on behalf of a country that has been on the front line, Romania. Citizens of Romania ask me: however, they were hospitable, generous, welcomed refugees and it is normal to stand in solidarity. The problem is, what do Romanians share? Do they share the lowest incomes in the European Union, share poverty with refugees? What's going on? Romania's budget is allocated, of course, to help refugees too. But what is the European Union doing? Did it concretely support the Member States, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czechia, which received the most refugees? No, no, no. What are the consequences for the European Union? The fact that economic growth is falling, the fact that SMEs are being shattered, the fact that SMEs are being decapitalised. Is it not appropriate for the Commission to rethink all the plans we have had? Sure, with ambitions, with responsibility, but now we are in a different context. Commissioner, if you ask a small entrepreneur, he changes his business plan when external factors influence. And the European Union, and we too, must change, because otherwise we will destroy the internal economy. All supply chains have been fractured. There's no point in having a reindustrialization strategy, there's no point in having plans on paper. If, in concrete terms, citizens are not helped, they are further impoverished and cannot increase their income, if companies, if small and medium-sized enterprises will not have a chance to recover from the double crisis, the pandemic crisis, and here is the crisis in the war. So on behalf of the Romanians I ask you, you know, they don't live, they don't warm up, they don't feed on our thanks. They expect concrete measures. And I am waiting, Commissioner, in your reply, for you to tell us what you are going to do concretely, in order, indeed, to mitigate the consequences of the war on the European Union.

Tonight's debate shows that, in fact, there is still much to be clarified and I think it is, in my view, now more unclear than it was at the beginning of the debate. And I'm gonna say a few things. Great arguments have been made here: Some are technical, some are political. First of all, it is necessary to answer, and perhaps the Commissioner gives the answer. What about Article 14 of the Treaty? You mean break it or not? We need to know what we're doing with this. Second: I'm from a country of 20 million. Citizens from an even smaller country, e.g. Croatia or another smaller country, do not have the opportunity to know the 27 places. And there are many candidates for the 28 seats in all states. How do we explain it to citizens? It was argued here that, well, the citizens' conference would have opted for this. My question is how many citizens participated in this debate? Aren't we more representative because we have millions of votes behind us, because now, when we speak, an entire country votes for us? And there is one more answer that should be given. I am part of a small party that is not part of a European family. Are small parties excluded or not? Yes, I support people with disabilities, I support equality. (The president interrupted the speaker)

I have a question. I appreciate the way it's been argued. It is indeed a lively debate, so to speak, but my question is: do you not think, Mr Durand, that we should first have approved European citizenship and then have lists, a European constituency? Because he's stuck at the Council. Why don't we have it now? That's what I was told when I came in, that's what I was told in my country: You will be a Romanian citizen, but you will also be a European citizen. The Council has blocked this. And this is why, in Spain, for example, Romanian citizens cannot receive Spanish citizenship and retain their citizenship. If it was European citizenship, everything would be solved.

Commissioner, Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that today's debate makes it very clear that we must take this new step to strengthen consumer rights, and perhaps never more appropriate than now, in this crisis, in which citizens have become impoverished and who, of course, are - as has been said here, over 79% - eager to be able to repair a good. But for this we must hurry with the legislation and from the very beginning I ask you, Commissioner, to move forward, not to leave until the end of the year: the study has been done, the public consultation has been done... and maybe you can come up with the legislative proposal sooner. After all, we have to be very clear: it is not only the consumer who wins if we introduce the right to repair. Everyone wins: from the environment, from the amount of waste, from energy consumption... and I do not lose entrepreneurs, as some would like to say, because, behold, they can innovate by increasing the durability of products and they can make themselves a repair center, even that producer. However, we must make sure that this repair price does not demotivate the consumer, that he cannot buy because it is too expensive. That is why we must take care when legislating, to strike this balance between the repair price and the replacement price.

It is absolutely incredible for a woman to speak like that in the European Parliament. I don't know if you're a mother, but in any case, a woman who says she discriminates against others, when Roma children can't go to school, they can't eat, they can't dress, they have no access to anything. Do you consider this discrimination for those of us who have access? It is incredible and I think it is unfair for such a person to represent citizens of the European Union in this Parliament. Go, ma'am, see how these children suffer, how parents cannot give them. They have five, six children. They must have the same access as any child, regardless of colour, regardless of nationality. You should apologize!

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, over 40 days have passed and we all see that this massacre continues in Ukraine. I am from Romania, we are at the border, along with Poland, the Republic of Moldova. We don't know. Citizens of my country ask me: when does it stop? It can expand at any time. 500 million Europeans are looking at world leaders, at you, at the President of the European Council who, behold, is not here, is waiting for solutions. And I believe that if we have tried these sanctions three times - in management it is said that if three times you try and fail, you have to find other solutions. Dear High Commissioner, Commissioner, you must try, at the same time as the very tough and drastic and safe sanctions, to also negotiate. I don't like what the United States does. Mr. Biden sits there somewhere and says Putin is crazy. And we have to let him go if he's crazy? What does a doctor do when he has a madman in front of him? They try to stop him, negotiate with him, restrict him, and don't let him free to destroy. We are in enormous danger, because besides this massacre of people - and no one is allowed to take the life of a man, but God - we are in danger as a planet, we are in danger as Europe, from the point of view of poverty. People are impoverished and impoverished. We need to find solutions at the same time to bring the people of our states, the European members of the internal market, to be able to live their lives. We, the Romanians, have opened the doors to refugees, but it is not enough. The kids have to go to school. We need the distribution of funds, as the Polish colleague said, so that we can really help them, not plunge them into poverty, in our states. We urgently need negotiations to stop this massacre.

Dear colleague, you have used "reason" several times, let us use reason! You have also used the expression ‘the sanctions we have imposed are not enough’. I would be interested in what concrete measures you think we have not yet taken, because, after all, this debate must bring forward proposals to the Commission and the Council, to do something more, but I have only understood from you that we need to be more rational. You can tell us specifically: What should we do to stop the war, stop the death of people and help these people?

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I would like to thank the citizens of my country, Romania, but also the citizens of Poland, the Republic of Moldova, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the other states that have welcomed these refugees. We are discussing a very important issue. We also debated it last night at the LIBE and DEVE committees. Commissioner, I couldn't ask you the question last night, but I'm going to ask you now. Of course, children are the future of every nation and we must defend them regardless of nationality. I've heard here that only Ukrainian children. No, no, no. We must have an equidistant and not double standard behavior for children in Afghanistan, in Africa, in Syria, wherever they are. Children are the future of nations. Therefore, I believe that we must defend them all and not make distinctions by nationality. Another thing I have to say to you, Commissioner, is that, as you have also presented to our committee, the states that now have the most pressure have their own problems and you need to intervene with the proper budget. My country has children in poverty, its own children in poverty and of course we must welcome these children who come from Ukraine, but it is unfair not to be able to provide them with conditions. And I believe that, in addition to organisation, in addition to platforms, solidarity must also be supported with budgets. And I want to ask you, Commissioner, because I have also witnessed the debate this day and I have not seen that the third option, to stop, to stop the fire, to stop this terrible death of thousands of citizens, would also be called into question. Sanctions for Russia and aid for refugees. The diplomatic route, Commissioner, are you still using it? The European institutions, besides the United States, the UN, NATO have a historic responsibility to do the best diplomacy to stop the fire and to stop this misfortune that is not only for Ukraine. You know, my citizens ask me: When will the war stop? The danger is for enlargement and that is why I believe that you must also take the diplomatic route and give us an answer, to know what to answer to our citizens.

Madam President, Commissioner, the crisis we are in was foreseeable not only in war, when the European Union depends on the supplier in a very large percentage, every businessman knows that there is a risk. I am glad that you have introduced between the three pillars and more affordable prices, but Commissioner, what is accessible to Luxembourg is not accessible to the citizens of my country, and we must clearly see here how no one is left behind, because that is our slogan, right? And then I think we should learn from the mistakes made because, here in my country, you have pressed the country to stop coal mining, instead we import coal from Russia. We need to have an Energy Union, Commissioner, and an Energy Union that can be accessible to all European citizens regardless of the region and country in which they live. That is why I call for energy prices to have a system in place to control them. I am a former businessman, I understand what a market economy means, but I understand that in a crisis we cannot allow to get rich some who put prices 10-15 times higher.

Madam President, of course, the fight against oligarchic structures and the protection of European funds, but also of national funds, must be the concern, on the one hand, of the European Commission, of Parliament, but also of the Member States, because, in the end, this money, whether European or national, must reach the citizen. Unfortunately, I have to say that now, when we speak, we do not have a real situation of fraud because the reporting system in the 27 states is different. This is why some states report both suspected fraud and fraud. Other states only report fraud, as, in fact, OLAF presents in its report. As it happened with my country, Romania, which, behold, appears in this report as leading, but actually reported the suspicion of fraud together. I believe, Commissioner, that this own-initiative report can help the Commission to come up with measures, on the one hand, to increase transparency, on the other hand, to ensure uniform reporting, so as not to compare apples with pears. And, obviously, all the indicators that we use must be quantifiable, because this money must reach the beneficiaries.