Speeches

In 2015, at the peak of migratory pressure, when more than 1.8 million irregular migrants entered the EU, Europe failed! Ten years later, Europe is facing the second-largest influx of migrants. In the first two months of 2024 alone, more than 30,000 people crossed the EU’s borders irregularly, the second highest level since the 2015-2016 crisis. The increase was 541% along the West African route and 117% along the East Mediterranean route. Against the backdrop of all this, there is also positive news. Frontex reports a 70% reduction in the number of irregular border crossings along the Central Mediterranean route and a 65% reduction on the Balkan route. Bulgaria, which guards one of the toughest external borders, the one with Turkey, also sees a reduction in migratory pressure. The country saw a more than 40% decrease in the number of apprehended illegal migrants compared to the previous year. A prerequisite for this is the successful implementation of the pilot project with the Commission, which allows for a significant strengthening of border control capacities, fast-track procedures for the examination of asylum applications and effective returns. For all this, Bulgaria was praised at a hearing in the LIBE Committee, where the Commission gave us an example of good practices for the whole EU regarding the protection of the external borders and the management of migration.

Mr President, either Europe controls migration or migration controls Europe. There is no middle road. And let's be honest. We have watched for too long how the system is circumvented, how the rules are neglected and how citizens' trust is melting. Bulgaria saw the danger early on, but others underestimated it and we are now harvesting the fruits – security risks and social stability being undermined in a number of Member States. Yes, there's been progress. According to Frontex, irregular crossings fell by 26% last year, the lowest level in four years. But don’t be fooled – this is not a signal to relax, but to act even more decisively. The European People's Party is for a Europe that protects its borders and tackles illegal migration. And 2026 will be a crucial year. The Pact on Migration and Asylum enters into force in just a few months and there is no room for hesitation. Whoever has no right to stay must be returned immediately. We expect the new regulation on returns to work without exceptions, because compromises are at the expense of the security of European citizens. And one more thing. Visa policy is not a gift. It is a powerful tool and must be used strategically to protect borders and manage migration. And cooperation with third countries should not be limited to declarations, it should bring results. Migration policy must be fair, but firm. This does not make us less solidarity-based, but more responsible in protecting European citizens.

Madam President, disruptions to the global navigation system have grown exponentially since the start of the war in Ukraine. The data from Bulgaria clearly prove the trend. From one in 2021, cases increased to 183 in 2022, 199 in 2022, 312 in 2024, and by September of this year they were 128. These statistics also cover the case of the flight of the President of the European Commission from 31 August. Some of the Russian systems such as Optima 2:2, Flight 21, Murmansk BN and others for disturbing and violating the signals are deployed on the Crimean peninsula. The Black Sea region is particularly vulnerable and Europe must ask itself: Can we protect ourselves from hybrid attacks? Yes, planes and ships can do without satellites, but threats are growing and Europe cannot afford to be paralyzed in an attack. We have three urgent tasks ahead of us: to ensure the safety of citizens, to protect infrastructure, to strengthen the strategic autonomy of the European Union.

Mr President, at a time when the criminal world is becoming more and more inventive and new technologies are facilitating cross-border operations and the circumvention of laws, dirty financial flows are generating billions in losses and the war that Russia started in Europe has, as is known, unleashed dangerous trends related to arms trafficking, massive money laundering and terrorist financing schemes and circumvention of sanctions. This gives us reason to urge the European Commission to take action on Russia's blacklisting of high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies. You know that the FATF has already discussed the issue, but has not taken decisions solely because of the BRICS vote. Therefore, the European Commission must immediately take measures and make an objective and detailed assessment of the risks that Russia poses to the financial security of the Union and issue a delegated act. Let it be clear, the blacklist is and must remain a tool for fair and just measures, and as such is an important part of the EU’s legal and institutional anti-money laundering arsenal alongside the new legislative package adopted at the end of last term.

Mr President, Commissioner, honourable Members, together with my colleague Eva Maria Popcheva and the shadow rapporteurs, the Presidency and the Commission, we have come all the way. But we owe our gratitude to all those who participated in this difficult legislative process. I thank the rapporteurs for the other files of the anti-money laundering package, the Chairs and Secretariat of the ECON and LIBE Committees, our advisors, my team and, in particular, Nikolinka. We have examined hundreds of amendments and hundreds of hours of negotiations, which only confirms our political commitment and efforts to look for workable long-term solutions to effectively combat money laundering and terrorist financing. This legislative text is equally important for all Member States and I am confident that AMLA will prove its role in greater oversight, better coordination, more operability and ultimately more security in the European Union.

Dear Madam President, dear Commissioner, dear ladies and gentlemen, when we started working on the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing package, it was obvious that we were not ready for battle, but had to wage war. Today, I am confident that with the new legislation we are giving the European Union an arsenal with which to effectively protect its financial stability. At a time when the criminal world is becoming increasingly inventive and new technologies have expanded the tools it uses to cross borders and circumvent laws, dirty financial flows are generating billions in losses. However, the detection rate for these crimes is only 1%. The EU-wide rules, which we have created and which will be voted on today by the European Parliament, are a strong basis for an adequate response to global financial threats. We have managed to create a body that will make the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing more effective. Expectations for the future agency, which is due to be operational in the middle of next year, are huge. I believe that we have been able to secure the necessary powers and capacities to ensure more financial security through better cooperation with national supervisors and Financial Intelligence Units in a cross-border environment where risks are constantly growing. For the first time in the European Union, AMLA will directly supervise the riskiest companies in the financial sector, which operate in at least six Member States and have a high residual risk, as well as crypto-asset providers. AMLA will support Financial Intelligence Units with the analysis of suspicious transactions and the detection of money laundering cases. I am pleased that an approach has been adopted here whereby the assessment of financial and credit institutions is carried out on the basis of residual risk. AMLA will also monitor the measures that risky financial sector entities under its direct supervision apply to comply with targeted financial sanctions, such as the European Union has taken against Russia. For the remaining obliged entities, AML/CFT supervision will remain primarily at national level. However, AMLA will be able to intervene in the event of failures of national supervisory authorities. For the effectiveness of the new agency, it is important to rely on enhanced cooperation with other agencies such as Europol, Eurojust, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and the European Anti-Fraud Office. We have foreseen the introduction of a whistleblowing mechanism. AMLA will also act as a mediator at the request of a financial supervisor and its decision will be binding in cases of persistent disagreement. Let us not forget that this is the first time that the European Parliament has been involved in the selection of the seat of an agency. This was a historic moment for our institution and I hope that Parliament's role will continue to deepen. We are all aware that the legal framework is the foundation for policy making, but the modern environment is too dynamic and we cannot afford to see any legislation as a closed page. In this context, the legislation we are about to vote on may not be perfect, but it unites the Member States in a common front against dirty money. With the new anti-money laundering legislation, we are introducing new more efficient rules with the main objective of protecting the financial stability of our Union. Last but not least, I would like to express my personal gratitude to Commissioner McGuinness, who has greatly contributed to today's successful end.

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, I have worked on this dossier as a shadow rapporteur and I believe that we have managed to structure the text well and achieve a good result. The new digital visa procedures will speed up the process and make it more convenient and inexpensive for both visa applicants and Member States examining and processing applications. Moreover, the new digital visa will be much more secure as it will reduce the risk of fraud and counterfeiting. It will make border checks much easier. An entirely new single electronic visa application platform will also be created. This will avoid long and costly trips to neighbouring countries to submit documents. Time and money will be saved and the work of consular staff will be facilitated. For 12 years now, Bulgaria and Romania have been waiting to be admitted to Schengen. Two and a half mandates of the European Parliament and we, the Bulgarian MEPs and our Romanian colleagues have proven many times that we meet all technical criteria. Our strong calls for accession are based on indisputable facts, on on-the-spot checks and missions, completed monitoring and evaluation reports. And although we are not yet full Schengen members today, thanks to this file we will also be able to issue e-Schengen visas. I accept this as another proof that Bulgaria and Romania belong to the club of countries without internal border checks. We live in very turbulent times. In recent days, we have witnessed a horrific military conflict in the Middle East, and last night's shooting shook Brussels as well. That is why, more than ever, we need security and stability, tighter controls at our external borders. Now more than ever, we need to be united in our efforts to protect the external borders of the European Union, and this file will help to do so and better protect our borders.

Madam President, they say that if there is a will, there will be a way. But the control against irregular migration will not become more effective, neither with loud calls nor with discriminatory barriers to Schengen enlargement, but only with adequate, rapid, solidarity-based and financially secured measures. There is no way to strengthen the EU's external borders without strong support for frontline countries. While the European institutions have stalled negotiations on the new migration roadmap, in countries such as Bulgaria, which are the first to face migrant pressure, police officers are dying in the line of duty. The powerful restart we all want in terms of overall migration policy cannot happen without additional financial resources. They are needed both to strengthen protective infrastructure at the external borders and to improve return procedures for irregular migrants, as well as for the integration of refugees. If we do not want to allow another crisis summer, we should not waste any more time.

Madam President, we have asked for clarity on the Council's reasoning for the delayed decision on the delegated act, so I thank Minister Jessica Roswell for the explanations given. It is important for all of us that the fight against money laundering is carried out effectively, not only at internal level, I mean throughout the European Union, but also at international level, as dirty money knows no borders. In this regard, our approach to jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in the protection against financial crime is extremely important. I therefore understand the impatience of the other political groups on this issue, but we must not forget that we are still within the normal procedure and there is no room for serious concerns. We must act responsibly based on facts, not bias. This is the way to build an adequate common European position vis-à-vis high-risk third countries. A position that is as clear as possible from behind-the-scenes political interests or lobbying. However, I call on the Council to take a decision on the delegated act as soon as possible.

Mr President, the Council's decision to keep Bulgaria and Romania in the Schengen waiting room gives rise to anti-European discourse, which calls into question one of the greatest achievements of the European Union. We should not feed Euroscepticism with unfair double standards, especially now that Europe is not the same and we have to defend our values, and Schengen enlargement means more security and solidarity. For 11 years, for 11 years, our full membership has been hostage to the domestic political problems of other countries, although we meet all the criteria. This does not build trust in the principles of the European Union. We keep one of the Union's toughest external borders, the one with Turkey, and we are far from being among the weakest links in the border control system. Bulgarian border police even lost their lives defending our common security. I call on the Council to raise the barrier to Bulgaria and Romania as soon as possible so as not to undermine the credibility of the European Union as a project of equal partnership and solidarity.

Mr President, Commissioner, methods of authoritarian rule, repeatedly condemned here in this Chamber, were unscrupulously used by the government of Kiril Petkov and his Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov, who, by the way, was part of the repressive apparatus of the former communist regime in Bulgaria. By a final court decision, Mr Borisov's arrest was declared unlawful. The arrest warrant does not contain any incriminating facts. There is no evidence to justify the arrest of the former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. Point, some would say, but if we put a point, will we stop the new political repression? Only with categorical intolerance at all institutional levels and society as a whole can we counteract policemanship and arbitrariness. When we witness a brutal violation of the rule of law, silence would amount to complicity. Therefore, I would like to ask my colleagues from the Socialists, Renew Europe and the Greens whether you would have been so silent if an opposition leader had been arrested under Boyko Borisov's rule? Is this double standard not due to the fact that you were represented in the Petkov cabinet? The Rule of Law Monitoring Group, which was very active during Borisov's government, is now also surprisingly silent. The silence of the European Commission is also astonishing. Will it indifferently monitor the illegal arrests of opposition leaders in a European Union country, or will it hide behind excuses for not being competent on this matter? Do you condemn these unlawful or repressive actions of the government of Kiril Petkov? And if so, please state it loud and clear so we know we can count on you to always defend our values.

Mr President, Commissioner, the unscrupulous use of spyware such as Pegasus is opening up a new front in the battle we are fighting to defend democracy and the rights of European citizens. Scandalous revelations of wiretapping of state leaders, politicians, journalists and human rights defenders raise alarm about gross violations of European legislation. Moreover, to violate the fundamental values that underpin our Union, such as respect for human rights and freedom of speech. Effective countermeasures are needed. They're needed now. The number of abuses is growing, so before it is too late, we must protect the victims of unregulated interference and take firm measures to limit the risks. Without, of course, tying the hands of the intelligence services. New technologies are and will continue to be an integral part of the effective fight against terrorism and serious crime. Therefore, regulation is the only way to set clear and certain limits for the permissible use of spyware, such as Pegasus. In other words, we are faced with the question of how to curb these technologies so that they do not become an unregulated machine for comprehensive tracking of the inconvenient of power, a powerful weapon against political opponents or representatives of civil society. Setting up a committee of inquiry in the European Parliament is important to understand the extent to which spyware has infiltrated Member States, but I expect a serious response from the European Commission as well. Measures are needed in many directions: from the urgent interception of abuses to data security and access. And it's no coincidence that I'm putting an emphasis on rapid response, because risky technologies, which are the product of a billion-dollar industry, won't stop evolving as institutions debate the tools to control them.

Mr President, scandals such as Panama Papers, Paradise Papers and Pandora Papers prove that money laundering remains a serious problem in Europe. To this long series of revelations, we must add the so-called ‘Swiss secrets’, which have shed light on the dubious business practices of the large Swiss bank Credit Suisse. This is not just the largest data leak by a major Swiss bank to date, but a scandal of nearly 100 billion euros involving more than 30,000 clients of the financial institution. Dozens of prominent civil servants and businessmen from more than 120 jurisdictions have been involved, mostly outside the borders of the European Union. Against this background, the Bankers' Association of the country announced that on accounts in Swiss banks there are between 160 and 213 billion dollars, which belong to Russian customers. Experts claim that the actual amount of funds is many times greater than announced. The revelations have also taken on a new meaning in the context of the military aggression against Ukraine and the sanctions that the European Union is imposing on Russia. Swiss banks have close links with other European banks, so the shortcomings identified in the fight against money laundering should not be seen as isolated cases, but as a problem for the entire European financial sector. There is a clear need to carry out a detailed and objective risk assessment. Otherwise, in the absence of effective supervision, any deviation from the rules could open a gap in the security of the financial system of the European Union.

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, according to the latest revelations in the Pandora Papers, it has become abundantly clear to everyone that we need a comprehensive European policy, a strengthened legislative framework on money laundering and terrorist financing. The new legislative package in this area is therefore much more than necessary and timely. It is very important that this framework is applied uniformly in all Member States. I welcome the European Commission's proposal for an anti-money laundering regulation, because only in this way will we unify the rules and close the loopholes in European legislation that criminals skillfully use to abuse the financial system. We need to establish effective supervision based on common supervisory methods and convergence of high standards in the financial sector. There is also a need for better cooperation between administrative, judicial and law enforcement authorities in the European Union. In this regard, the exchange of information between Financial Intelligence Units is of utmost importance. Ultimately, in order to be effective, the fight against abuse must be based on a strong cross-border partnership and, respectively, on good information.