Speeches

Mr President, I consider today's vote in favour of the recommendation to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware to be of great importance, with 411 votes in favour, 97 against. Based on the rationale of the PEGA report, the illegal use of spyware by Member State governments or members of governments is explicitly condemned. Please note that there is evidence of various types and degrees of violations or mismanagement of European Union laws by Poland, Hungary and Greece. Having been subjected to surveillance of my phones by the National Intelligence Service at the behest of the Greek government, because I was supposed to be a danger to national security, I consider today's vote to be of great importance. A big thank you to my colleague Sophie in ’t Veld, from Renew Europe, who has been the protagonist of this successful effort.

Madam President, the European institutions are united in accepting Ukraine’s accession to the Convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in civil or commercial matters (the Judgments Convention). We have to make the appropriate statements for three main reasons. First, by recognising and enforcing each other’s judgments in civil and commercial matters, the ties between the European Union and Ukraine will become stronger. The preparations of Ukraine to join the European Union and the EU’s preparations to welcome such an important and big country will be facilitated. Second, we consider that there are no fundamental obstacles such as related to the independence and efficiency of the judiciary, the fight against corruption or the respect of fundamental rights, which could prevent the EU from entering into trade relations with Ukraine. We understand, of course, that there are problems related to the post-Soviet period of Ukraine and the rise of the oligarchs, but we are satisfied with President Zelenskyy’s and the authorities’ admission of the difficulties they face and the determination to overcome them. We fully support them on that. Third, judging from the way Russia is conducting its aggressive war against Ukraine, we reached the conclusion that we are facing an escalating and protracted struggle. We want to send once again the message that we resolutely stand on the side of Ukraine and that we will do whatever it takes for as long as it is needed so that Ukraine and its European perspective will prevail. Finally, I would like to commend Commissioner Simson, because she was with us late last night and she is still with us early in the morning.

Mr President, the Hong Kong authorities and the Chinese regime must understand that the European Parliament will make the case of publisher and press freedom symbol Jimmy Lai a basic criterion for the evolution of our relations and cooperation. 75 years old, Jimmy Lai, the founder of the now defunct pro-democracy media outlet Apple Daily, in 2020 the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Prize laureate has already been sentenced to a total of seven years and five months in prison and still faces a life in prison for supposedly colluding with foreign forces under the national security law adopted by the Chinese regime to suppress dissent in Hong Kong. We demand the immediate release of Jimmy Lai from prison, dropping all charges against him and the repeal of the national security law that suppresses media freedom. We attribute the deterioration of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong to China’s authoritarian strategy that does not recognise the special status of Hong Kong, despite the international obligations that Beijing has assumed. We also note that China even aspires to impose that authoritarian model to independent and sovereign Taiwan. Free Jimmy Lai, thus improving the prospects for our relations and cooperation.

Mr President, I also welcome you to the European Parliament on behalf of Renew Europe. You are a politician who moves outside a narrow party framework. The composition of your government shows that you are open to political collaborations and independent personalities. In today's speech, you confirmed that you are a strong supporter of European integration and that you want an enhanced role for the European Union in the difficult search for a solution to the Cyprus problem. You have our support. But I want to address all colleagues and ask them to fill a huge gap in the European strategy that can stand in the way of your efforts as well. We are going through a crisis due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in the context of Putin's imperial fantasies. We are paying for mistakes of strategic importance, such as strengthening our energy dependence on Russia, while the messages were given since 2008 to Georgia and 2014 to Crimea. There is another powerful player with imperial fantasies, in this case in the Eastern Mediterranean region. It constantly creates problems in the Republic of Cyprus, from the utilization of its energy resources to the management of refugee migration, while threatening its own perspective. The question is whether the European Union has perceived the danger or is still vigilant, as with Russia and Putin, despite the warnings. Erdoğan shares characteristics with Putin, from life in leadership to the strategy of imperial fantasies. The European Union has an obligation to stand dynamically and actively by the side of the Republic of Cyprus, because otherwise it will be surprised again by what should not surprise it.

Mr President, European aid to Ukraine must be immediate, huge and prospective. We have decided a lot and well. We need to be faster and more consistent. By strengthening the reconstruction of Ukraine, we are sending three messages. The millions of Ukrainians who fled their homeland in search of safety will be able to return more quickly to a country that has gained seven million more poor in a year due to the Russian invasion. We stand by those in need. Finally, we will support Ukraine until its struggle is vindicated. Putin only respects power, which is why the European Union needs to show economic strength in this regard.

Madam President, European sanctions against Russia must be made stricter and more effective. In 2022, Ukraine lost 29 % of its GDP due to Russia’s aggression. Russia's GDP fell only by 2.1 % in 2022. There has been, of course, a qualitative degradation of the Russian economy, but the effects of the sanctions that are applied are mostly medium and long-term. Our immediate objective must be to thwart the ability of Russia to continue conducting an aggressive war. It is obvious that we have to change the mix and the scope of sanctions in order to attain this objective. No time to lose since the war intensifies and is prolonged. We have to find a way to multiply the immediate economic cost of the war for the aggressor.

Madam President, there is an urgent need to promote the development of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). This is the system of automatic train protection, management and control. The process of adapting to European standards has been dragging on in some Member States for more than 20 years. Member States with interconnected rail systems should explain delays and submit plans to fill the dangerous gap as soon as possible. The tragic train accident in Tempi, Greece, with 57 dead and many injured, shows where sloppiness and unacceptable delay in European adaptation can lead.

Mr President, Algeria has a long way to go as far as media freedom and freedom of expression are concerned. Our aim is not to antagonise the Algerian Government, or other governments in the region, but to encourage them to improve the situation and create an environment that will help develop European-Algerian understanding and cooperation. We therefore believe that the Algerian authorities should act, as a first important step in the right direction, to release from prison the prominent journalist Ihsane El Kadi and review in a positive, constructive way the cases of other journalists and media workers. The complicated international environment, especially in the energy sector, creates new opportunities for developing our cooperation, provided we can create a positive framework.

Mr President, we have to improve our policy on three major issues. First, we have to put an end to the continuous increase in public expenditure in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the GDP. The growth in public debt has been spectacular: higher debt unavoidably leads to higher tax burden. Second, we have to improve the quality of public expenditure in favour of investment. Certain European governments prefer to spend money in a way as to promote their electoral strategy rather than serve the real needs of the economy. Third, we need more European discipline and coordination. Investment projects at the national level should be better connected with a broader European effort to compete with the USA and China.

Mr President, for the second year in a row, Greece came last in the European Union of 27, in terms of media freedom, on the basis of the Reporters Without Borders report. The problem is becoming systemic. The distance between Greece and the European Union is growing. Eight European Union countries are in the top nine in the world when it comes to media freedom, while Greece ranks 107. Greece lags behind even the six Western Balkan countries seeking to join the European Union. Government scandals are downplayed, failures concealed, critics of the government disappear from the media. I, personally, have 30 months to appear on state television. Greece is going to elections in unequal communication terms. All this undermines the rule of law, is outside the European framework and must be stopped at the initiative of the European Union.

Madam President, Nigeria deserves a better future. It has a population of 215 million. Half of its population are less than 18 years old. It also has immense mineral wealth, like oil, and human and economic potential. Nevertheless, three major problems hinder Nigeria’s development: widespread corruption, a ruling party that has extensive control over public life and manipulated the recent presidential elections. Finally, part of the country suffers from radical Islamism and its most extreme expressions. The death sentence on Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, that was passed by a Sharia court on the grounds of alleged blasphemy, symbolises the backsliding of the most populous country in Africa that has a leading role in the continent. We have to send a strong message to the Nigerian leadership: such practices are unacceptable and hinder the further development of our relations.

Madam President, in 2008, we increased the reductions in defence expenditure due to the international financial crisis. We also reduced our commitment to common European defence efforts. In 2008, Putin dismembered Georgia. In 2014, he incorporated Crimea into Russia while we kept avoiding our defence obligations. After the shock of the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine, we started moving in the right direction, but not at the required speed, in my view. We are discussing a rapid deployment capacity and we should have already created a functional rapid deployment force. By counting the cost of Putin’s aggression against Ukraine for the European economy, we also count the cost of our great illusion that by avoiding the necessary increase in defence expenditure, we can save money in a dangerous geopolitical environment.

Mr President, I had the impression that Ms Meloni was able to deal with the migration and the asylum issue. That was her promise to the Italian people. She was criticising pro-European political forces as being ineffective. The situation has worsened in Italy, thus proving that Meloni’s promises were baseless. At the beginning Meloni had a national solution, and now that this solution has been proven non-existent, she tries to Europeanise her own failure. She tries to create the impression that it is again the European Union that creates problems in Italy due to the lack of solidarity. Mr Weber and the EPP tried to accommodate her in search of a right-wing majority in the European Parliament. They should not count on our cooperation. We do not support anti—European reactionary policies. After all, their policies have nothing to do with Merkel’s legacy.

Mr President, the worst evidence that the rule of law is receding in Greece is what is happening with the murder of journalist Giorgos Karaivaz in two years. Greece is the only member state of the European Union in which a journalist was murdered without the culprits having been arrested. It is also the only Member State where the authorities do not inform about the progress of the investigation or even about the lack of progress and the causes of this lack. There are two directions in which suspicions are directed: Karaivaz investigations, which may have bothered the deep state operating illegally in Greece, such as wiretapping, Karaivaz investigations, which may have touched relations between Greek police and organised crime. In any case, the Mitsotakis government owes answers and results.

Mr President, there is a continuous degradation of the rule of law in Greece due to the policies of the Mitsotakis government. Colleagues, I have been a victim of systematic wiretapping after being characterised by the National Intelligence Service of Greece, directly controlled by the Prime Minister, as a threat to national security. This is an insult to me, an insult to you and an insult to the European Parliament as well. These practices are both a national and European issue, despite the arguments of Mr Weber. Greece is in a deep social crisis, and the undermining of the rule of law completes the backsliding of the country. The policies of Mitsotakis are against European values, undermine our criticism towards other authoritarian governments in the European Union and give the worst example to the Western Balkan countries that aspire to join a democratic European Union.

Mr President, only 11% of Tunisia’s voters participated in the recent legislative elections. This is a strong message addressed to the President of the Republic, Saied, who is in the process of imposing a dictatorial regime. People are aware of his intentions and methodology and refuse to offer him a democratic alibi. Tunisia passed, during a period of 12 years, from dictatorship to the Arab Spring, to disenchantment with democratically elected governments and is in danger of returning to the starting point in a much worse economic and social situation. President Saied suspended the democratically elected government and parliament in July 2021 and since then has been restricting media freedom, persecuting journalists, trade unionists and political opponents. He projects himself as the solution to Tunisia's problems. In my view, he is in the process of becoming one of his country's major problems.

Mr President, the release of former President Saakashvili from prison, given his fragile health, should become a prerequisite for developing our relations with Georgia. I wonder why the president of Georgia, Ms Salome Zourabichvili, who is also a French citizen that used to work as a diplomat in France, and the country’s powerbroker, pro-Russian oligarch Ivanishvili, also a French citizen who has been decorated by France, refused to assist in freeing Saakashvili. There cannot be a European path for Georgia with Saakashvili, who claims that he was poisoned by Russian secret agents slowly dying in prison. Georgia’s government stands on the way of the country’s European ambitions, supported by the vast majority of the people.

Mr Borrell, unfortunately you are obliged to have a global outlook and try to answer questions concerning different regions of the world. What about Latin America? It is of strategic importance to the United States of America and, of course, to the European Union. We have a lot of issues, developments in Mexico, in Brazil, in Argentina. So could you please summarise to us the points of convergence with the strategy and the policies of Washington and some points of divergence?

In my view, in order to have energy security, we have to reduce our energy dependence on Russia and also reduce the financing of the offensive war. I don’t think we succeeded in 2022. For instance, in my country, Greece, we had to spend EUR 9 billion to import Russian oil and Russian natural gas in 2022, whereas in 2021 we spent EUR 5 billion. We increased the financing of the war by EUR 4 billion due to the price increases in the international markets. My question is: how much money did we offer in 2022 to Putin and his offensive war in order to cover our energy needs? And is there a plan to reduce? Are there any targets for 2023 so that he will get less money from us?

Mr President, today in the European Parliament we commemorated the 57 lost in the Tempi train accident. The chances of this tragedy would have been reduced if the governments in Greece had not reduced investments in the rail network after 2003, with more miserable years in 2014 and 2020. Tragedy would have been avoided, most likely, if there had been proper coordination of investments. Electrification progressed, faster trains arrived, but we were left with an outdated system of movement control and safety. The chances of the accident would also have been reduced if the Greek government had implemented the European Railway Directive and avoided Greece's referral to the European Court of Justice by the European Commission. The European Commission was institutionally right, but it needs to put more pressure on Member States by using European subsidies and funding to adapt more quickly to European rules and best European practices that limit the chances of an accident.

Madam President, the moment I criticized Mitsotakis, I was banished from Greek state television. When I objected to the restriction of media freedom I was expelled from the governing party. My phones have been wiretapped for 18 months by the National Intelligence Agency, after being designated a threat to national security. The president of the independent authority, which safeguards the privacy of telecommunications, documented the wiretapping of my phones and was criticised by the government and the chief public prosecutor for overstepping his authority. Mitsotakis changed the law in order to take personal control over the National Intelligence Agency, developed a massive wiretapping system, along with his trusted nephew, Mr Dimitriadis. He also changed the law so that the victims of wiretapping, like myself and colleague Androulakis, lost the right to know why we have been wiretapped and the actual result of their wiretappings for at least three years. I am saddened by the EPP’s absence in the effort to defend the European rule of law. I was wiretapped by Mitsotakis even during the period when I was an EPP MEP. This is not a personal issue. We have to defend European values and the rule of law before it is too late. Otherwise, goodnight Europe and good luck.

Madam President, the earthquake in Turkey and Syria created great devastation, also in regions inhabited by the very important Kurdish minority. We have to make sure that the assistance reaches the Kurds and is not used by the governments of Turkey and Syria to exert additional political pressure on them. We know, for example, that Erdogan would like the percentage of the very important pro-Kurdish party to fall to fall below the 10% threshold which secures representation in parliament. Our assistance to Turkey and Syria is to be as massive and effective as possible. At the same time, our assistance has to be well targeted and non-discriminatory.

Madam President, Ukraine has already lost almost 20% of its territory to the Russian aggressor. That means we should increase the EU’s support to Kyiv in order to liberate the occupied territories. We should increase the financial and military assistance, at least to the level of the United States of America. After all, we are dealing with a European war. We all know that if the Russians are not stopped and defeated in Ukraine, they will continue towards Moldova, the Baltic states, maybe Poland. During the past 20 years, we have been encouraging Ukraine’s European ambitions without offering adequate support. Our goal should be the integration of Ukraine in the European Union based on an unprecedented programme of economic support.

Madam President, we call upon the authorities of Morocco to free the independent investigative journalist Omar Radi and stop restricting media freedom. According to the annual report of Reporters Without Borders, the Moroccan authorities control most media outlets and suppress freedom of opinion and independent reporting. Morocco is ranked 135th out of a total of 180 countries, according to the World Press Freedom Index. The methodology followed by Moroccan authorities against its critics is completely unacceptable. Morocco’s intelligence services use Pegasus to wiretap investigative reporters and then launch legal proceedings against them using or even perverting private data. It is no coincidence that most critics of the Moroccan regime have been condemned for alleged sexual crimes after carefully staged trials that characterise authoritarian regimes. Moroccan authorities have also acquired the habit of trying to influence Members of the European Parliament and our decision-making process by means that refer to Qatargate. In the interests of cooperation between EU and Morocco, we call upon the Moroccan authorities to immediately release from prison Omar Radi, other journalists, as well as all prisoners of conscience.

Madam President, I would like the European Commission to become more assertive in its interventions in favour of media freedom in the Member States. Pressure on the media is usually the first symptom of a government's shift towards authoritarianism. Typical is the case of the Mitsotakis government, which, according to the assessment of Reporters Without Borders, has imposed the largest restrictions on media freedom among the 27 states of the European Union and greater restrictions than in the countries of the Western Balkans. Mitsotakis, of course, questions the validity of Reporters Without Borders, but this NGO is a partner of the European Parliament. I am an MEP whose phones are monitored by order of Mitsotakis, as is my colleague Androulakis of the Socialists. First the surveillance of journalists began and then it was extended to politicians. Here is the proof that we have moved from restricting media freedom in Greece to methods reminiscent of Albania's Berisha and North Macedonia's Gruevski. We must all react together.