Speeches

Madam President, dear Ms Navalnaya, before I address this Chamber, I would like to address you personally. Obviously, this misfortune has an international political impact, but it is above all a personal and human tragedy. I would like to express my sincere condolences to you, who have just lost your husband, and to your two children and loved ones. Your courage is exemplary and admirable, and all Democrats here salute the memory of Alexei Navalny. Alexei Navalny is a symbol of courage, self-sacrifice in the face of injustice and corruption, without ever weakening. He will have faced to the end a regime whose only response to any challenge is repression and assassinations. Because we have to say it clearly today! Yes, the full responsibility for this assassination lies with the Russian state, and in particular with its President, Vladimir Putin. Alexei Navalny had exposed the deeply corrupt Putin system that has locked all doors of power and institutions. So if we really want to pay tribute to him, we have to do what he has always expected of us: Asphyxiate Putin and his loved ones by all means! Sanctions are one thing, but they do not do everything, as you said, and neither do statements. We must fight all the organizations that found its criminal system. Colleagues, we cannot leave the Russian opposition alone against Putin and his followers. It is up to us to oppose this, too, every day, because now their assassinations and propaganda are also exported elsewhere in Europe. This propaganda and lies that only benefit the same people, Putin in Russia and his extremist relays at home – extremists who, once they come to power, rush to play the Kremlin game. Dear Mrs Navalnaya, I will conclude by reaffirming to you all our support, but also all our determination to accompany you in your courageous fight for this democratic and free Russia that you call for with your wishes. We won't leave you alone. We will be there by your side until the end!

Madam President, Secretary of State, ladies and gentlemen, for too long we have ignored the signs of the world's turning point. Increasingly, our values of freedom and democracy are now under attack, physically or virtually. Despite these threats, we have become too accustomed to some comfort. This comfort, it could make us forget at times the harsh reality that can inflict on us the jolts of geopolitics. The habit of peace, this formidable European miracle, has become a situation taken for granted, whereas this peace is the essential element for our freedom, for our prosperity. Colleagues, by relying only on our American allies for our defense, we have ended up with chronic underinvestment in our defense capabilities. The awakening could only be brutal! Two years ago, Vladimir Putin launched an invasion war on European soil. The worst atrocities were committed. The worst threats are now hovering over our heads. Colleagues, since 24 February 2022, naivety has made its time, and that is why, alongside its heroic population, we will support Ukraine until its victory. And we too must be concerned about our safety! Our ties with our allies are valuable. To question them would be irresponsible. But once there is a risk that our strategic priorities will take different paths, we must no longer procrastinate. We will not be able to wake up in the aftermath of the US elections without anticipating the next world. We Democrats refuse to leave our union at the mercy of the aggressors, unlike those whose links with Putin are known and documented here, on the far right and far left of this Chamber. Do not rely on them to defend neither our continent nor their own country. Ladies and gentlemen, I would also like to send a message. There is no need to attack our Heads of State here and there. They're the key! This is a sterile debate. Otherwise, we can remake the world and look at who led us to our addictions. I wouldn't do it! Let us be collectively responsible, otherwise we play Vladimir Putin's game. And I ask the question: Who better than Europe to protect Europe? Colleagues, it is time to act. And it starts with ending unanimity in European foreign policy, where today a single government, even if subservient to a foreign power, can jeopardise our vital interests at all. We will then have to think about new initiatives, and here I am thinking of the creation of the European Military Academy, at a time when our armed forces must be fully interoperable. But we must also invent new forms of funding for our protection and build a true single market for defence so that we can finally protect ourselves. It's about our safety at all!

Madam President, Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Romania is entering an election year: parliamentary, presidential, European and local elections. These elections will be crucial, and it is a strong symbol to see that Romanians will write both their national and European future within a few months, as the values and interests of Romanians are firmly rooted in the European project. I could mention our fight against corruption, our strong support for the EPPO and for the work of your compatriot, Laura Codruța Kövesi, who is doing dantesque work across Europe after having done it from Bucharest. These values, this rule of law, are the basis of our community of European destinies. Our family, Renew Europe, will fight to the end to protect them, to strengthen them, to fix them. The elections I mentioned will be part of an era in which foreign interference is multiplying on our soil. The institutions will have to be robust because cyber protection and the fight against disinformation are a major challenge, as well as the discourses of the extreme right, which serve only division and hatred, in Romania as elsewhere, unfortunately. Your responsibility – to protect democracy and the institutions – will therefore be great, Mr President, and it is because we form this community of destiny that I welcome the lifting of air and sea border controls with Romania, but also, next month, with Bulgaria. I assure you today in this Chamber: our political group will continue to advocate the lifting of land border controls, too. This is fundamental and a priority. This community of destiny is also our close bond with the Ukrainian people. His fight is also ours. His safety is also ours. I welcome in this House Romania’s major role in supporting Ukraine because, when the security of our continent is threatened, we act together. I also want to have a word for Moldova. I and my group are delighted that these two countries are continuing, and even accelerating, their journey towards our Union. Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this election year is of crucial importance, not only for Romania, but for Europe as a whole. Our freedoms, our institutions are at stake. It is the responsibility of all of us to protect them.

Madam President, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, last Thursday Europe took up its responsibilities. Last Thursday, the whole EU sent a clear message to President Putin. Until Ukraine regains its full territorial sovereignty, Europe will stand by the Ukrainians. €50 billion until 2027 will be used to support Kiev to protect itself, to finance its schools, hospitals, and ultimately to rebuild itself. The summit on 1 February was a further demonstration of the unity of the 27, and a further demonstration that the EU will always be at the forefront of crises, united: alongside Ukrainians who risk their lives every day to repel the invasion and alongside – should we remind ourselves? – Europeans themselves. For, let us not fool ourselves, the interest of Europeans does not lie in complicity with the regime of Vladimir Putin. Those who serve this discourse are the pyromaniacs of Europe, and their calls for peace in the form of a ceasefire, we know very well what they cover: Kremlin’s ambition to make Ukraine a Russian territory. Europe is taking responsibility, ladies and gentlemen, and this summit was also marked by budgetary progress. Without financial means, there are no public policies. That is why we need to be even more ambitious. An agreement on the revision of our budget is good; A good deal is better. Because, ladies and gentlemen, we will not fund our future with tips. Our future, our ambition as Europeans, is to be free. Free to produce on our own soil the strategic goods that Europe needs – medicines, batteries, vehicles – free to choose our partners in confidence, free at last to decide for ourselves and for ourselves our future. That is what European sovereignty is all about. This sovereignty is also our food sovereignty. Here too, Europe is once again taking responsibility for its agriculture, because it has a duty to feed those who feed us. Farmers have sent a clear message to all of us: we must allow them, too, to be free, free to live from their activity and to devote themselves fully to it without suffocating under paperwork. Let's make no mistake about the target: our farmers are the architects of the green transition, and I am proud that Renew Europe protected the CAP until 2027 and doubled the funds earmarked for young farmers. European agricultural policy is not only designed to be built for farmers, it must also be built with them. While populists of all stripes want, as usual, to exploit angry movements, I have a question for them: to you who say that Europe is abandoning rurality, where were you when we supported and even increased the resources allocated to the agricultural world? You vote the standards and you don't give a single euro. Whether you like it or not, Europe is growing, and it is not about to stop, because we will not weaken our support for Ukraine, nor the climate, nor the future of our farmers. This is our course, and we will not deviate.

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, on 1 February the eyes will be on what will happen in Brussels. It will not be a summit like any other, because what will be decided there is the path that Europe will take for the coming years. The reality, colleagues, is that leaders have no choice. Since 24 February 2022, Ukrainians have been fighting valiantly to defend their territory and thus that of the European Union. To ensure that their hospitals, their schools, their administrations are always functional is to avoid the collapse of the Ukrainian state. Equally crucial, of course, is support for military capabilities, because if Ukraine were to collapse, it would be the European Union itself and all its states that would now be insecure. That is why, Madam Minister, Viktor Orban cannot dictate his law to all of his partners. It's time for the 26 to get their hands back. This is essential for Ukraine, but also for our other current challenges: immigration, the production of strategic goods on our soil, but also the sound management of our debt, without forcing Parliament to cut into the programmes that make the reputation of our Europe, without betraying the promises of the great European recovery plan. We will pay particular attention to this here in the European Parliament, be assured when negotiations with Parliament begin. But for now, Commissioner, it is up to you to help your counterpart in the European Council work towards an agreement between the states. Know that, where there will be ambition, we will obviously support this path with all the demands that major decisions require.

Madam President, Prime Minister, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Belgian Presidency of the Council that is opening is part of a pivotal period for Europe. A pivotal period because at the end of your presidency, Prime Minister, as we all know, the European elections will take place. What is starting today is the path our Union will take tomorrow. There is no doubt, as we gather in this Chamber, that Europe must take its destiny back into its own hands. In a few months, our American allies may revert to isolationism and animosity towards us. But in a few months, Ukraine may not yet have regained its territorial integrity, and I refuse to embrace the idea that we have to wait, over and over again, for the worst to finally happen. Europe must take its future into its own hands now to ensure that Ukraine does not collapse, to accompany the states destined to join us, to fundamentally reform the way our Europe works. Unanimity can no longer be the rule in a Union of 36. To enlarge without reform would be to embark on the path of immobility. I know that your presidency, Prime Minister, will be keen to lay the foundations for the revolution to come. So, of course, institutional reforms are one thing, but just as fundamental is the question of our values. Prime Minister, as Poland returns to democracy, as the free press comes back to life in Slovenia, we must set these successes not as exceptions, but as concrete examples that in politics there is no inevitability. We therefore call for a final finding of a serious and persistent breach by the government of Viktor Orban of the fundamental values of the European Union. We must move on to the second stage of the Article 7 procedure, Prime Minister, so that these attacks are also relegated to the status of parentheses in the democratic history of Hungary and the European Union. Prime Minister, you are at the head of a country that matters. You are also a member of our political family, Renew Europe, and you can count on our unwavering commitment to you to respect our values and ambitions.

Madam President, Commissioner, Secretary of State, ladies and gentlemen, what is happening in Slovakia? Slovaks, pro-Europeans deep in their souls, see their new prime minister, Robert Fico, dismantle their institutions, built in pain and sweat. The guardians of democracy – prosecutors, magistrates, police officers, journalists – are intimidated, dismissed. Because they want to end impunity, those who want to punish the corrupt are threatened. Threatened because they bring out the truth. By considering the dissolution of his country's anti-corruption prosecutor's office, Robert Fico is taking a new step, an unacceptable step for the Democrats, an unacceptable step for this Parliament, unacceptable for the European Union. Commissioner, I appeal to your authority and firmness to put an end to what amounts to a slow "orbanisation" of Slovakia, which no one among the pro-Europeans will accept. For Slovakia and for democracy.

Madam President. Commissioner, Secretary of State, ladies and gentlemen, I will not go around the bush: There's an emergency. We urgently need to strengthen our European budget to deal with all the crises that are hitting us – the migration crisis, the debt crisis, the competitiveness crisis – and, of course, for Ukraine. Ukraine, which could give up any hope of defeating Russia in three weeks, three weeks, if we do not help it here and now, with or without Orbán. That is why, Secretary of State, we need to review our budget. It is not a whim of the Commission or the European Parliament to have more and more money. It is a question of the viability of the European Union for the next four years. Then we see the compromise documents pass one after the other: 66 billion, then 36, 34, 26 and finally 22. You cut into the migration by crossing your fingers so that civilians stop fleeing conflicts. You cut strategic investments in the hope that giga-factories will grow on their own in our campaigns. But above all, beyond these cuts, states are putting a mortgage on the future of Europe. All analyses agree that Europe's debt will be higher than expected. You cannot refer the search for a solution to future annual negotiations. You know very well what's going to happen. What is going to happen is that the states are going to put the knife under the throat of the institutions every year to cut European programmes, in order to make room for debt. But where is common sense? Where is Europe Power? Mr Secretary of State, it is time for a start. This Friday, Heads of State or Government will have to decide which Europe they want in 2028. A Europe on the brink or a Europe that holds on. It is your responsibility.

Mr President, Mr High Representative, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen: dependence on Russian gas, massive subsidies to '', increased international competition, especially from China... The changes the world is going through are hitting our Union hard. These crises directly affect the daily lives of our citizens and businesses, which have to cope with rising prices and the increased risks of relocations or shortages. In an interconnected world such as ours, a European strategy to protect our economy is therefore necessary. Ladies and gentlemen, the answer to these challenges can never be withdrawal, populist, nationalist temptation and isolation, as the extremes in this Chamber would have us believe. On the contrary, it must be European. It is by using the power of our internal market, diversifying our international partnerships or jointly supporting our strategic industries that we will be able to protect Europeans. However, this strategy can only succeed on two conditions: we must be able to agree on a shared vision of economic security and we must be prepared to put the necessary financial resources into it.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, let us make it clear: States have lost part of their fiscal sovereignty. It is now clear that Europe needs to respond on the right scale to this challenge of the 21st century. This is what we have done, for example, by imposing a solidarity contribution on fossil energy giants, because there are tax bases that can no longer be understood at national level alone without leading to a leakage of revenues and activities to other countries. The reality is that nation states can no longer tackle certain issues in isolation, whether in times of crisis or not. I am of course thinking of climate change, digital giants, financial transactions, tax evasion and fraud. Colleagues, it is time to take on these challenges, without any taboos, because if there is one level of power that can bring more tax and social justice in addition to the states, and especially in times of crisis, it is Europe.

Mr President, Commissioner, Secretary of State, ladies and gentlemen, this year, even more than the others, our annual budget negotiations have demonstrated the impossibility for Europe to adapt forcefully to the challenges of the moment. EUR 340 million was the amount we could discuss, with the rest almost fixed in stone. I would like to congratulate our rapporteur-general, Mr Mureşan, and our rapporteur for the institutions, Mr Ušakovs, on all the work done despite the constraints we are experiencing. We were able to get a substantial increase in humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians, for health research, and for young farmers. Ladies and gentlemen, let us not be mistaken, this common agreement is neither historic nor sufficient. Our support here will only aim to ensure continuity of European programmes in 2024, because the real fight will have to be on the Multiannual Financial Framework, the only political battleground where we can release substantial sums to end our critical dependencies, manage our borders and migration flows and of course, help Ukraine. I therefore call on States to make as much progress as possible in their discussions on this crucial issue. Yes, the discussions, as we know, will be long, they will be arduous, they will be fraught with pitfalls and sown with political choices to be made. So, to overcome these difficulties, we need to raise our heads, look where we want to lead Europe to draw a clear line and a horizon. It is time to make choices, time to turn words into deeds.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, our debate has only strengthened my intuition: The time has come to regain leadership. And not just any leadership. I am talking about the leadership of yesteryear with the visions of the founding fathers. Raise your head, look away from the accounting tables to see where we want to lead Europe, we parliamentarians, heads of state, ministers, civil society, Europeans. Own resources, far from their technical aspect, are above all a political issue. It is they who will determine the confidence that markets will continue to place in the European project. It is they who will determine whether or not the European Union will have a free hand to play the same game with the US and Chinese powers in the coming decades. Own resources will define the reality of the European Union of tomorrow: a club of around 30 United Nations for the lowest common denominator, or finally a strong geopolitical, industrial and ecological entity. So, Commissioner – I would have liked to say this also to the Spanish Presidency, which is not present – believe in my support and our full support for the work you are doing. This is probably one of the toughest technical, political and ideological battles in Brussels for decades. So keep in mind that if you succeed, your victory will only be better.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, since 2019 we have taken up with José Manuel Fernandes, whom I welcome here, the torch of own resources. An emblematic file, and for some a sea snake. I have to admit that all this time I have sometimes wondered how national leaders in the 1950s agreed from the very first moment that Europe should be financed entirely from genuine own resources. This was the time when large companies active in the coal and steel sectors paid a tax directly to the ECSC, to the European institution. At a time when Europe’s financial autonomy was a clear will of national leaders. This desire was even renewed in the 1960s with customs duties. But, it must be acknowledged, this spirit has withered over time. National contributions have emerged as the new norm. States have regained control. As a result, there is no longer a budgetary negotiation where net contributors do not tap net beneficiaries. Far, far from the spirit of solidarity that founded and which I still believe characterises our Union. When we talk about money, it is national selfishness that takes over. Over-reliance on national contributions has led us to an impasse, with a budget blocked at 1% of EU GDP for, I want to say, almost eternity. So, ladies and gentlemen, I ask an existential question: will Europe be able to expand, or rather will it be able to operate under these conditions: with even more members, but with the same anachronistic rules, the same way to finance our common future? I do not want a Europe where 35 national finance ministries, each with their own constraints, pull Europe's action down because of a lack of political will. Colleagues, the time has come. The time has come to uphold the promise that was made with this stimulus package. The debt incurred will not have to be repaid by the states with the taxes of the taxpayers. It is also out of the question to go through cuts in our healthcare or in Erasmus. The time has therefore come to act on these new own resources. Are the rights to pollute the European carbon market that have existed since 2003 European? They therefore go to the European budget. Is the carbon tax at borders European? It therefore goes to the European budget. Are large multinationals thriving thanks to the European market? They therefore contribute to the European budget. Let us get out of this feverishness, and assume forcefully – let us even impose – what is obvious and should have remained so. If a European policy generates money, then that money must go back to Europe. And beyond the obvious, beyond coherence, let us defend what has now become paramount. In 2028, just over four years from now, the European Union will be legally required to start repaying the debt incurred for the recovery plan. We are talking about €20 billion a year. If states do not decide to take a political course, the political course they committed themselves to in 2020, then we are entitled to the solution that no one, no one wants: Reimbursement by the States. And by voting on this report today, we are also signalling to states that such a scenario would not be the responsibility of parliamentarians.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Europe must define its course on the conflict between Israel and Hamas. But carrying a geopolitical Europe also requires a Europe that gives itself the means, that accompanies the necessary positions. And this summit was also a discussion about its means. Now, all of us here make the same observations. We face migratory flows that we struggle to manage, for lack of means. We are highly dependent on other powers for our strategic products. Ukraine, without our support, would collapse. And if it collapsed, tomorrow Russia would be at the borders of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania. This is the reality of the challenges of today's Europe. I would like to thank the European Commission for proposing a new budget that largely addresses these challenges, even though the promised Sovereignty Fund has not yet been created, Commissioner, with great regret, of course, on our part. So what a disappointment to hear some heads of state questioning the very idea that we need to refinance ourselves to face these challenges, and others even going so far as to blackmail. However, Europeans wonder where Europe is, and when it responds ‘present’, as if at last finding a way through the management of immigration, some Heads of State and Government, the same ones who ask us for better management of migration flows, refuse to put the necessary means to ensure the return of those who are not destined to stay, the means to ensure the integration of those who have the right of residence. One wonders if one is not walking on one’s head. What justifies such a discrepancy between ambitions and actions? All this will not happen without money. The Asylum and Migration Pact must be financed. What will happen if the situation in the Middle East turns into a new migration crisis? Colleagues, which state in the world would decide to cut off its healthcare or student mobility to ensure its security in its neighbourhood? None. None. So why should this be the case for the European Union? I therefore call for the Heads of State and Government to be held accountable. Let us discuss the figures, the amounts, but let us get out, Mr President, of this eternal temptation to undress Peter in order to dress Paul. Let us have a vision for Europe, a vision that is not fair accounting, a vision that lives up to the challenges of today and tomorrow.

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, in recent weeks Europe has been shaken within itself and at its borders, with the conflicts in the Caucasus and the Middle East. And there is no one who is not moved by the ambient cacophony that reigns within our walls. Who speaks for the European Union? What is our position? Colleagues, the world is watching us. Europe must regain clarity and unity. Our unity with Russia, with Ukraine, cannot remain a parenthesis in the geopolitical history of our continent. That must be the new norm. But clarity alone will not be enough. For there are words and there are deeds. This summit will also be earmarked for the European budget. If we do not revise our budget, Europe will not be able to continue to support Ukraine, manage migration, manage our debt and end our dependency on critical technologies. In short, to ensure its geopolitical dimension. So let us never lose sight of the fact that we are acting in the interest of all Europeans. And making promises without giving us the means to do so leads to disillusionment and drama. Heads of State or Government must have this in mind and finally give Europe the power it needs.

Mr President, Commissioner, Secretary of State, ladies and gentlemen, as we vote on Europe’s budget to finance Erasmus, health, border management and ammunition production, some want to embark on the path of humanitarian abandonment. Hamas, an armed terrorist group, has committed atrocious crimes against Israel, against Jews. This barbarism deserves nothing but firmness. Hamas is also the group that helps keep the Gazan population in extreme poverty, making civilians ultra-dependent on international and European aid. So no, suspending EU aid to the civilian population will not solve anything. On the contrary: It will condemn the population to double punishment. This aid is intended to provide drinking water, electricity, food and medical equipment. Colleagues, cutting off this aid is actually throwing the population into the arms of Hamas Islamist terrorists, who recruit where misery rages and where no way out is possible. I urge us, collectively, to remain responsible.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Europe is in crisis. From COVID to the war in Ukraine to climate change, each of these crises has exposed our vulnerabilities. Renewable energies, batteries, semiconductors, magnesium or pharmaceutical drugs: so many technologies and resources that are essential for Europe, but which we are sorely lacking and for which we are still too dependent on third countries. But the Europe we defend, we pro-European progressives, is a forward-looking Europe, capable of weighing on the world stage. With STEP, we have a concrete tool to reduce our dependencies. We are asking for €13 billion in fresh money to support the most critical technologies for our economy. We are enabling the industrial projects of tomorrow to be better financed by Europe and faster. We are reducing the administrative burden to approve these projects and supporting job creation and training as close as possible to the territories. In a nutshell, we are laying the first stones to make European sovereignty a reality. Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this is a concrete tool that we need, but it is still too insufficient in view of the scale of the challenges before us. For the European Parliament, as you know, the answer is very clear: Only a real European fund, which will guarantee our food security, which will support European defence, which will finance our health and which will allow us to accelerate on all strategic technologies, will ensure our sovereignty. This is about our credibility.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, while all eyes are rightly on the Middle East, Vladimir Putin is rubbing his hands. He hastened his offensive by continuing to commit heinous crimes. The $50 billion in aid we are about to provide to Ukraine is urgent, at a time when the US is no longer able to provide funding guarantees. It is also a reminder sting. It proves once again the camp to which we belong: that of democracies. That of the strong values of peace, freedom, the rule of law and pluralism. In short, everything that Vladimir Putin and some of his far-right and far-left supporters have been able to despise through their past votes in this Chamber. This European aid will therefore not only be a long-term financial support to ensure Ukrainians the reconstruction of their nation, functional hospitals and schools where knowledge continues to be passed on to children affected by the bombings. This European aid will also, and above all, be a major plan to protect 450 million Europeans from the pangs of warrior nationalism.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the hypocrisy of the extreme right has reached its climax with the scandal of the Law and Justice Party. For bribes, they gave hundreds of thousands of permits to return to Poland and anywhere else in Europe. So I warn and denounce. For years, the extreme right has shamelessly erected foreigners, migrants in absolute evil, immigration as the cause of all our ills. All this populist rhetoric to hide their incompetence, their inability to deal with other topics and moreover the corruption of their system. Colleagues, there are the nauseating anti-migrant speeches on TV sets. And there is reality. The reality is that the friends of Eric Zemmour and Jordan Bardella are building genuine channels of illegal immigration into Europe. This is a real scandal! A veritable corruption scandal that demonstrates the dismal management of borders and immigration by the far right. Anyone involved should be held responsible.

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to stand up against the extreme right, against the Lega, against the National Rally, against the AFD, against Reconquest, who would have us believe that Europe would be a budgetary monster financing only its officials. We must restore reality and face reality and truth with courage. A courage that populists lack so much. Because the reality is that Europe’s coffers are facing an abysmal vacuum. A gap that, if not filled by 31 December, will lead to very serious repercussions. End of assistance to Ukraine. Inability to honour our common debt. Inability to end our addictions. Inability to control our borders. And therefore inability to receive dependant migrants as well as to accompany those who are not intended to remain. So what would we do? Pester against the impotence of Europe, against its inability to cope with crises and suffer? We refuse it. Colleagues, the budgetary situation in Europe is not a cause for concern. She's dramatic. So let’s not let the populists, the far right, tell us that we must cut Europe’s budget like irresponsible public finance and give Europe the means to control our borders, our industry, our territory, our future.

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, yes, there are significant inequalities. And yes, the wealth of the wealthiest has changed significantly in recent years. Europeans are waiting for more tax justice. Those with the strongest shoulders, who do not pay their fair share of taxes, need to contribute more to the green transition. This is all the work we have been doing since 2019 in this Chamber. But whatever the assembly, whatever the level of power, the same far-left rhetoric: tax the rich, tax the rich, tax the rich. More than a slogan, it has become a marotte. But by force, this discourse has become an ideology. An ideology that we sometimes wonder if it does not hide less praiseworthy intentions in the minds of some. Taxing success and blindly and indiscriminately attacking anyone who has the misfortune of owning a bit of capital. It does not matter how effective the measure is. What matters is the symbol, the popular assent, even if it is the measure detrimental to the most vulnerable. Because we never, ever hear the extreme left defend a plan against the potential flight of capital out of France, out of Europe, against the flight of savings or against the flight of investments. So tell me, Mrs. Aubry, how to redistribute wealth once it's relocated to Dubai or the Bahamas? This is why this type of contribution, as well as the fight against climate change, can only be considered on a global scale. To prevent some people from escaping taxation in the future by moving their fortunes to the other side of the world in one click.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, we are at a crossroads. Europe needs to think about its future in a world in turmoil. A world where our continent is under attack. A world where China dreams and builds itself as a hegemonic power, without any consideration for Ukraine, with a model that is already spreading far beyond its borders. And nobody is fooled, neither here nor on the other side of the Atlantic. The Americans did not procrastinate for months to adopt the IRA. The Chinese have no mood for WTO rules when it comes to gaining competitiveness. So what is the fate of Europe in all of this? To suffer the national selfishness of those who no longer want to spend on Europe’s autonomy and defence, but at the same time announce massive state aid for their own industry? So let's be consistent. If the Heads of State and Government really want to ensure a prosperous future for Europe, if they really want a Europe capable of protecting itself, of supporting Ukraine with confidence, without dependence, then they must embrace the project of a European sovereignty fund and finally think of the future as Europeans first and foremost.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, 80% of our active ingredient production is now carried out in Asia. Result: shortages of paracetamol, amoxicillin, antidiabetics, painkillers even, for our European babies. Today, 70% of chips are produced in Taiwan and the US and 80% of our solar panels come from China. Result: our technological development depends on stability in the rest of the world. So, once we have been reminded of this, what is the conclusion we need to draw from it? The fact is that there is an absolute need to reindustrialise our continent. This requires political will to open factories, to recreate lost jobs, to train and to ensure a return of know-how to Europe. This European political will, Commissioner, will therefore have to be translated into a credible sovereignty fund. This is about our prosperity and the future of our territories.

Mr President, Minister, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, for several years now Viktor Orbán has been unravelling the democratic institutions of his country. It convulses, attacks, and blocks the European Union. It blocks the taxation of multinationals. It blocks any progress on migration. He is taking Ukraine hostage. He is complacent towards Moscow. It no longer respects European law. He even calls for the dismantling of the European Parliament, the only institution whose representatives are directly elected by the people. In short, Viktor Orbán shows no sign of being able to chair the Council, to speak on behalf of the 27 Member States, whereas this role requires impartiality and will, but also, of course, respect for our values. That is why states must be responsible, uncompromising, and prevent illiberalism from spreading across the European Union.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I have come to tell you about our coastlines, those who live on them and those who support them. Because fishing is a whole: an economic, ecological and food ecosystem. So I say it forcefully, the future of our fishermen lies in protecting our marine ecosystems. It is therefore essential to adopt protection measures specific to each marine protected area in order to enable sustainable fishing. The future of our fishermen is of course also the sustainability of their activities, the assurance of diversity in the fleet of boats, so that tomorrow this activity is not just about large vessels mooring offshore, and small boats in shallow waters for the beauty of the postcard. Because fishing, which generates thousands of jobs at sea and on land, now raises almost existential questions. What we decide here will decide the future of our oceans and that of the fishermen in the ports of Lorient, La Turballe and Brest. These ports are so dear to the President of the Fisheries Commission, Pierre Karleskind, on whose behalf I am speaking today. Ladies and gentlemen, it is not only the future of our fishermen that is at stake today, it is also the future of our food sovereignty. Not accompanying our fishermen means opening the door to more and more exports from countries whose environmental practices we do not control. It is therefore also our food sovereignty that is at stake here. Colleagues, I therefore invite us to address the issue of marine ecosystems and fisheries together for sustainable fishing in protected oceans.