Speeches

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, thank you very much. There is a difference between Hungary and the Hungarian government and Viktor Orbán. As you have heard, we are quite tired of standing in this House deploring the corrupt and authoritarian regime of Viktor Orbán. At the same time, we are pleased that the Commission has finally begun to implement the democracy lock or what is called the rule of law mechanism. I myself was in Hungary a few days before the elections and saw hope in the eyes of Hungarian citizens and the question: Why haven't we acted before? The longer we take, the deeper Viktor Orbán and his lackeys put their claws in Hungarian society. I would also like to say that I am very much in favour of the Commission now wanting to add corruption as a point to the European Magnitsky Act. I very much look forward to the conclusions of such a review of the accounts and financial affairs of Mr Orbán and his lackeys. There will be a lot of dogs buried there, funded with our taxpayers' money. (The speaker declined to reply to a post ("blue card") by Ádám Kósa.)

Mr President, dear colleagues, dear Commissioner, I would like to start by thanking the Commission for adhering to Parliament when we sent a strong signal, with the support of two thirds of the votes here in Parliament, when it came to labour migration policy and the law report that I was rapporteur for. Thank you for that. I do hope that we will also gather strong support and remain united on this matter of the Talent Partnership, because these are of utter importance to our work, to our Union. Firstly, because the Talent Partnership can be used to create legal pathways to the Union for migrants who want to create better lives, who want to be part of our communities, who want to work – better, safe, legal pathways. Secondly, they can be part of our solutions to face the challenges of the ageing population, where we have a decrease in our labour force, meaning also a decrease of our welfare state or also the build of our welfare state. Thirdly, the Talent Partnership can improve the growth of our economies. As we speak, we are losing 2% every day of our productivity with the unfilled vacancies on the labour market. That’s why these Talent Partnerships are very, very important. But for them to be able to work and function, the first thing we need is good legislation, and we need to change the mind—set and narrative around migration, because now we are mixing everything. We need to know that not everyone wants to come to the EU. We are competing on a global scale over these talented, skilled people and we are losing in competitiveness. We are not as attractive as we used to be, or as we think. Thirdly, I think that we also need to work on the circularity of migration, so we prevent the brain drain, and we ensure that people who come also return. One last thing I would like to say, Mr President of the Parliament, is that I am very tired, I am really sick and tired, of being addressed as ‘the different one’. This Parliament contains non—ethnic Europeans. I myself came as an unaccompanied minor when I was 15 years old from Iraq to Sweden, and I am so tired of this racist narrative. I hope that whenever it comes, you stop it, because it is not acceptable. I am a part of the EU as much as you are and there are even more people who can be that! (applause)

Madam President, the crackdown on democracy in Cambodia is not news to us in this House or in our Union. For years, members of the Cambodian opposition have been – if not their parties dissolved – prosecuted, imprisoned and even killed. The prisons of Cambodia are overcrowded with activists, with trade unionists, with political oppositions, with journalists, with land rights activists, with human rights activists, and their one and only demand is a free and democratic society in Cambodia. Every day, leaders like Mu Sochua, Sam Rainsy, Kem Sokha and many others are still fighting the good fight. We have some brave Cambodians here today in our Parliament, and allow me, please, Madam President, to welcome them and let us today give them a strong message of support and let this message of support reach the Prime Minister in Cambodia – Hun Sen and his regime – that we are watching very closely and we stand ready to act with all our tools available, sanctions included, if the upcoming local elections in Cambodia will not be free, fair and transparent.

Mr President, thank you very much. Pegasus technology was developed for governments to fight terrorism and prevent crime, but the government of Hungary has been spying on its journalists, the government of Poland has been spying on opposition politicians and now this list has also become longer, with countries such as Luxembourg and Spain and the Belgian police. I am very pleased that our own Liberal group, Renew, has been the one who has started the work to create a committee of inquiry into how this technology has been used, with Sophie in 't Veld as the champion. But I would urge you all as you go home to your home countries to demand answers from your governments and see which governments have acquired this technology. I myself have written a letter to the Swedish Minister of Justice, Morgan Johansson, demanding to know whether Sweden has acquired this technology and whether it has been used. I would urge you to do the same.

Mr President, thank you very much. Honourable Commissioner, honourable Members! I survived a war when I was ten years old that changed my life forever. I remember how my single mom grabbed me and ran. I remember how she tried to protect my body with her little body thinking she could make me live in case the bombs hit us. I also remember the little Syrian boy Alan, whose body was washed up on the Greek beaches. He fled the war in Syria but never managed to get to safety. I also remember the little, lifeless, 18-month-old boy Kirill from Mariupol, his lifeless body and the desperate attempts of his parents and doctors to save his life. Couldn't be saved. What we are seeing today is a great tragedy, but we must not allow this tragedy to deprive us of action. We must do everything possible to give our support to the Ukrainian people, and we can do this in two ways: One is to immediately establish humanitarian corridors to protect Ukrainian civilian refugees, and the EU must give all the support we can to protect them. The second thing is that we have to put a lot of pressure on Putin. Russian oil smells like Ukrainian blood. As we continue to buy Russian oil, we also continue to give money to this war. This is probably the Union's biggest test in many decades. Let us continue to stand united for the people of Ukraine. Slava Ukraini.

Madam President, thank you very much. Dear Members, Commissioner, If we have ever hesitated in the face of the warnings that our liberal democracy is under attack, as well as our institutions, our political system, our European way of life, then Putin's war against Ukraine has shown its true face with full force. However, Putin's war is not only going on against Ukraine, but it is also going on against the liberal democratic world order. These are hybrid wars and cyber-attacks against our institutions and the deliberate dissemination of false information and manipulation of messages to create division and distrust. However, these regimes, the authoritarian regimes, have not stopped there. They have also established close contacts with parties present in this house. Italian Lega Nord, French National Assembly, Austrian FPÖ have all concluded cooperation agreements with Putin's party. German AfD and Hungarian Fidesz were used as election observers in the elections in Russian-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk. In Sweden, the leader of the Sweden Democrats Jimmie Åkesson could not choose between Joe Biden or Vladimir Putin. The EU has shown itself to be united against the war. Now is also the time to show that we are united against the war against Europe. It is not only peace that we must defend, but also our fundamental freedom.

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to thank you, Anna Donáth, for this important work. Even before the pandemic struck, we knew that some governments in our Union spent a great deal of time creating a narrative about civil society organisations that ultimately led to the dismantling of their activities. Right-wing populist governments, such as in Hungary and Slovenia, continue to restrict, defame and, at worst, criminalise the activities of associations. Often, these governments start by attacking organisations that defend women’s rights, refugees’ rights, LGBTIQ rights, Europeans with disabilities’ rights, in other words organisations that reflect the essence of what we call the European Union, our European Union – values, our common values, which right-wing populists hate most of all, which right-wing populists want to dismantle, dismantle with all their might. As long as associations are silenced, threatened, the foundations of our liberal democracy are also threatened. During the pandemic, some governments went pretty hard, pushing ahead, and banning the activities of organisations. Now that our societies are restarting, when we come back, all our rights and freedoms must be reclaimed. That is why I would like to see in the Commission's next report on the rule of law a specific chapter dedicated to the pre-conditions for civil society organisations. There is still time to reverse the trend. There is still time to win back our free union.

Madam President, thank you very much. Today, the verdict has fallen on the governments of Poland and Hungary. It was about time. Today's court decision is about us Europeans finally standing up for the peoples of Hungary and Poland, and not their governments. Today's court ruling shows that the human rights and freedoms of Polish and Hungarian citizens are important to all of us, concern all of us. The elections in Hungary, Commissioner, are right behind the door here. Is the Commission going to act and cut off the flow of money for Viktor Orbán, or will our money continue to finance a despot that no longer shares our common European values? Let me be clear. No matter what nonsense or abominable greetings you are doing, right-wing populists, you will not be able to frighten us into silence. We liberals will not be silenced when human rights are violated. We liberals will not back down from the battle for equal rights and dignity for all in the European Union.

Mr President, thank you very much. Even before the pandemic, violence against women was far too widespread here in the EU. One third of all European women have been subjected to some form of violence, i.e. one in three women in this room and across the EU. Every day, a woman dies from domestic violence. This pandemic has allowed domestic violence to flourish freely, and some conservative forces have taken advantage of the pandemic to further curtail women’s human rights. The Istanbul Convention's goal is to protect women from violence, but it is portrayed as gender propaganda and a threat to the nuclear family. The Polish government, led by the Law and Justice Party, is, as the first European country, about to leave the Convention. Instead of working against all forms of violence against women, the same government has proposed to introduce a national register of pregnant women, thus institutionalising violations of women’s human rights – the same government whose strict abortion laws have led to the death of a woman. Commissioner, this is not a gender equality problem for the EU in our society – this is a disgrace for us. I expect concrete action so that we can put an end to violence against women across the EU.

Madam President, we are 27 Member States in the European Union. Our region ranks as one of the most prosperous and wealthiest regions in the world. Our Member States are always ranked as some of the best countries to live in and work in worldwide. Our economies are strong thanks to our businesses and their workers, who continue to improve our daily lives. But the truth is our economies are facing challenges that we have not experienced before. Today, a challenge that is becoming more and more pressing is the demographic shift in our continent. The shift will exert greater pressure on public budgets when it comes to funding while fewer people will be working to generate tax revenues for social security systems in the budget and more people dependent on social security systems. You do not have to be a mathematician to understand or realise that the sums don’t add up. The mismatch of skills on the Member States’ labour markets causes our economies to lose over 2% of productivity every year. Businesses are struggling to find adequate skilled workers within our Member States or within the Union. When our companies and businesses struggle to find skilled workers, they struggle then with growing and expanding. That means losing out on creating more jobs, opportunities and on tax revenues to fund our welfare services. The demographic and economic challenges that our Member States are facing is an urgent issue. We need to address it properly and with adequate solutions. To properly address the issue of mismatch of skills and difficulties in recruitment of workers, the EU needs to become a more attractive region. A more attractive region and the notion of becoming attractive for labour migrants of all skill levels who are considering moving abroad for work. But how do we become as a region more attractive? How do we avoid falling into economic stagnation? How do we tackle our demographic challenge? In my report, I have included several proposals that provide solutions to these problems. With the talent pool, third-country nationals will be able to register and express their interest in migrating to the EU. Employers will be able to quickly search and find the workers with the right set of skills that they need. This will improve matching of the labour markets of the EU Member States and meet their different needs and even help businesses grow. In this report, I have also addressed the issue of medium- and low-skilled labour migration, and it is simply because of the fact that over 13% of key workers in our societies are labour migrants, especially in the agricultural and health sectors. The businesses of our Member States have large differences in terms of needs, and that is why we need an admission scheme for all skill levels. We cannot, to be honest, speak of creating opportunities to fill vacancies in the labour market without also addressing the issue of exploitation and abuse in our labour markets of labour migrants. Seasonal workers are often prone to be exploited by their employers. By allowing them to leave an abusive employer and find a new one without having their work permit revoked for a three-month period, we will give them an option to leave an exploitative employer without having the risk of losing their legal right to stay within the EU. Council representative, dear Commissioner and dear colleagues, in the debate on labour migration let us not forget one thing. Labour migration means that a person arrives in the EU, in a Member State within the EU, and starts working directly, pays their taxes, and contributes to funding our welfare states and being an active part of our societies. It should not be compared or mixed up with other parts of migration or asylum policies, as a well-functioning legislative framework for labour migration can be described as a triple win: a win for European businesses, a win for the employee, and a win for the Member State. I would like to take this opportunity as well and thank my dear shadow colleagues with whom we have been negotiating to achieve this file. They have been very constructive, and although we sometimes had some difficult discussions touching upon sensitive issues, we have always shared a common goal and it is to find a final agreement, even if we had to make some difficult compromises. I do hope that you all will vote in favour of this report.

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, thank you very much. Dear colleagues, Today, the debate about the EU's external border authority, Frontex, is not about being or not being. We all recognise the importance of the existence of this authority, this European authority financed by European taxpayers' money. This is not an attack on the agency. This is a sensible way of demanding accountability from its management. Today, the debate is about how the EU's face towards our immediate neighbourhood works, or rather does not work. When I was elected to this house in 2019, I asked about this discharge. What is it, how does it work? I then got the answer that this is something that we only do alongside what we do otherwise. I accepted that answer then, but not today. I will not accept that answer today. Today, this feels like a heavy responsibility: that we who are directly elected should show that we are using one of our democratic tools to demand accountability, as citizens demand accountability from us every day. Frontex is an authority that has had many internal problems. I don't know where to start. First, we had the very serious accusations directed against the authority that it was involved in pushbacks of the asylum seeker. The investigations that were made into what happened land in a word-to-word situation. It could not be proved that pushbacks It had happened, but neither had it happened. Since then, the question has just been dropped. Then there is the whole situation where they would hire officials to ensure that the EU's fundamental rights are respected in the exercise of its authority. They were supposed to hire 40 more in the spring, but failed there as well. A few months ago, they had barely hired half and blamed various reasons as they always do. Now I mention only a handful of worries and a handful of the things that the authority has had problems with during Leggeri's time. For that reason, I cannot stand behind giving Frontex discharge this time, and the lack of ambition and willingness to actually show that it is genuinely concerned about what it is accused of, makes it very difficult ... (The President took the floor)

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, thank you very much. The Prime Minister! What we're talking about today is your people. What we're talking about today is how your government consistently dismantles the rule of law and how courts are turned into political megaphones. How you and your party are dismantling media pluralism. It is you and your government who argue that Polish women do not have the right to control their own bodies. It is you and your government who believe that rainbow families are not as valuable as your own family. It is you and your party who believe that LGBTQ people should be banned from certain places in Poland. The Prime Minister, in this house, it is the interests of the Polish people that we have in mind. In this house, it is their human rights, the human rights of the Polish people, that we are fighting for. The Polish people belong in the European Union. The question is, will you and your party do it? Commissioner, thank you very much. You have the tools. You have the support of this house. Use them. It's time to turn words into action and that now.

Madam President, thank you very much. Madam Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you very much. Now the constitutional justice system in the United States has come to life and announced that this appalling abortion legislation is being temporarily stopped. Now let's hope that the Supreme Court also wakes up from its conservative hibernation and realizes that banning abortion is not only a violation of women's human rights, but also quite stupid to be honest. In all ages, women have found ways to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy. To ban abortion is actually to ban a safe abortion for women's health, nothing else. Let me say this again. A woman's right to control her own body is a human right. It is not a question of opinion, it is not a question of negotiation. But let's not think for a second that this is just going on elsewhere. It is also happening here in our Union and in this House. A couple of weeks ago, the Visegrad countries gathered for a summit where it was free to put the responsibility for the continent's survival on us uterus carriers. I blame myself for it and say: Keep your paws away from our right to control our own bodies. My uterus owes you, or you, or anyone else, nothing.

Madam President, thank you very much. Commissioner, thank you very much. What we see happening in Tigray is an unimaginable tragedy, an unimaginable evil and an unimaginable passivity from the outside world. Many times we have said: Never again, never forget. But equally, for almost a year we see how the civilian population of Tigray is attacked in cold blood, how rape is used as a weapon, how child soldiers are sent into certain death, how starving people have to sell their bodies to get some food and water. According to Human Rights Watch, this is a war crime. Those responsible must be held accountable through an international independent investigation. It is unbelievable that the UN has not used its Responsibility to Protect mechanism to protect the civilian population. The EU is Ethiopia's largest donor, and it is committed to doing so. We must use all our common weight to immediately force Ethiopia to open up Tigray for humanitarian aid before it is too late.

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, thank you very much. On my wall calendar it says the year 2021. Nevertheless, when it comes to the rights of citizens with disabilities, in some places the Union feels more like the 1950s. The coronavirus pandemic has hit our societies hard. But it has hit even harder a certain group in our Union, namely people with disabilities. And now that we are moving towards greater freedom of movement and lifting restrictions, this very group of citizens continues to be discriminated against. The problem is no longer that we are in a bad situation. The problem is that in several parts of the Union there are countries that are worsening the situation of people with disabilities, such as access to healthcare, such as preventing the spread of the coronavirus among this group of our citizens. Countries such as Bulgaria and Romania should step up and fully comply with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It would give our citizens an opportunity to report any violations of their rights in their home countries. It is time to call for real action, once and for all. Ending all forms of discrimination, guaranteeing the right of everyone to participate and stand as a candidate in democratic elections, and fully enabling all citizens to exercise freedom of movement within the Union. Only then will we have a Union without restrictions and with free movement for all our citizens.

Madam President, thank you very much. The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan is a failure of the free and democratic world. To call the international withdrawal led by the United States a failure would be the understatement of the century. whereas the terrorist organisation Taliban has already systematically and calculatedly started dismantling human rights, erasing women from public spaces, targeting journalists and torturing them; Next up are the minority groups, which make up Afghanistan's historical and social fabric. Many years of commitment and work by the international community, Afghan organisations and citizens have been totally demolished. We need to take time for reflection and ask ourselves the following questions: Was there a betrayal of the Afghan people? What did we do wrong? We have the opportunity, as a Union, to fight for the most vulnerable in Afghanistan, but we must ensure that no money goes to the bloody hands of the Taliban. We must have a clear strategy and a long-term plan for humanitarian aid. It is not possible to legislate the Taliban or remove them with a press release from the Commission ... (The President interrupted the speaker.)

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen. When Poland and Hungary wanted to join the EU, you committed to certain values. You entered the European Union by fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria. It's not an entrance ticket. It is an agreement that must be complied with, day after day. You entered the Treaty of Lisbon with your eyes wide open, where the second article already guarantees the human rights of all our citizens in the European Union. Values about the rule of law, women's autonomous right to control their bodies, LGBTIQ rights which are also human rights. Mr. Minister. I have to say it again in front of everyone. Swedish taxpayers' money should not go to authoritarian governments that systematically violate the rule of law, systematically discriminate against LGBTIQ people, dismantle media freedom and build corrupt systems. My Europe should not be an ATM for Orbán in Hungary or Kaczyński in Poland or any other illiberal leader in the EU. It is time to show action, Commissioner. The EU must make the democratic lock on the EU budget a reality and cut off money for authoritarian states that do not respect the human rights of their citizens.