Speeches

Mr President! Was gas supplies from Azerbaijan more important to the European Commission than the lives of innocent people in Nagorno-Karabakh? There is no doubt that the international community, especially Russia, has abandoned Armenia because the Kremlin considered economic ties with Azerbaijan more important than the brutal expulsion of over one hundred thousand ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh. The danger is by no means over. The Azerbaijani regime continues to upgrade, most recently with Chinese warplanes. I therefore strongly support the fact that the French government has supplied air defence systems and armoured personnel carriers to Armenia and is trying to close the gap created by the Russian withdrawal from Armenia. In Arzach we had to observe a crime against humanity that must not be repeated. The Commission should follow the example of France in order to guarantee long-term security in the Caucasus. Strengthening the very good work of the EU Monitoring Mission under Dr Markus Ritter and concrete negotiations on visa facilitation are further important milestones.

Events, the pandemic, economic uncertainty, the rising cost of living, unregulated migration, the war in Ukraine have led us to reconsider the role of the European Union and the role of Germany in this Union. It has become clear that European citizens often turn to their national governments in times of crisis. I would therefore like to stress that we must weigh very carefully a further transfer of national competences to European institutions, in all reasonableness for a stronger geopolitical focus, and we should not be ashamed to protect the interests of the Federal Republic of Germany from a federalist idea. I would urge you, Chancellor, to reconsider very carefully your support for qualified majority voting on foreign and security policy issues. These questions are far too important to be left to others. I feel an increasing anti-German sentiment in this House, but also throughout Europe, and I believe that the realistic future for Germany is to be a strong member of a European Union, which is a union of equal Member States, freely composed for the common economic good.

Madam President, Commissioner! In principle, I would also like to thank the colleague for the work, but the annual report is unfortunately incomplete – a long list of alleged achievements and an even longer list of aspirations, neatly divided to demonstrate our humanitarian credibility. We even have annexes listing the individual cases we have examined and a list of the countries we have condemned. Of course, the list of cases can sometimes seem a bit strange, but recent media coverage might explain this. But what I still haven't understood is that, given our humanitarian merits, we have ignored one of the world's greatest humanitarian crises, Yemen. Let me give you a few figures: 150,000 people were killed. 23.4 million people need some form of humanitarian assistance. 17.4 million people suffer from a food deficit. 4.3 million people were displaced. The civilian population is constantly at risk of cholera, diphtheria and dengue fever. No discussion about Yemen, no outrage, no demands for action. Unfortunately, we have failed in the real test of our humanitarian credibility.

Madam President, I welcome this report, which I believe is both balanced and fair. My concern is that, as in the case of Georgia, we are failing to support our friends in a great period of instability. It is unforgivable that Kosovo is still not recognised by some Member States for reasons that have more to do with domestic policy considerations than with issues of Kosovo's sovereignty. We must solve visa liberalisation issues on the basis of the principle of fairness and a level playing field for the countries of the Western Balkans. The Kosovo government has made commendable progress in fighting corruption, enforcing the rule of law and promoting economic development. Let's finally take our relationships to the next level.

Madam President, Commissioner! I fully support an independent Commission of Inquiry led by UNESCO to investigate and determine the full extent of cultural vandalism in Arzach. I am also sure that this mission will reveal the wanton destruction of Armenian churches, monuments, artifacts and memorial stones, the so-called Khachkars. What we are witnessing is the systematic destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in Arzach, which clearly violates the judgments of the International Court of Justice. An independent mission led by UNESCO must finally have unhindered access to Arzach in order to prevent the further destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage in Arzach. And we should not allow the Azerbaijani authorities to endlessly delay and impede such a mission.

Madam President, Current tensions have brought European security and defence policy into focus. I have long been skeptical about the effectiveness of the CSDP. For me, NATO is the guarantor of peace, and I am not sure if focusing on CSDP would weaken NATO. In any case, the current crisis has shown that Washington's view is not necessarily shared in all European capitals and that we need a more independent European voice reflecting European interests in our relations with states such as Russia and China. If CSDP missions are to have a chance to achieve their objectives at all, they need to start training to deal with new and disruptive technologies that are rapidly penetrating the conflict field. They must be closely aligned with NATO's defence and deterrence strategy, as well as NATO's efforts to promote cooperative security through defence capacity building. And they must seek closer synergies with the national joint training and evaluation centres. Nevertheless, I find it hard to believe that the CSDP is the ultimate solution. As much as we have differences with the United States, this crisis has also highlighted divisions within Europe. We need a defence architecture that is in any case based on the interests of the Member States and not on an attempt to establish the ultimate sovereignty of the European Union.