Speeches

Madam President, no one can ignore what the Russian President wants anymore: He chose to make the Ukrainian people suffer, to make the Russian people suffer and to be hostile to us. From now on, it is clear that the world has nothing to lose and everything to gain from a defeat of Russia in Ukraine. A Ukrainian told me yesterday: If Russia loses, there is no more war. If it were to win, there would be no Ukraine. So I tell the Russian people and army: If you stop attacking Ukraine, you will be better off. Ukraine does not want to attack Russia. Volodymyr Zelensky never talked about denazifying the Kremlin. You have nothing to gain and everything to lose from this useless and deadly war, no reason to die for sham referendums. I say to the people of Europe: this is not the time to flinch, neither in our support for Ukraine – because it is delivering results – nor in our sanctions against Russia, because Vladimir Putin is just waiting for that. Nuclear threats, sabotage of gas pipelines only serve to intimidate us. We need to deliver more weapons to Ukraine, and faster, because now is the game. If we want to shorten this war, we have to hold on. With our support, with our determination, Ukraine must win, it can win and it will win. Slava Ukraini!

Mr President, Commissioner, as the Russian army retreats to Ukraine, Moscow is inventing a new colonial adventure, this time in Africa, with the complicity of the Wagner Group. The last country to fall victim to Russia's insatiable predatory appetite is Burkina Faso. The country of men of integrity is now caught between the violence of jihadist groups and the looters of the Wagner group. The situation of the people of Burkina Faso is tragic and it is understandable that they no longer know who to trust. More than a third of the territory is in the hands of jihadists. One in ten Burkinabe is a displaced person. In Djibo, at least 200,000 people are under jihadist pressure, deprived of water, energy, food and health care. One might hope that the Burkinabe army would rush to the north to help them. Well, no! Instead, a military coup took place in Ouagadougou. The new authorities, in fact, believe they can do better than their predecessors and we wish them to do so. Unfortunately, the first days of their seizure of power resulted in unacceptable violence against the French embassy. The French Institute was vandalized without the de facto authorities reacting. They are expected to do something other than the senseless search for scapegoats. It is expected that they will protect European nationals and tackle the ills that afflict the country. Let us not be told that Russia will help defeat armed groups and fight poverty. Wherever it is present, from the Central African Republic to Mali, the Wagner Group only adds violence to violence and plunders resources. Russia does not solve African crises because they live by them, it does not serve Africa, it uses Africa. But what is happening in Ouagadougou is also our failure. We have allowed misinformation to flourish without a reaction to the height. We are helping Burkina Faso in a considerable way, without its inhabitants seeing the result of our efforts. We offer Russia an easy victory that will not solve any of the challenges facing the Sahel. It is time, more than time, to rethink our action in depth.

Mr President, Azerbaijan’s aggression against Armenia is similar to and follows from Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Because Moscow is disrupting the international order, Baku no longer sees any reason to respect it, and because Russia is weakened in Ukraine, it is unable to protect Armenia – which it was already doing well. We cannot stand idly by and see Armenia attacked by its neighbour and abandoned to its fate by Russia. We need to support the sending of observers to the scene, work on a final border route, get all prisoners returned immediately and independently document war crimes. The principles and values we defend are the same from Kiev to Yerevan. Will you mobilise, Mr High Representative?

Mr President, ‘to misname things is to add to the misfortune of this world’, wrote Albert Camus. In this regard, the High Representative, the European Union has demonstrated its inability to say clearly what is happening in the South Caucasus. What is happening is that since 13 September Azerbaijan has forcibly entered the internationally recognised territory of Armenia. This military aggression took place just days after a meeting between President Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan under the auspices of the President of the Council, Charles Michel, and when both reaffirmed their commitment to a negotiated peace. Ilham Aliyev not only attacked Armenia, he also humiliated the European Union, disregarding his commitments to the President of the Council. Europe does not grow when it lets itself be despised. Ms von der Leyen did not grow up when she called Azerbaijan a ‘reliable partner’. Your own special envoy, Toivo Klaar, is no more credible when, faced with the point-to-point execution of Armenian prisoners, he hesitates to characterise the crime and is silent on the names of the aggressors – the Azerbaijani soldiers. When will we finally clarify our speech, High Representative?

Madam President, with the countries of the southern Mediterranean, we do not have just one sea and one history in common. We have a future to build together, because we have everything to gain from the successes of our neighbors and everything to fear from their failures. This is what the Agenda for the Mediterranean, presented by the Commission and the High Representative last year, meant. And that is also what the recommendation we are proposing to adopt says. But beyond good intentions, there is a reality that must concern us. This reality is that both shores of the Mediterranean have started to move away. In the south, the war in Ukraine is often mistakenly perceived as our problem and our sanctions as harmful. In the south, we are happy to listen to China, Russia, Turkey or the Gulf monarchies, and a little less to Europe. The wrongs are shared, but let us take our part, let us be a little less satisfied, a lot more present, and let us address much more to our partners in the southern Mediterranean with respect, friendship and frankness to build our common future.

Madam President, it is hard to believe, and it is painful to say, but there are parties in our Union and in our Parliament that dishonor and dishonor Europe. It is hard to believe, but there are Members here who did not want to condemn the atrocities committed by the Wagner Group, who did not want to punish Russia, who did not want to help Ukraine or give it EU candidate status and who did not want to denounce either the poisoning of Alexei Navalny or the closure of Memorial. Some of these elected representatives are now members of the National Assembly in France, while others still sit on our benches. We would like Jean-Luc Mélenchon never to have said that Vladimir Putin was going to solve the problem in Syria, that he never spoke – I quote – of the ‘neo-Nazi government of Kiev’, that he never called – I quote – for ‘patience, the collapse of the Ukrainian economy, the disintegration of this country which is so hard to be one of them: everything comes to a point who knows how to wait’, as he wrote when he was a Member of the European Parliament in 2015. We would like Thierry Mariani never to have questioned the crimes of the Russian army in Mariupol or Bucha. We would like no MPs to have traveled to Crimea at the expense of the Russian state for bogus election observation operations. We would like the National Rally not to be the debtor of a Russian arms company that trades with Bashar al-Assad. It is hard to believe that all this is possible. And yet they are facts and it is a disgrace.

Mr President, I say to our dear British friends, we live in a time of anxiety: war has come back to Europe, inflation is growing and climate change has come into our lives. At such a time, we need to unite, not to be divided. We need to join forces, not to act unilaterally. We need to honour our commitments, not to breach them. And as always, we need to listen to the people. What do people in Northern Ireland have to say? They elected a majority of MLAs who support the Northern Ireland Protocol, provided minor adjustments are made. This is precisely what the EU has offered. We all know there is a landing zone within the protocol. Today, the protocol is not the problem. Look at the numbers. Northern Ireland is faring better than the rest of the UK. There is no shortage, except for two essential goods: predictability and trust. The problem that Northern Ireland is facing, that the UK is facing, has a name. It is not the protocol. The name of the problem is Brexit and the type of Brexit which was chosen by the current British Government.

Mr President, the war is back in Europe. This terrible sentence, we did not know, a few months ago, that we would have to pronounce it. We are not at war with Russia, but we are facing war because of Russia. What does this mean? Let us help Ukraine. That we need to help him more. Provide him with even more military, financial, humanitarian, political, moral support. Yes, moral. Let us measure each of our words, each of our actions by asking ourselves what is morally acceptable. Moral because when Ukraine asks to join the European Union, we have to say a strong and solemn thank you. Ukraine is already an honorary member of our Union by the blood shed to defend its territory and to defend our freedoms. She is an honour to be a candidate. His place is among us. But one thing we cannot do is tell Ukraine what it should or should not accept. Because we did not send troops alongside the Ukrainian army, we simply do not have the right to dictate Ukraine’s conduct; Let’s not forget that. On the other hand, we have a duty: that of drawing the consequences of the return of the war on our continent to know how to better protect our fellow citizens. And first we need to learn from our failures. Because yes, the invasion of Ukraine is a sign that we have failed. Had we admitted Ukraine to NATO, it would not have been attacked. Those who opposed it were wrong. If we had reacted more strongly to the Russian aggression against Georgia, the annexation of Crimea and the Donbass war, if we had not looked away when 21,000 civilians died in Aleppo under Russian bombs, Russia would not have believed that we would let it attack Ukraine. We reacted: so much the better. We deliver weapons to Ukraine: This is our duty. What we did earlier! The European Peace Facility proves its usefulness every day: what did we trigger before the start of hostilities, when Kiev was already under threat, but we were still pinching for a few million euros of non-lethal equipment! Are Member States doing the right thing today? Do they do it fast enough? I am afraid that the answer will vary, to put it politely. For some, the issue is the replenishment of their stocks: Let's treat her. Let us seek to jointly purchase the armaments we or our partners need. What we have done for vaccines – buy together and produce in Europe – let us do for the equipment that will protect Europeans. The Commission has made some initial proposals, they go in the right direction – even if it is just the beginning. Personally, I propose to go further and move towards aBuy European Actas regards military equipment. Our sovereignty also passes through, our sovereignty and our credibility. On credibility, what can be said three months after the start of the war in Ukraine? The EU has adopted six packages of sanctions against Russia: an unprecedented firmness in the face of an aggression without precedent. It will be necessary to continue over time and remain united. Yes, but precisely? Confusing unity and unanimity costs us. We are moving at the pace of the most reluctant of the 27 Member States. How long has the oil embargo been demanded by an overwhelming majority of us? How long did it take for the Council to adopt it unanimously? This unanimity rule must be abandoned. That is what this Parliament thinks. This is what the citizens who spoke during the Conference on the Future of Europe expect. That is logically what the recommendation that David McAllister and I drafted together calls for. One more word, the last. Denmark has just joined Defence Europe, and I would like to express my warm thanks to the Danish people for this choice. Finland and Sweden want to join NATO. I fully support this move and solemnly call on the Turkish President to stop obstructing it. Until then, Stockholm and Helsinki will be able to count on the full solidarity of the other members of the European Union under Article 42(7) of our Treaty. If it were necessary to prove that European defence and NATO are not contradictory but complementary, here it is.

Madam President, Commissioner, it seems that President Erdogan is asking the Swedish Prime Minister to dismiss her defence minister, as we learned this weekend. So since the Turkish president has demands, we might as well tell him what we expect from him. Mr Erdogan, stop taking Finland's and Sweden's application for NATO membership hostage. This request is legitimate. Your blackmail is not. Mr President, stop believing that Turkey is home in Syria. You are undermining the fight against Daesh, a terrorism that has bereaved our continent. Mr Erdogan, respect the sovereignty of Greece and Cyprus, it is not negotiable. Mr President, do not buy the wheat that Russia steals from the Ukrainians, do not welcome the oligarchs with open arms. The war in Ukraine is a historic turning point. It is up to you this time, for once, to put Turkey on the right side of history. You can still, but time is running out.

Mr President, Commissioner, what happened in Mali on 20 April is extremely serious. On that day, a fake social media account accused French soldiers in Barkhane of committing a mass massacre before leaving their base in Gossi and based its accusation on the alleged discovery of a mass grave. On the contrary, a French drone filmed a group of men burying bodies in Gossi. Among them were mercenaries from the Wagner Group. Deaths and corpses were used to stage a macabre staging intended to discredit France’s action as it left Mali. A few days earlier, in Moura, still in Mali, the Malian armed forces, aided by the Wagner group, carried out the massacre of hundreds of civilians, under the pretext of fighting against jihadist groups. Murdered civilians, manipulated corpses, this is Wagner in Mali. The European Union cannot continue to train soldiers in Mali who are employed to commit such atrocities. If the Malian junta chooses to partner with barbaric mercenaries, if it refuses independent investigations into the crimes committed, then we have nothing to do there. We will continue elsewhere, where we are welcome. I am convinced that the Malian people will one day understand our choice.

Mr President, the war in Ukraine has opened our eyes. In our relations with Russia, there is one before and one after 24 February, the date of the Russian military aggression. Until Vladimir Putin withdraws his troops from Ukraine and renounces the threat to Europe’s security, we will no longer be able to do as before, to pretend as if nothing had happened. When I say ‘we’, I think first of all of our European institutions and first and foremost of our Parliament, for which we are directly responsible. I would like to thank our President Roberta Metsola, who has resolutely committed to strengthening the cybersecurity of our Assembly. It was about time: cyber-attacks are relentlessly targeting us, but the effort is underway, and it needs to be encouraged. Having said that, I would like to ask you, ladies and gentlemen, and in particular the chairmen of our political groups: We need to take the security of our institution much more seriously. At a time when we are calling for increased sanctions against Russia and assistance to Ukraine, is it normal for Russian dual nationals linked to the current power to work in this Parliament? Is it reasonable to deal with confidential topics online without knowing who is connected? How do we hope to exercise better control over issues as important as European defence without first strengthening our security culture? We can no longer ignore this subject. Strengthening our security means strengthening our credibility, our effectiveness, our ability to monitor the work of the Council and the Commission. It’s up to all of us, but it’s high time to take up the subject and understand that it’s no longer a question of doing as we have always done, because we really haven’t done enough.

Madam President, the group to which I belong is unambiguously and unreservedly in favour of military support for Ukraine. We even want more and faster arms deliveries and more countries to be able to participate in the European Union. That being said, to see a proposal to add a specific technical item to our agenda that deserves careful consideration arrive without prior notice, without prior examination, does not seem to me to be the right approach or the right method. We risk having an uncertain, imprecise debate, hesitations, doubts, reluctance in public. And the only one who could rejoice is Russian President Vladimir Putin. The group to which I belong sees no reason to give him this gift. We are therefore against the request for addition made by our EPP colleagues.

Madam President, the European far right calls itself nationalist and patriotic. The trouble is that the nation it defends is Vladimir Putin’s Russia. June 2013: Marine Le Pen travels to Russia, the first of a series of trips to Moscow that she will make with zeal. One of his companions summarizes the trip. He envy the Russians who have a real leader. She returned in April 2014, just after the annexation of Crimea. Marine Le Pen has no state of mind and recognises Crimea as Russian. The Kremlin rubs its hands. In an SMS exchange that was hacked by activists and made public, two members of the Russian presidential administration welcomed: it has not betrayed our expectations, we will have to thank the French in one way or another. I would point out that that exchange has never been denied. The reward will not be long in the form of two loans for a total amount of EUR 11 million, to my knowledge still not repaid. In 2017, Marine Le Pen was received by Vladimir Putin. You would think she is ashamed of it today. Well, not at all. The photo of his handshake is featured in the widely distributed booklet in support of his candidacy for the presidency of the French Republic. And in its programme, the alliance with Russia is black and white. Two days ago, she still said, Vladimir Putin could become an ally again after the end of the war in Ukraine. In fact, Marine Le Pen is wrong and misleading us: Vladimir Putin has never ceased to be his ally, like that of the entire French far right. Eric Zemmour, the newcomer of the political scene of my country, had made, as early as September 2015, the trip to Moscow and also met relatives of Vladimir Putin. He will return several times, like his supporters. He dreams of a French Putin and sees the Russian president as a democrat. It is true that for Eric Zemmour, Ukraine does not exist. Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I am ashamed of those of my compatriots who have befriended and enslaved a dictator and a war criminal. I am ashamed for them, but they are not ashamed of anything: They were born before shame.

Madam President, thank you for reminding us earlier that freedom of opinion and expression cannot be confused with the right to deny facts, with denialism. In Europe, there are many who thought that Vladimir Putin would never attack Ukraine, as if 140,000 men massed at a border could be bluffing. The problem we had was not the quality of the intelligence we had, as it was public. The problem we had was our inability to think the unthinkable from the comfort of our Europe at peace. In Europe, there are also those, and I hope they are ashamed, who did not want to deliver weapons to Ukraine because they thought that the Ukrainian army would collapse in three days. Some have changed their minds, but they have wasted time, crazy time. Today, we must continue, we must accelerate. Although the fighting in the west may be less intense, the Donbass hell is far from over. We must not accept it. We must not get used to it. And then there are those, and sometimes the same ones, who are waiting for further escalation by the Russian military to further increase sanctions. Some of them told me: It will take a massacre to do even more. So I ask them to tell us what is called what happened in Bucha, the streets littered with civilian corpses, with their hands tied behind their backs. I ask them to tell us how they feel when they see evidence that massacres are being committed in Ukraine by the Russian army. I ask them to tell us what they intend to do and when – but for God's sake, when they will stop financing Vladimir Putin's war machine by continuing to import Russian oil and gas? What are they waiting for? Putin himself turn off the tap? If they did not understand what was happening yesterday, that at least they understand how to act today, that at least they let Europe show courage and dignity.

Thank you, High Representative. I have another question. At the Versailles Summit, I was surprised that the Commission was asked to assess the EU’s capability gaps, even though – as you said earlier – this analysis exists. It has been run for years by the European Defence Agency. This is available to all Member States. So what we are waiting for is not an additional state of play: what will be done concretely to fill these gaps, especially when equipment is needed for CSDP operations.

Mr High Representative, when you came to our Parliament for a hearing in 2019, before being confirmed, I asked you to prepare a first White Paper on European defence. The Strategic Compass has just been adopted and I would like to warmly congratulate you. But, as you said yourself, we are only at the beginning of the story. History is accelerating and so must our defence. So, I'd like to ask you: When do we really move from words to deeds? When do we really strengthen our resilience? When are we really setting up an operational European General Staff? When will the rapid reaction capability really be on its feet? And also, can you give us your opinion on the amounts that have been allocated to the European Defence Fund, military mobility and the European Peace Facility, which we have used up in a month more than we had planned for a year? Have we not thought too small and too slow?

Mr President, there are those who have died under the bombs and will never grow up. There are those who were born in the shelters and have not yet seen the light of day. There are those whose schools were bombed, those who were separated from their parents, those who were forcibly taken to Russia, and there are those who fled. They are the children of Ukraine. Europe has opened its arms to them, but we have to ask ourselves every day if we are doing enough for the children of Ukraine. Let me tell you: We need to do a lot more. Much more for those who have stayed in Ukraine and who everywhere lack everything. Send much more humanitarian aid, because dogs are eaten in Mariupol. Put much more pressure on Moscow to be able to evacuate civilians, first and foremost mothers and children. Support Moldova much more, which holds the record for the number of refugees per capita: 100 000 for a small country of 2.5 million souls, half of whom are children. I come back from Moldova and I ask UNHCR what it expects for all refugees to receive support, while Moldovan families have opened their doors to them and share with them what they have. I ask donors what they expect to do to support Chisinau, which is doing its best. I call on the Member States of the European Union not to let the poorest country in Europe carry the effort alone. A final word on the children of Ukraine and their mothers. Some of these children were born from GPA. Some of these mothers are surrogate mothers. I hear those who dare to be alarmed that this is possible in Ukraine. To those Tartuffes, I just want to say: Being for life means being for all lives, whatever they may be. I hope that these mothers and children will be welcomed in Europe as they should be, warmly and humanely.

Madam President, culture is the memory of the people, the collective awareness of historical continuity, the way of thinking and living. This sentence from Milan Kundera reminds us that every time we attack the culture of a people, we seek to destroy it. We saw this when the Taliban blew up the Buddhas of Bamiyan. We saw it again when Daesh destroyed the temple of Nimroud, the sanctuaries of Mosul or the Lion of Palmyra. On 3 February, the Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan announced the establishment of a working group on the heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh. It is true that since the armed conflict of autumn 2020, almost 1 500 monuments have come under Azerbaijan’s control. Among them, 161 Armenian churches or monasteries, 345 tombstones, 591 steles. It would therefore be appropriate to ensure their protection. But there is, in fact, cause for alarm at what the Azeri minister intends to do. Indeed, on 15 March 2021, President Aliyev travelled to Tsakuri, Hadrut region; facing a 12th-century church, he promised to erase the Armenian inscriptions on it. Other churches have already been destroyed. The pretext invoked: do justice to the culture of Caucasian Albanians. If you don’t know what it is, don’t worry, no serious historian attests to it. If you are wondering if there is anything to worry about, be aware that between 1997 and 2006, 89 Armenian churches, 5 800 stelae and more than 22 000 graves, including those of the Armenian cemetery in Djulfa, were razed by Azerbaijan in the enclave of Nakhchivan. Baku denies any destruction and complains about the bad trial. Azerbaijan claims that Armenia bears responsibility for the destruction of Azeri heritage in the first Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This is possible, and if it is, it must be condemned. But why then is Azerbaijan preventing UNESCO from doing its work and sending an expert mission, as proposed since November 2020. However, it is the role of the UN organisation to intervene within the framework of the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. Today, I call on the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to intervene with Azerbaijan. I call on the European Union to use the privileged links of the Eastern Partnership to obtain clear assurances from Baku that the Armenian heritage will be preserved. I call on UNESCO, which must not be intimidated, but also on other actors on the ground, such as Aliyev, to finally act. Let's hear what Sigmund Freud taught us: Everything that works in culture works against war.

Madam President, Prime Minister, High Representative, the war has come back to haunt Europe. Death is knocking on our doors and we need to be clear: despite our efforts and the heroism of the Ukrainian people, we have not been able to prevent the war and we are not yet able to stop it. Of course, we have done a lot in a short period of time, from sanctions against the Russian regime, to closing Moscow’s propaganda channels, to delivering weapons to Ukraine. But as we can see, that is not enough yet. We must do more to defend the Ukrainian people and to defend ourselves. We must learn to do without Russian oil and gas. We need to arm Ukraine even more, not to prolong the conflict, but so that it can protect its civilians caught in the fire of Russian bombs. We need to look out for Moldova, which is hosting so many refugees and trembling at being Vladimir Putin's next target. We must protect ourselves by finally significantly increasing our defence efforts. Germany increases its military budget? All the better, it was time. Is Denmark thinking of joining Europe of defence? He is welcome. But we still have a lot of work to do. Military mobility has not made enough progress. Our critical infrastructure is not yet sufficiently protected. Above all, we must strengthen the solidarity of European countries. I welcome the strengthening of NATO’s presence in the East, but let’s think just as much of the countries that are not members of the Atlantic Alliance – I am thinking in particular of Sweden and Finland. At a time when Europe must adopt its strategic compass, let us not hesitate, let us not skimp, let us build the European Defence Union. It won't be too soon after talking about it for so long. Let's make sure it's not too late.

Mr President, Ukraine has shown us that hybrid warfare leads to war at all. For years, Russia has poured torrents of disinformation into Kiev. It has bribed politicians, harassed the country with countless cyberattacks. And then she stormed. It is because Ukraine is a democracy that it is under attack. Today, all democracies are the target of foreign interference and all must understand the threat they face. We must understand that all authoritarian states are using these influence operations to try to weaken, divide and discredit democracy. Russia is the first, but it is not the only one. The report we are about to vote on has immense merit. He names things. We can no longer say we didn't know. It will no longer be possible to ignore how anti-vaccines were handled. We will have understood that, from Brexit to US elections via Catalonia, elections have been exploited from foreign capitals to try to fracture our democracies. We can no longer turn a blind eye to the useful idiots who recite the propaganda dictated by dictatorships, nor pretend not to see that this House has a few of them. The report we are going to vote on also makes recommendations. They are addressed to states, the European Union, digital platforms, media, universities. The first requirement is the transparency of algorithms, the funding of political parties, the affiliations of certain officials or former officials. The second requirement is the mobilization of all. The Ukrainian people are fighting for freedom today. Let’s not wait until we get there to... (The President withdrew the floor to the speaker)

Mr President, it took a war on European soil for Europe to learn to speak the language of power. It took Vladimir Putin and his war too much for the transatlantic bond to tighten, for NATO to wake up and for European defence to finally be born. Above all, it took the extraordinary courage of Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian people to finally feel compelled to try to live up to it. Let's not fool ourselves: The crisis will be long and it will be hard. We will have to hold on, bear the price of our decisions and, above all, go further in strengthening our Union. In Midane in 2014, it was the European flag that Ukrainians were waving to demand an end to Moscow’s tutelage. Today, in the shelters where they take refuge from the bombs, we still see European flags. Ukraine is looking at us. We need to prove to the Ukrainians that they are right to believe in us. We must love Europe as much as they love it. Slava Ukraini.

Mr President, dear Josep Borrell, Ukraine does not want a war, neither does Europe, nor does the United States, and I am deeply convinced that the Russian people, too, want peace. Yet more than 130,000 Russian soldiers are massed on the Ukrainian border. Unprecedented Russian maneuvers are taking place in Belarus. Russian ships cross the Black Sea in quite unusual numbers. We are told that troops could be withdrawn; but at the same time Ukraine is under new cyber-attacks and Vladimir Putin denounces an alleged genocide in Donbas, which exists only in his imagination. It is Vladimir Putin, and he alone, who threatens to use force. If a war happens, despite the diplomatic efforts of Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, despite the restraint observed by Volodymyr Zelensky, the Russian president will be solely responsible and he will have to pay the price. He chose to intimidate Ukraine and try to weaken it not because NATO threatens it, but for a much deeper reason that concerns us all. Today, Kiev turns its back on Russia and looks to Europe. Ukraine has no dreams of a return to the Soviet Union. What makes Ukraine dream is the European Union. Ladies and gentlemen, we are Ukraine’s greatest hope. I solemnly appeal to us not to disappoint her.

Mr President, Mr High Representative, when it comes to defence, 2021 has somehow signalled the end of illusions. The rules-based international order has been weakened, assaulted and undermined. In the east, we have been given a signal, whether Russia invades Ukraine or not. It is through the threat of a conventional war on European soil that Vladimir Putin is trying to impose his worldview and return to the time of spheres of influence. Around the Mediterranean, the conflicts in Syria and Libya continued unresolved, engulfed by the interplay of regional powers, which nothing stops – not even the suffering of the people. In Mali, a failing state, confronted with jihadist movements, has chosen to rely on foreign mercenaries who are looters and harassers and to target Europeans who are trying to help it. In Afghanistan, NATO withdrew on a failure, leaving behind the situation it had intervened against, at the risk of a humanitarian tragedy. Everywhere, including in our democratic societies, cyberattacks, orchestrated malicious mass disinformation campaigns and the use of migration flows for destabilisation illustrate the emergence of hybrid warfare and require new and strong responses. In short, the geopolitical environment of the European Union has become darker. Josep Borrell warned us, Europe is in danger, and he urged us to learn to speak the language of power. This year, I had the honour of being entrusted with the report on the Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union. At the same time, I wanted to take stock of what we have achieved together and bring a voice, that of the European Parliament, to express our expectations for the Strategic Compass, which is expected to be adopted shortly by the Council. On the state of play of the CSDP, I would say that we have started many things without always going to the end of the logic that would underpin our actions. As regards the European Union’s civilian and military missions and operations outside our borders, I would first like to welcome the commitment and professionalism of those deployed and serving honourably in often difficult situations. These missions are numerous, useful, and they carry out the mandates entrusted to them to the best of their ability. However, they are often limited in their action. Insufficiently robust and flexible mandates, and often slow and incomplete force generation: there is a long way to go between a Council decision and its full and effective implementation on the ground. The establishment of the European Peace Facility should at least compensate for a long-standing shortcoming: training partner armies without providing them with equipment, at the risk of them turning to other interlocutors to meet their needs. This is a gap that is about to be filled. In particular, we welcome the role that the Facility can play for Ukraine, providing much-needed material support. Today, the very existence of our missions and operations is sometimes called into question. In CAR, the ubiquitous presence of Wagner’s mercenaries prevents our mission from fulfilling its mandate under satisfactory conditions. In Mali, the constraints imposed by the ruling junta on the presence of European troops and the arrival – again – of Wagner’s mercenaries necessarily lead to a reconsideration of the mechanism we have deployed. In Somalia, the future of Atalanta is not assured. In the face of a less stable and more dangerous world, Europe must urgently come up with new answers. The Strategic Compass is timely and I welcome the ambitious and pragmatic approach. My conviction is clear and strong: in the event of a crisis, the European Union must have a rapid response capacity, which can be deployed without delay. It must also clarify the command and control functions of troops acting on its behalf, ensuring that structures are simplified and not stacked. The objective must be that of a genuine European General Staff. As to whether the 27 Member States should be involved in the implementation of EU military operations each time, there is no doubt that more needs to be done to explore what the Treaties allow to make good use of them. In short, in the face of crises, Europe needs to act faster and better. Let us come to the hybrid war that is already hitting us. The European Union has particular strengths in defending itself against it, combining its civilian and military skills and inciting solidarity for all when one of its members is targeted. The same applies to the protection of common or disputed maritime, air, space or cyber spaces, where the EU can join forces to protect its interests. The European Union will act whenever it can with its allies, starting with NATO. Let us put an end to the quarrels over the sex of angels and admit once and for all that the chaos of the world requires both a reinvigorated Atlantic alliance and a finally strengthened European defence. But we will also have to act autonomously whenever necessary, because we cannot continue to expect others than ourselves to design and implement our security. All this requires less time and resources than political will. I hope that the vote on the CSDP report will demonstrate that this Parliament is not lacking and that it will encourage the Council not to disappoint us.

Mr President, in Bor, Serbia, the Silk Roads have become the roads of shame. China is not only exploiting copper there in defiance of the environment, it is also exploiting people there in defiance of their dignity. A red cloud of pollution floats over the city. A cloud of opacity too, as those investigating Chinese investments in Serbia are accused of going against the country’s interests. But what are the interests when Asian workers come at low cost and in deplorable conditions to work for a Chinese company that behaves in conquered territory? What interests are involved when Beijing obtains contracts for the construction of motorways, bridges or railways without a tender, when Huawei deploys a thousand facial recognition cameras on the streets of Belgrade? Can we remain indifferent when Serbia is at the heart of Europe and a candidate for EU membership? There is no doubt that we need to be more present in the Balkans. As such, I welcome the summit announced for June by French President Emmanuel Macron. But there is also no doubt that it is not by aligning itself with Beijing and Moscow, against the interests of its own people, disregarding the protection of workers and the environment, that the Serbian government is advancing Serbia’s accession to the European Union. He must hear this message... (The President withdrew the floor to the speaker)

Madam President, it saddens me to hear it and it saddens me to say it, but in Europe, in French politics and even in this Chamber, there are still useful idiots. This expression invented by Lenin and which visibly survived him. In France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, like Éric Zemmour, the extreme left and the extreme right, both candidates for the presidential election, repeat the Kremlin’s language on Ukraine. For them, there are no Russian troops massing at the border. For them, Russia is entitled to resent NATO, which would not have kept its promises. Not a word about the annexation of Crimea, nothing about Donbass, silence about the abuses of mercenaries, massive disinformation, no respect for the aspirations of the Ukrainian people, nothing. In this Chamber, the National Assembly has accustomed us to deflecting Vladimir Putin’s arguments with as much eagerness as enthusiasm. Crimea? No problem for Thierry Mariani and his friends, she is Russian and they often go there. I would like to give a tip to Russia Today: you can save money and close your offices in Europe. Some European policies do your job perfectly for you. A systematic propaganda work of the Kremlin. And I would like to tell Ukraine not to worry, in any case, as long as these useful idiots remain in the minority in Europe, and they absolutely must remain in the minority. Because we, the worthy majority of this European Parliament, stand firmly with Kiev in its aspiration for democracy, independence and territorial integrity. The time of imperialism and submissive regimes is over.