Debate contributions by Veronika VRECIONOVÁ

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission considers agriculture and forestry to be a key sector for capturing CO2 from the atmosphere and reducing the carbon footprint of our society. Although the Commission still assures that it thinks of farmers in its proposals for the green transition, in reality no one speaks to farmers. The objectives that the Commission expects from agriculture must be realistic and it must be acknowledged that this will not be free of charge. This means lower economic output, reduced incomes and reduced livelihoods for farmers, especially those with small farms. We must not forget that affordable food security is a fundamental and necessary prerequisite for the stable functioning of our society.

Madam President, a year after the tragedy at the station in Novi Sad, a number of questions remain over it. President Vucic's government clearly did not want to properly investigate the tragedy that occurred with the participation of Chinese companies in the New Silk Road project. This sparked a mass protest movement headed by students. When the Serbian prosecutor's office accuses high-ranking government officials, President Vucic attacks them, claiming that prosecutors are acting under the influence of some Europeans. But no European can turn a blind eye to cases of state-organized violence against peaceful protesters, where the government pays counter-demonstrations and military police brutally intervene in the streets against protesters. We must now, in particular, closely monitor the preparation and regularity of the future Serbian elections, because they will decide on the future of this European country.

Mr President, Commissioner, it must be acknowledged that China has long been leading various forms of attack against us, ranging from industrial espionage to cyber-attacks to increasingly frequent economic attacks. It seeks to destroy our traditional industries, such as steel or the automotive industry, for example through dumped prices. Now another such attempt is to undermine the stability of our agriculture through tariffs on pork products. In addition to farmers themselves, this can have serious repercussions on the processing chain and consumers. China is our systemic competitor and often behaves like our enemy. And so we must perceive it.

Madam President, the European Union is in a crisis, a crisis that it refuses to admit. Unfortunately, we lag behind both our partners in the United States and our competition in China. In many ways, we are no longer leaders in innovation, we are not pioneers. It often seems that we can only regulate, especially to our detriment. If we want to protect our future, our future prosperity in Europe, we must stop throwing sticks at companies and people. We must significantly reduce ideological regulations such as: Green Deal, and stop thinking that only we know best how people should behave and companies do business. If we don't, Europe will be like a huge open-air museum, where Americans and Chinese will go to photograph castles and chateaux.

Madam President, I believe that a greater share of EU support should go to young, small and family businesses, to those who take care of the countryside, water resources and contribute to rural life. Subsidies, on the other hand, should not be directed to those who manage thousands of hectares and very often are not interested in the place where they have or manage those hectares. Money will not be wasted and must be used efficiently and fairly. Therefore, the new Common Agricultural Policy should cap subsidies and control the interconnectedness of businesses. This would prevent the cumulation of public money support with a few large beneficiaries, thus distorting the market. Don't be afraid to do it.

Madam President, I would like to request a vote on referral back to committee for interinstitutional negotiations, in line with Rule 60(4) of the Rules of Procedure.

Mr President, it is symbolic that we are dealing with another case of barbarism of the Iranian regime right now. Specifically, we draw attention to the unacceptable behaviour of the Iranian Government towards a Swedish citizen of Iranian origin. Mr Ahmad Reza Jalali, a doctor and respected scientist, has been imprisoned for nine years on fabricated charges of espionage and was even sentenced to death after a forced confession. In addition, the Ayatollah regime refuses to provide him with adequate health care, endangering his life beyond the threat of execution. Unfortunately, Mr Jalali is not the only person with dual citizenship recently taken hostage by the Iranian regime and made into a spy. I therefore call on the Iranian regime: “Release Mr Jalali from prison, give up developing nuclear weapons to blackmail surrounding states. Stop supplying Putin's Russia with lethal drones that attack civilian homes in Kiev and elsewhere. Finally, release all Iranian citizens from the prison that is your totalitarian regime.”

Madam President, Russia attacked Ukraine for no reason. He is therefore responsible for all the human victims of this war, on both sides. Russia has kidnapped thousands of children from Ukraine. Many of them are unwilling to be offered for adoption on government websites. An international arrest warrant had already been issued in March 2023 against Putin and the Kremlin’s representative on the issue, Lvov-Belova, for the removal of children from the occupied part of Ukraine to Russia. Russia can end these crimes at any time. Ukraine has repeatedly agreed to various ceasefire proposals. Under various excuses, Russia wants to continue to fight and kill, and continue to deliberately murder and torture civilians. Therefore, let us not get infected by the propaganda of the Russian regime and its supporters for peace, and let us continue to sanction and isolate the Putin regime until it ends this war.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the rise in food prices is a pressing problem for many citizens. There are factors that we cannot influence, such as weather fluctuations, but there are factors that we can influence and that we need to start working on right away. Above all, we must stop making food more expensive by over-regulation and superfluous rules. We have to fix Green Deal, we must not cause a shortage of approved plant protection products and we must maintain a functional balance between soil, water and environmental protection on the one hand and sufficient food available on the other. Last but not least, in some countries we need to focus on whether the food market really works and is not manipulated through large agri-holdings or retailers.

Mr President, Commissioner, the statistics on the rising number of executions in Iran sound really frightening. Even more frighteningly, the reality of the Iranian regime touches us as we watch the personal stories of specific prisoners on death row. This is also the case of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, whose trials bear all the hallmarks of rigged political processes in totalitarianism – torture and forced confessions of deeds intended to hide the fact that both activists are being punished just for belonging to the opposition. Both were sentenced to death after a five-minute trial, and now face execution every minute. There are at least 56 other political prisoners on death row. Let's not try any appeasement with a regime that wants to execute Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the world's oceans are a unique ecosystem without which there would be no life, no people and no civilization on our planet. However, protecting the oceans and their ecosystems from damage caused by industrial production, overfishing or other human activities is very complex. Most oceans do not belong to any particular country. Their protection is thus based on goodwill and cooperation at the international level. The European Union alone cannot do this by its own regulation and its own restrictions. Let us take the protection of the oceans seriously, but let us not make the same mistake that we have made in our climate policy. We need to reduce fishing to make it sustainable for fish stocks. But we can't just limit our fishermen. The minimum is an intensive control of imports from third countries so that they are subject to the same conditions. We need to reduce pollution, for example from microplastics, but again, at the very least, ensure that the same rules are respected for all imports of goods into the EU. I am pleased that we can begin the debate on this important subject. It is the duty of all of us to ensure healthy oceans with functioning ecosystems for future generations.

Mr President, Europe is facing major challenges today. War, looming tariff disputes, and an uncertain economy are changing the rules of the game. All this is reflected in agriculture. It is time to be clear: Europe’s security and competitiveness, including food security and agricultural competitiveness, must be our priorities. In agriculture, we need to maximise the efficiency of the use of existing resources. I want the common agricultural policy to be simple, predictable and result-oriented. Less bureaucracy, more stability. Farmers need clear rules, not more paperwork. We need to support where it makes the most sense – farmers who care for the land and the countryside and, above all, provide quality food. I will therefore support capping and degressivity of direct payments. We can no longer subsidise large agroholdings at the expense of small and medium-sized farms that keep the countryside alive.

Madam President, Commissioner, I understand farmers' concerns about the tariff reductions brought about by the trade agreement with Mercosur, and that is why we need to engage intensively with them and find acceptable solutions for them. But I am deeply convinced that free trade brings healthy competition, lowers prices for consumers, leads to innovation and investment. The agreement offers European companies and farmers new stable outlets, access to strategic raw materials and cheaper imports of commodities that we cannot grow ourselves. In addition, the agreement includes European food safety standards as well as control mechanisms. The deal with Mercosur is also a chance for European companies at a time when a trade war with the US is imminent, when Putin has blocked trade with Russia with his aggression, and China is a security-problem partner. That's why the agreement has my support.

Mr President, colleagues, the Georgian Dream party has succeeded in the elections thanks to a policy of war and Western scare or the use of various conspiracy theories. Their dubious outcome was also based on the control of the media by the oligarch who owns this party. No wonder the Georgians took to the streets. Power's response to long-standing protests is totally inadequate. We are watching the brutal police crackdown on demonstrators, beatings of opposition politicians and journalists by regime minions. We see violent actions to intimidate all those who are bothered by strange elections and the reversal of foreign policy orientation towards Russia. Further tightening of the screws in Georgian politics is also on the agenda. Let us continue to support pro-Western political forces and support sanctions against those who have turned against their own citizens.

Mr President, thank you for the floor. The pictures of the release of the first three hostages must have filled everyone with joy or even emotion. It is good that there has been an agreement on a ceasefire and the release of the prisoners. Thanks to both the outgoing US administration and incoming President Trump. This agreement is not black and white either. The need to release hundreds of Palestinians, often convicted of terrorism, carries a considerable aftertaste and security risk. The way Hamas fighters have approached the release of the first three hostages also confirms what their true face is. We have listened for months to the fact that there are only suffering women and children in Gaza, and now we see that this is not the case. And now terrorist Hamas is propagandistically talking about its victory. Let us remain on the side of democratic Israel, even if Hamas stops adhering to the next phases of the deal.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, European agriculture is facing several different challenges that require our full attention. Our farmers and other agricultural workers provide us with enough food every day and also take care of the countryside. However, it faces uncertainty, bureaucracy and undervaluation. It is necessary to simplify administrative processes, which often disgust farmers from continuing their activities. Crazy bureaucracy discourages even young people who would like to do business in agriculture, but not under such conditions. We must encourage and support young people to see agriculture as an attractive and important profession, for example by investing in education and innovation. Otherwise, we will soon face threats to food security and further rural depopulation. We also need to ensure that farmers have a fair position in the agri-food chain. We cannot ignore the fact that their products are sold at prices that do not even cover the ever-increasing cost of their production. The future of our agriculture depends on the people who make it. Let's support them as they deserve. It's also in our interest.

Madam President, there is a lot of misinformation associated with Russia's aggression against Ukraine that is not based on historical reality. In the Czech Republic, we are currently encountering one incredible misinformation. Supporters of Russia are spreading the story that we must be grateful to Russia and understand its policy in Ukraine, because Russia liberated us from the Nazi occupation in 1945. This pro-Russian fifth column adds, however, that Ukrainians were responsible for our occupation in 1968, when Soviet tanks suppressed the Prague Spring. The fact that an independent Ukraine did not exist at that time does not matter to them. He talks about the fact that there were many Ukrainians in the occupying units of the Soviet army and many members from Soviet Ukraine in the Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party. It's absurd, but it's spreading. Let us defend ourselves against all such distortions of history.

Mr President, our competitiveness is being killed by bureaucracy and regulation. Our farmers are supposed to provide quality food and be properly rewarded for it. They're not supposed to sit at stacks of papers or spend time with hundreds of checks. I'm glad we're finally talking about the need for change, but most importantly, we need to take action. No further reports and strategies for competitiveness will help us. We need to revise the legislation, we need to ensure legal certainty and predictability of the environment. It is not possible to adopt legislation without quality impact studies, which we will receive on time. And let's work on it now.

Madam President, sanctions against Russia are similar to the fight against crime. Just as criminals are always one step ahead of the police when inventing various criminal tricks, so Russia is always inventing new ways to circumvent sanctions. Let us keep this in mind, but above all let us not succumb to the propaganda that sanctions do not work. One of Russia's other scams is the Russian shadow fleet, through which Russia is trying to counter restrictions on the oil trade. In response, the European Union is to follow the path chosen by the United Kingdom. The use of obsolete and uninsured vessels is an attack on the sanctions regime, but also a great danger of environmental accidents and pollution of the world's seas. We will ban these ships from European ports and sharpen sanctions wherever Russia tries to circumvent them.

Madam President, exactly one year ago, Palestinian Hamas terrorists infiltrated the south of Israel and murdered, raped and kidnapped Israelis. Even after a year, some of those who were kidnapped in Gaza are not back home, and to this day we do not know what their fate is. We must not allow these crimes to be relativised, as unfortunately happens today and every day in the streets of many Western European capitals. The voices that Israel is to blame for the attack itself, or that the Palestinians have only defended themselves, must be firmly and unequivocally rejected. Israel is not in an easy position. He must defend himself on several fronts against enemies who are trying to destroy him and erase him from the map. Mr Borrell spoke here about the suffering of the Palestinians. I agree with that. The civilian population in Gaza is suffering immensely, but this suffering was not caused by the Israelis, it was caused by Hamas. Hamas, Hezbollah, and above all, Iran are real enemies of our values and our civilization, which Israel is now defending. We stand with Israel!

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I know very well what droughts are, but also what floods are. We are dealing with them right now, not only in the Czech Republic. However, it sometimes seems to me that the debate in this plenary is guided by the slogan ‘We command the wind, the rain!’. A slogan I know from the past from the communists in the Eastern Bloc. We just don't command nature. What we can do, however, are adaptation measures to help us better manage these extreme weather events. We need to make complex landscape and hydrological stabilisation elements, such as dams, pools, ponds, retention reservoirs, infiltration strips, windbreaks, etc. In other words, measures to retain water in the landscape, prevent soil erosion, promote biodiversity and contribute to the overall resilience of the landscape. We need to take these measures across Europe, but taking into account the needs and specificities of individual states, regions and municipalities. Only in this way will we be better prepared for various weather fluctuations.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the situation of women in Afghanistan is critical. Under the rule of Taliban Islamic fundamentalists, the situation of women is deteriorating on a daily basis and their universal human rights are being blatantly violated. If the European Union is serious about its values, it must be able to find a decisive and hard answer. The entire Taliban movement and its senior officials must be fully and uncompromisingly sanctioned and face charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for crimes against humanity. Unfortunately, it's not just Afghanistan. Let us remember neighboring Iran and women's struggle for their rights there as well. A few days ago was the sad anniversary of the assassination of Mahsa Amini by the Ayatollah regime in Tehran. If there's one thing we can call femicide, it's what's happening in Afghanistan and Iran before our eyes.

Mr President, I expected the strategic dialogue to provide constructive impetus for change in the common agricultural policy, to bring concrete proposals to reduce bureaucracy in agriculture, to come up with proposals to prepare for the future enlargement of the European Union. It didn't happen. On the contrary, more and more regulations, bureaucracy, protectionism and calls for more money are emerging from the report on strategic dialogue. No proposals for a rational and effective reform of the common agricultural policy. If there is anything concrete that I fundamentally disagree with in the report, it is the prioritisation and promotion of crop production, and therefore a targeted change in the diet of the population. The emphasis only on crop production and even its tax and other advantages completely threatens the competitiveness and sustainability of agriculture and the food sector. And it would also have a major negative impact on the functions of our nature and landscape that we need to adapt to climate change. If we want an effective, functional and long-term sustainable common agricultural policy that generates quality and affordable food, we need to involve not only the non-profit sector and only some farmers, but also states, the European Parliament and other farmers who have not yet been involved in this dialogue. Only in this way will the result reflect reality.