Debate contributions by Laurence FARRENG

Madam President, Madam Vice-President, Commissioner and Minister, ladies and gentlemen, there will be no sovereign Europe without a Europe of competences. That is what the Draghi report on competitiveness says. Major industrial challenges, disruptive innovations like AI are profoundly transforming the world of work and our skills needs, especially in the field of vocational training and lifelong learning. Yes, we must urgently decide on a sovereignty fund to finance the sectors of the future, but we must invest in people. Our delay is significant. The Member States must go beyond their national logic to advance the level of education, to coordinate more strategic training at European level, to finalise the recognition of all diplomas and particularly professional diplomas. I am warning about Erasmus: it has been a new talent provider since the programme opened up to the long-term mobility of apprentices. However, this programme seems to be threatened by the draft budgets that are circulating. Commissioner, Madam Vice-President, I tell you here that we will fight for Erasmus, just as we will fight for the word 'education' to reappear in the name of your portfolio.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, there is a blind spot in the fight against foreign interference: These are our universities and our higher education. That is why I have asked for this debate to be held with my Renew Group. Universities are at the heart of the battle for our European research and competitiveness. While we must of course continue to welcome foreign students and defend academic freedom, let us not be naive. Foreign powers, governments and corporations alike, are trying to capture our scientific discoveries. They also implement aggressive influence strategies through their students to convey positive messages about their diets. Among them, China, Turkey, Russia or the Gulf countries. Some European countries are very complacent towards them; I am thinking, as always, of Viktor Orban's Hungary. So let's assume to defend our academic security and get out of national logics. If we want to ensure our scientific and technological sovereignty in an uncertain world, let us adopt a coherent European approach in the reception of foreign students and our partnerships with companies and strengthen European intelligence.

Madam President, Commissioner, neo-Nazi propaganda has recently become cool. It’s called ‘pop fascism’, it’s flourishing on social media, it’s ready-to-think for young people. A few weeks ago, I was deeply shocked to discover a video clip and a video game on the subject of remigration created by the youth wing of the AfD, a German far-right party of which 14 Members sit here in this Parliament. That is why I have asked for this debate. The images, created by artificial intelligence, use all the codes of Nazi propaganda. We see white, blond, Aryan people dancing to techno music by driving racialized people back into planes. The chorus? "We're sending them all back!" It's intolerable. If racist works invade the internet, I note an escalation here, because this video clip and this video game were created by a political party – the AfD. It is certainly possible to hide behind legislation. Yes, we have the Digital Services Act to make platforms responsible for the content they host – including TikTok, when it comes to young people. Yes, we must make these platforms responsible, but, to my knowledge, this video is still circulating on X. While in France, for example, one in five young people do not know what the Holocaust is, we must go further and effectively condemn all racist content, starting with punishing the enemies of democracy who are already among us.

Madam President, Commissioner, there are clearly still shortcomings in the allocation of Erasmus grants. After the Femyso linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, we are told of a Turkish university receiving European funding and whose rector is said to have publicly supported the Hamas terrorist organization. This is unacceptable. The European Commission must do its job more scrupulously in examining cases. I reiterated this during the mid-term review of the Erasmus programme; I must say that I had been quite alone in this Parliament in invoking the necessary respect for our European values of tolerance, freedom and anti-discrimination. I have experienced the complacency of the extreme left, the ambiguity of the left and the selective indignation of the extreme right, because yes, there are drifts and desires for entryism in religions other than Islam. For me and for the Renew Group, things are clear: No European money without respect for European values. Once again and solemnly, the European Commission has an immense responsibility not to allow education to be used as a tool. Recall that this month, we commemorate the death of two professors, Samuel Paty and Dominique Bernard, murdered by Islamist terrorists.

Madam President, Madam Vice-President, our democracy dies every day from disinformation. Yes, there are interferences, there are troll factories, but their fuel is the algorithms that accelerate the dissemination of false content because they are sensational, and the sensation makes money. We have put large platforms face to face with their responsibilities with the DSA and the DMA, but we still have to regain control with the transparency of algorithms and the labeling of content generated by artificial intelligence. Above all, we must guarantee European citizens free, pluralistic and independent information. This is the prerequisite for the great law on media freedom. This objective is also the priority mission of the public media, which must be given the means to exist and to inform. It is no coincidence that they are attacked everywhere by the extreme right, by Marine Le Pen and the RN, who want to privatize them, but also by the AfD in Germany and the FPÖ in Austria, who want to destabilize them. What our Parliament expects is the democratic shield promised by the President of the European Commission, but also a genuine media support strategy that can benefit France TV, Arte, Radio France, France Médias Monde, their European counterparts and, ultimately, democracy.