Speeches

Mr President, when a tree is cut down and either burned or made into something, it is replaced by a new tree that binds emissions. A young forest sequestrates more carbon than an old forest. As long as the forest grows more than it is cut down, there should be no problem. This is the situation in Finland. Finland has more forests than ever before. Finland is already a carbon sink. At a time of economic and geopolitical uncertainty, the target of 310 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent is too tight. 225 would have been better. If we don't have enough export income, we won't be able to take care of nature, let alone people.

Mr President, in July 2022, it was revealed that attempts were made to eavesdrop on the telephone of Nikos Androulakis, MEP of the centre-left PASOK-KINAL party. An attempt was made to install a Predator malware on Androulakis' phone that could record his calls. This led to a huge scandal in Greece. It was suspected that Greek Prime Minister Mitsotákis was wiretapping in order to avoid entering the opposition in the next elections. It is good that these scandals come up, and they need to be talked about and addressed. Transparency is the cornerstone of democracy. Diverse media is the cornerstone of democracy. If we do not have diversified democracy, which means diversified values and which offers diversified opinions, we do not have the right democracy. Free media and free speech, without them we have no other freedoms. Unfortunately, there has also been a very one-sided trend in Europe with regard to the media. We must always be awake because no one owns the truth. Time will tell who was right and who was wrong after all, so protecting diverse media must be one of the most important things in this room. However, it is an illusion that strengthening the EU’s central government would somehow reduce corruption or increase transparency. On the contrary. Let us remember, for example, the fact that when Greece joined the euro and gave false information, financial information, the EU knew that Greece was giving false information, but it was still moving forward, so that wisdom does not reside with the central government either. Local democracy and the free word is really the salvation of Europe and the protection of Western and Western values.

Thank you for the good question. Of course, we have extremism on both the far right and the far left, and we also have terrorist attacks in the name of religion. In Finland, for example, there has been a terrorist attack specifically in the name of religion, and it was by no means extreme right-wing. Yes, we have a bigger problem with Antifa and terrorism by the extreme left and terrorism in the name of religion than with the extreme right, but yes, we also have extreme right-wing terrorism.

Mr President, how do you know that the elections are approaching? At least in Finland, you know that the name begins to be frustrated with racism, because the other person does not change his or her skills. When you can't argue, you name it. Terrorism in all its forms is unacceptable. Ideology is only a fog curtain for its realization. It can be practiced with the support of states, in the name of religions or in the name of many different ideologies. We have seen this in Europe in a bloody way for many different decades. Why is the European Parliament never concerned about anarchist demonstrations or, say, violence against police, ambulances and firefighters in Berlin in the New Year? Does the Commission have any idea of the big picture and that the far right is not the only extremist movement in Europe that should be debated? But we never discuss anything here other than the far right. What does the Commission think of the threat of political Islam? I don't know, because they never take a stand on it. The anti-Israel sentiment of the far-right – there is a lot of voice for it, and rightly so. But instead of left-wing anti-Semitism and hate speech, it is not a problem for the Commission or Parliament. (The speaker agreed to respond to the blue card)

Mr President, Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. In Israel, women are free and the courts can be trusted. The same cannot be said of the surrounding countries. No country is perfect, but when Israel strikes back, for some incomprehensible reason, the Western media will be on the side of extremist Islamists. Anti-Semitism is also a serious problem in Europe. We have anti-Semitism. There is an extreme left, there is an extreme right, but there is also an anti-Semitism in the ordinary left, as is the case with the Labour Party in Britain. The Arab-Jewish conflict in Palestine has been resolved by the two-state solution proposed by the UN in 1947. The Oslo talks in 1993 brought the model closer to realization, but the Arabs' goal of pushing the Jews into the sea has been seen as an obstacle to achieving lasting peace. The Israelite has the right to his independence and integrity, and Jerusalem belongs to the Jews. The Palestinians deserve their own state. However, this cannot be achieved by supporting terrorism.

Mr President, Europe is in a serious crisis. Even the war in Ukraine will not stop the Green Democrats and the Red Green Right from making headless decisions. Why not freeze emissions trading? That would be a great way to lower the price of electricity. Finland was driving down the use of peat and now it is lubricating when district heating is expensive. Do you want electricity to be expensive or cheap? If you want it to be cheap, is it time to change the concept? Green fanaticism is everywhere. Mainstream media journalists are mostly green, which is why most of the media's revenue comes from lying. The Greens decided that trees will not grow after 2030. And that's not the end of this madness. Today, we are also told that there are 72 genders and other nonsense. The EU does not hear defensive speeches on behalf of persecuted Christians, even though Christians are the most persecuted group in the world. I'm worried about the West. It's in danger of sinking.

Mr President, if you ask the left—leaning parties, they think that all the other parties are some kind of extreme, which should be excluded and stigmatised. This is how the European Parliament works. It discriminates against my ID Group. Dear friends, referendums and respecting the result is democracy. In Italy, God, family and the nation state won. This may come as a surprise to you, but it is part of democracy that power changes from time to time. The biggest advantage of Brexit is that even if the election result does not please von der Leyen, she cannot threaten Britain any more, as she threatened Italy. In Sweden, common sense finally won. Immigration policy will change and the Ministry of the Environment will be abolished. I wonder why the European Parliament is never worried about communism, even though there are parties in the governments of the Member States whose name is ‘the Communist Party’.

Mr President, there is a saying in Finland that damage does not happen at the neck of the clock. None of us are protected from any illness or injury. Some people have limitations in their lives from birth, and it is the duty of a civilized society to ensure that everyone, regardless of their illness or disability, has the right and opportunity to live a full life. There is a way in which the EU wants to resolve the issue at EU level. This is often not the most effective solution. This is understandable in itself, because we want to make the EU a federal state, and we want to have a strong central government. From above, we always know which solutions would be the best in which country, and we want to present the same model to different countries. Every time EU electoral law is reformed, new authorities are called for. We want an EU electoral authority. It knows new posts and new expenditures of money. One example of this is the idea of an ‘AccessibleEU’ hub, which would bring new governance. The idea is beautiful, but do we need new administrative structures with their secretariats? In my opinion, government does not improve anyone's life, it's just a new expense of money. Finland is well developed in these matters, although of course there is always room for improvement. We should focus more on exchanging and sharing good practices, and then the leaders of the countries will decide whether this is right for us and whether this new innovation, even as it is, would be good to take it to our country. I do not believe that strong governance is the solution here. Unfortunately, the EU is more of a bureaucracy than a democracy, because if we trust democracy, we also trust that nation-states are best placed to pursue the cause of their weaker people.

Mr President, our Prime Minister, Mr Sanna Marin, Europe will be saved and Europeans will be successful once we get rid of the EU in its present form. There is a saying that good times create weak men and women. Weak men and women have created a shocking criminal gang culture in Sweden through their irresponsible immigration policies, and they do not have the means to make Sweden safe again. However, I would like to congratulate the Swedish Democrats on their excellent election victory. I wish you had been listened to before and not just now. Unfortunately, Finnish state-owned enterprises have been detached from their traditional function of securing our national energy supply as a cash machine for investors and corporate management. Because of Uniper, Finns will incur numerous billions of euros in losses. Indebted and poor Finland has to pay German electricity bills. I do not understand why the Prime Minister of Finland was not present in Germany to negotiate, to defend the Finns, but rather went to festivals. Security of supply should remain in national hands. Slovakia may nationalise its main electricity producer. Slovakia wants to provide its citizens with affordable energy. Stable and affordable energy is a guarantee of prosperity and success. Affordable energy has enabled the emergence of Western civilization. Europe was able to provide its citizens and businesses with a predictable and stable environment. Europe can no longer do this. Green technology is not yet at the point where we could replace fossil fuels with it without a drastic drop in living standards. Europe is becoming poor. Inflation is rampant. There is hardly any inflation in China. Europe is buying Russian LNG from China. In 2024, there will probably be a greater recession than we dare even predict now. There will be chaos and then anything can happen. At least one change has already taken place in the Finnish media and politicians: Our Green Minister is in favour of building a wall and our Finnish Broadcasting Company no longer repeats the mantra that Finland belongs to everyone, there are no Finns. This mantra ended when Russia invaded Ukraine. Italian banks are failing and, once again, there is a desire to socialise losses with an instrument such as the stimulus package. Germany is in the midst of an economic catastrophe. Who will pay if Germany doesn't? At the end of his career, Thatcher said about the EU that we did not fight communism to create a new supranational totalitarianism. We're going through a tough time, but maybe sometimes we have to go really badly in order to be able to do better. Nation-states back – the stronger our nation-states are, the stronger Europe will be.

Thank you Mr Modig for a good question. It is true that there is a contradiction here, but for Finland nuclear power is so important that we cannot take the risk that it will not receive green money. And the main culprit here, in fact, is precisely the Germans, who want to abandon the three nuclear power plants that they still have. Nuclear power would in particular be safer energy, and taking into account that, for example, in May Germany had a trade deficit of around EUR 1 billion. We are really facing an energy crisis and, therefore, a food crisis and many other crises, and that is why we cannot afford to play around on this issue.

Mr President, the ultimate aim of the state is to provide people with security, including access to energy. The European Parliament and the Green Left in general have a strange need to act against the interests of its citizens. In Germany, the heating bill for a single-family house can rise by up to four thousand euros per year. The fact is that nuclear power is the most secure and inexpensive way to produce energy in this world situation. Germany will now have to pay for the foolishness of green politicians when there is no nuclear power and there may be no gas. Germany is forced to introduce coal-fired power, which is environmentally friendly. For Finland, the acceptance of nuclear power as part of sustainable forms of energy is particularly important. In the future, Finland cannot belong to a club that makes idiotic decisions. I strongly oppose the acceptance of this objection. I think it should be rejected. (The speaker agrees to respond to the blue card)

Mr President, Commissioner, the Council adopted the 2021 Climate Law, which defines removals as up to 225 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030. However, the Commission is proposing a much more ambitious emission reduction target of 310 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, and climate radicals are presenting even more fierce figures. It is known that we are facing an energy crisis and it is aggravating food and many other crises. When energy is expensive, everything else is expensive, especially in Finland, where we no longer get wood from Russia, but should now cut down our own trees. There's no running out of energy in the world, but there's reason. Why would we aggravate and even feed the energy crisis when we should do everything we can to mitigate or even prevent it. I hope that tomorrow Parliament will vote in favour of the more reasonable emission reduction target that I have proposed, and I hope that we will really take into account the situation we are in right now. Europe needs energy.

Mr President, the European Union's economic and political elite wants to centralise power at a supranational level and destroy the identities and cultures of the European nation-states. One step towards this goal is a European electoral law. I am astonished that the European elections, which are a collection of national elections, are no longer enough for the EU elite. An EU-wide constituency is being promoted and a European Electoral Authority is being established. The direction of the EU is no longer just a federation of the EU, but a united European state. The EU wants to go beyond what the United States of America is today. There would be no question for Texas that Californians could vote for Texas candidates. I will do everything I can to ensure that Germans do not elect and vote for Finnish politicians. A more constructive way to act here in the EU would be to coordinate the European elections and focus on technical details, such as the harmonisation of election dates and deadlines. It is true that Member States could be provided with good examples which they could adopt if they so wished.

Mr President, time and time again I wonder why only Poland and Hungary are in the teeth of the EU. Does this mean that there are no problems in other Member States? Naturally, one of the reasons for this is that, quite simply, some Member States only have more power in the EU. Parliament lifted Puigdemont's immunity from prosecution. I do not believe that Parliament would have dismantled immunity from prosecution if it had been a Polish or Hungarian Member. Spain had sufficient influence to exert pressure, and Parliament yielded. It's disgraceful. There are more and fewer problems in all EU Member States. In Finland, the prosecutor persecutes a member of parliament because he distributed a verse from the Bible, but that doesn't bother Parliament because the EU no longer defends Christian values. The rainbow values have replaced the values of the Bible. Who gets to decide which values are better, the Hungarians or the EU on behalf of the Hungarians? Nation states are a relatively new invention. Imperialism is older. A drug called power also drives the EU. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts the EU in absolute terms, and Parliament itself discriminates against the political opposition, my group. Is it better discrimination?

Mr President, when there is famine in other parts of the world, we are facing a climate emergency. In the face of climate religion, we are called upon to reduce or even give up meat consumption. This means that the number of cows will also decrease. I'm defending the cow. A cow is particularly valuable to humans because it is able to produce food from hay that cannot be eaten by humans. Fluctuations in weather conditions affect the grain harvest, but even the worst summer cannot destroy the hay harvest that the cow eats. A Finnish cow does not eat soy grown in fields cleared from rainforests, but grass supplemented with fodder grain and soy-free protein. So don't worry, let the cow ruminate. Biogas production can be built around modern cattle manure to replace fossil fuels. The EU cannot stop climate change or influence weather conditions, but we can influence whether we have enough food in the future. Finnish farmer Aapeli Kokkonen wonders about the short memory of decision-makers. Only 150 years ago, one in ten people in Finland died of starvation. In Finland, self-sufficiency has been weakened and agriculture is becoming increasingly unprofitable. Imported food is not a climate action. Dependence on imported food – in the event of any crisis – will cause us another famine. If we don't have food, nothing else matters.

Mr President, Christian values have been discussed here today. It is good to have spoken, but it has been calculated that by 2050 the majority religion in Sweden would be Islam, so Islam will replace Christian values, at least in Sweden. The problems in Europe have been caused by endless humanitarian and social migration of young men from the Horn of Africa and the Middle East. Denmark is tired of this. Denmark wants to transfer asylum applications to centres outside its country. Denmark wants to accept zero asylum seekers. International cooperation is very important in immigration policy. Denmark and the UK are currently discussing the transfer of joint reception centres to Africa. I very much hope that more and more countries, such as Finland, will follow the Danish model, and I also hope that the Commission will financially support such a model, which really works. Why are there no terrorist attacks in Hungary and Poland? Because these countries are guarding their borders.