Debate contributions by Thierry MARIANI

Madam President, on the basis of Rule 209: in February 2025, this Parliament adopted a resolution on the dramatic situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In accordance with Rule 209 of our Rules of Procedure, this text has been published, recorded and transmitted to all the European institutions, and in particular to the Commission. This resolution was clear: it called for sanctions against Rwanda and the immediate suspension of the agreement on critical raw materials between Rwanda and the European Union. Ten months later, no sanctions were taken against the real Rwandan officials, no suspension of the raw materials agreement. Worse still, Rwanda continues to support the M23 offensives in eastern DRC, despite the peace agreement signed in Washington on 4 December. I would remind you that our resolutions voted in plenary are not decorative statements: They engage us politically. So when are we finally going to sanction Rwanda in order to respect the wishes of this Parliament?

Madam President, Sudan is now experiencing one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world. The war between the Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces has already displaced millions of people and plunged entire regions into famine and horror. Sudan is collapsing and the international community is watching this humanitarian crisis worsen from week to week. This country is already emerging from 30 years of a hard Islamist regime, then from a failed transition in 2021, when the two military factions that clash today overthrew civilian power. Since 2023, they have been fighting for control of the country, sabotaging any prospect of peace and totally disqualifying their claim to lead Sudan's future. Worse, extremists and the Muslim Brotherhood are profiting from the chaos, recruiting, establishing themselves and influencing political appointments in Khartoum, posing a serious threat to Sudan from the return of Islamists to power. In this context, the European Union must clearly identify those responsible, namely the Muslim Brotherhood and those who support them. At the same time, we must support the only credible peace initiative: the Quad led by the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It is now the only diplomatic framework that is really moving forward, the only one that can impose a humanitarian truce and relaunch a civilian transition independent of militias and extremist networks. Europe must act quickly before Sudan becomes the next hotbed of international terrorism.

Madam President, when airspace violations are clearly identified, they are inadmissible. But the courage also lies in applying this indignation to all violations, not just those that suit you. Between July and December 2024, 900 airspace violations and 45 maritime space violations were committed by Turkey against Cyprus. In 2025, Greece has already suffered more than 150 violations of its airspace and more than 1,800 violations of its maritime space by Turkish planes and boats. However, there is no debate on this issue; Everyone seems to find this normal and keeps silent. We must defend our sovereignty, all our sovereignty, not just that which would justify a new holy war against Russia, because this war is not ours. I expect the same indignation when Turkey also violates the airspace of European states.

I would just like to point out to our colleague that France Info, which is not an extreme right-wing radio station, has made it clear in its review that: The True of Falsehood that no one in Russia had said that sentence which the General, Chief of Staff, repeated. If you have the source of this imaginary sentence, I invite you to communicate it to the journalist of the national radio station who, however, does not share our ideas.

Mr President, in the new architecture of the world, India has become, under the leadership of Narendra Modi – elected in 2014, re-elected in 2019 and 2024 – a pole of stability and a power of balance. In the face of Chinese and American giants, India offers Europe a path to independence and cooperation. For too long, however, the European Union has neglected the Indian partnership. Only 2.4% of our foreign trade is with this country, far behind the United States and China. This is a strategic mistake, because by ignoring the emerging powers, by turning its back on the BRICS, Europe is condemning itself to diplomatic and economic isolation and, even worse, to American tutelage. Today, the Commission is proposing a roadmap to speed up the conclusion of an agreement, which is a step in the right direction. But Europe does not want a front partnership. It needs not only a concrete and balanced agreement that strengthens our economic, technological and energy ties, but also firm cooperation to fight terrorism and Islamism, in order to open the doors to the world's fourth largest economy. This agreement will also have to protect our workers and our industrialists. There is no question of opening up our markets unconditionally in the face of considerable social disparities or transferring our technologies without fair compensation. Our continent can maintain itself in the concert of nations, provided we reach out a friendly hand to Prime Minister Modi and his country, without arrogance, without paternalism and treating them as equals. This is the only valid strategy for a Europe that seeks to regain its power.

Mr President, day after day, the ideal façade of the Rwandan regime is cracking and Mr Kagame finally appears for what he is: a bloodthirsty and authoritarian dictator. Sponsor of the massacres, the persecution of civilians and the looting of mineral resources in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the President of Rwanda has for a very long time remained the protector and favorite of Brussels. No one had found anything wrong with his fourth re-election, with a Soviet score of 99.18%. Things seem to be changing with this new Commission. But this past complacency towards Kigali is intolerable, as it contradicts all the moral principles that the European Union imposes on the rest of the world. The case of the opponent Victoire Ingabire is a symbol. Faced with the executioners of the Great Lakes region, this courageous woman represents the democratic hope of her country, a hope that Kagame has been trying to stifle ever since he issued his arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. Today, indeed, the European Union has a duty to resurrect this hope and to secure the release ofme Ingabire by immediately cancelling all forms of financial and commercial cooperation with Rwanda so that Europe finally ceases to be Kigali's accomplice.

Madam President, respect for the rule of law is great, frankly, because it allows, as soon as there is a problem with a government that displeases the European Union, to interfere in its affairs. This has been the case for Poland, this has been the case for Hungary, and it is now Slovakia's turn to be Brussels' pain sufferer. In reality, the Commission is harassing this country, because you do not like this government. According to all logic, in order to benefit from European rights passes, the Slovaks would have to do something like the Poles who, since the arrival of the liberals in power, happily divert, as we learn in the newspaper PoliticoEuropean funds devoted to the post-Covid recovery to buy yachts, luxury cars and even a swinger club, without any remark from Brussels at the moment. What about this parliament that has itself been splattered by the Qatargate corruption scandal? What's the status of the investigation? Where are the convictions? Not to displease the European Union, the Social Democrat Robert Fico is a democratically elected Prime Minister. His party won the elections in 2023 and he conducts a sovereignist policy in his country. Let Brussels put its own excesses in order before giving lessons to the states.

Mr President, all the interferences in Moldova are intolerable, all of them, like the one that consists, ten days before the Moldovan presidential election, whenme von der Leyen goes to Kichinev, promising 1.8 billion euros. Similarly, in August, President Macron, the German Chancellor and Donald Tusk went to Moldova to support Maia Sandu and influence the legislative elections in September. In both cases, the message is clear: Vote Sandu and you will have money from Europe. All manipulations are intolerable. What to say when a referendum is won with extreme accuracy thanks to the vote of the Moldovan diaspora abroad, and this Moldovan diaspora in Russia has not been able to vote, where 500,000 Moldovans live? All justice must be fair. What to say when a governor, that of Gagauzia, takes seven years in prison, simply to be of a party that is no longer accepted in Moldova? All interference must be denounced, including from this Chamber.

Madam President, as in Georgia, the European Union chooses, in Serbia, to encourage chaos, where it should instead support a democratically elected government. For nine months now, Serbia has been facing a wave of demonstrations whose nature is no longer peaceful. A disorder that affects the majority of the population, captive to the violent and organized behavior of a minority. 23,000 illegal rallies, 12,000 roadblocks, 750 attacks on political premises and already 170 injured police officers. It is no longer a classic democratic protest. This is violence directed against the state and its institutions. An attempt to change a government. In the face of this, the Serbian government has multiplied its gestures of openness. A dialogue was offered to the students. President Vučić even proposed a consultative referendum on confidence in his mandate as well as early elections. Each time, the demonstrators, stuck in sterile postures, refused these proposals. Because behind these movements are radical elements and politicized NGOs whose agenda is not the democratic and peaceful reform of the country, but the destabilization of Serbia through geopolitical calculations. President Vučić was elected with more than 60% of the vote. As such, its mandate and majority are clear, legitimate and democratic. Brussels must stop harassing this country under any pretext. This resolution is a new interference against a democratically elected government, but one that you do not like.

Mr President, three years after the attack on the Nord Stream, the truth is finally beginning to be decided. It was not mere sabotage, but a terrorist act against Europe. The Hungarian Foreign Minister was very clear on this subject, saying on 26 August: The sabotage of the Nord Stream shows all the characteristics of state terrorism. Recall that initially a media campaign accused Russia. Then Denmark and Sweden quickly closed their investigation, embarrassed, refusing to go further. Today, only Germany continues. With the arrest of the main suspect, Serhii Kuznetsov, in Italy, we discover a man suspected of having coordinated the operation and who would have worked for a very long time for the Ukrainian special services. How can the European Commission continue its indiscriminate support for Kiev, when it is now very likely that Ukraine has thrown its stunts at our strategic infrastructure? As a result, we are deprived of cheap gas and Europe has turned to American dependence. Mme von der Leyen promised us in 2022 a firm response to these attacks. And if ultimately the culprit was Ukraine, what would we do?

Mr President, media freedom does not allow for all excesses. Nor is it a permanent alibi for foreign interference. This is precisely what the European Parliament is doing in this debate. Mme Amaghlobeli is being prosecuted for physically assaulting a serving police officer on 12 January and, in accordance with her country's laws, she will be tried at the next hearing of her trial. This scandalous political instrumentalization of a criminal case hides the European Union's obsession with Georgia and above all Brussels' contempt for the right and sovereignty of this people. Be clear, you just want to overthrow the Georgian government and all the pretexts are good. Four European Parliament resolutions against Tbilisi in less than a year are relentless. A relentless and repeated interference that Georgians have been subjected to for more than twenty years. For we no longer count NGOs, foundations, the media financed by foreign interests and whose only agenda is the destabilization of Georgia. George Soros and his network, for example, have never hidden their willingness to influence Georgian politics. Its foundation, the Open Society, has poured 85 million euros into the country since 1994, including nearly 5 million in 2019 alone. Everyone knows that this massive funding has been injected into militant structures and, under the guise of journalism or human rights, is intended to weaken the institutions of this country. Georgians no longer have orders to receive from anyone, either from Moscow or Brussels.

Mr President, in February our Parliament adopted a resolution on the crisis in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, making it very clear that Rwanda is responsible for this tragedy which has lasted for 30 years. Four years later and some symbolic sanctions after, the Democratic Republic of Congo has completely disappeared from the European Union's concerns. But four years later, Kagame and his militias continue to occupy, loot and massacre part of the DRC. Why? Because Kigali openly mocks us and our cowardice, unless they take advantage of our complacency. Yes, the EU makes fun of the Union. Yes, the EU is making fun of the Congolese, because for Ukraine, we are capable of being in the 18th wave of sanctions – for Congo, a single wave of sanctions, which in reality has yielded no results. In the DRC, corpses and evidence are piling up, but Brussels is looking elsewhere. All this ridiculous comedy must stop, because more than 100 million Congolese are watching us and waiting for the European Union to really sanction Mr Kagame and those around him who are the only ones responsible for this massacre.

Mr President, against Serbia, this House no longer knows what to invent. Now you report on the reports. But this latest report on Serbia is more about ideological indictment than objective assessment. Yet Belgrade has committed no crime, except that of not thinking like Brussels, or rather of refusing to sanction Russia and above all, supreme sacrilege, of not bowing to Pristina's whims. This text accumulates moral lessons, political injunctions and biased criticism, while the 2023 and 2024 European Union reports on Serbia praised instead its economic success with strong growth and falling unemployment. The reports also noted technical progress in 31 of the 34 negotiating chapters and a clear commitment to the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. Moreover, I note that this resolution completely turns a blind eye to the anti-Serb violence in Kosovo. Two weights, two unbearable measures. When Serbia defends its own, it is an immediate condemnation. When Albin Kurti flouts minority rights in Kosovo, Brussels looks aside. You have to tell the truth: You want to make Serbia a submissive, aligned, obedient student, but Serbia is a free nation. It defends its interests, it refuses injunctions and it claims its sovereignty. What shocks you, I find it normal. Accession to the European Union must not be an instrument of geopolitical blackmail, or, frankly, let it be said that the European Union does not want a country that thinks otherwise. For my part, I will always defend the freedom of peoples who must freely choose their destiny.

Madam President, on 13 February 2025, 70 Christians were savagely beheaded in a church in Kasanga, Democratic Republic of Congo, by the Allied Democratic Forces, a radical Islamist group linked to the Islamic State. This massacre is not isolated: It is part of an endless war, which since 1998 has killed more than 8 million Congolese, including many children and women. In the east of the country, the regions of North and South Kivu are plunged into chaos under the assaults of armed groups such as the M23, which rapes, loots and massacres. The main culprit of these massacres, these disorders, for years everyone knows him: This is Paul Kagame’s Rwanda. He is the one who launched his bloodthirsty army and his deputies against the populations of Goma and Bukavu, where millions of Congolese are taken hostage. It is he who plunders the DRC’s mineral resources and flouts the country’s sovereignty. So, after first timid sanctions, what is the EU waiting for to sanction Kigali even harder? For Ukraine, the EU is already in its sixteenth wave of sanctions in three years. But what are we waiting for visa sanctions, for the freezing of Rwandan assets in Europe, for nominal sanctions against Kagame and his entourage? Commissioner, I do not have the same information as you. Everything continues as before in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and there is no truce. In particular, at the European Commission, you must immediately denounce the agreement on minerals, signed by Rwanda, whose inefficiency your officials have publicly acknowledged. All this immobility becomes suspicious. We will end up believing that the European Union is protecting Kagame.

Madam President, it is official: From Paris to Bucharest to Republika Srpska, the European Union is accompanying the democratic death of Europe. Marine Le Pen's unjust and totalitarian condemnation sadly echoes that of Milorad Dodik, President of the Bosnian Serb Republic. Through him, the Republika Srpska is attacked judicially and politically. Milorad Dodik, who was democratically elected, has just been sentenced to one year in prison and six years of ineligibility in an externally guided political trial. At this stage, the judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina is no longer independent: it is an instrument of repression in the hands of Sarajevo, an instrument that acts under the pressure of Christian Schmidt, high international representative, who behaves like a colonial governor by annulling laws and violating the popular will expressed in the ballot box. Obviously, Brussels lets this authoritarian farce unfold, orchestrated against a legitimately elected president, thereby proving that its indignation is selective and that it tramples on the right of peoples to self-determination – in particular that of the Serbs. Republika Srpska and its people deserve neither ignorance nor humiliation, but respect.

Madam President, on the eve of 1 April the Commission decided to hold a debate on democratic pluralism. Frankly, you have a taste for humor and timing: start by reacting to the scandal surrounding the conviction of Marine Le Pen. I am surprised that the Commission, always quick to denounce the abuses of the world, is so silent when the hammer of injustice hits our continent to prevent democracy from expressing itself. In France today as in Romania or in the United States, justice has become the favourite tool of an oligarchy that acts against peoples. In France, she has just gagged the voice of 11 million French people, while all serious polls place Marine Le Pen largely ahead of the next presidential election. This is an outright political assassination, a serious hindrance to democratic life, and one whose European impact is certain. We also see that Brussels takes a mischievous look at all these convictions, since they are its life insurance policies. Stop applauding the censors of the people and take care of the real cheats, those of your majority, those of "Qatargate". Are you talking about democratic pluralism? I see a totalitarianism moving forward.

Madam President, of course we must fight corruption and those responsible for the tragedy in Novi Sad must be identified. But the European Parliament stands out once again for its hypocrisy: as a zealous agitator, he precipitates a debate that only concerns Serbia's internal affairs in order to better conceal his silence on the attacks on the Serbs in Kosovo. In January, for example, Socialist Prime Minister Albin Kurti shut down ten Serbian municipalities, signing an additional act of political harassment and a frontal attack on the rights of the Serbian population in that territory. On 9 February, a few weeks before the general election, the Kosovo Central Electoral Commission, under Pristina's orders, tried to ban the main Serbian party from running in the elections. So, after physical violence, administrative burdens and institutional discrimination, for Kosovo Serbs, the cut is full. They know that these coups are part of a devious ethnic cleansing that has been going on for four years and on which the European Union is turning a blind eye. These injustices and violence must stop and it is time for the European Union to admit it, for us too to give up our repeated interference by constantly judging and criticising a democratically elected government that has the right to conduct its policy, even if you dislike it.

Mr President, Commissioner, this is not a humanitarian crisis. It's been going on for 30 years. Thirty years! We received in these walls the Nobel Prize and Dr. Denis Mukwege, who alerted us by saying: "Women, men and children are falling like flies in Kivu." And already in 2008, in this Chamber, a resolution was passed for an exactly similar crisis. Except it's not a crisis. It's been going on for thirty years. And we haven't done anything for thirty years. We've been saying for thirty years that we're going to send trucks to save people and everything. What is needed today is to tackle the roots of evil. But the roots, we know where they come from. We know very well that there is a neighboring country that, in reality, participates in the plundering of the DRC's revenues and mineral resources and sells some of these minerals back to us. We now know who is an accomplice: It is the European Union. The European Union, as you know, signed a treaty, or rather an agreement, on 19 February last year to buy back these stolen minerals. And it is since September that I have been asking for a special commission on this subject. Nothing. I heard we were going to do it next week, behind closed doors, without translation. Then you know what to do. What we need to do is urgently cancel the minerals agreement that binds us to Rwanda. It is suspending the security partnership we have with this country. It is blocking the payment of the additional 20 million euros promised by Europe last November under the European Facility in Rwanda. This is to strongly condemn the massacres and abuses and to take concrete sanctions against those responsible, who are largely in Rwanda. That's what we're waiting for. It is not to pass a new resolution in five or ten years.

Madam President, a death sentence is a sentence that our Parliament cannot accept. But let us not forget that the Democratic Republic of Congo is a sovereign state, with sovereign justice. With regard to this coup attempt, the DRC had to deal with a serious attack on its democratic institutions. In addition, Mr. Wondo is convicted at first instance, and he has just appealed. The Congolese justice system has therefore not yet delivered its final verdict. So, frankly, why is this Parliament rushing into interfering in a judicial matter that is in no way within its competence? You will allow me to doubt: Is this not to hide its inconsistencies? Because, while we are debating a personal case here, Kinshasa is facing a deadly war in the East, in Kivu, where the M23 militias in Kigali’s pay are slaughtering the population and taking over territories. And what has the European Union done? She signed with Kagame, this Rwandan dictator, re-elected very democratically with 99.18% of the vote, criminal agreements to plunder critical raw materials in the DRC. Europe says nothing about this latent war. For the past 20 years, Brussels has been turning a blind eye to a situation that, in the end, does it well. Unless we soon discover, in this Parliament or in the Commission, a ‘Rwandagate’ after the ‘Qatargate’. Today, you are seeking justice for this alleged coup plotter – it is your right. I demand justice for the hundreds of thousands of Congolese dead who have been drowning in the blood of European interests since 1998, and whom we cover with our complicit silence.

Mr President, ‘Brussels must do more to support pro-European forces.’ This debate mirrors the outrageous remarks just made by the chairman of the Bundestag’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. But what right do you think you have to influence the democratic choices of a sovereign people? Because these words are not the words of dialogue and mutual respect that nations deserve, but an admission of interference illustrating European arrogance. In Georgia, the people spoke, just the people. Moreover, the OSCE confirmed this in its report of 20 December 2024: no foreign interference is mentioned, none. On the other hand, since the re-election of Georgian Dream, Brussels has increased its interference to refuse the choice of Georgians. And what about the violence you silently condone – more than 150 Georgian policemen injured? In Tbilisi, the European Union is not the protector of democracy, but the accomplice of chaos. This country is free, stop caricaturing it. Georgians want Europe, but a Europe that respects their choice, because, after the Soviet Union, Georgia does not want to become a colony of Brussels.

Madam President, Rule 10 of our Rules of Procedure stipulates that Members shall preserve the dignity of Parliament and shall not damage its reputation. I would therefore like to denounce the invitation of the representatives of the Polisario Front in the framework of the Monitoring Group on the Maghreb of the Committee on International Trade. First, this militia is supported by Algeria to destabilise Morocco, an important partner for the European Union. Secondly, its links with Islamists, the barbaric attacks on the people of the city of Smara in 2023 and the cases of diversion of humanitarian aid from the Tindouf camp should alarm us. Finally, in 2018, our Parliament warned in a resolution of the negative effects on local populations of the non-application of tariff preferences in Western Sahara. Therefore, this invitation harms the reputation of our Parliament and the people of the Moroccan Sahara, as much as it compromises our cooperation with Morocco. That is why, Madam President, under our Rules of Procedure, I ask you to cancel this statement.