Speeches

I want to bring to attention a topic that needs to trouble us more, because the food crisis that is being announced is generated on the one hand by energy price increases. But let's not forget that the main seat of these problems comes from the Kremlin, because this criminal who started the war against Ukraine never thought that, in addition to Ukrainian citizens, hundreds of millions of citizens around the world are affected by the price increases that are generated, and the food crisis obliges the European Union to take a series of preventive measures to support the European Union's agriculture. One of the measures is to increase subsidies. I believe that doubling subsidies at this time is essential to prevent a major crisis against European citizens. From this point of view, let us not forget that wheat, which cost 200 euros a year ago, today the tonne is 400. And this signal says it all.

I was born in the Soviet era in the USSR, today Ukraine, and I lived fully this prohibition of attachment to spiritual identity. The church was banned at the time. It is not far from the situation we see today when Patriarch Kirill, along with Putin, under the pretext of defending interests we do not understand, attacks Christians in Ukraine by demolishing churches. I have been to many countries from the European Parliament: In Iraq, where I met with the Patriarch of Babylon and saw what it means to be a Christian in Iraq, what it means to have the courage to assume this identity. And I think it is important to debate these issues and I congratulate the initiators of the report.

Mr. President, dear colleagues, Putin is a criminal. Today's Russia is a captured state, a state transformed into a Gulag. For Putin, notions such as life, human dignity, freedom of thought, do not exist. Among his main concerns today are propaganda, disinformation, torture, mass killings. What has happened in recent weeks in Ukraine forces us to seriously reflect on the consequences of this war. We're not allowed to let innocent people die in torment anymore. That is why I voted with full conviction for this resolution, because I believe that we have an obligation to impose a total embargo against the Russian Federation. We cannot allow another day for commercial reasons to allow Putin to attack Europe.

Mr President, education is the necessary cornerstone of a democratic society and I believe it is essential to provide future generations with modern tools that help them understand what unites us, the values that define us and, obviously, to create tools to stop populism, disinformation. All these new challenges are created to divide our states. Or we are gathered here to defend values, to demonstrate our attachment to democracy, to defend the free world in which we believe and I believe that it is essential that civic education be the engine that gives future generations a new European consciousness, in which we each keep our own specificity, but at the same time we are united in values.

Mr President, I also voted ‘in favour’ and I congratulate the rapporteur. I think it is essential to be aware that data is an extraordinary resource in this age, and how it is used is a priority for the European Union, and I am glad that today we voted for the approval of a real legal instrument for data management that encourages its widespread use, for the benefit of all European citizens and our businesses. This law is a step forward for a more competitive and efficient economy, but it is essential to guarantee protection and access to secure and reliable data, especially in the strategic sectors of the European Union. Last but not least, the entire data package will be able to play a particularly important role in the area of cybersecurity, and recent events have shown us how much we need security.

Mr President, a few hours ago, President Zelensky addressed the Romanian Parliament to all senators and deputies, and to the Romanian people, thanking them for the solidarity and openness with which our citizens welcomed the almost 700 000 Ukrainians who crossed the threshold and border of Romania. At this time, it is essential to stand in solidarity, and our state has done everything possible to make Ukrainian citizens affected by the war feel safe in our country. I, along with my wife, received three ladies with their children in our house and they stayed for a month. I think it is very important to stand in solidarity with the Ukrainians who are going through the worst suffering of their time these days. At the same time, I believe that it is essential for the European Union to respect all its commitments and for Ukraine to become a member of the European Union as soon as possible.

Mr. President, it is no secret to anyone that Putin, just like his predecessor Stalin, intentionally and assumedly started this war, knowing that it would produce harmful consequences even for his people. Putin does not care about the consequences of what the war is already producing on how the agriculture of these two states is affected. From this point of view, I believe that it is essential to have this plan, because the war in Ukraine has affected both the Russian and Ukrainian nations, but it has agri-food consequences all over the world, including in Europe, and sanctions must not be relaxed at all. We need resources, and they must not be a hindrance to stopping Putin from this war.

Mr President, I voted for this extremely important decision. I am one of 558 colleagues who voted in favour. I regret that there are 20 MEPs who do not understand what the Republic of Moldova means. Of the 150 million, 30 million euros are non-reimbursable funds, and the rest are extremely advantageous loans for a state that has been held in captivity for three decades by the Russian Federation, which has illegal military troops on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. And today over 370,000 citizens of Ukraine have chosen the Republic of Moldova as a country of refuge, and I believe that this support is extremely important at an extremely difficult time, when the Republic of Moldova is equally strongly threatened by the Russian Federation, so I voted in favour.

Madam President, Commissioner, I believe that we are all shaken by the crimes that the Russian Federation is committing these days in Ukraine. Unfortunately, the bullets sent by Putin are killing children, killing women, killing people of all ages and destroying entire communities. But for Putin, it's not just the military that he's using today to spread terror. Another weapon dear to Putin is disinformation. It makes extensive use of all modern tools because it allows itself to allocate, at least last year, a budget of more than $1.3 billion for media tools that propagate the Kremlin's aggressive line to distort reality. We must also fight against this weapon that Putin has and is using today because it also affects the citizens of the European Union.

Madam President, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, first we had the health crisis. The pandemic hit us and from this shock it seemed that we were not recovering. Still, we made it through. Then there was the energy crisis, which still weighs on the shoulders of European citizens today and puts all Member States to the test. And it hasn't been enough to hit these two crises in the last two years, because a criminal sitting in the Kremlin has decided it's time to start a war and put unprecedented pressure on Europe. In these times, it is essential to respond in a coordinated manner to all these challenges. No matter how difficult the situation is, it is essential that in these times we have the ability to coordinate our policies so that we can support the business environment, provide it with a predictable and stable framework, act with a lot of responsibility, because only through investments we can create new jobs, we can give our citizens more security. Millions of Ukrainians are heading to the European Union these days, because here they feel safe, because here they think they can offer a future for their children, because here they think they can find a decent job. We need to think about all these people these days.

Mr President, Vice-President Borrell, Commissioner, I congratulate the rapporteur. I believe that your experience is very important in order to accurately report the risks to which the European Union is subject today. We know very well that in the Kremlin we have a tyrant who despises democracy and has tried, and it seems that by this time he has managed to eliminate freedom of expression in the Russian Federation and silence civil society. And that's what Putin wants to export to Europe today: Disinformation, diversion. He has moved his fight from the front to the homes of European citizens through the tools he controls. The most exposed at the moment to these disinformation tools are the citizens of the states that have broken away from the U.S.S.R. and we must support them, Vice President Borrell. Your visit to the Republic of Moldova was important, but this effort to support Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia must continue because these states have a European vocation, and we will succeed forever in closing Putin's door and stopping him from this adventure when we bring them all into the European Union.

Madam President, Commissioner, I come from the war zone. I met these days with citizens fleeing the war at all three of Romania's common border points with Ukraine. We have seen hundreds, thousands of refugees who are affected by this unjust war. Romania treats refugees as a state with a European behavior, as we must be. But I want to raise here, in the plenary of the European Parliament, an issue that concerns our borders, which we are guarding very well and effectively today. For ten years we have met the criteria for joining the Schengen area and for ten years we have been postponed. It is unfair for Romania and Bulgaria to be sanctioned and treated as if they were not members of the European Union. This injustice violates the treaty and I insist that Romania and Bulgaria be accepted into the Schengen area as soon as possible.

Mr President, Commissioner, it is essential that we value at every moment the essence of democracy and what underpins our societies, namely freedom of expression, freedom of association. A democracy cannot be alive as long as fundamental rights are restricted and civil society is not at ease. We see today what is happening in Europe, where a tyrant first restricted access to freedom of speech, eliminated civil society and now kills people just because they don't want to think like Putin. We have no right to miss this chance to preserve the beauty of democracy as it is, through an active, secure, credible and engaged civil society. I think this is the Europe we want to build on.

Mr President, Commissioner, every year in the European Union alone, 2.5 million people are diagnosed with cancer. Another 1.3 million citizens are losing the battle with this terrible disease and are being taken from us. These are either children, elderly people or very dear beings who leave behind real dramas. Data collected by the European Commission show that more than half of work-related deaths are due to work-related cancer. This should no longer be allowed in the European Union. I am very pleased that in five years we are already discussing the fourth proposal to amend the Directive on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work. Our citizens need to know that the European Union is continuously working for their well-being and health. Health should remain a priority for us. The proposal we are debating today aims to reduce occupational exposure to three carcinogenic substances and represents a new step towards a healthier Europe, and I insist on this because it is important to explain to citizens that there are things that have no price and for which we must fight continuously. We are already in the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has shown us that health must always come first. We also need to ensure that we live up to our commitment to creating a European Health Union and that workers, who may not have the privilege of working in the comfort of an office, are protected against any factors harmful to health. These are essential workers who have been hard-pressed in this health crisis, such as workers in health services, construction, refineries or the production of chemical materials. In this regard, I want to insist that it is absolutely vital that we find the best solutions to protect all exposed workers.

Madam President, High Representative, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that today's debate is very important and I say it as a man who has been banned in the Russian Federation since 2015. I am, I think, among the few MEPs in this Parliament who have this ban from the Kremlin precisely because I have constantly allowed myself, Mr. High Representative, to criticize Putin's policy of illegally maintaining for 30 years his military presence in the Republic of Moldova, in the Transnistrian region. My parents are, like me, born in an area occupied by the USSR, an area that belonged to eastern Romania before the Second World War and I know these realities very well precisely because I lived them to the fullest. Today, in Ukraine, there are over half a million Romanians, citizens of this state. On their behalf, I ask you, together with our allies, to do everything possible to stop Putin.

Madam President, Vice-President Borrell, I believe that this is an extremely important report on human rights and democracy because it represents our ultimate commitment to defending these values. But I want to raise here, in the plenum of the Parliament, an extremely serious situation here, in Europe, because, at the border of the European Union, in the Republic of Moldova, Mr. Vice-President, the Russian Federation, for more than three decades, maintains an artificial conflict in the Transnistrian region, where day by day democracy and human rights are trampled underfoot. There are countless trials at the European Court of Human Rights condemning the Russian Federation for restricting access to education, for restricting freedom of expression, for maintaining an artificial situation of conflict. We have an obligation to support this community to get out of this area of blackmail and pressure of the Russian Federation. Transnistria needs freedom and democracy.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we now have four times higher prices and decreasing energy stocks, and this crisis that the European Union is going through has profoundly affected vulnerable consumers, but also the European Union's economy. That is why I believe that most Member States look with great hope to the European Union and expect immediate pragmatic and effective solutions. I believe that in the medium and short term, it is essential for the European Union to purchase gas stocks for all Member States, and we must also think that the transition to green energy is essential, but before we give up what we have today, we must be prepared for this step, so as not to produce the shocks we are experiencing these days, because they produce real drama among the citizens of the European Union.

Mr President, for 2022 to really be the European Year of Youth, it is very important that we promote explicitly and widely everything that the European Union offers to young people today. Many young people do not have the knowledge or access to the educational, cultural, social or employment opportunities offered by the policies promoted by the European Union. That is why I believe it is essential to bring Europe closer to each of them. Moreover, the Council should agree with the European Parliament and strengthen youth initiatives. It is time for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee to be mandatory and not optional. As it shows today, the Youth Guarantee is failing in too many Member States and young people are not ensured a smooth transition to employment and are not sufficiently supported in their integration into the labour market.

Mr President, Madam Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, more than 20 years after the entry into force of the e-Commerce Directive, it is time for a new legislative package to regulate the online marketplace. The digital field has evolved and continues to evolve at an astounding speed, and while the benefits of this rapid evolution are undeniable, we need to be aware of the challenges and risks it can bring. That is why I strongly believe that there is a need for European legislation that is adapted to our times and that protects the fundamental rights of all citizens of the European Union. Firstly, we need to fight against illegal content online and defend citizens who fall victim to digital crime, with a strong focus on protecting vulnerable groups, especially children. In doing so, we must always be guided by the principle that what is illegal offline must also be illegal online. Secondly, among the many aspects of this regulation of great importance are issues of transparency and accountability for large digital service providers. We have digital service companies in the world that have market capitalisations higher than the GDP of many countries in Europe and around the world, which have acquired too much self-regulatory power for private entities. That's why we have to make sure that the rules are followed by the strongest. It is also very important to ensure that European citizens are protected against disinformation from online platforms. Disinformation is one of the greatest dangers facing European society today. That is why I believe it is time for the European Union to give a proper response, and the Digital Services Act is essential in this regard. The COVID crisis has shown us all that the European Union needs to adapt and respond to become a global leader fit for the digital age.

Mr President, Commissioner, congratulations, rapporteur, I think this is an important step, because we are going through a period of crisis, a period full of challenges and we are invited to respond to a need. It is obvious that the most important resource of the European Union is the workforce, and it is essential to ensure that the workforce is well prepared, competitive, performant, and obviously we need an extremely rigorous and predictable legal framework to take care of it, so that European workers feel safe in the face of all the vulnerabilities that may arise in this transition to a green and digital economy. We have an obligation to ensure that changes resulting from new technologies, changes in working conditions and interventions in employment are taken through the collaboration of all parties. It is essential to understand that the right to participate is a fundamental right for everyone active on the labour market in the European Union. That is why we must ensure that the democratic values we promote around the world are also respected in the workplace, by ensuring real measures on workers' information, consultation and participation rights in European companies. Last month I voted in this plenary on the directive on minimum wages and I believe it is essential that workers have the right to be consulted and informed about the remuneration for the work they do. Once again, I congratulate the rapporteur on his work.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that all the citizens of the countries of the Western Balkans solemnly and resolutely wish to be part of the European project. What remains for us, however, is to move forward and demand, through the European Commission, firm reforms to combat the greatest scourge that pervades and haunts these Western Balkan states. Corruption, crime, trafficking in human beings are real obstacles in the process of European integration of these states. But not only is organised crime a threat to the democratic process and European integration of these states, but also the influence of states such as the Russian Federation, which have every interest in maintaining a state of unrest in this region. I am absolutely convinced that if there is will, efficiency and seriousness in firmly asking the states of the Western Balkans to give up this state of impotence and to undertake firm reforms, through which to create strong institutions, an independent justice, well-trained policemen, prosecutors capable of handling files to stop organized crime, trafficking in human beings and corruption, we will have a solid, pro-European perspective for these states. Otherwise, we will remain in the situation where we will constantly find that there are no solutions for these states to evolve. Or, as long as there is a wide openness for the Western Balkans to be part of the European Union, we also have the obligation to assist them, financially support them, in these essential processes for saving these states and their faster integration.

Madam President, Mr High Representative, what is now happening on the eastern border of Ukraine, with Russia amalgamating over 100 000 troops, is one of the greatest challenges facing the European Union. Let's not forget that after Ukraine decided politically to get closer to the European Union, Putin's response was the annexation of Crimea. The Kremlin regards with great hostility any state in our immediate vicinity that wants to share with us the same attachment to democracy, human rights and freedom of expression, values that are foreign to Putin. He today embodies the perfect man, with a profile of the dictator who defies anyone and is willing to send his army to create an unprecedented conflict in Europe. Russia no longer has to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council because it has become a country that endangers peace and stability in Europe. The eventual invasion of Ukraine will open a new chapter, full of events with tragic outcome. That is why Russia must know that it will be completely isolated and will pay an expensive price for this Stalinist ambition. Putin must be stopped. Nothing justifies a military conflict, except the desire of a man who seems increasingly ridiculous in his geostrategic ambitions.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, no one will ever ban Christmas in the European Union. It is impermissible that in future an internal Commission document should contain such sensitive elements that could create the perfect opportunity to mislead European citizens. I say it assumed, although it has been explained that it is an internal unfortunate document, unfortunately, the false news that Christmas has been banned in the European Union still haunts. That is why I believe it is essential to be cautious and to do everything possible and necessary to stop the distribution of this false information in the future. They are seriously damaging to democracy. Christmas is a celebration of joy and does not exclude anyone who does not celebrate it with us.

Madam President, Commissioner, I want to bring up to date a topic that concerns me deeply and I believe it is the duty of the European Parliament to sound the alarm. In the midst of the health crisis, we have witnessed the citizens of the European Union being exposed to an unprecedented wave of disinformation. Our citizens are vulnerable and that is why we need to prepare a mechanism to resist disinformation. Our children need modern tools to cope with this avalanche of false information, as populist politicians, state actors such as Russia, constantly misinform the citizens of the European Union. I'm sounding the alarm because tomorrow may be too late.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the free movement of workers is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Treaties. As a result, more than 17 million European citizens live in a state other than their state of residence, and more than 70% of them are employed. Romanians are the largest national group of mobile citizens in the European Union, representing almost a fifth of the resident population in the country. With the ever-increasing number of mobile workers, we need to ensure that their social rights are respected, and this can no longer be done on this scale, through outdated and non-digital systems. That is why, Commissioner Schmit, I believe that it is essential for the Commission to make a consistent effort to persuade states to implement a digital reform so that we can ensure social security for all those who need to enjoy security rights across borders.