Debate contributions by Nikos PAPANDREOU

Mr President, Commissioner Micallef, this discussion shows that we are all on your side, and I like what you said in your introduction. We need to improve on the situation. That's what we're saying. Live streaming is part of our era's zeitgeist, to use a German word. Except we have these money-hungry groups that want to take away something from us and they call them pirates. But when we say pirates, we think of one guy with a black bandana on a ship – no, they're thieves. And from what the numbers say, as Maria Guzenina said, 30 billion euros are disappearing from taxes and from people who lose their intellectual property rights. I think we have the technology. The Digital Services Act is actually about static activities: movies, TV series and books. This is about instant response, and you talked about the dynamic intervention. So we need to make this necessary. We need to use the new technology to capture this new technology, so we can support the online sports activities.

Madam President, Commissioner, last year in Athens, President Modi emphasised the need for a renewed EU-India partnership. Given the vote today on Mercosur, of course, I think the lesson for us on this is let's do it right this time. We are here in Parliament to make sure that we take care of the concerns, and it seems that we are turning around 30 years of growth, which was free-trade growth. It should not be a zero sum game – the fact that there's a EUR 10 billion deficit in Europe does not mean that if Europe does better, India does worse, or if Europe does worse, India does better. We have to get beyond that simple mathematics, and we have to go beyond economics, because now, as everybody has mentioned, the old order is dead. I recall in the 1980s when my father made the 'Five Continent' agreement with Indira Gandhi, Nyerere and Palme, which had a vision for the five continents to come together. With this trade deal, we have to have a new vision that will start to look at the new world order that we're facing as of this week.

Madam President, Commissioner Kadis, so what is this Critical Medicine Act about? I'm going to be technical on this one. I won't be so political. I think the people need to hear what it really is. First of all, it's a response to the risk in supply chains. And we've seen that in the last few years. We have measures to protect us. Stockpiling is one of them. Another one is to encourage more investments in research and in start-ups. For those who disagree, we encourage voluntary joint procurement. Voluntary. We propose a successful multi-winner tender system ‑ for those who know it's very successful ‑ and this diversifies suppliers for the same medicine. Finally, I'm pleased to say the work of the rapporteurs has actually reduced bureaucracy and taken the best practices and improved on them. So we are avoiding new ponderous bureaucracies and making a much smoother system. Tomorrow we vote 'yes'. The Critical Medicines Act is critical for the health of European citizens.

Mr President, today we are voting on the Critical Medicines Act. Why are we doing this? This is a regulation that incentivises not only investment and production in Europe, but also clinical trials, research in universities of a public nature, and clinical trials. The pandemic has shown us that we have many shortcomings. This law is trying to solve the problem of shortcomings. As we saw with the covid, we also have the geopolitical reality. We depend on India and China but also on America's tariffs. This has rapidly changed the situation. We want a Europe that delivers medicines for all citizens with equal access. Of course, we also want to strengthen the public sector. I hope in a future law we do. Our goal is for every patient in every Member State to have their medicines when they need them. Equal access for all, not first- and second-class citizens. The regulation is a first big positive step. We vote for him with responsibility and optimism.

Mr President, colleagues, I'm not sure why there is a problem. I heard Mr Ferber. I heard a very good introduction from the Commissioner, with which I agree. And I do hope by 2026 we get there – maybe it'll be five years, a little bit slow. I think it's the ECR who has perhaps confused that digital will take the place of real cash. And the thing about the single currency package is that it makes cash mandatory. So once we have that agreement, we should vote it as fast as possible so that people feel that they won't be dominated by the digital euro. We want to safeguard cash just as much as all the other parties. However, there's something odd in the report as it stands: it has an amendment that says that if an ATM shuts down, the government should pay to keep it open. I'm not sure the EPP is aware of that. If an ATM shuts down, we pay to keep it open. That's really going to reduce cash access. Without access, people lose the practical ability to choose cash. So the best way to protect cash is to vote on the single currency package. I think we all agree with that.

Mr President, to the Mullahs of Iran: enough with 40 years of prosecuting, killing, executing and arresting the community of Baha'i. One has to wonder why 300 000 members of the Baha'i are such a threat to the Iranian regime. I think it's clear: they preach love; they work in society, in the community; they have charitable acts. And the other thing that the Mullahs can't stand is the equality of gender. That's very dangerous for the sick men in power in Iran for 40 years – especially for women. And let me mention two who have been particularly singled out by these sick men in power. I call for the immediate release of two women in particular: Fariba Kamalabadi and Roya Sabet. Iran may be a great country. We love Iran. But no, we do not love the Mullahs. They don't deserve it. They are a shame to their country.

Mr President, Commissioner, as the last speaker, I'd like to sum up what we heard in one minute. I think there's three things. First of all, we were talking about dealing with the mental health problem per se, the person. That means we're looking at the individual. That means we need more healthcare professionals. We also did not mention the healthcare asylums, and it was Michel Foucault who said the quality of a society you can find out by visiting the mental asylums. So we need to do work on that as well. That's the specific. The general is the problems that are caused that bring us to mental health problems. So we have the war in Ukraine. If you go to Ukraine, which I've been, they say we all have mental health anxiety. We are trying to stop the war. We have the apocalypse of the climate above us. We have the Green Deal to try to deal with that. And of course, because I have children, we have the awful thing called the screen, which has great things, but also has caused an increase in anxiety in the young. And I think of Foucault's visit to the mental asylums – I would say visit the schools, and we can see the craziness going on there today. Finally, everybody agreed – everybody agreed, regardless of politics – that mental health should be at the top, top priority in every single policy. So I think if we take something away, let's make it really the number one project for the EU. The EU will be a gentle place. It will not be the rampant wars and capitalism we see in other countries. This should be the place where the social welfare state really works and supports the people.

Mr President, why do we love the European Alliance? For those who are not in the plenary: Leibniz University in Germany, the National Technical University in Athens, Brno University of Technology in Czechia, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology in Finland, Jönköping University in Sweden, University Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, the Technical University in Vienna, University L’Aquila and the Institut Mines-Télécom France – that's one alliance. I think people need to realise how important that is. For those who are still sad about the burning down of the Library of Alexandria, and I'm one of those, we have a European library when we have these alliances. If we want to own the future, we need to have that great European library and the great European university. Finally, a point on Hungary – we welcome you back. You know what to do to join the Erasmus+, we support the increase in Erasmus+. Hungary can join when its boss makes the right decisions.

Mr President, Commissioner, it is not enough that Erdogan has taken over half of Libya. It is not enough that he has taken Syria and controlled it. It is not enough that a few years ago he bombed Armenia. It is not enough that he tries to change history and name the Aegean "Tourkegaio". It is not enough that he has imprisoned many Kurds and mayors in Istanbul and elsewhere. Now he wants to imprison both Greek and European citizens. What's their crime? That they want to visit their homelands. That's their crime. With our vote tomorrow – the European Union supports us in voting at least – we will denounce this action and call for their release. Also, we Greeks here today are asking for increased attention to the architecture of SAFE, and until Turkey is democratized, not to be a member of this new architecture of Europe's defence.

Mr President, Commissioner, I agree with much of what you said. We have the 2022 Wildfire Prevention Plan, but we can do more. I'm not going to criticise. We have a new world. Mega fires – and I went to the town of Patras – double in size in 30 seconds. So the main concept is prevention – and our firemen will tell you that; I'm a part of a volunteer firefighting group. And I want to propose, not a democracy shield, but a firefighting shield that would include the new technology: drones. We have hired drones in our local neighbourhood that can see a fire from 15 km away, even from a match. We are looking at little machines: AI robots that clear the forest floor and new condensers that take water and spread it around or can fill the container. Basically, we need best practices from Europe to propose, for all countries, very practical – not expensive – solutions to prevent the fires. If we prevent the fires, we've won the game. The main problem is when the fire starts. And my slogan in Greece is: 'patriotism is not a political decision, not a political ideology; we have environmental patriotism'. That should be our slogan. To protect the environment is being patriotic.

Madam President, Commissioner, the report by Mrs Lalucq and Mr Draghi deals with the question of 'how to get out of bad European capitalism' (French in the speech: "comment sortir de notre mauvais capitalisme européen’). The difference between America and Europe is what this committee and this report are discussing. On the one hand we see huge wealth in America, we see European money going to Palo Alto and on the other hand here, we have all said it, we are left behind. I think that if we have a proper capitalism, and this is also a Marxist position, a robust capitalism, we will have the money to pay for both defense and the welfare state that "burns" us as socialists and democrats. Only a robust capitalism, which we will then come and tax and distribute this money and we will have green growth. So far we have not succeeded. But our role here in Brussels is unfortunately to hit the heads of the banks and governments that are lagging behind in the Banking Union.

Madam President, Commissioner, this is the fifth time we speak about Sudan, and I'd like to mention something that has not been discussed. And that is the role of the foreign actors in worsening the disaster in Sudan. We have a member of NATO, and a country that wants to be part of the SAFE architecture, and it's called Türkiye. There's robust proof that Türkiye is selling drones and military equipment to both sides of the conflict. If Türkiye wants to join the new architecture in the military, they should respect the sanctions on weapons to the war in Sudan. If they want to sit at the table, they should respect EU sanctions.

Mr President, I find it very interesting that just a few minutes ago we had a Member who was born in the gulag who spoke here. We have two Members whose families were involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler. This Chamber is haunted by those memories. My grandmother told me stories of the Great Famine in Athens in 1941. My grandfather was chased by Kurt Waldheim and escaped to Egypt, and then was lucky enough to be prime minister on Liberation Day and lift the Greek flag over the Acropolis. So those are the memories that haunt us. Yet we still have this big divide, and it happens to be Russia and the Soviet Union. The problem with that – and that's my problem – is that, yes, the Soviet Union helped defeat the Nazis, and that's a plus, but then they dominated Eastern Europe and made a totalitarian world. So that tears us in half; it's a 'yes' and a 'no', and we have to condemn atrocities whenever we see them if we are democratic people and believe in the European values. It does not matter if they had a victory star; they also have something very bad. Today we have a Fifth Column. It is not necessarily with weapons, it's with suits, tweets and explosions of falsehoods. It promises easy solutions to complex problems. We see little men and little women who want to use freedoms to abolish freedoms. Our speeches today are part of the act of resistance.

Madam President, Mr Commissioner, thank you. Of course we condemn these kidnappings. There is a Greek word in the civil war called Paidomazoma, which was a practice. And we worry also that they convert them to hate Ukraine. There are bad. There are worse within the bad, when they kidnapped 100 children from the special school in the Kherson Oblast, in their wheelchairs and with their psychological problems. What we can do in a practical sense, and I didn't hear this today, is to help with the trauma of the families, to set up trauma centres. In our aid to Ukraine, we need to help those families cope and the children coming back. That is something that those families are demanding from us.

Madam President, Commissioner, today we are discussing competition policy in the EU, and I always think it's a little ironic for a socialist Member to be talking about competition. But what we're talking about is something that the socialist movement has done for 150 years: a capitalism that produces the surplus for a good welfare state. And that's where we differ on our two sides. We want this capitalist system to work in a way that's fair for the people. In your report, we talk about the almost dirty words of 'capitalism', 'market abuse', 'excessive power', 'algorithmic collusion', 'data dominance' and 'greedflation'. These are the things that competition policy is supposed to handle. We have two problems. The monopolies are very difficult to take on. We need a strong Europe for that – it was mentioned. The fines I agree with. We have to take them apart somehow. In the Marxist version we take them over, but we're not in that world right now. The other problem that doesn't allow the small enterprises to grow are the state silos: banking union, energy grid, infrastructure. The ones who can get past the silos are the big companies. The Googles have no problem getting past the barriers country by country – an SME cannot get into the new market. That will help innovation and competition.

Mr President, Commissioner, it sounds like a conundrum, 30 million rare diseases, as that doesn't sound so rare, but we know what we mean. Per disease it's very rare, but in total it's not. This leads naturally to one point I want to make – something that sounds technical: cross-border clinical trials, as that way we pool the few per country, but that also fits into our European vision of countries working together, with health systems connecting more, universities doing more research. And given the tariffs that were announced yesterday, which don't include pharma yet, but include reshoring of American companies like Eli Lilly, we need to make European solutions for our human problems, and then we'll solve problems not just for Europe, but for all of us.

Madam President, Commissioner, it's a bit funny, but we want Türkiye to be in the EU. We in Greece. But not this Türkiye, not the Türkiye that puts in jail the mayor, that puts in jail Kavala, that puts in jail Demirtas for 42 years just because he's Kurdish. And yesterday, as was mentioned, the Swedish journalist was arrested for terrorism – Medin. We do have a weapon – and that's the weapons, actually. Our new defence architecture seems to include – at least silently – Türkiye, so far. You know that we don't want that. We would only want it if it was really a European country. So, let's make that effort. Until they release all the political prisoners, our European allies selling arms to Türkiye must stop. And when Türkiye follows the right path, we will be very happy to be their friendly neighbours.

Mr President, Commissioner, thank you very much for bringing us into this discussion at an early stage so we can form the cultural compass together. In the last term, there was something called the Commissioner for European Way of Life. And when I first heard that, I actually smiled. But now I think it's more important than ever. And the European way of life includes… and I have to mention a few people, like Almodóvar, who makes us happy and sad, Pina Bausch from Solingen, who is a mortal, but when I saw her in Epidaurus in Greece, she looked like a goddess, and also Marina Abramović, Serbian. Perhaps they'll be part of the EU soon, too. So this is what I think of when I think of culture, and now that we're being attacked from within and from without, it's even more important. So I support your effort very much. And, you know, our group here S&D is on your side.

Mr President, Commissioner, I'll divide this discussion of one minute into two parts. The first is what we can do here as a Commissioner, and that is the things we heard already. We all support the savings and investment union, financial literacy, completing Basel III and a more level taxation field. And that's something that we can do with your help. However, there's something that we have to do as individuals and as parties in the European Parliament, and that is to convince our own Member States to break that silo mentality. The reason they have that mentality is that the banking sectors in our own countries are very strong, and that's the next big step. We have to actually work in a cultural and a political way on this. It is not only laws and regulations – it's a cultural thing. And that's up to us who believe in the savings and investment union to talk to those who make the decisions and probably take on some big business interests.

Mr President, Commissioner, it's four months and we've spoken about Sudan three times. We haven't changed much. The previous speaker said something I agree with: setting up an 'EUAID', but that will take time. It won't happen tomorrow. We need, of course, to come in with humanitarian support. Tomorrow's vote, though, does have some concrete proposals to send peacekeeping forces right away to protect civilians, create safe spaces for women and children, sanction the commanders and impose an arms embargo on Sudan, as we have done on Darfur. I would like to remind the Chamber that one of our NATO allies is supplying drones to both sides of the conflict, an incredible profit-making machine from the death of the Sudanese. So, let's impose our vote tomorrow. Let's ask the international community to send in peacekeeping forces, because this will be a ruined generation borne from violence.

Mr President, Commissioner, this report is supposed to help us to coordinate for our future and to look at what we've done in the past, and it has some things that are worth pointing out. It talks about a financial instrument for private sector competition, coordinated defence spending and even the Green Deal, which upsets this side of the aisle. However, it also assumes that the Recovery and Resilience Fund is ending, and this goes to the heart of our ideological problem: do we grow through more spending, or do we grow through reducing our deficit? We can't have both. On this side of the aisle, we have the philosophical issue that we need more spending to grow. Of course, we want the spending to be more efficient. As Gabriele Bischoff pointed out, we want it to take place in a coordinated way and for the countries not to be at risk, but that's the heart of our problem. How can we manage both sides, where we increase spending and we have the defence budget? Can the defence budget be a green budget? In other words, can we include issues of environment when we make all the new weapons? Shouldn't there be a way of looking at pollution when we do those things? We've never discussed that. What does defence spending mean? How about education included in the defence spending for AI? We need to make sure this new budget, which is all right with the right so that we suddenly waive the deficit rules, includes some social elements in it.

Madam President, Commissioner, the Critical Medicines Act is our answer to shortages and supplies and less dependence on China and India. Very simple to say that. What medicines are we talking about? Basic ones like penicillin, amoxicillin, but even infusions for chemotherapy. The task will not be easy. We have many instruments at our disposal. We have the new pharma legislation. We have our effort on competition, AI effort and innovation. We're trying the Capital Markets Union. We want to industrialise. I don't even know if it's bringing back pharma to Europe. It's creating new pharma in Europe. It's not only reshoring. We are not going to use tariffs. We are going to produce it in our own country. We'll succeed on some. We won't succeed on others. That's how it works. But I think today we heard that everybody agrees with the CMA with its own criticisms. So I think we're on a good road. Congratulations for bringing this in time. And we're all here to work with you for the health of European citizens.

Mr President, Commissioner, I agree with most of what you said – almost everything – and what I've heard today, except for the idea that EU policies bring depression and suicide. That I disagree with. If we knew the answers to why people get depressed, we would have solved it a long time ago. Education? Sports, for sure. Culture, for sure. I would like to add one more practical element, which maybe is in the discussion – I just joined the SANT Committee – maybe not, and that is self-reporting. How do we get young people to know that they're not? I like that 'silent' very much. You're silent because you don't know. You don't know you're not well, which means what we should call 'mental health literacy' – indicators that a 14-, 15-, 16-year-old will know: 'I'm sleeping too much. Why am I crying every day? Why am I drinking two bottles of vodka Friday night?' If we do some training in school, in a way it'll destigmatise and we will know the signals early. By the time they're 25 or 30, it might be too late. So those proposals you have are exactly on point. Plus, the idea that we learn and we destigmatise, and we can be aware of the issues before they evolve into something deeper.

Mr President, the reason for today's debate is again Erdoğan, who imprisoned the mayors, especially in the Kurdish areas at the beginning of November. And three more the other day. Turkey is on the wrong path. We all say it in here. But we have to give him messages. First of all, let's call for the release of the mayors. Secondly, sanctions on all appointed mayors and the people who put them there. And thirdly, unfortunately, we say fine words here, but allied countries, like France, will soon sell very expensive weapons to Turkey. To propose a clause on these weapons so that Europe's weapons are not used against Europe, especially against Greece, Cyprus, Northern Syria and the Kurds. Sanctions on the weapons that Europe will sell to Turkey, so that they will not use them against us.