Debate contributions by Sebastian TYNKKYNEN

Madam President, we spend a significant amount of time on our phones every day. If this concerns you too, you should be worried. Let me explain. The European Commission has made it clear that it is not truly committed in defending fundamental rights online. It once created legislation called 'the DSA'. It was a deliberate act to restrict the freedom of speech. Unfortunately, it succeeded in it. The right to privacy and protection of personal data are the next target. Soon we will have an EU-level vote on the infamous chat control proposal. Let me be clear: if this proposal ever becomes law, it will be the end of privacy as we know it. Breaking encryption will open the doors for mass surveillance and allow hackers to access our most private communications. This proposal must be stopped.

Mr President, Russia is engaged in a systematic hybrid war against Europe. Information operations, assassinations, cyberattacks, instrumentalisation of migrants, sabotage of critical infrastructure, electronic warfare and GPS interference. The recent airspace violations are even exceptionally arrogant by Russian standards. The airspace violation by Russian fighters against Estonia was the most serious in depth and duration during the country's NATO membership. A drone attack on Poland required military intervention. Drone sightings are also of concern in other countries. When Russia tests our borders, there is no room for hesitation. Russia is an offensive terrorist state that believes only in power. European countries must defend their borders resolutely. Enemy drones and destroyers must be shot down if necessary. And let's not forget: The best guarantee for peace in Europe is Ukraine's victory.

Mr President, the Taliban's Afghanistan is a living hell for women. Girls are banned from schools. Women are locked out of work. Faces of women must be covered with an Islamic face veil. These are not cultural traditions, they are calculated acts of oppression rooted in extremist ideology. Even after a deadly earthquake, Taliban monsters stick to their insane principles. The UN is trying to help, but Afghan women workers are banned from entering the UN compounds. Helping becomes difficult, while at the same time Afghan women are restricted from speaking to men. This is Islamist insanity. We cannot remain silent. We must refuse to legitimise the Taliban in any form. We are defending women and girls by opposing Islamist tyranny.

Mr President, if agriculture dies, we too will die. European food producers must now and in the future be guaranteed the necessary support to maintain production. But problems begin to fall into your arms when the bureaucrats in Brussels are allowed to decide where to put this support. Behind closed doors is lined all over the world with climate play money that doesn't really help that small Finnish farmer. It may well be that this small farmer's economy is going to collapse because of Brussels. For example, I find it absurd that, by means of an EU decision, 25% of direct agricultural payments have been earmarked for eco-schemes in the name of climate work. Is this really about maintaining security of supply in agriculture? No, it's not. The EU's agricultural policy must go back to why we support agriculture at all. So we can have European food. It's not because farmers are forced to make climatic changes.

Mr President, Trump did what the left would never have done. His peace plan for the Middle East brought the first concrete step to peace. Be honest, good left. Did the Palestinians benefit more from the symbolic and hasty recognition of the State of Palestine and the performance excursions of the left-wing Influencers or the concrete diplomacy carried out by Trump? It's painful for you, but Trump took this fight. The United States did not have to recognize a Palestinian state to promote peace. They did not start whining about sanctioning Israel, unlike the EU and von der Leyen. The United States knew there was only one way to end the war: pressured Hamas into peace. Europe must now give all its support to this plan. We need to get the terrorists out of Gaza.

Madam President, entire neighbourhoods of once great cities taken over by people who are neglecting our values. Women choosing not to go out simply because they want to avoid the gruesome fate of being assaulted or raped, or worse. Pedestrians mutilated by machete‑wielding robbers. Small children caught in the middle of a gunfight between rival drug gangs. Teachers beheaded by radical fundamentalists. Dear colleagues, dear Prime Minister, this is Europe. And the ugly truth is that these are the victims of the terrible mistakes the politicians in Europe have created. They have betrayed their own people, and they have betrayed those who built Europe. If we continue on the same path, Europe will be no longer.

Mr President, many Finns were tricked into voting in favour of joining the EU. For them, it was sold as a trade union, where prices fall and everything in trade becomes easier. Instead of developing the internal market and a free market economy, you started destroying Europe. You're going to cut off the backbone of our industry, the automotive industry, by banning internal combustion engine cars. Last season, you brought in more than 10,000 new laws, and now Ursula's regulation continues, and you will not withdraw your madness except in advertising terms: Omnibus and Simplification. You demanded green from our companies, and China passed. You didn't close borders, now immigration is stalling wages. It is a common joke in Finland that if you want to see a black man, order food at Wolt. You even managed to create a two-tier labour market. If we want to make it to China and the United States, you should be fired and replaced by people who care about Europe.

Mr President, did you know that half of the illegal immigrants come to Europe from countries with visa-free travel? You are concerned about the rule of law, but the illegality of it is like shoving across our borders. Legislation on immigrants in Europe is full of loopholes. At this rate, we will become a bankrupt caliphate. We have opened our gates to international migration, after which our suburbs have become enough for the Third World, where Sharia law prevails. Stabbings, gunmen and bombs are no longer exceptional, but have become the main news of every day in European capitals. I'm sorry for my conservatism, but I want to go back to the old days. The era of open-door politics is over. The tightening of immigration policy is not about curling up inside, as the left claims. It's about stopping the life-threatening experiment.

Mr President, we all have old age ahead of us. Everyone should think about what kind of Europe you want to live in at the end of your life: Do you look like you or the EU? Is it the federal government that governs how we are treated? Do we want incompatible human age directives and care directives? Let me give you an example. Finland is a top digital country and we have sharp grandmothers who are more on Facebook than young people. Unlike many densely populated EU countries, we are a country of long distances where many grandpas prefer a video reception and then go fishing instead of driving two hours in their direction. We want the freedom to make our own decisions according to the wishes of our own citizens. Our old people built our country, and they have the right to vote for their care, not for you faceless, gray EU bureaucratic army.

Mr President, help! Today, here, at the highest decision-making level in Europe, is the reading (direct quote): "The importance of EU policies in the design of the European Sport Model." Why do we take the time to do this? And look at this content. The report on this subject contains many beautiful words about equality, but not a single word about the fact that men's participation in women's series should be clearly prevented. Instead, the text, among other things, calls on the Commission and the Member States to guide sport towards "environmental responsibility and adaptation to climate change". Environmental education through sport is also mentioned. But now let's hear the EU machine: Member States do not need the EU to explain where a hockey bat is to be made or how a village club tournament is to be organised. Throughout history, European sport has been at the forefront of the world, so let's let it continue its success story and not start squabbling at EU level.

Madam President, the recent news of GPS jamming along our eastern borders is extremely alarming, but it is not a surprise. The recent suspected targeting of the aircraft of the President of the Commission demonstrates that Putin does not care who is on the receiving end. While Russia has been conducting its barbaric war in Ukraine, hybrid operations have also been detected across Europe. Anyone can be a target, and the message is clear: we must be prepared for every possible scenario. It is imperative that we work together with our allies to guarantee safe passage for both civilian and military air traffic. Failure to do so could have catastrophic consequences, and I urge Europe to act decisively.

Mr President, shouldn't this house respect democracy? When the season began, other party groups first isolated a large number of nationalist MEPs from the decision-making process. It is a trampling of democracy. Tomorrow, in this same Chamber, we will be voting on a paper on the European elections, which, when I read it, raised my hair again. This motion for a resolution of the European Parliament states: The European Parliament is very concerned about the rise and electoral success of anti-systemic and openly anti-EU parties in the 2024 elections. I understand that a left-wing politician would make such comments, but now we are talking about the text of the entire European Parliament. Ladies and gentlemen, if there is support for EU-critical, nationalist or immigration-critical parties, it is democracy. Closing them out of decision-making is not democracy.

Mr President, private messages are often used to share our deepest emotions, both of happiness and despair. In a democracy, it is absolutely necessary that they stay private and thanks to encryption, this is actually possible. Over the course of the summer, hundreds of concerned citizens contacted me saying that they are afraid of losing this privacy because of chat control and they are absolutely correct. Chat control would push us towards the systems of authoritarian regimes, towards systems where citizens know that they live in a surveillance state that can monitor them. Those who support this initiative are directly responsible for the destruction of our democracy. I will never accept this kind of legislation and I will stand against any proposal that would take our continent to this dark path.

Mr President, the internet is a wonderful invention. It allows everyone to communicate and share ideas. Even those who live under authoritarian regimes have the chance to use it to fight for democracy in their countries. This is why freedom of expression on the internet must be protected so that this can continue. The EU promotes this in its words, but it doesn't act accordingly. Calling for an open internet, where fundamental freedoms and human rights must be protected, is hypocritical while censorship laws like the Digital Services Act exist. We are seeing a worrying trend in Europe and the UK, where laws are used to silence opinions that are deemed politically incorrect. This must stop.

Mr President, public procurement accounts for up to 14% of the total size of the economies of EU countries. It is a huge number, and therefore it matters how public procurement is carried out. Inefficiencies, fraud and excessive bureaucracy – billions of dollars will ultimately be paid out of taxpayers’ purses. I can honestly say that there was a lot of good in this paper on public procurement: making things more efficient and standing on the side of European companies. What I want to remind all EU decision-makers is that the EU must not trample on the land of the Member States in the future, not even in public procurement. If, for example, we in Finland decide that we do not want to emphasise the climate impact of procurement up to green madness in public procurement, it is our right. That is how it has been, and that is how it must continue to be.

Mr President, if you thought that the time for gold-plating was over, you were wrong. May I present the following proposal from the Commission: the end-of-life vehicle regulation. They want scrap cars from corners to recycling, and they want to build more new cars from recycled materials. The Commission seems to want to whip the European car industry, which is already suffering in the wind, but at the same time threatens to smash the wheel of thousands and thousands of European car enthusiasts. Do we really want to give the faceless bureaucrats in Brussels the power to decide what kind of cars Europeans will be allowed to drive in the future? And do we really want to give them the power to decide what the word "scrap car" even means? For people who have barely changed their car oil in their lifetime? They don't recognize the debris from the treasure. So let's leave that job to the amateurs.

Madam President, if we are serious about European competitiveness, we must look in the mirror. The problem is not a lack of capital, but a suffocating web of EU micromanagement and EU federalism. Every new layer of reporting, every new 'sustainability' checkbox, drives the companies away from Europe. As we argue about paperwork, investments flow to the United States and Asia where businesses can actually breathe. Look at the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive: companies were given thousands of pages of obligations, costing them billions of euros per year. Is this competitiveness? Or is it self-sabotage? Commission: stop creating endless directives. Start tearing them down, and let Europe thrive again.

Mr President, what makes Europe? Is it a blooming Union, civil servants and their thousands of offices in Brussels? No, Europe is made by its peoples. Concerns about the preservation of small cultures, languages and traditions are fully justified, but their preservation cannot depend on federal money. It depends on successful states that are able to take care of peoples, cultures and traditions. EU cohesion funding is now moving in the right direction. The money will be increased, for example, for defence and support for areas along the eastern border. However, the Cohesion Fund must not be a bottomless shampoo. There is another way to support the preservation of European cultures: a stricter immigration policy, the prevention of the spread of Islamist culture and an end to federal development. Effective means that do not require any new EU funds.

Mr President, the EU's common agricultural policy should focus on making our vital food production more profitable. But what is the EU's priority in the texts? Is it food security or farmers' livelihoods? Well no, it's a "green deal": harnessing the agricultural sector as a tool for ideological climate action. The texts drawn up by the Commission cannot be read beyond a couple of sentences until the promised glorifications of the green transition jump to the eye. The demands of green development are not in the interests of the farmer. They are a burden, and this burden not only falls on farmers, but also on every European ankle in the form of reduced access to food and rising prices. The future post-2027 agricultural policy must set priorities. Let the tubers and livestock grow and keep the green frost away from European fields.

You talk beautifully about promoting the anti-corruption law, but at the same time I understand that your group is going to give its support tomorrow to Ursula von der Leyen, who has made transactions worth EUR 35 billion in text messages, and the court has decided that she must publish these text messages. He won't do it. Do you still think that, despite this, you are prepared to give him your support and that this is not a "big issue" for you?

Mr President, proper stockpiling of food, water and supplies is essential for Europe. But before the Commission constructs yet another bureaucratic burden for the Member States, I first urge you to look at Finland. In Finland, with our long border with Russia, preparedness has never been an option. It has been a necessity. In a crisis, we can rely on what is close at hand. This is why preparedness and stockpiling must happen effectively at national, regional and even personal level. While EU coordination in security measures is not a bad thing, this must be underlined: preparedness starts from national level actions. Because when the water cut-off hits your home and your taps run dry, you don't wait for the EU's bucket to arrive. You pour a glass from your own reserve canister.

Mr President, Europe must be prepared for many threats. There is a great danger lurking in the east, our southern border is under migratory pressure from its connections, and our internal security is constantly being tested. Our resilience is at stake if we do not invest enough in it. But who's going to bet and what's going on is another question. At the moment, Finns pay, in addition to their own national defence, for the management of forest fires and floods across Europe, for example. The wages of the reserved country have therefore remained to be taken care of also by those who have not taken preparedness as seriously. Don't worry, I will always say yes to preparedness, but the fact that we are collectively prepared for major threats doesn't mean that we are collectively prepared for every single threat. The EU is a community of prepared countries, not a supranational fire brigade and a cash machine.

Mr President, even an imperfect deal is better than no deal at all. What do we have to gain by not fully trying to uphold the transatlantic partnership? The US Government has made it clear that being bystanders and free riders is not an option. This includes not only defence, but also economy. How can we ever reach a zero-tariff agreement if we are not ready to work for it? Europe is eyeing a critical choice: where to go to replace Russian energy and Chinese imports? Make no mistake: if the problem lies in the East, then the solution must be found in the West. We have an opportunity to make the Atlantic the most prosperous economic zone of our time. So let’s not throw this chance away just for petty political battles.

Madam President, the European Council has chosen words over courage. Conclusions of the European Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East dangerously ignores the very cause of that tragedy. Hamas – a terrorist group – that refuses to release innocent civilians whose only 'crime' in the eyes of Hamas is being Israeli. Where is the outrage over Hamas storing weapons under hospitals, or using children as human shields? It is deeply disappointing that the message of European leaders to Israel is about lifting blockades in Gaza rather than fighting terrorism that makes blockades necessary in the first place. Peace will never come from pressuring the only democracy in the region to lay down its weapons while its enemies are arming themselves. The European leaders forgot this once again, unfortunately.

Madam President, once a promising candidate for EU integration, Georgia is now on its way to a terrible direction. Democracy, human rights and the rule of law – the fundamental principles of the European Union. These are exactly the ones that are in alarming decline in Georgia currently. Georgia's EU integration cannot come to question now – not at the cost of our common values. However, the responsibility now lies in the hands of Georgian leaders who are betraying their own people. The fraudulent parliamentary elections, brutal repression by the authorities towards their own people and taking their country to a Russian-inspired path are proofs of this. The Georgian people have repeatedly shown their commitment to European future. While we are tough against the Georgian Government, the Georgian people we must not abandon.