Debate contributions by Helmut BRANDSTÄTTER

Madam President, I am very grateful that I lived in this Europe. We have the European Convention on Human Rights and last year we had the 75th birthday, but we have to realise it is not a turning point, a Zeitenwende, as Scholz said; it is a Zeitenende, the end of the world how we knew it. It is now four years of Putin's war; he commits all possible crimes and what he is planning is a genocide. We know it. Then we have Mr Trump and I quote Stephen Miller, one of his most important advisors; he says the world is governed by strength, by force, by power. Just a few minutes ago, Trump said on the American television he wants to destroy the United Nations. And what says Soloviev, one of Putin's friends? Humans are made for war. In war, you see the good characteristics of humans. That is the world we live in. But here we have our Europe. We have a strong, united Europe and we can keep our human rights here in Europe. We will work for it. We will fight for it.

(Start of speech when microphone is switched off) ... Mr President, High Representative, ladies and gentlemen! The figures we hear from Iran are frightening, with 20,000 dead and many injured. What I heard today: This terror regime has apparently also brought Hezbollah fighters to assassinate even more people in Iran. We have to face the realities. However, one thing is also the case: This regime has lost something, namely that people are no longer afraid. People take to the streets. That is why we need to support them all the more in different areas. Now I'm sometimes asked: Why? What do we care about Iran? And here I say: Yes, there are many reasons. Firstly: We are also threatened. There has been talk of cyberattacks. Secondly: Many people from Iran live with us, work with us, help us and are a very important part of our society. Of course, human rights also apply to us. Of course we have to look closely there. That is why we must support the opposition even more. And I also ask that it be discussed, is it Reza, are there others? In any case, I believe that we should invite opposition members to join us in the committee to discuss with the people how we can support Iran even more.

Mr President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, Elon Musk is doing a lot of research on self-driving cars. Just imagine a system in which the strongest, most aggressive car will always have priority. It is impossible. It would be a lot of dead people. But what is happening right now on X is exactly that: the most hateful, the worst postings have the most viewers because of the algorithm. So the algorithm he is organising is against us. And the next thing: he's buying politicians in the United States, even judges. And that's what he wants to do in Europe as well. He wants to buy European politicians and he already tries to influence European politics. And we are standing here and saying, 'no, that's fine'? No, it's not fine. We will not accept it. If the right-wing people say there is censorship, yes, there is censorship right now, because the algorithms of Mr Musk, they are they are censorship. People cannot see what they want. They have to see what Musk gives them. And that is hateful. I tell you, as a former journalist, that as an editor‑in‑chief you have a lot of responsibility. And Musk has everything, but no responsibility. He doesn't care. On the contrary, he wants hate speech, and if you had that on a normal medium, you would go to jail. So that's the point. Mr Musk must accept he has to have responsibility, and that's the only way we can do that. Mr Commissioner, we need very strong legislation and we need a strong Commission, and he has to pay for that.

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, 30 years ago the world watched as the guns fell silent in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Dayton-Paris Agreement was not just a document; it was a lifeline, a promise of peace after years of unspeakable suffering. And for that, we always must be grateful for Dayton. But let us be clear: Dayton was never meant for 30 years. It was an emergency solution, a framework to stop the bloodshed and create space for healing. The people of Bosnia are resilient, determined and European. They deserve more than the political system they have now, and now I have a strong plea to those politicians in Bosnia. We have been on a delegation in Sarajevo and we talked to many politicians, and they all talked only about the past, they talked about their groups. They did not talk about a common Bosnia. But then we talked to so-called normal people. We talked to NGOs, we talked to young people, and they asked, 'What is our future? How can we have a common European future?' And that must be our message: yes, there is a common European future, but only if the political class in Bosnia finally understands that they have to work together, that they have one country, that they have different problems – I know, they have a lot of problems, but they can do it. And of course, it needs trust, it needs working together. I know it; you know, in Austria also, we had difficult situations, but then people finally understood that you cannot conquer the future with the past. So please, politicians of Bosnia and Herzegovina, come together and understand that you have to work for your people, and they are strong, they are resilient, they are European. And then we can work together.

Madam President, Mrs. Minister! Commissioner! Espionage sounds like adventure, but only in the movie or maybe in a book. In reality, it is one of the greatest crimes imaginable, especially if in a democracy there are people who exploit the free society to possibly spy for the regime of a war criminal, a dictator. And we know there are examples. There are these Voice of EuropeThat is to say, an institution in Prague, where, apparently, MEPs from European countries, including the European Parliament, worked for this Viktor Medvedchuk, a friend of Putin, who spent money on spying in Europe. In Austria, we have the case that was uncovered by the magazine Profil. A former Wirecard board member, a big fraudster, has gone to Moscow, works there for the secret service, for the FSB, and now works with people he uses in Austria against our country. Let posters against Austria etc. etc. Try to carry out acts of sabotage. We must say that theoretically we are the weakest, because we are in an open society. We want all people to enjoy freedom, of course, but in reality, I believe that this rules-based order is also our strength if we only use it properly and if we build trust in the population. And Commissioner, I really want us to do this together. Democracy Shield, build this shield for our democracy, the Commission with our Parliament, that we as Parliament also organize this exactly, that we also check this closely, that we work together here. And then, I think, we can also defend ourselves against any form of espionage.

Mr President, Minister, it started as a Georgian dream, but it turned out to be a Georgian nightmare. But there is hope – we see it's now 385 days since people started to take to the streets. They are so courageous; I really admire them. I sometimes ask myself, what would I do? Would I be afraid? Would I do what they do? They are courageous. They fight for democracy. The so-called Russian world crept into Tbilisi in this time, not with tanks, but through the hands of a Russian oligarch with his nightmare. But the Georgians, they have a European future and we know that. On the other hand, there is no one from the right wing parties here. Just one was here and he explained what the Russians want; he explained the 'russkiy mir'. And that should remind us that our democracy is also not a given. We have to work for it, we have to fight for it, and we have to understand what they want. They also want us in a 'russkiy mir', but Europe will be free and united if we work together.

Mr President, I still think about the Americans who helped to free Europe, who helped to rebuild our continent. They were our friends, the US standing for democracy and for freedom. And then came Trump. He said Europe was founded to screw the United States. We know he knows nothing about history, but we also know that there are a lot of Americans who still are in favour of good relations with Europe, and that is what I say: we need better relations with cultural institutions, with students, with young people, with civil organisations, the Americans in the majority. They are still our friends. And it must be clear: the Europeans work for peace. Trump works with Putin to make deals in Ukraine. We the Europeans, we want peace in Ukraine and that is important. And it has to be the Russian money to rebuild Ukraine, and here I think we are in a huge majority. Vive l'Europe.

Mr President, dear Mr Commissioner, in 2019, Lukashenka was in Vienna and he said he wanted to position Belarus between Russia and Europe independently. As we know, after the 2020 fraudulent elections, he subordinated himself to Putin. Ever since, he is one of the weapons of Putin against us here in Europe. Those attacks against Lithuania are terrible and we hear about them, but they are not only against Lithuania. We know he is very much against Poland. We know he tries to get migration refugees to the border to send people to Poland, so it is part of the master plan of Putin to destabilise Europe. And that's the reason why there is only one answer, and the answer is a common united Europe. We have to tell him, 'No, you have no chance because we are together. We will fight you together because we are European Union. We work together and solidarity – that's our European common solidarity.'

Madam President, the huge majority in Europe wants peace and the huge majority in this House wants peace. But Putin wants war, and the right-wing extremists support Putin. I did not hear one critical word about Putin. They support the war criminal. The US's Witkoff is not a negotiator. He wants to make deals with his former friends in Russia. That is dangerous for Europe, and we must understand that. Then I heard from Hungarians about corruption in Ukraine. Yes, there is corruption in Ukraine, but there are very strong institutions, NABU and SAPO, fighting corruption. So I ask the people from Hungary here, the Orbán people: go to Ukraine, go to Kyiv, look how it is to fight corruption instead of being corrupt. Then you will have a huge advantage.

Ms Ehlers, have you ever been to Moldova? Did you understand how the Russians interfered there in the elections? Do you know what the Russian Trollfabrik is? Have you ever heard about all these Russian bots from Nigeria and from other countries? Do you know how well organised they are? Do you know what people like Dugin write in the internet? That all Ukrainians should be killed. This is Russia. This is disinformation. Is it good or bad?

Mr President, dear colleagues, dear Commissioner, yes, we will build a shield for democracy. We will build it together – the Commission and the Parliament. There are Members in this House who suffered under the communist dictatorship, and the really sad thing is that many of them have forgotten it; some of them sit in Hungary. And now they support the Putin dictatorship. Putin wants to destroy our democracy. He has said it often enough. His people have said it often enough. So believe at least your friend Putin, because, as far as that is concerned, it is very open. So, we need this centre for resilience. It will be the right platform. Let's build it as quickly as possible. The Russian system has billions of euros, works very precise lies and disinformation on Western platforms with fake accounts. Now we see it – Africa, Asia, bots – and the right-wing people parrot the Russian lies. And there's more: on these digital platforms, there is also sabotage and even murder. So, we have to work together. Tell it also to the Americans and the American platforms: 'we will not be blackmailed by you, Mr Trump'.

Madam President, I want to speak about Europe and the former land of the free. The land of the free was the United States and we know it: great democracy, rule of law, checks and balances and a very good partnership with Europe. And I speak about it, and I know it – I used to be a tour guide in the United States. I studied at two universities and everything was great. And then comes this Mr Trump. And what did he say? 'The EU was founded to screw the United States.' He knows nothing about history because we know the reasons why the European Union was founded. What did he do? No free trade anymore and tariffs. What did he do? No partnership with Europe anymore. And he wants to throw Ukraine under the bus of Putin; no democracy anymore. And that's the point where we, the Europeans, have to be strong. And I really ask the Commission to be very united and very strong against the bully in the White House. He tells us not to follow our laws. You know, we never had that before. He tells us not to follow our laws. He talks to the Russians and follows what the Russians want. So we need a strong and united Europe, and I really ask the Commission to be strong and united.