Debate contributions by Zsuzsanna BORVENDÉG

Dear Madam President, Hungary has been the bastion of Christianity for a thousand years, moreover, freedom of conscience and religious freedom was first written down in Hungary in the middle of the sixteenth century. Nowadays they can take an example of us, because no one is threatened, persecuted or penalized because of their beliefs. The same cannot be said of most EU Member States. The EU leadership has flooded our continent with masses of people from foreign cultures, and as a result, anti-Christianism has reached eerie proportions. But it is not only the increasingly worrying spread of radical Islam that poses a threat, but also the fanatical adherents of liberal ideologies who deny and attack the traditional values that have made Europe great. They demand tolerance of themselves, while at the same time they have a fearful intolerance for Christian symbols. Churches are burning in France, the saints of the nativity scene are beheaded in Germany. This is the true extreme. Modern liberties are also rooted in Christianity. If the EU does not defend its Christian traditions, it should dig its own grave.

Dear Mr President, Thank you for the report. It would be good to read an equally detailed analysis of the functioning of the European Commission and the European Court of Justice. As far as Hungary is concerned, as a member of the opposition party, I too have a number of criticisms about the activities of the Hungarian government, especially with regard to corruption, but if there is no rule of law or freedom of speech in Hungary, I reject this. Perhaps they think so because the information is obtained rather one-sidedly. They mainly involve organizations that are ideological opponents of traditional values and national ideas. These NGOs will never say good things about right-wing governments. Finally, tell me how it is possible that, although the report identifies serious problems with the rule of law in a number of Member States, Hungary is the only one to be blocked.

Dear Madam President, With God for our country and our freedom. This is the slogan of one of our freedoms, and this is what Hungarian virtuosity stands for. It is in this spirit that we fight for self-determination and defend ourselves against biased political attacks by the leadership of the Union. You're punishing us, you're not paying us the money we're owed, and you're not contributing to border protection costs. They also wanted to boycott the programme of the Hungarian Presidency, even though it puts important issues on the agenda. The migration and demographic crisis could lead to the destruction of Europe, with competitiveness and agriculture in a critical position. However, the people of Europe have sent you a clear message in recent weeks' national elections. They don't want mass migration, suicidal greening, aberrant gender ideology and war madness. If the future of Europe were more important to you than the interests of the global financial elite, you would follow the Hungarian path, protecting Europe from destruction. You have betrayed the people of Europe, but we are also fighting for them. Therefore, I also ask the Prime Minister of Hungary to resist the pressure and to assure the Hungarians that there will be no migrant camp from our country.

Oh, Mr. President. Bittech companies regularly violate national and EU laws, be it on taxation, competition law or citizens' fundamental rights. Market-leading large online platforms abuse their position to interfere in the domestic policies of nation states, often even influencing elections. The pages of politicians opposed to globalist aspirations are arbitrarily deleted. The Apple ruling highlights the possibility of forcing global corporations to comply with our laws. The same resolute action should be taken against Meta's unlawful practice, as the company restricts freedom of expression by regularly censoring and deleting patriotic content on its online platforms. Apple's example shows that the most effective tax, competition and consumer protection tools can be used to regulate global companies. The DSA Regulation was adopted with reference to the protection of fundamental rights. If the Commission does not act against the dictatorship of opinion, it will continue to assist in infringements, demonstrating that it can accept negative discrimination in the area of freedom of expression.

Madam President, I'm sorry. Hungaria est semper libera, Hungary is free forever. This is the main principle of our historical constitutionality for more than 1,100 years, and we expect our independence, laws and customs to be respected by all. Don't expect us to give up on that. Since we have a right-wing government in Hungary, the leadership of the EU has been constantly attacking us instead of protecting European citizens. In fact, those who do so are punished. Do I understand that the Commission is criticising the Hungarian Government's national card programme for security risks? That's an incredibly hypocritical attitude. They have no right to do so, as they have been allowing millions of illegal migrants into Europe for years without any control. Your insane and irresponsible treachery has killed thousands of Europeans or made them victims of crime. And my country is being punished for protecting its own borders and those of the Union. The EU Blue Card Programme gives far more opportunities to workers from outside the EU than the Hungarian national card. That's a rough double standard. Referring to the infiltration of Russian spies is ridiculous, because as a researcher of the operation of the secret services, I can assure you that Russian spies will not infiltrate with the Hungarian national card, just as the Cambridge Five were not Soviet citizens at the time. We Hungarians may have a problem with this regulation, and we do, but we will have this debate at home. Get off our backs and pay the 2 billion euros it has cost to protect Hungary's and the EU's borders, and free up the financial resources owed to my country with immediate effect.

Madam President, I'm sorry. On behalf of my group, I express my gratitude to those who are still protecting human lives and the built environment on the dams. Thank you for your heroism and service to your country. In Hungary, the phenomena of flooding and desertification go hand in hand with the problems that go hand in hand. The river regulation of the 19th century destroyed the natural water balance of the area. The water management of the Carpathian Basin as a geographical unit is also complicated by the fact that the area was divided up after the First World War. In Hungary, rivers run through, there is no possibility of spreading out and leaking into groundwater, which is why our farmland, which once served as a pantry for Europe, is becoming desert. The solution would be to create floodplain reservoirs, so-called water banks, which could be filled up during ordinary and extraordinary floods and then gradually re-introduced in drier times. This is not unfamiliar, our ancestors used it for centuries, and this is how Hungarians lived together with the landscape and the weather. I ask the Commission to contribute to the cost of flood protection in my country and to help develop and implement a project that would solve the water management of the countries in the catchment basins of the Danube and Tisza by creating floodplain management.

Madam President, I'm sorry. As in the Russo-Ukrainian war, the Gaza conflict requires an immediate ceasefire and then peace. Since last October's bloody Hamas attack, more than 40,000 people have been killed, the vast majority of them Palestinian civilians, many women and children. We do not question Israel's right to self-defence, but the Israeli genocide during the occupation of Gaza and the retaliatory military actions cannot be explained by any right to self-defence. They are not sparing cultural heritage, they are destroying hospitals and schools. While the Ukrainian-Russian conflict is being broadcast almost live in the Western media, not even a fraction of the suffering of Palestinian civilians is being presented, and the protection of human rights and human life belongs to everyone, regardless of colour, religion or descent. Israel has been violating international law and human rights conventions for decades. Instead of a two-state solution, he is waging war against the Palestinian people, who are fighting for their self-determination. We call on the responsible bodies of the European Union and the United Nations to put an end to the massacre and to work for peace.

Oh, Mr. President. European beekeepers in danger must be rescued, and I express their cry for help. Without beekeepers there are no bees, without bees there is no pollination, without pollination there is no agriculture. 76% of food production is dependent on bees. If the Commission does not immediately ban imports of honey from third countries, the livelihoods of 600,000 European beekeepers will be at risk later this year. Cheap and mostly counterfeit products from China and Ukraine push high-quality honey from European producers out of the market. Since 2022, unlimited quantities of honey can be imported from Ukraine. The vast majority of these are also Chinese counterfeits and do not comply with strict EU animal health rules. Honey adulteration is a huge loss for European beekeepers. In order to save them, I call on the Commission to immediately ban the import of honey and to ban the mixing of high-quality honey from European beekeepers with other products! We will present our proposal to this effect shortly. I call on your support for this and I call on the Commission to take immediate action.