Debate contributions by Nicolae ȘTEFĂNUȚĂ

The next meeting will be held tomorrow, Thursday 19 December 2024 at 9 a.m. The agenda has been published and is available on the European Parliament's website.

Dear Jessica, we won't keep you any longer from your birthday cake! I join the colleagues who have wished you well. We wish you well because we want you to be an excellent Commissioner in this domain. So we will listen to your remarks.

Mr President, imagine that as a young child you are kidnapped from your home to a faraway land. Only half your friends and family survive the trip. 50 years later, you return – only to once again be forced out of your home, this time with your own grandchildren. This is exactly what is happening to thousands of Crimean Tatars, because the easiest way to destroy a culture is to make them doubt their own existence by removing their leaders, their thinkers, their artists. What we see in Crimea is also the template for the kind of repression, ethnic cleansing and historical erasure that Putin wants to impose on all of Ukraine. Europe failed to act when Crimea was annexed. This is where it all began, and it is also where it must end. So who is the most effective advocate of the Crimean Tatars' right to their historical homeland? It is the Ukrainian army empowered to win. Slava Ukraini!

I want to ask you – because you were among the people who actually worked on the file – do you think it has teeth right now? What does it need to do? And what would you do in the case that we are discussing right now? Is a fine going to solve democracy? Is simply putting a money fine retribution for what happened, or what should we actually do here?

Mrs. Soşoacă, you may not have seen the hundreds of thousands of young people who were not represented in Romania. That was the value of my candidacy, the hundreds of thousands of young people, the young people on the street. As for the LGBT culture you're talking about, it's the culture of some citizens, it's the right of some citizens. Don't hate what you don't understand. If you say you are a patriot, love Romanians who are of a different sexual orientation. Lovers and Romanians who love other people. Let me tell you, because these Romanians have not been listened to and, more than that, they are the target of a wave of hatred at this moment, because of statements like yours. There are young people who are being attacked right now because they're from the LGBTQ community, and it's irresponsible to say that.

Madam President, dear colleagues, how do we explain that a candidate with less than 7% in the polls, a few days before the elections, is suddenly discovered by millions of Romanians and ranks first in the results? Perhaps many will say that it is an enlightenment or an awakening to the truth, but the truth is different and the Recorder showed it. You can even build a fake politician profile, using a few million bots, a few tens of thousands of them, and have more likes than possible in a few hours. When you see hundreds of thousands of comments on your favorite videos, it starts to look like you have to conform to the truth, that there is a wave. So remember, the precedent in Romania is a lesson for Europe. I call on representatives of TikTok and other social networks to come to the European Parliament, otherwise they risk measures similar to those in the United States. Europe is not a village without dogs, Europe has very clear laws. Elections are not random facts, elections must be guaranteed, guarded by someone. And we have this role, the Romanians are looking at us waiting for us to guarantee democracy throughout Europe. I want to say something else, that you mentioned Mrs. Kövesi. Mrs. Kövesi is more valuable to Romania when she is not in this room, and when she has nothing to do with what we are discussing today, she is the guarantor of the use of European money and justice in this continent.

For sophistic argument in a very patient way, I want to ask you one thing: does it matter when millions are pumped from somewhere that is not disclosed, that we do not know, that is potentially foreign interference of grave, grave impact? Or does it not matter because you said all the groups here use financing for online content? Does it matter when it comes from Putin? Does it matter when it comes from Maduro? Does it matter when it comes from Xi or not?

Mr. President, I want to talk to the Romanians who have suffered a lot this autumn, they have actually been traumatized by politics. Lucky Christmas is coming, lucky we're taking a break from this stomachache. I want to tell them that good is born of evil. Doina Cornea said it in the Revolution. We started talking about Europe, we all said: It's a good thing we're here. There are hundreds of countries in the world, there are billions of people who would give anything to be in our place here. But man quickly gets used to the good and forgets everything just as quickly. Therefore, I believe that we must protect Romanians and the Romanian elections and from here, from the heart of Europe, to protect them maybe from their own mistakes. I think you are a politician only when you see into the future, when you educate and when you want to take the country forward, not backward. So I only want one thing for Romania: More trust, Russia! And this is not said by any philosopher, but by a banal advertisement, but it is also what we must have in our heart: trust.

Colleagues, we will proceed to the voting session immediately, in a few minutes. Please keep order until we get there. The debate was closed.

The next item is the Commission Declaration – Foreign interference and espionage by third country actors in European universities. [2024/2953(RSP)]

Madam President, why do extremists win? The Russians are cold. In my country we are again on the verge of elections, but people do not necessarily think about elections, but they think, perhaps, to turn the heat a little slower, because it costs money. Politicians, that's what we think. that they worry about elections, when in fact 5 million of them worry that they don't have firewood. Even though they work, they can't afford gas bills and they're cold. These days, many of us have more in mind: ‘I need to turn down the heat’ or ‘who am I voting for?’. I want to say this to you, dear Romanians and dear Europeans: it is very important to vote for people who care about housing, about energy, as a right and not as a commodity.

Mr President, Romania woke up with a shock this morning. Elections divide and sometimes divide children from their parents. Everyone sits on their phone and everyone has their own policy, instead of meeting in the kitchen, talking to each other. Dear Romanians, whether you voted for candidate Georgescu, I understand your dissatisfaction. I understand your anger. I know you've been unheard for too long. But we must learn that division is not good, and this is a divisive candidate, who urges hatred and division and a perspective and future for Romania that are not European. On December 8, please do not vote for this divisive candidate. The teachings he sells are not of love, they are of hate. I want to see bridges between generations. I want to see children reunited with their parents and in politics.

Mr President, I look at the young people there in the gallery and I think about what I heard in the campaign. I went to universities, high schools, and the young people said that the teachers told them: "You're too sensitive! Anxiety at 16? I'm sure you haven't eaten today. What psychiatrist, go? Are you crazy? How to go to a psychologist?" That's what young people hear when, in fact, they ask for our help. That's what they get from a generation that doesn't understand what the problem is. And the underlying problem is that mental health is exactly equal to health. Nine million adolescents under the age of 19 live with depression, with anxiety. There's a lot of people, Commissioner. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the country I come from. And a therapy session can cost up to 400 lei, that is to 80-90 euros, which in a country like mine is very, very much. A student can't afford that, especially not to go on a weekly basis. Access to therapy is far from reality, Mr. Schinas, you said that's what you wanted. Then, if that is what you want, please make it very clear to the Member States: you must have a number of sessions reimbursed by the therapy. I have proposed that this number should be at least 30 in every state in Europe and especially in my home, where they have nothing. Instead of words of sympathy, it would be useful to come up with concrete actions, because this is what people expect from us. That's the only way we stop stigma, that's the only way we stop death, that's the only way we give young people a chance at a happy life.

I just wanted to ask if, in your view, there is a link between what you say about the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine and freedom of religion. Perhaps there are doubts about the actions of this institution in favor of the Russian state in a context of war.

The next item is the Commission statement on the urgent need to revise the Medical Devices Regulation (2024/2849(RSP)). Commissioner, if you can have a sip of water or catch your breath, because I think it's again you who's going to introduce the topic.

We move to the next item on the agenda, namely the fact that the S&D Group informed the President of a decision to change some appointments in committees. This decision will be recorded in the minutes of today's meeting and will take effect from the date of this announcement.