Debate contributions by Milan ZVER

Madam President! Dear Sir/Madam, At the initiative of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, Europe has reintroduced sanctions against Tehran. This reintroduced control of Iran's nuclear programme. For more than 30 years, the Iranian opposition movement has been revealing the regime's secret nuclear activities. These revelations have been instrumental in ensuring that the Iranian regime has so far failed to develop nuclear weapons. We should at least learn from history that the policy of appeasement to such a brutal regime does not work. The European Union should adopt a stronger and more assertive policy towards Iran. Today, when the regime is in crisis, some alternatives are emerging, such as restoring chess power in cooperation with existing power structures. This is what the EU must say resolutely not and clearly to support the Iranian resistance movement led by Maryam Rajaw and its 10-point programme, which is the only guarantee of a credible path towards a free and democratic Iran.

Mr. President! The Media Freedom Act has therefore been implemented. If we look at it impartially, so that we do not just praise or criticize it, we can say that it also brings something positive. I am thinking, in particular, of greater ownership transparency, which is above all a problem in some post-communist countries, where the old former structures have had and still have a decisive influence in the media. On the other hand, with this act, the political left, in a way, has largely usurped control over the mainstream media, as well as the promotion of censorship, which is contrary to the principle of freedom of speech, on which our civilization is based. By the way, I'm glad that Musk and Zuckerberg are renouncing censorship on their platforms. We must prevent the Media Freedom Act from being politically abused, as it has been in Slovenia. Here, with the active support of the former Commissioner, the Slovenian left has broken up in media freedom. A culture of which the media are an integral part needs freedom, neither regulation, censorship, nor control. After all, who will supervise the supervisors? This is a key issue.

Mr President! Iran is once again proving itself as one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world. The political prisoners Ehsani and Hasani are sentenced to death simply because they dared to demand freedom for the Iranian people. Their only fault is the courage to stand up to a regime that has been intimidating and murdering for decades. Under the leadership of Ali Khamenei, who is now rightly known as the godfather of executions and terrorism, Iran carried out 1153, 1153 executions in the past year. That's half as much as last year. Victims include women, children, dissidents and oppressed minorities. It is high time for the international community, including the European Union, to act. All relations with the Iranian regime must be conditional on an immediate end to torture and executions. The case of Iranian human rights violations must also be dealt with in the UN Security Council and the perpetrators brought to justice.

Mr President! With the fall of al-Assad, there was a positive geostrategic shift in the region. After all, this is the end of repression against the Syrians, the end of the organic link between the Iranian regime and Hezbollah, in a way, the defeat of Russia and Iran in the region, and the plan to destroy Israel is now less likely. So what needs to be done by the European Union? First of all, it is necessary to exclude from the reconstruction the influence of the countries that have brought Syria into this position in which it is now, and to involve all democratic forces, including the European Union and the United States, in the transition. And, of course, secondly, we must do everything possible to prevent the so-called Afghan pattern, and that is why the European Union must be much more involved in the reconstruction of this country. Mrs Kallas, we have great hopes in you that you will reposition the European Union in your field in the first league of world decision-makers.

Dear President! It's been a year since the war in the Middle East when Hamas launched an attack on Israel. Today's war with Hezbollah in Lebanon is just one of the consequences of this attack. But remember, in the last year, 13,200 rockets from Gaza, 12,400 from Lebanon, 4,000 from Iran – more than half of them ballistic, 180 from Yemen, 60 from Syria – have flown into Israel. Some say Israel is an aggressor. The real aggressor is the Iranian regime. He promotes terrorist and military operations in the region and beyond. Borrell's soft approach to Iran is wrong. He was wrong. The European Union must therefore do three things: renew sanctions against the Iranian regime, put the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps on the list of terrorist organisations and support the Iranian opposition, such as the NCRI led by Maryam Rajawi and its ten points for the renewal of Iran. Only in this way can we ensure that the region will finally be stable again if democracy takes place in Iran.