Speeches

Dear Chair, Women and children suffer the most in all world wars. In Ukraine, Russian war crowds have left behind a bloody track of killed people, raped women, girls and boys. Of the 5.5 million refugees, about 90% are women and children. A million people have been removed from the occupied areas to Russia, of whom 200 thousand are children awaiting forced adoption. Russia must be held accountable for these war crimes at the international criminal court in The Hague. In addition, it is necessary to establish a special international mechanism or tribunal, which, with the support of UN Member States, can be carried out by a decision of the UN General Assembly and financed from the UN budget. Under the auspices of the UN, a coalition of 49 countries has emerged, committed to conducting investigations at national level, in close cooperation with the Ukrainian law enforcement authorities. Immediate interviews of refugee victims of violence and high-quality, detailed, digital documentation of sexual crimes, providing psychological and material support to victims, as well as the possibility to terminate a pregnancy resulting from rape. The European Commission's decision to earmark €3.5 billion from ReactEU is to be welcomed, so that Member States can quickly access these funds and provide refugees with dignified living conditions, social services and health protection. Thank you.

Dear Chair, Ukraine is and will remain a member of Europe. We must be aware that Europe has been living in the shadow of war since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but unlike Ukrainians, we are safe, we are not killed, we do not have to hide in the cellars from rockets and run away from home, so it seems inappropriate to complain about the rise in inflation and the cost of living. Abandoning some of the comforts of life is the least we can do to make Ukraine win the war and return economic normality to Europe. None of the leading European and global financial institutions is currently predicting a recession in the European Union economy. Even in the worst-case scenario, inflation is expected to change by around 2%, while it is currently around 12% in the Baltic States. It turns out that the people of the less wealthy countries currently bear a much greater burden than the wealthy ones because of the war. The longer the war lasts, the more victims, refugees and economic hardship will be, so I appealed to European governments to act quickly and decisively to speed up the end of the war. To win, Ukraine must deliver heavy weapons in sufficient quantities as soon as possible and train soldiers to use them, which is already happening. The European Union's sanctions against Russia, including a full embargo on oil, coal, nuclear fuel and gas, should be strengthened and the financing of the Kremlin's war machine stopped. Large financial injections must help the Ukrainian war economy. According to the International Monetary Fund, around $5 billion will be needed every month in the next three months. We need to think about the future. The international community, the institutions must create a financial fund for the reconstruction of the war-torn country and prepare Ukraine for membership of the European Union. Every European must understand that Ukraine must not lose in this war, because Russia's victory will mean Europe's defeat.

Mr President, today, Europe faces two major, transformative crises which will shape our future for many years to come – the COVID—19 pandemic and Russia’s unprovoked, brutal war against Ukraine. There is one crucial, dark, vicious common denominator for both – the widespread, coordinated and systematic spread of hostile and targeted disinformation. Since we have discussed several times the consequences of COVID—19 disinformation campaigns, today I will concentrate more on the Kremlin’s propaganda machinery working in overdrive to justify Putin’s unprovoked act of aggression, shredding of international law and sending thousands of Russian people to an irrational and deadly war. And let’s call a spade a spade. Putin’s propaganda machinery was not ‘turned on’ only on February 24th, it has been working in Europe for decades already, attempting to poison and divide our societies. With all this in mind, we have arrived at the moment of truth to ask a frank question – how did the democratic world get to this point? And how we can prevent it in the future? This is exactly the task of our report, which will be voted today, and I invite everyone to appreciate the great urgency of the moment. Dear members of the House, the report identifies and maps the threat of foreign interference in all of its forms, including disinformation, manipulation of social media platforms and advertising systems, cyber—attacks, threats against and the harassment of journalists, covert political funding and elite capture and co-optation. In other words, this report both provides the diagnosis of the EU’s vulnerabilities and prescribes the medication for strengthening the EU’s resilience. A few words about platforms and data markets. We have to shed light on the black box of social media platforms: we need truly binding EU rules for algorithms for accountability and transparency, particularly when it comes to the demonetisation of harmful content and data accountability. Today, while the war is ongoing in Europe, online platforms and tech companies need to take a stand by proactively suspending accounts engaged in denying, glorifying and justifying aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity. They have to reinforce content in Russian and Ukrainian languages to resist the pressure from Russian government’s disinformation. In short, any tech platform complying with Putin’s censorship request is an accomplice to Putin’s aggression. I would also like to highlight the need for data market accountability and transparency, including binding EU rules to limit the amount of data platforms can harvest, store and sell. It is completely unacceptable that loosely, regulated commercial entities can sell data of Europeans, me, you, all of us to the same authoritarian regimes that are trying to tear us apart. About resilience, we see that the Kremlin is attempting to insulate, wall off the Russian information space, by imposing new censorship rules. This shows that Putin is threatened by any independent media and narrative. This is a clear signal that we should double, triple and quadruple our support for quality and independent media, including in the EU’s neighbourhood. The Kremlin is also operating with extensive cyber warfare tools. That’s why we need to step up cybersecurity assistance to Ukraine, deploying there cyber rapid response team experts and using the EU cyber sanctions regime against individuals, entities and bodies responsible or involved in the various cyber—attacks targeting Ukraine. The resilience of our societies is absolutely key here. We must not allow any malicious actor to exploit our freedoms. Therefore, resilience, awareness and media literacy must be built up as our protective shields. Another factor weakening our resilience is foreign covert funding, elite capture and co—optation. For decades, we have watched former high—ranking European officials and politicians take up prominent positions on Russian energy companies, while we were channelling hundreds of millions into Putin’s coffers and providing safe haven for his cronies and oligarchs. Look where that has gotten us. We, with our euros, have effectively built and financed Putin’s war machine, which is now being used to slaughter innocent Ukrainians. If we don’t turn off the flow of gas and oil ‘golden river’ now, then we deserve the full consequences of our greed and sorry stupidity. And to conclude, dear colleagues, I was harsh, but I am convinced that we across the political groups, together with the Member States and the Commission, can move forward towards implementation of the report’s recommendations with utmost urgency. And I would like warmly to thank all my shadows, chair of the Committee and Secretariat and our councillors.

Madam President, Vladimir Putin is deliberately escalating his aggression against Ukraine, amassing 175 000 troops near Ukraine’s borders. Yet, this is a war he is bound to lose. He will lose this war because today’s Ukraine is not the Ukraine of 2014, which was weakened and unprepared under the corrupt Yanukovych regime. Today, the Ukrainian army is battle-tested, reformed, and equipped for modern warfare. It has benefitted from training by the Western partners and it has high morale and readiness to defend the homeland. Putin will also lose the war because more than 56% of Ukrainians now support closer integration with NATO and the EU. He has failed to win over the hearts and minds of Ukrainians. Finally, Putin will lose the war because further aggression will be met with powerful Western retaliation – severe restrictions of imports of Russian gas, freezing of the bank accounts of Putin’s cronies, the permanent halt of certification of Nord Stream 2, and disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT system. All of these measures should also be applicable in the case of unconventional aggression – the use by the Kremlin of hybrid warfare instruments, including cyberattacks and artificial mass migration. The EU and NATO Member States must support reinforcing Ukraine’s military capabilities through arms and technology transfers. It is completely unacceptable for any single Member State to prop up Moscow’s interests by blocking such support. In the end, we must finally discard any ideas of appeasing Putin. Ukraine is not Chamberlain’s ‘far away land’ – it is our neighbour, close partner and friend. The EU and Ukraine must stand united against Putin’s blackmail.

Mr President, the Lukashenko regime is exploiting a well-documented Russian playbook of hybrid instruments: in this case, state-sponsored illegal migration. The regime is cynically weaponising the human beings to overwhelm the asylum system of Eastern European countries and Member States, stoke political tension and undermine the EU’s ability to react to other crises. It is a true hybrid war. Therefore, the European Commission must prepare relevant legislative proposals, providing Member States with the necessary safeguards to efficiently respond to such provocations. I also call for a swift adoption of the fifth package of sanctions, including the sanctions related to smuggling into the EU of illegal migrants. Belarusian people deserve better men: change. They aspire for democratic changes. In the EPP resolution, we reiterate our non-recognition of Lukashenko as the President. They consider the current regime as illegitimate, illegal and criminal. Therefore, the EU should engage further with democratic Belarus in a political dialogue and prepare a governance reform vision for Belarus after Lukashenko. The leader of democratic Belarus, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, should be invited to the Eastern Partnership summit in December 2021. (Exclamation in Bielarusian)

Madam President, Mr Commissioner, dear colleagues, the Pegasus spyware scandal sheds light on an outrageous attack on democracy around the world. It also exposes just how unprotected are our data and privacy against malicious exploitation and manipulation. First and foremost, there is an urgent need to enforce legislation to hold accountable those who distribute, use and abuse such software for illicit and unauthorised purposes. Second, it raises serious questions regarding a dark truth. We are not doing enough to ensure that the EU itself is a safe place for journalists and democratic activists. Even when on EU soil, they continue to be harassed, illegally surveilled and, worse, attacked by the authoritarian regimes they sought to escape. Such acts represent a grave violation of the fundamental values of our Union. Finally, the Pegasus scandal serves as a critical reminder that we need to be vigilant toward any attack on media freedom. We in the European Parliament should not hesitate to call out any erosion of media freedom, especially when it takes place in the European Union, as the Pegasus scandal has shown in the case of Hungary. The EU must take a key role in investigating this scandal without any delay or political hesitation. Commissioner, I would like to thank you for providing us with insight on what the Commission is doing, and will intend to do, regarding the investigation of Pegasus’s actions.

Mr President, I would like to praise the excellent, relevant and incisive report done by Andrius Kubilius, as well as share his faith in the principle of democracy first, which must be the core of any EU strategy on Russia. At the same time, we must be realistic about the relationship we can have with Moscow in the near future. In the span from my own 2019 report on EU-Russia relations until the report by Mr Kubilius, the Kremlin has only added more dark episodes to an extensive track record. To make it perfectly clear, there is no reason for optimism regarding the direction of the current Russian regime and of EU-Russia relations. European leaders must not fall again into naive delusions about resets or dialogues with Putin’s regime, which clearly shows that its disregard for international law, human rights and peaceful conflict resolution is not the exception, but the rule. And finally, it is time for Europe to invest in reinforcing our commitment to the Eastern Partnership countries, strengthen our own resilience to Russian hybrid warfare and continue engaging with Russian civil society.

Madam President, the EU has been the target of numerous forms of hybrid warfare for several years. However, the EU is still at the beginning of a long path towards mitigating this threat and what is the most worrying is that the EU is still not determined and resourceful enough. The report of the European Court of Auditors states that the coordination and accountability of EU actions against disinformation should be significantly improved. I would like to highlight the contribution of the EEAS StratCom Task Force in the fight against disinformation and foreign interference in EU democratic processes. I am proud that the first StratCom was launched, following the request of Parliament, back in 2015. Every year thereafter we persistently increased the StratCom budget, which reached four million during last year. We are convinced that StratCom needs a secure and long-term financing model if we are serious about defending our democracies. With great concern I learned that the EEAS has not asked for any extra resources for StratCom for next year. High Representative, why is this so? Do you expect that Parliament again will do the work which should fall to the services under your responsibility?