Debate: This is Europe - Debate with the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Date: TUESDAY, 5 JULY 2022
Speaker: Malik Azmani
Political group: Renew
Country: Netherlands
Language: EN

It’s quite simple: Mr Putin must fail. Therefore, we must stand by the Ukrainian people with determination, and sanctions alone are not enough to ensure Putin’s failure. Ukraine needs our heavy weapons and here all of us have a duty to back our words with actions.  There is one man responsible for the food crisis – that’s Vladimir Putin. Food shortages risk many vulnerable adults and children. And they are also a risk of a migration crisis for Europe. And I’m quite certain that a new migration crisis would seem very attractive to Mr Putin, but we cannot let him succeed. We need to finalise a new European migration and asylum pact. We need a strict and fair system for the whole Union to work but we need the whole Union to take its responsibility, and we need to do it now. We have waited for too long and the next migration crisis might be on our doorstep already. The Council needs to move and this House needs to engage in pragmatic negotiating with them to reach a deal before the end of this year.  I’m worried when I read some of the reports of violent deportations. Yes, we must uphold EU law and yes, we must protect EU borders, and yes, we must ensure Turkey abides by its obligations to us. But we say no to illegal pushbacks of any kind – in Spain, in Greece or anywhere else.  Mr Prime Minister, I hope you can agree with us in Renew Europe that the Europe of today needs to be bold so we can address the cost of living crisis facing Europeans. Like the common solutions we found for the pandemic, innovative thinking is needed to address our energy challenges. We need to boost our economic credentials by signing the free trade deals that are frozen. The deal with New Zealand last week shows us the way. Protectionism is no antidote to inflation. By investing in the modernisation of our economies, by embracing competition, by improving our entrepreneurial and investment climate, we can continue to sail the ship of prosperity. Let us be bold and fight back against global economic headwinds.  And then, finally, we see that in many countries, even within the European Union, the values and principles that breathe life into our democracies are under attack. And I will be frank, Prime Minister, as always. We are worried about the decline in press freedom and media pluralism in Greece. The warning lights are flashing. Greece now has the worst performance in the EU27 as far as media freedom is concerned.  Mr Prime Minister, I hope you agree with me that media freedom is central to our European way of life. Renew Europe has added a distinguished Greek MEP, Mr Georgios Kyrtsos, to its ranks. He is sitting over there on the first row. Our family expects the voice of its representative to be heard, according to European media rules and standards.  We do not want to see another EU government leader slandering the free press because, as you know, it was Socrates who said, ‘When the debate is over, slander becomes the tool of the loser’ and we are aware that some in your political family have set a bad example, but please, Prime Minister, don’t follow in their destructive footsteps. Stop it, Prime Minister, and stop silencing Mr Kyrtsos and stop it now. Hold the pride of the Greek tradition of public debate alive and you will continue to find Renew at your side, facing the crisis ahead together in unity.