Debate: Statements by the President
Date: MONDAY, 22 APRIL 2024
Speaker: Roberta Metsola
Country: Poland
Language: EN

Dear colleagues, can I ask you to take your seats and then we can start this last plenary before the elections. My first announcement is about Swedish nationals in Iran. Last week, we marked two years since Swedish national and EU official Johan Floderus was illegally detained in Iran. This week Professor Ahmadreza Djalali, also a Swedish national, will have been jailed for eight years – making him the EU national held longest in Iran. On these sad anniversaries, the European Parliament once again condemns their arrest by the Iranian regime, in the strongest possible terms. Last week, I joined Commissioner Johansson at a vigil we held with Johan Floderus’ loved ones, as I reiterated this Parliament’s support. We will continue to work tirelessly to secure the release of our friends Johan, Ahmadreza and all others held on trumped-up charges. Also, dear colleagues, as this is the last plenary session before the European Parliament elections in June, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your tireless work over the past five years. It has been challenging, but this Parliament has delivered. Over the last years, we have navigated our way out of COVID restrictions. We have led the European debate that has made people’s lives a little bit easier, a little bit safer and little bit more secure. We have passed ground-breaking legislation on artificial intelligence, on migration, on asylum, on climate, on creating jobs and safeguarding European industry and agriculture, on new tech, and on digital services and digital markets. We have passed huge files on equality – there are still some left this week – and reinforced the social pillar. We have doubled down on making this Union a superpower of rights everywhere. We have faced the invasion of Ukraine, de-coupled from Russia and created new energy and health priorities. We have stood up for humanity in the Middle East and around the world. We have given new life into our mandate to promote parliamentary diplomacy and freedom. We have listened, we have learned, and we have burst through the Brussels and Strasbourg bubbles to engage with, and reach out to, people across Member States. We have worked hard to ensure that this House is more efficient, more effective and fit for purpose. We have made it more open and more independent. We have negotiated and balanced budgets. We have ensured that this is a place of work that people feel proud of and feel safe at. We have done all of this together. We have debated, we have acted and we have delivered for people. And for that I want to thank all of you, all your staff and all of Parliament’s services. I am so proud to be here, I am so proud of the work we have done, and I hope you feel I have repaid your trust and faith in me. I also want to pay tribute to the legacy of my predecessor, David Sassoli. He gave so much for this Parliament and for Europe, and I hope he would be proud of us, too. Now, colleagues, our work does not end here. In just over six weeks’ time, EU citizens in all Member States will be called upon to elect the 720 Members of the European Parliament that will make up the 10th legislative term. Now is the moment to speak up for Europe: to call upon people – especially young people – to vote, to invite them to shape the future they want to see. Because every voice, every vote, every choice matters. Dear colleagues, together I am confident we can do just that.