Debate: Whitewashing of the anti-European extreme right in the EU
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

At the same time, I am always thinking about the role of the Commission, which I represent here. So let me clarify what we can and cannot do, and what we are doing. I am sure that the Commission should not engage in domestic political fights, and we try hard not to get into that and to support fair competition. This is it. The role of the Commission is to protect universal values, which are above ideologies. I have in mind the rule of law, democratic governance and freedoms, and human rights. This is what we must do, and this is our job. Indeed, regarding what Mr Biedroń said here, quoting Professor Turski: it’s alarming in my ears almost every day what I heard from him when we were in Auschwitz three years ago. He said, do not be indifferent. He didn’t speak about his experience from the Holocaust when he was in Auschwitz as a young boy. He spoke about the present. That’s why I am glad. I always quote him. We must not be indifferent, because we have the historical lesson. What happens if nobody is opposing evil? We spoke a lot about that today. There are two concrete areas where the Commission is acting and should act. One, coming back to the universal values and rules. Political competition must be free and fair. It means that the Commission proposed a Media Freedom Act; we proposed the legislation against manipulation in political advertising. I ask the Parliament and the Member States to please give it a green light, because this is exactly what we need to do to be efficiently doing something against political extremism. The second thing is hate speech and disinformation, which has the potential to cause security harm. Violent extremism and radicalisation, which are fuelled today to a large extent through the digital space. We had here President Čaputová today. She spoke about the horrible tragedy that happened in Slovakia – a teenager killing two other young people. He was radicalised not only online, but also in the family. I will come back to the Slovak case later. I also wanted to say that the Commission is protecting freedom of speech, but, as President Čaputová said, it must not be absolute. If we protect absolute freedom of speech, we disregard the truth. This is what we see, I’m afraid, in the Hungarian campaign now. I want to react to Katalin Cseh, who spoke about the ongoing consultation. We reacted to it today through our spokesperson, but it’s not enough to say there is a lot of lying behind the consultation. By the way, Viktor Orban voted for all the sanctions and he is now asking about the citizens. Nothing against the consultations with the citizens, but for us, it means that we have to react to the facts. We are now working on a renewed impact assessment of the sanctions on Russia and of sanctions on European Member States. We have to come with the facts. So I take what you said that we should do more. Coming back to President Čaputová and her speech today. She spoke about the influence of radicalisation on society and the increase in extremism, which is fuelled by some political parties. It is a very serious problem that it is now, for some political powers, useful to fly on the waves of hatred. This is the reality. That’s why, again, the Commission proposed the ‘eurocrime’, which also should get into the legislative process soon. We proposed the Digital Services Act, which asks strongly, under the threat of sanction, the providers of digital services not to be the co—perpetrators of crime, which also covers hate speech. Speaking aboutfreedom of speech. I sharply dislike what I usually hear from that site and that site. My job is to protect the freedom of all the participants of the political competition to say these things. This is just the universal value. Mr President, can I still say something? I know I am four minutes beyond the time. I would like to switch into my language now, if you don’t mind, and react to Mr Radačovský, who spoke here, but who is not here with us anymore. Pan Radačovský tady hovořil o tom, že my tady, kteří se snažíme o fungování a prosperitu Evropské unie, jsme proti patriotismu. I o tom jsme dnes ráno mluvily s prezidentkou Čaputovou, když jsme měly mítink ještě před jejím vystoupením tady. Hovořily jsme o tom, jak obě milujeme svou zem a svůj národ. Že jsme patriotky a že to není v rozporu s tím, že chceme být užitečné při přijetí zodpovědnosti za rozvoj Evropské unie.  Pro mě to nikdy nebyl rozpor. Já jsem hrdá Češka a miluji kulturu, jazyk, historii svého národa. Teď jsem pyšná na to, jak se vede českému předsednictví, ale nikdy mi to nebránilo v tom, abych podporovala Evropskou unii jako celek, který nám pomáhá – i nám Čechům –, abychom se rozvíjeli. Unii, která pro nás byla několik dekád zárukou prosperity a demokratického vývoje a v nynější době je zárukou ochrany proti velmi nebezpečnému nepříteli.  Mám velmi dobrá data, která hovoří o tom, že současná dezinformační scéna zneužívá tak čistého citu, jako je láska k vlasti, pro zájmy Kremlu. A to si myslím, že je něco, s čím musíme bojovat. To je teď v poslední době novinka a je to něco, co je potřeba zastavit. Ale možná ne tak ze strany evropských institucí. Tady je potřeba, aby se zvedl velice silný odpor v rámci členských států a národních politických sil a občanů, neziskové společnosti a občanské společnosti jako takové, protože to je přesně to, co měl na mysli Marian Turski. Nebýt lhostejný a nemlčet, když se děje zlo. Pro mě mávání státními vlajkami v zájmu Kremlu je čisté zlo.