The Slovak President, Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, addresses the Parliament with a call for the EU to stand united and face the challenges ahead by cooperating together closely and to underline the necessity for strong and undivided EU support for Ukraine. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

statement

Strasbourg

plenary session

formal sitting

EU - Slovakia (T)

ČAPUTOVÁ, Zuzana

Formal sittig: address by Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/66017423/1666174181178_I231561Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (English), Zuzana ČAPUTOV&Aacute;, President of the Slovak Republic, Madam President, honourable members, the representative of the Czech presidency of the council. My fellow Europeans, it's an honour and privilege to be here and to address the beating heart of the European Union's democracy here in Strasbourg. This is a city where the modern concept of defending universal human rights was translated into concrete institutions while serving a broader purpose. I see the European Parliament as one of them.

SOUNDBITE (English), Zuzana ČAPUTOV&Aacute;, President of the Slovak Republic, My message today is simple. If we don't start defending democracy, it will cease to exist. The date of my speech here was planned long ago. I couldn't have expected that the recent homophobic murder of Juraj and Matus on the streets of Bratislava would remind us of the simple truth so painful. It's hard to put in words the grief felt in Slovakia cities in the past few days because hate decided to kill love just because the killer could not accept that love can come in different forms. This was an assault not just on young people from the LGBTQ community.

SOUNDBITE (English), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, It was an attack on everyone in Slovakia because hate crimes always target the very essence of what our society stands for. I would like to assure you that hatred doesn't dominate our society. I welcome that Slovakia civil society immediately and resolutely condemn this attack. Just yesterday, the Slovak parliament adopted a resolution strongly condemning these are terrorist act and ensuring all minorities that they are valuable members of our society.

SOUNDBITE (English), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, In its essence democracy is the rule by the majority in the interests of all, with a key emphasis on the protection of minorities. If we are failing in their protection, we are undermining democracy itself.

SOUNDBITE (English), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, In my view, the defence and protection of democracy is the core mission of our generation of political leaders. The task ahead of us is to bring Europe back into balance, which is shaken by crisis from within and without a balance between our rights and our commitments, between our security and our prosperity, which we have partly built through dependence on those who wish to destroy our democracy, a balance in which we can have different opinions. But where we are bound by the values of freedom, solidarity and the liberal democracy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic,SOUNDBITE (English), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, And now please allow me the switched into Slovak so even here in the European Parliament's chamber, one can hear the beautiful Slovak language.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, Madam President, honourable members. The balance that I've mentioned has been threatened in the past two years by two major crises. The pandemic and the security crisis caused by Russia by invading Ukraine. As a European Union, we reacted the right way to both crises. In the pandemic the national closing of borders and the race, who would procure more face masks were quickly replaced by a common approach and solidarity.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOV&Aacute;, President of the Slovak Republic, We started to recover our economy post pandemic with the help of the resilience and Recovery Facility, and solidarity is shared also beyond our borders. We are today one of the biggest global donors of vaccines against Covid-19. And equally decisively, have we reacted to the war that Vladimir Putin waged on the 24th of February against our eastern neighbour.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, Let us remember that this war only intensified on this gloomy February morning that Russia waged this war long before first by disinformation and propaganda and since 2014 also in military way, with the clear goal to subjugate Ukraine or to destroy it.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, We have imposed the most extensive sanctions as the European Union against Russia, sanctions that have never been this extensive against any developed economy. We provide political, financial, humanitarian and most of the countries, including Slovakia, also military aid to Ukraine. Very important is the European perspective that we offer to Ukraine. And I'm convinced that one day it will culminate in a full fledged membership with our aid.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, We have one goal to achieve peace. However, peace has to be just otherwise, it would only be a temporary cease fire. We have opened not only our homes, but also our hearts to those who had to flee war. Some 800000 people crossed just the Slovak Ukrainian border. And many of those remains in our country. And I'm very proud of the solidarity and aid that was offered by our citizens.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, Both crises left the Europeans not only with fear and worries, but also with the experience of a very strong Europe wide empathy and unity. And this experience shows us that the best way to overcome any challenges that we face as a union is our unity, cooperation and solidarity. Ladies and gentlemen, our efforts to restore the balance in Europe do not stop here.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, It is paradoxical in a situation where we are unprecedently united against external challenges, we also face very strong internal pressures. They are caused by a confluence of several crises, but also by ignoring our vulnerabilities for a long time. If we do not cope with these European crisis, we run the risk that they will grow into a crisis of Europe.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, Millions of European households and companies are threatened by skyrocketing rocketing energy prices today. These prices began to rise even before the war, since Russia has already begun to reduce gas supplies to Europe already last summer. And it started thus to distort the European energy market and threaten our citizens.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, Slovakia, which until recently had 85 percent of its gas from Russia, managed to reduce its dependency to 33 percent. Thanks to diversification. However, we never know when Vladimir Putin stops and gas supplies for good. As a union, we have to address the causes and the impacts of this crisis.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOV&Aacute;, President of the Slovak Republic, The right solutions, therefore, have to be European common and in solidarity. Those that will urgently help all in a difficult situation. All Member States and apart from compensations, will allow an agreement on a common gap on gas prices. We need to decouple the prices of electricity and gas because even today, countries such as Slovakia are generating most of his electricity from low carbon sources pay inadequately high prices for it.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, And therefore, I would like to ask you to support such solutions. However, apart from the consequences, we have to address the causes that brought us here. Never again may we remain on one supplier as a union and never again may our economic model and prosperity depend on fossil fuels alone.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, The commitment to become a climate neutral continent by 2050 can no longer be delayed or put in question. First and foremost, we have to help those who are hit the hardest by the energy crisis. But the goal is clear. We need to innovate our development model in order to use renewable energy sources to a greater extent and to destroy our own planet less.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, We must become a global leader not only in our climate commitments or ambitions, but also in implementing them. We will only survive if we restore the balance between our way of life and the planet where we live.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, Honourable members. Today, we face a crisis of democratic rules and their respect. Each country that joined the European Union and each country that wishes to join has to remain a liberal democracy.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, Being a member of this club is not an entitlement, It is a privilege. It is not enough to achieve membership in this club. The membership has to be constantly updated with a clear understanding and respect of common values. Values such as the rule of law, division of power, independence of the judiciary, freedom of the media or protection of minorities. If these cornerstones on which our community is built are under attack, we have to have to act to protect them.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, I want to emphasise that we do not like the rules as much as we like the consistency in enforcing them. If our measures are not decisive, problems will grow and those who violate the values of the European Union will encourage and inspire others. The very notion of liberal democracy is being misinterpreted, misunderstood, questioned and attacked by the extremes in many of our countries, even though there is not a single model of liberal democracy. I certain and that illiberal democracy are two incompatible notions.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, Honourable members, our democratic rules are today abused to destroy democracy itself. Freedom of speech is one of the most important democratic rights. We need to protect it. But it's not without limitations. How could it happen that we let freedom of speech escalate to verbal crimes? How could we elevated many times to an absolute right? This is not democratic. This is stupid. The freedom of speech cannot be a cover to spread intolerance, lies and disinformation. Nowhere is this problem more acute than in social networks.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, The radicalised teenager that killed two young men last week and injured a third person in the streets of Bratislava was greatly inspired on social media. And before the murder, he published a long pamphlet on social network full of hatred against various minorities. This murder did happen in Slovakia, but the risk of such crimes concerns all of us. We witness a growing aggression against minorities and a growing right wing extremism in many parts of Europe.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, The worsening of the socio economic situation only enhances the confidence of radicals. We need to be aware that any attack based on hatred is an attack against the very values of the European Union and that include equality, tolerance and respect of human rights.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, It seems that we take a similarly naive approach to social network as we take to other technological innovations without due caution. We use the benefits without knowledge and vigilance of their potential and obvious negative consequences. We use social networks without being fully aware as a society how their algorithms may harm us. how they deepen the polarisation and enhance filter bubbles.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, To believe the truth, to live the truth and to defend the truth is the motto of one of the founders of the modern Slovac nation, general Milan Rastislav Stefanic. In public space, it has to apply even when it seems that it would be more efficient to shout loudly, regardless of the quality of truthfulness of the statement. Instead of listening to each other, engaging in dialogue and caring for facts.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, Therefore, we have to take appropriate steps in this area. At national level. It is good that the European Parliament adopted the digital services Act and I also welcome the European Democracy Action Plan. What is illegal offline has to be illegal online.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, However, we need to also do more at the global level. The business model of social platforms is based on the use of the lowest human emotions and impulses. Social platforms are not just operators of the proverbial information pipelines because their profit is directly proportional to how much hatred, how much aggression lies and this information flows through these pipelines.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, They must therefore bear reasonable responsibility for the content that is published on them. Madam President, Honourable Members, the challenges I am talking about today make the European Union more fragile than we may realise and admit.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, The economic security and energy crisis, the ongoing fragmentation of our societies and the pressure of illegal migration. These are all breeding grounds for extremism. In many countries of the Union. One election cycle is enough today and in the parliamentary benches, even here in this House, in your seats, there can be a majority that does not want to build Europe but destroy it. Therefore, we must not be naive. We must not relax and defensive. But on the contrary, we must be persistent, courageous and self-confident in the defence of our common values.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, Despite the inevitability of solving many crises and perhaps precisely because of it, we must not forget the performance of politics as such should be based on very clear values that is on the value that we have to defend as politicians. If we believe and stay true to these principles, this will not be a show of weakness. But the contrary. The first president of Czechoslovakia, Thomas Masaryk, already said 100 years ago that democracy is not only a political system, but first and foremost is a moral system.

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), Zuzana ČAPUTOVÁ, President of the Slovak Republic, Let's all think about it when carrying out our mandate, which is a responsibility and an obligation towards our citizens. If we perceive democracy in this sense, I am sure that we will managed the crisis we are facing today and thus fulfil our mission to be the guardians and protectors of democracy, of European values and of the balance. Thank you.