11.5. Nástroj evropských hodnot na podporu organizací občanské společnosti podporujících demokracii, právní stát a základní hodnoty v Evropské unii (B8-0189/2018)
Jasenko Selimovic (ALDE). –Madam President, when we talk about shrinking space for civil society in this Parliament we usually talk about countries outside of the European Union, but we do have a shrinking space even inside the Union. For example in Hungary the law is about to be voted that requires every organisation that ‘supports immigration’ to obtain national security clearance.
In Poland restrictions have already been passed on the right to the civil society organisations to demonstrate during the December UN climate change talks in Qatar. So yes, we do need the instrument even here in the EU and I do support it strongly.
Petras Auštrevičius (ALDE). – Madam President, recent breaches of the rule of law in fellow EU Member States have shown once again that respect for European values needs to be significantly stepped up and can no longer be taken for granted. This tendency will remain in future as well.
Therefore I fully support the establishment of the European values instrument within the next MFF. We are seeing the positive results of similar instruments in the EU neighbourhoods, and I believe that the time has come to apply some similar instruments within the EU Member States as well.
Funding civil society organisations in the Member States will help us strengthen civil society, promote democracy, government accountability and respect for human rights. There is nothing more important than defending these values, because these are the values on which the European Union is based.
Ангел Джамбазки (ECR). – Г-жо Председател, уважаеми колеги, гласувах против този доклад, защото според мен тук се прави една голяма грешка. Няма съмнение, гражданското общество и неговите организации са важни и трябва да имат своята подкрепа. Но под формата на граждански организации, на гражданско общество в много държави, особено в източната част на Европейския съюз, се правят опити за недопустими влияния и внушения и се променят традиционни ценности на тези държави.
Всяка една държава има своята история, има своите традиции, има своята биография. Право на всяка една държава и на всяко едно общество в Европейския съюз е да защитава своите традиции и своите ценности. От една страна твърдим, че Европейският съюз е основан на равни в различието, а от друга страна се опитваме да променим ценностите на част от държавите в Европейския съюз. Това е неприемливо и недопустимо.
По тази причина ние вярваме в нашата група, че традиционните ценности трябва да бъдат защитавани и държавите и обществата трябва да могат да пазят своето самосъзнание и своята идентичност.
Andrejs Mamikins (S&D). – Mr President, the success of the European project has made us think that the values in our Treaties are both exceptional and universal. However, with time we have to realise that not only our normative transformation power is limited, but that even at home our democracy is suffering.
We do not have the responsibility to democratise each and every partner, and there is no such thing as ‘democrat international’, but it is true that we need to have a functional democracy within the EU. Therefore I suggest that the European values instrument should not only finance NGOs, it should also provide monitoring and scrutiny on the ground.
Be sure that we will discover many uncomfortable truths about us. One such truth is the deprivation of the political and civil rights of the so-called ‘non-citizens’ of Latvia and Estonia, who are also restricted in their social and economic rights. Attention, colleagues: in the case of Latvia we are speaking of almost 20% of the population.
Such discrimination creates a divided society and the consequences bring security risks. If we wish to call EU countries ‘strong democracies’, we have at least to end a phenomenon of forced statelessness within our borders.
Jan Zahradil (ECR). – Paní předsedající, já jsem nehlasoval pro toto usnesení a dívám se na něj, musím říci, s velkým podezřením. Ono to zní samozřejmě velmi ušlechtile, když si tady řekneme něco o evropském nástroji na podporu nevládních organizací, které budou podporovat demokracii, vládu práva a základní hodnoty, ale já vím, jak to tady chodí, a velmi se obávám, že se z tohoto fondu stane nástroj propagandy té jediné správné a povolené představy o EU a evropské integraci, tedy že se pod tím bude skrývat podpora prohlubování evropské integrace, posilování evropských institucí, a že se opravdu k tomu peníze daňových poplatníků, veřejné prostředky nehodí. Doufám, že Evropský parlament bude řádně kontrolovat, jak jsou tyto prostředky využívány, jak jsou poskytovány, a že se to bude rozdělovat podle objektivních kritérií, ne podle kritérií stranických, ne podle kritérií, kdo je s kým kamarád a kdo hlásá ty jediné správné názory. Já se toho velmi obávám, protože jsme toho byli několikrát svědky v minulosti, a proto jsem pro toto usnesení hlasovat nemohl.