András LÁSZLÓ

Policy topics András LÁSZLÓ is active on

What András LÁSZLÓ has said (17)

• 2026-06-16 “When it comes to digital sovereignty and innovation in the digital sector, the EU is lagging far behind The United States and increasingly behind China too. And this has been the case for very long now. In Europe, we lack enough software and hardware engineers. Chip manufacturing is limited. Expensive energy makes investing in data centers in Europe unattractive and so does overregulation. At best, the EU is copying innovation in tech to have European alternatives. The problem is that the way innovation works is that those who pioneer innovation usually grab the largest market share. Copying digital innovation does not result in digital sovereignty. Therefore, the commission's usual strategy of throwing money at the problem won't work either. Let me give you an example of how serious we are about digital sovereignty. This is an email we all received in our mailboxes. Do you remember? As of 06/04/2026, Quant will replace Google as default search engine on the European parliament computers in line with the parliament's commitment to digital sovereignty and the protection of users' personal data. The problem is the tutorial video added to the email explains to you how to go through your different browsers and switch back your search engine to Google. That's how serious we are. But let me give you also an example about the commission's tech tech savviness and commitment. President von der Leyen deletes her messages with Pfizer CEO, and after investigation and pressure, what is the commission spokesperson saying? That she had to free up space on her phone. This is not serious. This is embarrassing incompetent.”
  EU digital & tech sovereignty
• 2026-06-16 “When it comes to digital sovereignty and innovation in the digital sector, the EU is lagging far behind the United States and increasingly behind China. Two. And this has been the case for a very long. Now in Europe, we lack enough software and hardware engineers. Chip manufacturing is limited. Expensive energy makes investing in data centres in Europe unattractive and so does overregulation. At best, the EU is copying innovation in tech to have European alternatives. The problem is that the way innovation works is that those who pioneer innovation usually grab the largest market share. Copying digital innovation does not result in digital sovereignty. Therefore, the Commission's usual strategy of throwing money at the problem won't work either. Let me give you an example of how serious we are about digital sovereignty. This is an email we all received in our mailboxes. Dear member. As of 4th June 2026, quant will replace Google as default search engine on the European Parliament computers. In line with the Parliament's commitment to digital sovereignty and the protection of users personal data. The problem is, the tutorial video added to the email explains to you how to go through your different browsers and switch back your search engine to Google. That's how serious we are. But let me give you also an example about the Commission's Texas Tech savviness and commitment. President von der Leyen deletes her messages with Pfizer CEO and after investigation and pressure. What is the commission's spokesperson saying? That she had to free up space on her phone? This is not serious. This is embarrassing incompetence.”
  EU digital & tech sovereignty
• 2026-01-28 “P-000352/2026 Answer given by President von der Leyen on behalf of the European Commission The Commission is committed to transparency in its activities, applying strict rules concerning interest representation. It publishes information on, and minutes of, all meetings held between Members of the Commission and/or Members of their Cabinet and interest representatives, including companies representing the defence sector, in accordance with Commission Decision (EU) 2024/3081 1 since the start of the Commission’s mandate on 1 December 2024. The Honourable Members are invited to consult the information that is publicly available on the transparency website of, respectively, the President of the Commission 2 and Commissioner for Defence and Space 3 . In accordance with Article 5, paragraph 1, of the detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, annexed to the Rules of Procedure of the Commission 4 (hereinafter, the ‘detailed rules’), ‘any content that constitutes important information that is not short-lived shall be registered pursuant to Article 7 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121 5 ’. Article 5(2) of the detailed rules gives illustrative examples of how to apply the registration criteria of important and not-short lived documents. The detailed rules also clarify that text messaging applications on corporate mobile phones shall not be used for important information that is not short-lived, unless where this is strictly required in the interest of the service and that they shall comply with the Commission’s information technology security recommendations for the automatic disappearance of messages (Article 5 paragraph 4). The Commission has a record-keeping policy as laid down in Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121, and in its internal guidelines, which provide for criteria for registration of documents, together with the above-mentioned provisions in the detailed rules. 1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202403081. 2 https://commission.europa.eu/about/organisation/president/transparency_en. 3 https://commission.europa.eu/about/organisation/college-commissioners/andrius-kubilius_en#transparency. 4 Commission Decision (EU) 2024/3080 of 4 December 2024 establishing the Rules of Procedure of the Commission and amending Decision C(2000) 3614 (OJ L, 2024/3080, 5.12.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2024/3080/oj). 5 Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121 of 6 July 2020 on records management and archives (J L 430, 2.12.2021, p. 30–41) (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec/2021/2121/oj/eng).”
  Transparency requirements for interest groups · Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• 2025-11-20 “E-004649/2025 Answer given by High Representative/Vice-President Kallas on behalf of the European Commission The EU remains firm on its commitment to fight terrorism in all its forms. The EU, together with its Member States, shares the same determination to protect its citizens, uphold international security, and strengthen the global response to these threats. In this framework, the EU takes note carefully of the listing of groups and movements in the terrorist lists of Member States and partners, such as the United States. On the addition of new individuals, groups or entities to the list related to specific measures to combat terrorism, under Common Position 2001/931/CFSP 1 (‘CP 931’), the legal prerequisite is a competent authority decision, for example a Court decision or a proscription order by an administrative authority. Such a decision should concern the involvement of the individual or entity in question in a terrorist act as defined by the relevant Union law (Article 1(3) of the abovementioned Common Position). A decision to list a person or entity under CP 931, on the basis of a competent authority decision, rests with the Council, acting unanimously. 1 OJ L 344, 28.12.2001, p. 93, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/compos/2001/931/oj.”
  EU policy on criminal justice · EU law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters
• 2025-06-04 “P-002264/2025 Answer given by Mr McGrath on behalf of the European Commission The organisation and conduct of elections are the competence and responsibility of the Member States, in accordance with their national constitutional rules and legislation, as well as their international obligations and applicable EU law. National authorities and courts are primarily responsible for ensuring compliance with the applicable rules. The Commission supports Member States on electoral matters, mainly through the framework of the European Coordination Network on Elections. This brings together national authorities with competence in electoral matters and facilitates the exchanges of information and best practices. Different EU rules are relevant in national electoral contexts within the EU. In particular, the new Regulation 2024/900 on the transparency and targeting of political advertising 1 , which will become fully applicable from October 2025, will increase transparency, address disinformation, and prevent funding of political advertisements from third country sponsors three months preceding elections. In addition, in 2023, the Commission published a Recommendation on inclusive and resilient electoral processes in the EU 2 . The Commission has also put forward a proposal for a Directive on establishing harmonised requirements in the internal market on transparency of interest representation carried out on behalf of third countries. 3 1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/900/oj/eng. 2 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reco/2023/2829/oj/eng. 3 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52023PC0637.”
  EU-US relations · Foreign interference in Europe
• “No, what I am saying is that the EU migration and asylum pact sucks. And it failed even before application. What we should be doing is working together to defend our external borders together. Unfortunately, this House denies the possibility of Frontex of doing that. If we don't protect our external borders together. If we don't step up against third countries who refuse to accept their unwanted nationals from Europe, then in fact, we should use the Common Market as a tool. That's what I'm saying. Thank you very much.”
  Asylum & border control
• “You have obviously no information whatsoever about what we have done in the last 15 years. We Fidesz and Christian Democrats, we have put forward so many tax breaks to women and incentivise working women so much they have increased. If you look at women employment rates, they have increased drastically since we were in government. That's the truth. That makes them more dependent, independent, doesn't they? Isn't that your argumentation? Well, this is exactly what we did. And we're cutting also their, uh, the personal income tax for mothers of four, three and soon.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Because it's insane. I mean, there's no there's no any kind of there's no any kind of evidence suggesting that it's social media and, and the men responsible in Hungary for, for that women should stay home. That's insane. If, as I said, if you look at the policy we have done, it's exactly the opposite. What we have done. So I would suggest to you, instead of turning men against women and women against men, we believe in a family policy approach where women and men form a family together and complement each other. That's what I suggest to you, and that's what I suggest to all Hungarian.”
  Support for families
• “Mep from the opposition in Hungary depend on Ukraine and money from Ukraine. And. They are voting in favor of cutting Hungary off from Russian energy. But we're hearing lies on the state of the pipeline from Zelensky. If Zelensky were not telling these lines, then he would not have denied the statements, denied access for these checks to take place on the pipeline. So we see many MPs who are dependent on Zelensky, dependent on Ukraine and who do not support the security of Hungary and who are not standing up against blackmail from Ukraine vis a vis Hungary. Hungary made a commitment to not threaten. There was a commitment not to threaten the energy security of any member states yet. This is exactly what's happening to us in Hungary.”
  Russia-Ukraine conflict (10th term)
• “12:32 – 17:14:49): Thank you Chair. Thank you for this booklet again I read the last year's one as well and I was here last year at the presentation of the report I asked some questions about how the money is being spent and I got no answers so I sent to European Endowment for Democracy written questions about contracts and who the partners are and I got zero response sorry I got substantially zero response. In public registers it's marked that in the last couple of years you had more than a hundred million euros projects funded from the EU budget this year you claim that you spent or last year you claim you spent more than fifty million yet zero contracts are available zero actual reports are available only this only this story. The EED claims to be independent but in fact it's clearly says it's funded by the European Union. So my question one of my questions is who is actually responsible for EED is it you Mister Director is it the chairman of the AFET committee who is also the chairman of the board is it Mister Galer who's also a member of the board I mean the majority of the members of the boards are all members of the European Parliament and yet the EED claims to be independent how how does that work actually and why do I get the response that any of your spending is not public because you're an independent institution. My second question is is there no such conflict of interest that we're actually scrutinizing the EED in the effort committee where the chairman of the effort committee is also the chairman of the board of the EED so again what what is exactly the legal status here. And I was just watching here I understand that you want to help more because US funding is gone but do you really think that in Zaporizhzhia now the youth need more projects funding gender identity is this really what Ukraine reads needs right now or Zaporizhzhia needs right now more gender identity. I mean you also had this in your last year's report for Pristina I believe a three three day queer festival is that democracy export or do you think Mister Zelenskyy is not doing enough for for gender identity in in Ukraine what what can you do more. Thank you.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Thank you. I will speak Hungarian. The European Commission this very week. Acted upon. It's a censorship law based on the DSA in the run up to the Hungarian uh elections. I'd like to remind you that national elections are part of national sovereignty and within the competence of Member States, and they are not the competence of the EU. So my question to the experts, who is responsible, who is taking responsibility when you are saying, as partners of the European Commission, that there is likely to be some kind of an interference or intervention in an election and something needs to be done, because what we're seeing is that the censorship partners of the commission are all radical left wing media organisms or Organizations, which were financed by the Commission, by USAID or National Endowment of Democracy, and the Trump government already identified them, identified them as some kind of an activist left wing center or network. And the European Union is still supporting these organizations. We are not going to let you do the same thing like you did after the Romanian elections. The Judicial Committee of the American House of Representatives clearly proved that the European Commission has interfered with a number of national elections in Europe, as well as the European parliamentary elections in 2024. Who is going to take responsibility for this? Please tell me And who is taking responsibility for the manipulation or for saying what is AI generated manipulation and what is not? Meps and Parliament members of Parliament have the responsibility to regulate public debate and to regulate national elections. Uh, so this is up to national MPs and not the European, not to up to the European Union.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “It didn't work yet you are still forcing it. Ursula von der Leyen and Joe Biden promised that sanctions would bring Russia to its knees, but Joe Biden is no longer in office. It would be time to hold Mrs. von der Leyen accountable as well. The biggest problem with energy sanctions is not that they didn't achieve their objectives. The biggest problem is that they cause greater damage to European economy than to Russia. According to the IMF, Hungarian economy would shrink by 4% if we had to purchase gas and oil from elsewhere. Household utility costs would triple, fuel prices would also increase. And meanwhile in Brussels, Europe, preaching about solidarity. But Brussels solidarity somehow never seems to be about European citizens. You know full well that in Europe people have to pay energy prices that are 3 to 4 times higher than in the US or in China. But you are still forcing sanctions. This will ruin families and European industry as well. Stop this. If you are going to bypass the veto, then Ursula von der Leyen can prepare for another lawsuit. Thank you.”
  EU-Russia relations (from March 2022)
• “Thank you sir. The European Union every now and then threatens big tech giants by with court cases. No it's Google. Previously it was Apple, Microsoft or Intel. The EU usually regards them as cash cows. It strips them of a couple of billion euros, and at other times, the competent commissioner openly threatens these platforms, saying they will. They will openly censor content and accounts that they don't like. We will all remember what fiasco it was when Thierry Breton tried to prevent Elon Musk from interviewing Donald Trump during the presidential election campaign. However, these fines and threats do not really change anything. The EU is falling increasingly behind in digital to competition. Let's just see a couple of figures. Out of the world's top 50 companies, only four are European, and the market share of European tech companies has reduced in ten years, from 22 to 18%. That of the American companies has increased, however, from 30 to 38%. And the EU is only looking at the competition in AI between the US and China. If the Commission thinks that with these fines we can compensate for our lagging behind, then we are mistaken. We need to put an end to excessive bureaucracy, data management rules that favour the giants, and we need to develop a comprehensive strategy for innovation. So far, the commission has failed in every key matter, and we need change in Brussels.”
  EU rules on digital competition
• “Yes, thank you very much Chair. I'd just like to come back on what my colleague said that we need full transparency on the NGO grants provided by the Commission. Currently all we have is a list worth seventeen billion euros without the actual contracts and the reports on how they were fulfilled. We have nothing. Seventeen billion euros unaccounted for. This is totally unacceptable. We are now super, we are now going over the, or there's going to be reports on the public information request and transparency being drafted. I requested there what I would request from you right now is the Commission has all the documents, all the grant proposals, all the grant contracts signed. Why don't you publish it automatically without public information requests? You could do it. You have all the information. You save a lot of administration. You could do it at will. On the other hand, you mentioned that this democracy resilience center will be a voluntary cooperation. We have ample experience from twenty-twenty-two of foreign interference in our elections. We have done plenty of research. We have done our homework. We have vast information on the very extensive NGO network which is political, which is interfering in domestic politics and elections. Many organizations who pretend to be philanthropic organizations and linked to Soros were in fact very closely associated with USAID. We are very happy to provide you with all the information on this corrupt network. Thank you.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “This Christmas, Ursula von der Leyen got herself a brand new toolbox for censorship and manipulation. Thierry Breton, the commissioner who tried to censor Elon Musk, is out, but we have two new censorship commissars, Michael McGrath and Henna Virkkunen. They use the threat of foreign interference as pretext. The new toolbox is called Democracy Shield because it shields the EU against democracy, against you, your European citizens. Instead of burning books, they are building a vast network of political NGOs who will be the European overlords of truth. This is also why the European Commission refuses to release the NGO grants worth €17 billion of recent years. The US shut down USAID for this very reason. The Obama and Biden administrations hand in hand with Soros, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Oak Foundation, and using Ned and the German Marshall Fund and Transparency International and the Zinc Network, and Dexys and many others have established a network so corrupt it was impossible to reform or trace the funding. Now, this network will rely on funding.”
  Regulation of NGOs in Europe
• “Thank you very much. I think the speech of Madame Gastric and the reaction from one of the experts is absolutely stunning and showcases perfectly how EU interference is set up. The Russian interference article she referenced is totally unsubstantiated. No proof whatsoever in that article about Russian interference in Hungary. None. It was published on a website funded by foreign governments, amplified by foreign media, amplified by NGOs. And it comes to the fact that in a few days later, the European Commission announces that it launches its. It activates its rapid response system, which is basically the online censorship we have witnessed in the last couple of elections. This is how fake interference using a fake pretext of foreign interference is used by the European Commission to interfere in the online space in. Right in the middle of a national election. It would be really nice also to highlight that the experts here come from NGOs who are funded by tens of millions of euros by the European Commission. No disclaimer whatsoever.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Thank you. I'll wait for you to put your headphones on. Unfortunately, in this committee, one has the impression that we are looking at an absurd, the absurd in several angles. I see. Us wanting more transparency in social media and social platforms and how we can fight disinformation. And we need more transparency for that. At the same time, we don't talk about. The fact that in the Polish elections, social media rules allowed illegal foreign political advertisements, but nobody talks about that. When there was a change of government in the US, new administration came in and it was revealed that thousands of journalists and media outlets were paid from abroad, uh, to influence public discourse. Nothing is done. Nobody is outraged when congressmen, American US congressmen write to the to the commission to look into this. Are they going to do anything about this? I'm turning to this committee and fellow members. Are we going to put on the agenda the foreign interference in the Polish elections? All these organizations and most of the political parties demand more transparency on online platforms. But when we adopt a new bill in Hungary for more transparency on the financing of NGOs, Use, then everybody is up in arms against us. The fact is that in Hungary, lots of people who are invited to parliament meetings are financed from abroad. 95% of the time. Is this something that you're going to put on the agenda in this special committee? And I'm turning to our experts. Are you looking at foreign interference in the Polish recent Polish elections? Thank you.”
  Foreign interference in Europe