What Siegfried spoke about.

Our solution is to cut red tape and reduce bureaucracy in a way in which it benefits the citizens of Europe, the farmers, the enterprises, the small and medium-sized enterprises. We have, of course, the highest respect for the European Council. We're looking forward to working with the European Council, with the Commission, with Council, with all institutions to deliver on what the citizens expect

Madam President, President Costa, welcome back to the Parliament, dear colleagues, the European Council tells us that we shall invest more in our competitiveness; that security and defence are priorities; and that we should accelerate the enlargement of the European Union. But while the European Council is telling us that security and defence, competitiveness and enlargement are important, the Iri

Madam President, High Representative, dear colleagues, only this year we have seen more than 30 drones violating Romania's airspace. We have seen very grave situations in Bulgaria as well. This means more than four times more incidents than last year. The situation is aggravated. More than 40 merchant vessels were attacked in the Black Sea region this year. Sailors were killed. Many sailors are al

Madam President, Minister, Commissioner, colleagues, look, the European Commission, one year ago, put forward a budget: 1.15 % of the gross national income of Member States. The current MFF, when it was put forward: 1.14 % of the GNI of Member States. What the Commission did was to propose a budget at the same level as the current one, while we have more challenges. We, as a Parliament, saw that a

Madam President, good morning, dear colleagues. Just three weeks ago, from this plenary of the European Parliament, we gave a very important signal to the outside world by inviting Canada to strengthen its ties with the European Union. Canada is a NATO founding member. It is a G7 nation, and it is an important trading partner for the European Union. Together as liberal democracies we are also defe

Dear colleague, your speech has nothing to do with my intervention, of course. But let me say once again that we want a strong European Union: security, defence, protecting citizens, competitiveness, investing in research and innovation. These are our priorities for the next years, and security and competitiveness are linked. We will have to invest more in our security, and we will only be able to

Madam President, when dictators cooperate to weaken us, we as liberal democracies have to cooperate even closer. We have to combat the enemies of our democracy outside and inside the European Union. They exist, and we know it. We have to tell people that populists and autocrats are a risk for our security, for our prosperity, for our democracy, for our freedom of expression, and for our freedom of

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, over the past year, the Republic of Moldova has been the candidate state for accession to the European Union, which has made the most significant progress on the path to European integration. The citizens of the Republic of Moldova are beginning to feel the concrete benefits of integration into the European Union. Already together, through the e

Madam President, Prime Minister, Taoiseach, colleagues, welcome to the European Parliament. Look, a very vast majority of the Members of the European Parliament agree that the priorities of the Union for the upcoming months are, firstly, defending European values, protecting our democracy, our freedoms. Secondly, investing more in our security, in our defence, protecting citizens. And thirdly, str

Mr President, firstly I'd like to congratulate the Commission and the Council for the remarkable progress on enlargement made over the course of recent weeks. This is also the result of the fact that the European Commission has strategically prioritised enlargement since the beginning of its term in office, understanding that the safer, the more stable, the more secure our neighbours (the EU candi

Mr President, dear colleagues, many thanks for the unity which the European Parliament has shown throughout this process. Carla Tavares and myself, as co-rapporteurs, have worked in a very inclusive, transparent manner with all of the sectoral committees of Parliament, with all political groups who want a stronger budget for a stronger Europe. I would, of course, like to first and foremost thank m

Mr President, dear colleagues, today we are putting to vote, here in the European Parliament, the position of the Parliament on the budget of the European Union for the next seven years. We are presenting a budget which is sufficient, which is predictable and which is transparent, because the reality is the world is changing and we all have to do more for our security, for our economic strength. W

Madam President, to Ms Firmenich and everyone repeating Russia's narrative in this House: the one who started the illegal, illegitimate and unprovoked war in Ukraine is the Russian Federation. It is Vladimir Putin. This needs to be said: Russia started the war and Russia is the only one who can stop the war right now, if they so wish. To the people of Ukraine, we have to say today and every day, t

Mr President, High Representative, dear colleagues, when the President of the United States of America says that he no longer feels an obligation to think purely of peace, and that his own morality is the only thing that can stop him, then the world has changed. And this is the new reality. We should not be naive. We should not hope that things will stay as they used to be. We have to tell the tru

Madam President, President Christodoulides, welcome back to the European Parliament, colleagues, the world is changing. The rules-based international order is being called into question, and we all have a choice to make: do we give it up or do we defend it? And I believe – and this is the clear opinion of the majority of the Members of this House – that it is in our fundamental interest to continu

Thank you for the question. We have said very clearly for the European Parliament, and the EPP Group is committed on this as well – the Chair, Manfred Weber, has said it, I said it and you will hear it from all of our colleagues – that the budget needs to be designed as closely as possible to the citizens. A strong goal of the regions means that we fund what is relevant to people on the ground. If

Madam President, dear Mr Jungbluth, providing support to farmers, to researchers, to students; protecting our borders; making our economies greener and more digital, more innovative; making money available for artificial intelligence – this is what Europe is doing through the budget of the European Union. What you're proposing is a weaker Europe, is weaker Member States, is bad for the citizens of

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, welcome to the Parliament. Firstly, I would like to congratulate the two rapporteurs, Andrzej Halicki and Matjaž Nemec, for the report which they put forward. You are making the most with the limited resources that we have. This is a budget in which young farmers, young students through the Erasmus programme, the Connecting Europe Facility, Frontex, Eurojus

Madam President, Prime Minister Frieden, welcome to the European Parliament. Luxembourg has been at the heart of European integration for more than 70 years – a founding home of European institutions and a symbol of unity, stability and confidence in the European project. You have recently stated that Europe is a necessity. This is now more true than ever. We are seeing autocrats cooperating close

Madam President, we thank Mr Lazarus for mixing up everything with everything in trying to gain some of our attention, but not much of what he said is true. The European Union is a very democratic entity. This very Parliament that we are all together in is directly elected by the citizens of Europe. We have elected together the European Commission and the European Commission is making decisions, c

Madam President, President von der Leyen, dear colleagues, we are surrounded by autocrats. Autocrats who want to weaken us, who cooperate ‑ look at their picture in Beijing ‑, who attack our neighbours, our values, our cyberspace and our democracies. Disinformation, cyber attacks, provocations and electoral interference are their weapons, and they are looking for servants within the 27 Member Stat

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, over the last four years, the Republic of Moldova has applied for membership of the European Union. He was granted the status of candidate state. The Member States of the European Union, at the request of the European Parliament, following the recommendation of the European Commission, unanimously decided that the Republic of Moldova becomes a cand

Madam President, dear colleagues, the common agricultural policy is one of the core competences, the core responsibilities of the European Union. Through our implication in that area, through our support of farmers, we are guaranteeing millions of jobs in Europe in the agriculture sector. We are guaranteeing rural development, which goes way beyond agriculture, and we are guaranteeing food securit

Madam President, Minister, Commissioner, welcome to Parliament, dear colleagues, the debate that we are having today is very important because it's the start of us deciding how we will spend up to 2034. And this has to be in line with the priorities of the Union. This will also influence priority spending at national and regional levels and will also trigger private investments. The debate is impo