What Anja spoke about.

Mr President, what fantastic news! The European Parliament has just supported a proposal by the Party for the Animals to ban fur products from Russia. I therefore ask the Commission to implement Parliament's wish immediately. Put Russian fur back on the list of prohibited products. It is outrageous that the import of saber fur was allowed. Sable martens are kept and killed in a horrible way, just

Madam President, dear colleagues, this afternoon we have a debate about this topic. Therefore, I ask for your support for the following oral amendment. Paragraph 19a (new): 'Regrets that, in its 21st sanctions package, the EU lifted the ban on imports of Russian sable fur, a luxury good produced with methods that raise serious animal welfare concerns; calls on the Council and the Commission to re-

Yes, the Dutch fishermen. Let me say first of all that they have the largest ships in the world, which in many other parts of the world are called ships from hell and which indeed fly under other flags, for example those of Panama. And let us not forget that of all fishing, let us look at the Baltic Sea, there is almost no cod anymore. Mediterranean Sea: More than half of the fish are still overfi

Mr President, billions of fish are caught from the sea every year worldwide and then thrown overboard again. Fishermen throw those fish back when they are too small, or simply because they make too little money. More than 70% of all fish thrown overboard die afterwards. For nothing. In 2015, Europe banned this wasteful practice. But now, eleven years later, unwanted fish are still being thrown ove

Mr President, this legislation undermines the very foundations of our food system. This is not by accident. This is deliberate. This law is a direct result of the aggressive lobbying by the big agro-biotech companies. They hope to increase their already-obscene profits, as they can patent these new GMOs. This gives the multinationals even more power over our food system at the expense of farmers a

Mr President, the survival of many animals in the Baltic Sea is under serious threat. The last herrings and cods fight for their lives. Entangled and caught in fishing nets, gasping for oxygen as they swim in one of the ‘dead zones’. These are areas so polluted by chemical factories and the livestock industry that no life is possible. As these animals fight for their lives, the industrial ships sa

Mr President, do you ever have that, that you walk into the supermarket and suddenly get the idea that you are being cheated? Well, that's right, too. You're being tricked by the meat and dairy industry that sells fairy tales. Behind beautiful packages of happy animals in a green meadow lies a very ugly truth of animals locked in mega stables without daylight and without space. And these false ani

Mr President, the disastrous effects of climate change are becoming increasingly visible and are also costing more and more lives. Animal and plant species are dying out at an unprecedented rate. Pollution of soil, water and air threatens the basis of our existence. But while we only have one generation left to keep our planet liveable, the European Commission is putting forward an agenda of green

I share your concerns. The Farm to Fork Strategy was very clear: more organic farming, less use of agricultural poisons, more animal welfare, and more consumption of fruit and vegetables instead of meat and dairy. However, we see that the agreement between the EU and Mercosur does exactly the opposite. This will allow us to re-export dangerous agricultural poisons and lower the standards for agric

Mr President, Commissioner, every year, Europe imports millions of kilos of wrong horsemeat from Argentina and Uruguay. Meat from severely abused horses that are also treated with hormones and medicines. That is processed here in bitterballen and other snacks. But instead of stopping these imports, Europe is only making the trade in faulty horsemeat easier with the agreement with Mercosur. That is

Mr President, the hunt for whales is horrific. Whales are slaughtered with harpoons containing explosives. On average, it takes two hours and several harpoons to kill a whale. This is terrible. Fortunately, there has been a worldwide ban on whaling for almost forty years. However, some countries, including Iceland, do not comply with this ban. After killing 1,500 whales in recent decades, Iceland

Mr President, gosh, the self-proclaimed interests of the farmers are busy again. Above all, I hear that we need to listen more to farmers and, above all, that we need to support them more financially. Meanwhile, the agricultural lobby is shutting down the Commission and Parliament to raise even more money for the biggest companies. And to top it all off, these outspoken MEPs, and even the European

Mr President, the disastrous effects of climate change are becoming increasingly visible and costing more and more lives. Animal and plant species are dying out at an unprecedented rate, and pollution of soil, air and water is affecting the basis of our existence. Every day of procrastination brings us closer to irreversible destruction of our planet. Doing nothing is associated with sky-high cost

Mr President, last week a football match was used as an opportunity to import the horrific violence in Gaza to Amsterdam. We should never tolerate that. We cannot accept that different groups are set up against each other by rioters. Or even by politicians who want to profit politically from the suffering of the victims. That's what's gonna hurt everybody. The Party for the Animals is deeply conce

Commissioner, the question is: How can we prevent health crises caused by agriculture? There is really only one possible answer: Many, many fewer animals are kept in the livestock industry. I hope you agree with me. These animals are crammed together, still in cages or in mega stables and are also dragged throughout Europe. This leads us from crisis to crisis. Q fever, foot-and-mouth disease, swin

Mr President, South America is on fire, with record fires raging even in humid ecosystems such as the Amazon rainforest: Worst in 20 years. The savannahs of the Cerrado have also been severely affected, as has the Pantanal, one of the largest tropical swamps in the world. With the burning of these unique and carbon-rich ecosystems, not only plants, animals and people are under pressure. Huge amoun

Mr President, if we want to remain within the limits of the planet, urgent action must be taken in the agricultural sector. This is also stated in the opinion. A drastic reduction in the number of animals in livestock farming and a switch to a plant-based future are inevitable. It is outrageous that Mrs von der Leyen has postponed, watered down or wiped out much-needed laws, such as the animal wel

Mr President, where are the promised laws for animals? Where is the ban on cages in livestock farming? Where are the new rules for animals locked up in stables and slaughtered after a short and miserable life? Pigs need their tails. Calves should be able to grow up with their mother. Ducks should be able to swim in the water. Over the past ten years, the Party for the Animals has fought for this t

Mr President, for a very long time the wolf was extinct in the Netherlands and in large parts of Europe, shot by hunters and deprived of its habitat. Thanks to the strict protection, the wolf has recovered somewhat, but the wolf is still vulnerable. I therefore call on the Commission to: Get rid of the absurd plan to exterminate the wolves again. Your proposal undermines the protection of wildlife

Mr President, when we wash our clothes and clean our homes, we pollute the environment and the planet. This cynical reality needs to change. Too often there are harmful chemicals in cleaning products that pose a danger to humans, animals and the environment. Phosphates from laundry detergents pollute our water. The plastic packaging is also not sustainable. With this legislative change, we make a

I'm going to go straight to the door: Commissioner Hoekstra then shows his true face. Climate action is urgent and we need urgent action, the Commissioner said just four months ago. But less than a week after the farmers in Europe blocked the roads in protest against environmental and climate measures and set everything on fire, this Commissioner is dropping everything out of his hands to give the

Mr President, the Party for the Animals is often criticised for wanting to determine what people may or may not eat. That's partly true. We want everyone to have access to healthy, safe and sustainable food. That everyone can choose without worries for affordable food without agricultural poison, without genetic engineering and without animal suffering. It is our job, here in the European Parliame

Mr President, Commissioner, every year the European Union imports thousands of tonnes of horsemeat from Argentina and Uruguay. Since 2012, international animal welfare organisations such as the Tierschutzbund Zürich have repeatedly provided evidence of major welfare problems and mistreatment of horses in these countries. Sick and injured horses are not cared for and they are cruelly treated and ne