Sander Smit
Country
Netherlands
Group
ECR

Plenary speeches · European ParliamentPlenary speeches · EU Parliament

What Sander spoke about.

All Contributions
62
Since July 1, 2024
Time at the Floor
1.1 h
67 min
Average speech length
1:16
Rank: 576 / 696

Activity

Monthly speeches
2024-12: 32025-01: 6Jan '252025-02: 32025-03: 42025-04: 1Apr '252025-05: 12025-06: 12025-07: 1Jul '252025-08: 02025-09: 32025-10: 1Oct '252025-11: 22025-12: 22026-01: 1Jan '262026-02: 02026-03: 42026-04: 3Apr '262026-05: 42026-06: 32026-07: 5Jul '262026-08: 02026-09: 22026-10: 5Oct '262026-11: 0

62 Speeches

NLSpeech

A Circular Economy Act that strengthens Europe’s strategic autonomy, boosts competitiveness and makes the lives of Europeans more affordable (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner Hoekstra, Minister Dooley, ladies and gentlemen, we must close cycles with common sense. Waste is a source of secondary raw materials and energy. No waste heaps, but recycling and waste energy plants. That is the final part of the cycle. Without energy use, processing becomes more expensive, without more being recycled. The bill comes from households or the waste disappe

NLSpeech

Implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation (debate)

NLSpeech

The need for an EU strategy to counter Islamist entryism and the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood network (debate)

NLSpeech

Question Time (Commission) – Implementation of the Methane Regulation

Commissioner, thank you for your reply, but you are taking a caricature of what I have just said. This is about the workability of the rules, not about the core or about the reduction of methane emissions. I'm not questioning that at all. But isn't it an example of an advanced Green Deal that isn't workable? You are very inflexible by saying here that you were not really there for it. While the si

NLSpeech

Question Time (Commission) – Implementation of the Methane Regulation

Mr President, Commissioner, it is the same pattern. The Commission has skyrocketing ambitions for our business. With a lot of bombarie, thick suits of rules are brought as progress. The Commission itself is then not prepared for its own rules. Failing ICT with the deforestation regulation, threatening fines, the impracticable packaging rules. And now again: importers of gas who do not know how to

NLSpeech

The impact of the implementation of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) on SMEs, its administrative burden and challenges for the European Single Market (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, the new packaging regulation now affects every company that sends a box or package. Not only multinationals, but also the dairy trader, the farmer, the baker. The webshop of Renske from Etten-Leur cannot deliver to European customers for the time being, because our entrepreneurs are deposited in legal uncertainty. The registration, agents and reports per country are oft

NLSpeech

Findings and recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, are we protecting our democracy from real foreign threats, cyberattacks from Russia and China and attacks on our critical infrastructure? It is precisely for this reason that we must not eradicate our democracy under the guise of protection. This report crosses a line. EU fact-checkers, a European centre for democratic resilience with its own staff, budget and monitorin

NLAnswer

Evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy and follow-up (debate)

Yes, that is a very right point from Mr do Nascimento Cabral. I think that the outermost regions and territories absolutely deserve support in their specific challenges, and I think that the Commission as such should also reflect on this. The European Union is not only on the continent, but also on islands in overseas territories, so full attention is paid to this on my part. I also hope to be abl

NLSpeech

Evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy and follow-up (debate)

Mr President, the Commission's own assessment confirms what our fishermen have been observing for years: the landing obligation has failed. Failed. It did not increase selectivity. If the regulation clearly fails to meet its objectives, the solution cannot be better implementation. Then the rules themselves need to be revised. Our fishermen are asking for solutions, not paperwork. The EU needs a f

NLQuestion

Evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy and follow-up (debate)

Mrs Hazekamp, again you are doing it, again you are targeting our sustainable Dutch and European fisheries, which must comply with strict rules and which want to fish more selectively. Again, you're targeting our fishermen. How do you actually reflect on your legacy in recent years and the fact that you advocate even stricter rules, now that the EU is already 70% dependent on fish imports from thi

NLSpeech

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 18-19 June 2026 (debate)

Mr President, where is the Irish Presidency here? We talked about new attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The fertilizer crisis could worsen again. Our food security is in jeopardy, but the Commission and the Council are reluctant to revise the Nitrates Directive. When can we meet them? This house demanded it. In the area of the MFF, the Council does not reach an agreement. Food safety and f

NLQuestion

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 18-19 June 2026 (debate)

Mr Gerbrandy, you are talking about European, about the Green Deal. How do you reflect on the fact that the European Commission has said in the new livestock strategy that there should be no further reduction in livestock, while your government is now working on the liquidation of thousands of family farms in the Netherlands and thus putting food security at risk? You speak of the Strait of Hormuz

NLSpeech

Circularity requirements for vehicle design and management of end-of-life vehicles (debate)

NLSpeech

Preparation of the European Council (joint debate)

Mr President, the failed Green Deal has made Europe too dependent on Chinese technology and subsidised products. This has come at the expense of our industry and strategic autonomy. It is time for European nuclear energy and gas exploration. What will the Council of Governments do about Chinese support to Russia through dual-use goods and port takeovers in Sánchez’s Spain? This directly affects th

NLQuestion

Preparation of the European Council (joint debate)

Mrs Van Brempt, you are now talking about increased dependence on China, but it is precisely because of the overshot Green Deal, led by your group, the S&D, that we have now become so dependent, our streets are full of Chinese cars and our entire continent is full of Chinese technology. How do you reflect on the speed that your group has driven in this, without thinking about industrial strategic

NLSpeech

Presentation of the Fertilisers Action Plan (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, the Commission's new action plan for fertilisers shows how far Brussels is still moving away from farming practice. We are in the middle of a fertiliser crisis and what is the Commission doing? It refuses to break open the obsolete Nitrates Directive of 1991. While the Commission continues to refuse billions from CO2-levy and climate border tax to be returned to farmers

ENAnswer

EU governance under pressure – institutional responses to global challenges (debate)

That's exactly why foreign policy is not a competence of the Union, but a competence remaining with the Member States. So we should choose real strength, national sovereignty and compromise. If we reach a compromise shared by all Member States, then we are strong also internationally.

ENSpeech

EU governance under pressure – institutional responses to global challenges (debate)

Mr President, Vice-President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, forced unity is not strength. A constricting corset of qualified majority voting does not create political decisiveness, but places the Union under unprecedented pressure and leads to internal division. We need more leadership and coordination, not a restriction of the national veto right of small Member States. The veto protects the ver

NLSpeech

The impact of the implementation of the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive 2014/89/EU on fisheries in selected fishing areas and sea basins (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, maritime spatial planning must not become a maritime spatial exclusion for our fishermen. The current framework does not strike a fair balance. Traditional fishing grounds are being lost to wind farms. At the same time, dead porpoises and cetaceans wash up. Deaf through the mooring for offshore wind farms they die in shallow waters. Seabirds lose their habit

NLSpeech

The need to combat antisemitism and protect Jewish life in Europe, following the recent attacks against the Jewish community in the Netherlands and Belgium (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, a year and a half ago I asked for an urgent debate on the anti-Semitic riots and the Jewish hunt in Amsterdam. Europe was silent. Today we are here again. Explosions at synagogues and Jewish schools in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Liège. In France, 57% of anti-religious attacks are directed against Jews, which make up less than 1% of the population. Tw

NLSpeech

EU strategy in response to the ongoing Middle East crisis, its implications on energy prices and the availability of fertilizers (joint debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, while the war in Iran is causing energy prices to explode and artificial fertilizers to stop, our farmers are standing empty-handed on the fields and ships are standing still. What does Mrs. von der Leyen do? She only talks about transition, about stopping fossil fuels and about subsidized windmills that will only run in ten years. This is not a policy, not a solution.

NLSpeech

Interim report on the proposal for the multiannual financial framework for 2028-2034 (debate)

Mr President, this multi-annual budget evokes mixed feelings: a 10% growth and the call for new EU taxes are extremely difficult for the Netherlands, as the largest net contributor, to digest. The Coronavirus Recovery Fund was inefficient and caused a debt burden of almost one-tenth of the EU budget. That's not an example, that's a warning. National powers such as abortion are not an EU competence

NLSpeech

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 19 March 2026 (debate)

Mr President, fuel and energy prices are exploding. Our fishermen and farmers stand with their backs against the wall. The EU needs to do more and fast. But especially the Dutch minority cabinet is failing completely. While other countries do take support measures for their fishing fleet and companies, The Hague opts for silence, waiting. The European Commission must now ensure that th

NLSpeech

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 19 March 2026 (debate)

Yes, that is bizarre, because the previous cabinet did not sit during the biggest energy crisis ever for which Shell and the International Energy Agency warn. They are indeed asking for targeted measures and those targeted measures are not taking place. The fishing fleet in the Netherlands is on the side, ashore. So come up with targeted measures. I am not talking about specific generic measu

NLQuestion

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 19 March 2026 (debate)

Mr. Gerbrandy, it's actually bizarre. You are talking about European action here, but your cabinet is on its hands. There is no action in this crisis. Helping fishermen, households and businesses in a targeted way: it's not going to happen. What's causing that? There is a threat of an uneven playing field in the European Union, and that is due to the delay, the waiting of your own governmen

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