What Thomas spoke about.

Mr President, I think the Commissioner can feel and see one thing here. This decision is seen as disrespectful to the majority of Europeans that want to end fur farming. This decision is seen as disrespectful to the people that were collecting 1.5 million signatures, and everyone who signed to express their will to end fur farming. This decision is discrediting us in the European Union, and it is

Madam President, Madam Commissioner, just to wrap up, we, the European Union, are the ones defending international law. We are the ones respecting international law. It is exactly this international law that Russia disregards, that Russia attacks, just as it attacks Ukraine still, after four years of war. We, the European Union, stand with an independent Ukraine. We are supporting them – with mone

Mr President, Madam Commissioner, water is essential for our life. We need it to drink. We need it to cook. We need it to water our gardens. We need it to wash. Our farmers need it. Industry needs it. Our wildfire fighters need it. And, unfortunately, we have more and more droughts. We have more and more heatwaves. We have more and more areas of the European Union that fall dry in summer, where dr

Mr President, Commissioner, an apple a day keeps the doctor away: this is what we're telling our children every day. And actually, vegetables and fruits should be a healthy choice. But unfortunately, more and more residues and PFAS are found on vegetables and fruits. In fact, we are using these substances in agriculture with pesticides, and we are contaminating not just our children, but our whole

Madam President, Mrs van Leeuwen, as you rightly said, across Europe, crops have dried up, animals have had to be slaughtered as a matter of urgency because there was simply no food left, and our forests have burned down. Thousands of farmers are affected by the consequences of the climate crisis. Do you agree with me that we must use our tax money above all to support European farmers in adapting

Mr President, Commissioner! And thank you to all the colleagues who found their way to the plenary during this last debate on the last day before the summer break here in Strasbourg. We are discussing one topic - wool. It can be said, yes, how detailed we want to address the issues here now, but wool is a central issue that has many implications for our agriculture. Farmers in disadvantaged areas

Mr President, Taoiseach, Commissioner, first of all, thank you for your preparation already towards this presidency. I see you are very active already in preparing and your people are around also talking to many of us. I have three wishes to you to send in your direction. Ireland is hosting family farming and Ireland is hosting relatively small and medium-sized farming. We are negotiating the comm

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, investing into reconciliation and investing into good bilateral relations is not an easy task. My very own country, Austria, needed 40 years to admit that we were co‑perpetrators of the Nazi regime and it took us many, many years to invest into good neighbourly relations, to rebuild our relations to our neighbours. This was not an easy exercise because th

Mr President, Commissioner, for hundreds of years the whole region has been the playground of foreign powers and, unfortunately, it is still again the playground of foreign powers. We have to acknowledge that that region was always part of Europe culturally, historically and economically. Yes, in the 90s there was a missed opportunity on turning the countries towards the European Union, as other E

Mr President, Commissioner, every proposal to reduce our dependency on fossil fuel is welcome, but we cannot overlook realities. In a post‑fossil bioeconomy we need biogenic CO2 chains to produce plastic, to produce clothes, to produce chemicals. And the bad news is, the amount of biomass is limited. This is just a matter of fact. In the moment when we talk about edible goods, to use edible goods

Madam President, Commissioner! After Lukashenka's brutal crackdown on the democracy movement in Belarus, we debated here and stated: Oh, we depend on fertiliser imports. We have debated, we have adopted resolutions; Not much has happened. After Putin's invasion of Ukraine, this illegal and war criminal war, we have stated: Oh, the gas we use to produce artificial fertilisers ourselves is being use

This is an excellent example of fake news. The Greens are standing up for a sustainable forestry, for forestry that does not destroy the soil, that is sustainably providing us and is resilient in times of climate crisis. And sorry colleague, you are very much advocating for the monoculture strategies of the past. Sorry to say, to produce grains with artificial fertilisers, with pesticides, with tr

Mr President, Commissioner, good morning, colleagues, we are once again in a fossil crisis. We once again realise that we are dependent on crazy, theocratic mullahs. We once again realise that we are dependent on a Russian war criminal. And we also realise that we are dependent on our former US friends that are unfortunately unreliable, and that have co-caused the crisis of today. So good morning,

Mr President, Commissioner Kos, more than ever, it is time for European nations to stand together. If we want to defend our European way of life, if we want to defend our rule‑based order, this is what we have got to do: stand together. And there's more understanding for that than I have ever experienced. What is the common interest and what is the actual strength of the European Union? Yes, it's

Mr President, we have the Rule that there are no political banners allowed in front of plenary or inside of plenary. This Rule counts for everyone, no matter what political opinion you have, and the ushers have confiscated the banner. Please, Mr President, respect our Rules. It's not a question of political opinion. This Rule counts for everyone here in the House. So just don't say, 'Well, this is

Mr President, Commissioner Kos, yes, clearly, we also welcome the accession of Montenegro and Albania to the Hague Judgments Convention. It is a welcome step. Let me take the example of Montenegro in following up on developing a proper rule-of-law state: good cooperation with Eurojust, good cooperation with Europol, court of auditors functional, special prosecutors can work. They have proven this

Madam President, there are more than 28 000 people currently waiting on death row, so this is not just a few single cases – and these are just the ones we know about. Is a death penalty a punishment? No, it's pure revenge. How shall I explain to my children and grandchildren that physical violence is never a solution and killing a fellow human being is unacceptable for everyone, whoever it is, whe

Madam President, President of the Council, Commissioners, Europe needs to grow up now. We need to stand firm for our values on the global scene. We need to stand firm for human rights. We need to stand firm for democracy. It is going to be your role as the Cypriot Presidency to organise this greater unity that we see now upcoming in the European Union. It is also your role to portray the European

Madam President, It has not been mentioned here yet, but there is a simplification for organic farms. Organic farms will in future be regarded as holdings that automatically comply with all environmental rules of the European Union. Yes, of course, because organic farms follow rules that are much stricter. And these are the best controlled foods we have on the market. And we don't have to repeat t

Mr President, Commissioner! We still lose 800 farms every day in the European Union. And I would like to express my thanks for Commissioner Hansen's proposal to massively simplify the reporting requirements for agriculture under ten hectares and also to expand the possibilities of paying lump-sum payments here. This will support our small-scale agriculture. I would also like to express my gratitud

Madam President, Madam Commissioner, I want to turn to the Serbian people. If you want a future for your children, and if you want to have a proper income, if you want to have functional institutions and good healthcare, if you want to have an independent justice system and serious and fair elections, please realise that you have to overcome your current authoritarian rulers. No matter if you want

Madam President, Commissioner! Drought, extreme heat, floods and then hail – this is the reality that our farmers are currently working with outside. They are the first to be affected by the effects of the climate crisis and species loss, coupled with unfair prices, with prices often below production costs, with a preponderance of supermarkets. This generates 800 farms every day that close in the

Madam President, Commissioner, thank you, colleagues, for your contributions. Just to make one thing clear, this is a report of the European Parliament on the state of accession of an accession country called North Macedonia. This is what it should talk about and this is what we tried, together with my shadow rapporteurs, to portray in this report, with the good and the needed reforms, with the pr

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, North Macedonia is a fantastic country north of Greece, south of our wonderful Strasbourg here. North Macedonia is a country that came through the Balkan wars of the 90s without massive outbreaks of violence. Even though this country is a very diverse country that is constituted of different peoples, different ethnicities and different religions, still th