What Margarida spoke about.

The debate on the State of the Union, established at a good time, cannot be just a ritual. It has to represent political commitment. That is what we expect from the President of the European Commission. Commitment to strengthen the EU’s geopolitical capacity. And the challenges are there. First of all, in the Middle East, where the situation in Afghanistan has created new demands. And while geopol

Mr President, Secretary of State, Commissioner, twenty years after the 2004 enlargement, there is a clear trend: there is convergence between Member States, but in convergence between regions there is still a long way to go. Even today, convergence is less consistent when comparing rural and metropolitan regions. We know that the different population density and wealth generated in one or the othe

Mr President, Commissioner, I would like to begin by thanking and congratulating my colleague Jonás Fernández on this report and, above all, on the speeches we have now heard here in the last speeches, on the progress we have made on Banking Union. Is that all we wanted? It was not, but we managed to have and resolve and move forward on some pillars when it comes to the Banking Union. But the comp

Mr President, Commissioner, about a month ago, in this Chamber, as a member of the Committee on Budgets, I strongly opposed the use of an urgent procedure to make EUR 150 million available to Tunisia. We were surprised. In March this year, the process is repeated, now with Egypt, in the amount of EUR 7.4 million. Loans, investments and aid for migration-related programmes. All this without this Pa

Mr President, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, I have already said that the agreement we are voting on today will represent a new chapter in the economic governance of the European Union. More fiscal space for investment, more flexibility for Member States to smooth their fiscal adjustments. And we have, for the first time, a real social dimension. We can indeed talk about economic and social

Madam President, Commissioners, the reform of the European Union's economic governance rules was one of the main priorities of this mandate. We can say here today that we have fulfilled. It has complied with the European Commission, it has complied with the Council, it has complied with Parliament. The role of the European Parliament was decisive. Many believed that reforming the EU's current fisc

Madam President, Commissioner, the use of cohesion policy in response to the crises that have followed and as a stabiliser in economic downturns has been decisive in protecting citizens, families, businesses and regions. I congratulate the Commissioner on the way she has managed flexibility, but this policy is also decisive in ensuring a balanced recovery by reducing the widening of asymmetries. B

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the European Union's annual budget is the instrument for financing European ambition. The annual budget debate is the time to put people at the heart of European political decision-making, to make a real and tangible difference in the lives of Europeans by ensuring that there is adequate funding for European political priorities, that we support ci

Mr President, Minister, Commissioners, in 2024 the European Semester will be a year of transition between the current and the new rules of economic governance. That is why we must prepare for the future, and the future requires the creation of a permanent investment instrument at European Union level, as we argued in the opinion of the Committee on Budgets. We want this permanent instrument to sup

Mr President, Council, Commission, today the European Parliament has decided to take a break from its work, from its powers. We have zero tolerance for corruption. We are for absolute transparency, for collaboration with justice, for non-obstruction. We are in favour of the rule of law, the principle of the presumption of innocence and the fact that investigations and trials take place in the cour

Madam President, Commissioner, in June 2023 we were surprised when President Von der Leyen went to Tunisia to propose an agreement: €700 million to curb irregular migration and support investment in five pillars. An agreement in which no guarantee was required from the Tunisian government, a country where democracy and the rule of law have been emptied, where there is no trade union freedom or fre

Mr President, Madam Minister, Mr Vice-President, I would like to begin by congratulating the European Council on inviting António Guterres to the next meeting. A geopolitical European Union means being able to act for peace, progress and multilateralism. This is what is required of the European Union in the Middle East. The European Union cannot remain silent. Humanitarian aid, UNWRA funding, no d

Mr President, Commissioner, Ambassador, colleagues, I would like to highlight two fundamental chapters on which the Socialists and Democrats and the European Parliament have fought. The EU-Chile Agreement, a key partner of the European Union, is a progressive agreement and includes two key chapters: One, Trade and Sustainable Development, which includes legally binding commitments on environmental

Madam President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, what has been agreed is not really great for us to have the results that the citizens expect of us. We know that the trust of the European Union comes with results and, we have repeated several times in this House, the funding of the European Union, of policies, of European priorities, must be consistent with the political ambit

Mr President, Commission, Council, I would like to begin by expressing my satisfaction at this revision of the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework. This is the first time that there has been a genuine revision of the multiannual budget. Parliament requested it in December 2022, the Commission presented it in June 2023. An understanding was reached allowing the European Parliament to give its

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I congratulate the Presidency on the agreement on the revision of the multiannual budget of the European Union and on the agreement to set up a Ukraine Facility within the European Union budget. It is the only way to respect the powers of the European Parliament, the unity of the budget, transparency and democracy. But, Commission, Council, we need explanatio

Mr President, Madam Minister, Commissioner Gentiloni, in December Parliament reached a comprehensive agreement on the reform of economic governance that we are going to vote on today. It is balanced, progressive and has a strong social dimension. Thank you, Esther de Lange. Thank you, shadow rapporteurs. We propose flexibility, more time for debt reduction. We reject new deficit targets. We reject

Mr President, Madam Vice-President, I wish the Council well for the revision of the multiannual financial framework, for its urgency and political relevance. We know Orbán's veto, we know the 26th deal. Dear Minister, Orbán's veto is unacceptable. The new proposal that Orbán puts on the table does not serve. We cannot, year after year, be revising the MFF. Yes, because that is what the proposal le

Madam President, Prime Minister, Commission, ladies and gentlemen, I enjoyed hearing the Prime Minister's interview in which he said that new resources needed to enter the budget of the European Union – new resources and new own resources. I would therefore like to know – while knowing that the Belgian Presidency has a short period of time in decision-making – to what extent the Presidency is open

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, EU-China relations must continue to be guided by the principles of cooperating whenever possible, competing when essential, confronting when necessary. We must continue to demand a trade and investment relationship based on reciprocity and fairness, with economic diplomacy that contributes to promoting fair and equitable conditions of access t

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, several risks have been identified for the economic security of the European Union: the resilience of value chains, security of critical infrastructure, technological security or dependency and economic coercion. Just to mention a few examples, but all of them critical. Having identified the risks, we need to act at European level, but also at national level. We

Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, the good news: we have a budget for 2024. The bad news: There are many! We have a reduced budget, a budget made at the expense of reducing the burden on the Recovery and Resilience Fund in 2023. NextGenerationEU, and redeployments from the ITER programme for energy and the Frontex mechanism. Therefore, a limited ability to respond

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, as rapporteur for the ECON Committee I would like to begin by stressing that the vast majority of the proposals of the Conference on the Future of Europe for the economic area can be implemented within the framework of the current treaties. The current treaties should continue to be explored in their entirety for as long as this or any future treaty review exerc

Madam President, Commissioner, the repayment of NextGenerationEU and the enlargements of the European Union are not for tomorrow, but they are major and urgent challenges for the European Union, both of which have enormous implications for the European Union budget. To repay NextGenerationEU, there is an inter-institutional commitment to mobilise new own resources, with a well-defined timeline, al

Madam President, Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, of the European Commission's 2024 work programme, which has now been presented, I would like to highlight three points. On budgetary matters, the revision of the MFF. The Commission’s political strategy until the elections includes continued support to Ukraine, with the approval of the Ukraine Facility. This requires a revision of the MFF. Pro