What Dragoş spoke about.

Mr President, Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, the Belgian Presidency, dear colleagues, dear citizens, the European Union is working in your interest, in the interest of protecting your rights, working conditions, in the interest of children, young people, all those who are in a situation of vulnerability, and for five years we have been working on this here in the European Parliament. We are working

Mr President, Commissioner McGuinness, dear colleagues, did you know that every month every Romanian citizen, every citizen of the European Union loses at least EUR 150 because of money laundering? The amount may seem small for those who have high incomes, but for those who are in vulnerability it is an enormous amount. What would it be like to channel this money into healthcare, education and inf

Mr President, the European Semester is the legacy of the lessons learned after the 2008 economic crisis, when the Union understood that better coordination at European level of the economic and social policies of the Member States is needed if we really want all countries to be ready to overcome the imminent dangers. We are discussing together economically and socially, not separately, this is ver

Mr President, dear Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis, dear Valdis, dear Commissioner Schmit, dear Nicolas, dear Minister, as we move towards a renewed Parliament and Commission, we must think about the legacy that we leave to our colleagues. The European Semester is a cornerstone of what the European Union does good for citizens. It monitors the progress of the Member States and issues recommen

Mr President, Commissioner Schmit, dear colleagues, today we are discussing a topic that affects the future of millions of young people in the European Union: Quality internships, decently paid. In the European Union, for 3.7 million young people, internship is the first step in their careers. Four out of five young people have experienced an internship, but things are not so rosy. Young people of

Madam President, whether or not you have talent or skills, the crisis tastes the same. What crisis? The job crisis. How many of you, who are watching these debates, have left the country or want to go to another country because you can no longer afford a daily basket from the supermarket? This is what is happening in Romania. Almost 50,000 Romanians left Romania for good in 2022 to work in another

Madam President, dear Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, the Public Procurement Directive has the potential to promote fair competition and inclusive labour markets, and it should do that. It could also be an essential instrument for increasing collective bargaining coverage in accordance with the Minimum Wage Directive. However, evidence shows that public authorities face legal challenges and uncertain

Madam President, Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, dear colleagues, the question is how to ensure that labour mobility within the European Union is effective, while guaranteeing respect for workers' rights and a healthy competitive environment. The European Labour Authority (ELA) was set up for this very purpose. In an extremely short time, with excellent management, it became functional, taking over i

Madam President, money from my mother or father – it is up to them that 76% of students in Romania can live in the city where they study. 76% of students in Romania will pay their rent with money from their parents. Only 32% can pay their costs from their own salaries and 8% from scholarships. I can't help but wonder: If a young man is from a village in Romania with a low income level, who wants t

Mr President, Commissioner, we are discussing the right to disconnect from working life, and I am proud to be part of this legislature alongside my colleagues, such as Agius Saliba, and we have been able to put something on the table, which is very important. If we think about how many hours we spend with our loved ones, how many hours Romanians or European citizens generally spend with their fami

Madam President, Vice-President Šefčovič, how much does bureaucracy cost us? At European level, each administrative procedure requires a large company to take out of its pocket 1 euro per employee, an average company 4 euro per employee and a small company 10 euro per employee. It is therefore no wonder that administrative burden is the main problem of more than half of SMEs at European level. Bur

Madam President, dear Vice-President Šuica, dear colleagues, a child living in poverty is a catastrophe – clearly for their family, but also for society at large. Today, we are talking about how the EU is taking care of our children. Are we taking care of our children well in Europe, respecting their rights and providing access and opportunities? The answer is ‘no’. Today’s debate is not a theoret

Madam President, dear Commissioner Thierry Breton, Secretary of State Navarro Ríos, the world of work is rapidly changing as a result of technological progress and digital transition. The development of artificial intelligence and of different forms of work have many benefits, but we have to treat them carefully, because they come up with other challenges for the future. We have seen that we alrea

Mr President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, we are currently living in a context of multiple crises, which has exacerbated the cost of living for millions of Europeans, and it’s pushing the most vulnerable into poverty. What is deeply concerning is that in light of this dire situation, the Council appears to disregard the urgent calls for revising the Multiannual Financial Framework and, in

Madam President, Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, dear colleagues, today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and yes, today we must reiterate our commitment to make this situation change, to stop leaving people in poverty. Poverty feeds extremism. We all know that. It is not by chance that today we have a wave of this extremist current in Europe. This comes because of the polarizat

Madam President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, today’s discussions have highlighted the fact that the agreement reached represents a significant step forward in achieving upward social convergence. I am confident that this achievement will be supported by a broad majority of this House. This will be a victory of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee. This will be a victory of the Europ

Mr President, Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, dear colleagues, today I present the work of our rapporteur, Véronique Trillet-Lenoir, who sadly passed away while working tirelessly to make the revision of the Asbestos at Work Directive a major step towards the achievement of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and to ensure that the Green Deal would not be done at the expense of workers’ health. What a champ

Madam President, colleagues, the increasingly frequent and larger fires and natural disasters, the landslides and floods show us that in the very close future, our planet is either drowning or boiling. And this summer, our planet has experienced its hottest three-month period on record. At the beginning of June, on the other side of the ocean, in Canada, an area 12 times greater than the average o

Mr President, Commissioner, small businesses, small entrepreneurs are the engine of the European economy. Today, the European Union decides to meet the expectations of over 24 million European small and medium-sized enterprises to encourage economic development. The European Commission is proposing tax and administrative simplification for SMEs, cutting red tape, access to finance for investment a

Mr President, indeed it is late in the evening. We don’t have, unfortunately, someone from the Council side for a topic that is indeed a question for oral answer to the Council and the Commission. Indeed, it is late in the evening and that was the schedule. But the topic that we are discussing right now is a crucial topic. Social dialogue is a fundamental part of the European social model. It is n

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, dear colleagues, the recent years and the multiple crises that we went through have taught us important lessons. COVID has forced us to explore opportunities in difficult times. And we’ve learned that investing in the resilience of our health and social protection systems means, in practice, investing in people, especially in the most vulnerable ones. The rene

Madam President, Commissioner, Swedish Presidency, I think that when we talk about the European Year of Skills, we need to talk about the professionalisation of the workforce, about harnessing talent, about local education ecosystems, about helping young people find a job, about digital skills and how we have retraining programmes, including among the elderly, about adaptation. This is the future

Mr President, Commissioner Hahn, ladies and gentlemen, the 2024 budget must build a stable Europe in which we respond to people's concerns, aggravated by inflation and the fear of war on our border. The discussion of solutions cannot take place without further investment in two strategic directions. Firstly, we are in the European Year of Skills: improving employment opportunities. We don't just n

Mr President, Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, thank you very much for your presence and your answers. The European Year of Youth was highly anticipated by all young people on this continent and it was an initiative through which we wanted to listen to the voice of young people and involve them in European decisions. We must ask ourselves if we have lived up to their expectations. Looking at many Memb

Mr President, Commissioner, some of the European citizens, including my fellow citizens in Romania, are worried about the reforms needed to fight climate change, and we must understand these fears and make it clear to them that they will not be abandoned in this process that is so important for our health, so that we can let our children, future generations, enjoy nature and all its benefits. By 2