What Dorien spoke about.

Mr President, Commissioner, every year there is a great deal of progress being reported on the Balkan countries, but there is no question of accession. How could that be? We have standards, the Copenhagen criteria, but we do not have clear standards. And so the Balkan countries remain in the waiting room. Should the Balkan countries all score tens on all components or should there also be insuffic

Mr President, I would like to talk about the RRF tonight. It is a bag of money looking for a destination — 750 billion. Immediately at the start of the recovery and resilience plan, I warned that this could go completely wrong. And I wasn't the only one. The Court of Auditors also warned. A $600 million fraud case has already been uncovered. That's faster than I even expected. And the Court of Aud

Mr President, thank you very much, Mr Engerer, because your point is exactly what I wanted to make. Human smuggling is human smuggling and no matter why you do it, it's booming business and it's criminal. Whether it's about smuggling refugees, smuggling for adoption or prostitution or forced marriages, criminals make millions and that's wrong. A crossing of the Mediterranean Sea costs an average o

Mr President, thank you for your explanation. I am adjusting my speech a bit to that, because this report is of course based on 2021 figures. I understand that a lot is already happening to improve the situation. Although I also consider that Ms In ’t Veld, who has been around for years, has had bad experiences with the situation as it is. The Commission must therefore come a long way. I hope this

I take the difficult question. I have implemented this type of legislation myself. You have unjustly roared Mr. Hoogeveen and barked a little from the height. You thought he gave the wrong answer. He didn't. Because what should you do with the Corporate Due Diligence Directive? You need to implement risk assessments. You have to monitor. Yes, you have to. This means that you have to do a very larg

Mr President, let me start by saying that I am not at all sorry that the European directive on corporate due diligence is on hold. They woke up happily in Germany, France and Italy. This law is costly and causes a lot of extra administration and legal uncertainty, while it is very questionable whether the human rights situation or the climate is improving. Often the pressure and all the extra work

Madam President, Commissioner, is this climate risk assessment report a call to action? First, let me say I’m happy that the EU made a small beginning with a risk assessment. But I’m worried about all the essential elements that are missing. This is a risk identification report rather than a risk assessment. It’s very high-level, very top-down, like the way the EU is organised. It is far too gener

Mr President, why are more than 50,000 people homeless in the Netherlands? There are too few affordable homes. It's as simple as that. In the Netherlands, homelessness is a problem of care. For the homeless, shelter is often long-term shelter and no one has ever improved from long-term shelter. What is the solution? Affordable housing for all – not just the homeless – and specific measures. In the

Mr President, political prisoners in Evin Prison in Iran are on hunger strike against the death penalty every Tuesday. They hear our message from the European Parliament. What is this message? The regime in Iran constantly violates human rights and democracy, and the Iranian people have the right to seek change through any legitimate form of resistance. The EU need to support this resistance. How?

Mr President, ‘you may have a pistol, but I have a bazooka.’ Is this a line of a Western movie? No, it’s from an article in the Financial Times about the EU plans to undermine the Hungarian economy for political purposes. ‘The EU will sabotage Hungary’s economy if Budapest blocks fresh aid to Ukraine. In a document drawn up by EU officials and seen by the Financial Times, Brussels has outlined a s

Mr President, today we are discussing the report of the Ombudsman's annual report. Let me start by congratulating the Ombudsman, Mrs Emily O’Reilly, on her fine report. It provides a concise and clear overview of how and with what results the Ombudsman operated in 2022. It is result-oriented and based on trust, as she herself puts it so clearly. In particular, I appreciate its commitment to digita

Mr President, what a thrill. A year after Qatargate, we still don't know what happened. Is there corruption? We don't know. The investigation has not been completed and the facts are lost. The European Parliament's response to this scandal is typical of its way of operating. Without knowing the facts and understanding the matter, the European Parliament has taken action. A vice-president has been

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the ECB’s interest rate and monetary policy cuts have led to inflation and an unprecedented rise in house prices in the EU. This mainly affects start-ups, i.e. young people. For many people, buying a home is the beginning of a financially secure future. The fact that this is now out of reach of many young people is also a threat to the stability and future of Eu

Mr President, this is the second time that I have called attention in the European Parliament to the surcharge scandal in the Netherlands. In the event of a suspected fraud, tens of thousands of parents were labelled and registered as fraudsters without the intervention of the court. The parents affected by the derailed detection device lost their jobs, their homes, their businesses. Thousands of

Madam President, the message we have to focus on today is that the Iranian regime is the undeniable epicentre of regional instability and chaos. It is known that the head of the snake lies in Tehran, and we must cut ties with the mullahs in Iran. With the current crisis happening in the Middle East, the one benefiting and sowing this chaos is sitting in Tehran. While the people of Iran are demandi

Mr President, Commissioner, rapporteur, thank you for this good proposal. Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, in the European Union we have a set of directives and regulations that support our digital economy. Full harmonisation, pre-contractual information, the right of dissolution and digital justice are all crucial aspects and are well addressed here. Fortunately, we have been able to adjust a n

Mr President, Commissioner, Mr Tang, may I congratulate you? This is a good proposal. There have always been green bonds. At least for as long as I've worked in the financial industry. It is very good that we now have a quality mark, so that everyone knows what they are buying and so that companies and parties who want to get money from the market know where they stand. If the flag covers the load

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I am here to draw attention to a long-standing conflict that is still far from being resolved: the Kosovo-Serbia conflict. A conflict that has lasted too long and confronts us with the need for dialogue, understanding and respect for sovereignty. In the heart of Europe, two decades after the end of the violent conflict, the wounds are still not healed. The time

(NL) Mr President, women in Ukraine are suffering from the senseless war that Putin has started, which I must first say from the heart. I hope for rapid peace negotiations so that more pointless bloodshed can be prevented. I wanted to start with that first. Now I start with my story. Now we are talking about the position of women in transport, as travellers, as employees or as managers. This posit

Mr President, as soon as there is a problem somewhere that politicians interfere with, huppakee, another bucket of rules is coming. But this is not a problem of a lack of rules. This is a lack of enforcement. In the eyes of ordinary people, the European Parliament is a corrupt organisation with corrupt parliamentarians. And that's because some MPs are just corrupt too. And that is extremely annoyi

Mr President, dear Commissioner, the EU is the birthplace of democracy, and democracy only functions well if there is trust. Transparency is the cornerstone of trust. That is why I would like to thank the rapporteur, Ms Incir, because her report is very important. Why is it so difficult to operate in a transparent way? The key factor is organisation. If you organise your work, there is less need t

Mr President, Mr Reynders, Mrs Roswall, a stable Europe has the future and that is why I am calling for more investment in digital infrastructure, high-speed lines and energy transport systems, because infrastructure is the engine of the economy. Provide sufficient capital, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. It must pay to work, save and invest. Reduce the tax and regulatory burden

Mr President, I would like to draw your attention to the following: Last Wednesday, 31 May, victims of the Dutch government demonstrated before Parliament in Brussels. They wanted an investigation into the pay-as-you-go affair. More than 30 000 parents who were found to have an error in applying for a grant in a complex system were wrongly dismissed as fraudsters. Attention has already been drawn

Madam President, I thank Ms Vestager. And thank you, Mr Novakov, for bringing to our attention the challenges of large transport infrastructure projects in the EU. Mr Novakov asked the Commission to focus on results like cross-border projects for connectivity and economic growth in Europe. He asked the Commission to avoid risks like double funding due to lack of coordination between the EU instrum

Mr President, Commissioner, Europe needs more direct democracy. Or, Democracy is the heart of Europe. It is the best of all forms of government. It is the basis of a peaceful society. Democracy is under pressure worldwide. Also here in Europe. The main threat does not come from the right or the left. The main threat to democracy comes from vested interests. Because when you have the power, it's ha