What Li spoke about.

Mr President, lack of respect. Too many VET students have come to talk to me about it over the years. Although half of the age group chooses a vocational study path, their achievements and needs are overshadowed by others time and time again. And this phenomenon is not limited to Finland, but I have heard the same experiences in different parts of Europe. It is therefore most welcome that the EU i

Madam President, Putin is killing civilians. He's doing it in Ukraine, and he's doing it in the Black Sea, showing his complete disregard for the escalation risks of his war and the risks for global food security, as well as his lack of interest in any form of ceasefire or peace deal. But at this moment, I think we cannot speak about escalating Russian attacks without also mentioning the role of t

Mr President, so the energy crisis is here again, and we warned that this would be one of the consequences of Trump's illegal attack on Iran. Now Giorgia Meloni is pushing for new exemptions to the EU fiscal rules, asking the question of why defence investments get differential treatment, while energy crisis measures do not. It is a fair question, but she is a perfect example of how it is the same

Madam President, colleagues, this summer, Putin killed more civilians in Ukraine than at any point since the start of the full-scale war of aggression. Ukraine's air defence is weakened by the lack of surface-to-air missiles. And why? Because some EU Member States are unwilling to use their own supplies. Because Donald Trump – without any criticism or condemnation from the EU – has used the US sup

Madam President, dear colleagues, there is nothing – no data, no science – which says that we have the option of slowing down cutting emissions. Extreme heatwaves are killing people and destroying crops. Yet here we are, in Parliament, faced with several proposals to change the Emissions Trading System, which would mean slowing down the pace. That is unacceptable. The ETS is a market-based mechani

Madam President, missiles and drones are killing people in Kyiv every night at the moment. Putin has shown that he is a modern‑day fascist leader by trying to conquer Ukraine militarily, but also by attacking those in his own country who oppose his imperialist ideology and who do not fit into his patriarchal and heteronormative notion of the nation. It is not only our moral obligation, but also in

Mr President, deadly heatwaves, thunderstorms, flooding and rampant wildfires – this is the world that the wealthy and the powerful have created. These are the consequences of our fossil fuel‑based economies. This is human‑made climate change. And we must be honest – we are not prepared for this. Our buildings and our cities are not designed for this. Our agriculture, our nature cannot stand this.

Mr President, Mr Trump's illegal war in Iran has once again shown how Europe's dependence on fossil energy is an economic and social disaster. Fossil energy dependency is one of Europe's biggest competitiveness problems. Because of the war in Iran, we are now paying 20 billion more than normal for fossil energy in the EU, and it is this dependence on fossil fuels that drives up electricity and hea

Mr President, I do not know which option is worse: the fact that the Commission is actually trying to weaken workers' rights, even though it publicly claims the opposite, or the fact that the Commission does not intend to weaken workers' rights, but the level of drafting of the law is so weak that it still ends up doing so. President von der Leyen, you have said many times that the proposal for a

Mr President, a civil servant from a ministry in one Member State stated the problems with the MFF very clearly to me. He said: how are we going to defend social spending when it is all lumped together under the NRPPs? Are we going to ask the disabled, poor children and the elderly to take to the streets? This is why EMPL has called for a separate, stand‑alone ESF+ with dedicated funding. This is

Madam President, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is the only human rights convention that the EU itself has ratified, and I think it demonstrates a strong commitment to improving the rights of persons with disabilities. But this commitment also needs to be seen in action with new flagship initiatives and concrete proposals and, Commissioner, we are still waiting for those

Madam President, the root cause of the housing crisis is complete market failure. The problem is not a general lack of supply, but a shortage of not-for-profit, affordable housing that could balance out the negative effects of this profit-driven market. This point is exactly where this report – that mostly focuses on increasing market supply – falls short, and therefore it constitutes a huge misse

Mr President, the euro for women in Europe is 88 cents. In Finland it is only 84 cents. This indicates that equality does not progress on its own. It requires concrete action and it requires decisions. We know from history that no action for equality would have progressed if women had not dared to organize themselves, demand change, be difficult and stand up to opposition. Wage inequality

Mr President, labour exploitation is, at its worst, modern slavery. We have read many such examples in Finland time and time again: exploiting and exploiting Ukrainian refugees both at Turku Shipyard and at the construction site of Google's new data centre in Hamina, cooks working in Nepalese restaurants and Thai berry pickers. In almost all cases, long chains of subcontractors and various interme

Madam President, I come from Finland, a country where child poverty is on the rise. This is due to the Finnish Government's deliberate decisions to cut social benefits, especially social benefits for families, even though they knew it would mean over 30 000 more children living in poverty. What many Finns are wondering at the moment is what the role of these strategies and these targets is, if Mem

Mr President, the Commission has made a historic mistake in reducing the whole issue of European competitiveness to a deregulation agenda. While focusing on deregulation, the Commission has not addressed the main problems of European competitiveness. Where are the proposals for the major investments needed in Europe? Where are the ambitious measures to safeguard our digital sovereignty? Instead, t

Mr President, blackouts are a part of the everyday life of Ukrainians. In Kyiv, thousands of homes are without heating or water, while temperatures outside are even -20 degrees. This is a result of Putin's relentless, systematic and targeted attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, with the explicit purpose of freezing the Ukrainians into submission, breaking their resistance and forcing them t

Mr President, Executive Vice-President, dear colleagues, we are living in a time of uncertainty: geopolitical instability, the green and digital transitions, and deep demographic change are reshaping our societies and economies in unprecedented ways. This changing environment affects how we learn, how we work, how we live and, crucially, who benefits and who is left behind. Our labour markets, edu

Madam President, Commissioner, the financialisation of the housing market has been one of the key drivers of the housing crisis, and therefore it is also one of the key problems that must be addressed. We must regulate short-term rentals and we also need more financing instruments for non-profit housing. For a long time, Finland ensured that a sufficient share of all new rental flats were not-for-

Mr President, 'it could have been worse' – this is a phrase that I hear more and more now every time we talk about climate and environmental policies. But let's be honest: even if – and it's a big 'if' – all countries complete their current pledges, we would still be heading for a planet that is 2.5 degrees warmer. That means we are failing, big time. The COP in Belém failed to deliver clear, suff

Madam President, today’s debate is about human rights and the everyday lives of over 100 million people in the EU. One in four adults is estimated to have some kind of disability. Some disabilities are visible; some are not. Some people need daily assistance, while many need none. We are talking about a very diverse group with very different types of needs, but our task as decision-makers is to cr

Mr President, the loss of confidence is one of the most dangerous developments for democracy. According to the latest UN data, less than half of the world's population trusts their own government, and less than a third think they trust other people. At the same time, the confrontation based on strong emotions is intensified. That is why we need action to strengthen trust, both in Europe and elsewh

Mr President, who protects marine areas that are common to all? The seas cover more than 70% of the Earth, produce more than half of the oxygen we breathe, sequester vast amounts of carbon and produce food. Yet we have allowed them to decay. Therefore, the UN Convention for the Protection and Restoration of International Marine Regions is one of the most important environmental agreements in recen