What Kris spoke about.

I have two invitations for all of you. Next week, on 13 October, mayors of European municipalities and local authorities dealing with the nuclear industry – both nuclear power plants and waste storage – will come to our European Parliament to testify how they are doing this. You are also welcome in my municipality, where we temporarily and permanently store Belgian nuclear waste and even low-level

President, President von der Leyen was very clear in her State of the Union address. Nuclear energy is clean energy. And you, Commissioner, joined her earlier. The European curve on nuclear energy has finally started, but it has not yet been fully taken, because the concrete European policy is still a bit behind it. Therefore, three calls today: Firstly, open up European funds to nuclear energy. T

Mr President, economic growth: this is the EU’s priority to perpetuate prosperity and well-being. SMEs are crucial for this, but unclear rules and different implementations make it impossible for them to reap the benefits of a single market. In smaller Member States and Länder it is often even more drastic: businesses in a small economy have less room to cope with additional administrative burdens

Mr President, Commissioner, this modernised agreement with Mexico comes at a crucial time, for various reasons. On the geopolitical front, we are strengthening our position in Latin America and building a reliable partnership in a region where other players are also trying to increase their influence. In economic terms, this agreement also opens up new opportunities for our companies, including th

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, yes, the EU must decarbonise, but please do not let it become deindustrialisation, with sectors and jobs disappearing. I advocate a certain sense of reality. The world has changed, the geopolitical context has changed. Talk to our companies and you'll hear the signals. I am thinking of Russia's war of aggression, which has increased energy prices.

Mr President, Commissioner, European steel is not just a raw material. It is the backbone of our European industry. If we lose our steel industry, we lose control of our future. The new protective measures are therefore an important step to counter unfair competition, often from China, which is undermining our industry through dumping and massive state aid. This is only a first step for us. The en

Mr President, regulatory burdens and inconsistent, overlapping regulations lead to legal uncertainty, which makes it particularly difficult for our companies. And that's not good. Take now the mass of delegated and implementing acts fired at our companies and referred to in the report. Thank you, Mr Žalimas! The Treaty makes it clear that delegated acts can only supplement or amend non-essential e

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I think my statement was very clear. One internal market, one internal capital market, one energy market and, where necessary, other ways of working together. Because together we must stand strong in a geopolitical world where we would otherwise be supplanted among other imperial forces. So yes, we need to be strong together.

Mr President, Minister, Commissioner, today we are talking about a single European internal market. But is it there? What is an internal market without a single capital market? Without a single energy market? Our entrepreneurs experience 27 different markets every day. We can only regain strength in these geopolitical, turbulent times if all obstacles to a single internal market are removed. I am

Mr President, social dumping and unfair competition are a real scourge, because people, companies, but also our internal market suffer greatly. After all, our internal market is built on mutual trust. Free movement of people and services can only exist if we take each other seriously in our rules and our enforcement. That is why, tonight, I would also like to call for the mutual recognition of pro

Mr President, High Representative, next week's EU-India summit offers a historic opportunity to reach a trade agreement after 18 years of negotiations. An agreement with India would be extremely important in these turbulent geopolitical times, given what Trump has said today, and from an economic point of view. The potential for cooperation with this huge country is largely underexploited. An ambi

Mr President, what began in Iran as a protest out of economic despair has become a national resistance to decades of oppression. Today, this resistance is on the streets. The regime reacts with bullets and with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which we should have designated as a terrorist organization much earlier. The regime reacts with silence and shuts down all communication and the inte

Mr President, Commissioner, at this very late hour, I would like to bring one more thing to your attention. The Draghi report is very clear: Europe needs to make informed strategic choices in the sectors and value chains that determine our competitiveness and autonomy. Semiconductors and biotechnology are very important, but not enough. Circularity and real energy autonomy, including nuclear energ

Let China sleep, because when China wakes up, the whole world will tremble. Commissioner, Napoleon Bonaparte taught us this more than 200 years ago, but with the help of the West, China has become a giant that is now using its dominant position to put pressure on our economy and our industry through export restrictions on critical raw materials and technologies. I am not calling for the decoupling

Mr President, the completion of our European single market is absolutely crucial for growth and strategic resilience. Due to insufficient integration in areas such as digital services, energy and capital, the EU remains overly dependent on external actors. The cost of the fragmented internal market is also too high. We are talking about the trade deal with the United States, but the IMF calculated

Mr President, several large petrochemical companies have recently announced closures, investment breaks and layoffs in Europe. I've been hearing big words and combative speeches for quite some time now. Words, words, words, but concrete European actions are not forthcoming. Or worse: EU rules frustrate the business case of new investments. Take the example of chemical recycling where plastic waste

Mr President, Commissioner, today our policy is still going too far wrong. I regret that. Firstly, we need to realise that a transition that is necessary is not going to happen from today to tomorrow. Copenhagen was not built in one day. But don’t let ‘best’ stand in the way of ‘better’. Fnuik, for example, the business case for blue hydrogen not through restrictive regulation that only embraces g

Mr President, Commissioner, I am pleased that there is a realisation that investment in research and innovation is an absolute necessity for our competitiveness. I am also proud that Flanders is a frontrunner in this and even expresses the ambition to evolve from 3.5% to 5% of GDP. The average in the European Union is now around 2.2%, which is far from sufficient. Our productivity suffers. In this

Mr President, the announcement by the US President about the new trade tariffs has undeniably caused a major shockwave worldwide, including here in the EU. In a short period of time, we have moved from a rules-based trade policy to a trade policy based on power and shamelessly used as a means of pressure. I call on the Commission, above all, to keep a cool head and to negotiate constructively and