What Manfred spoke about.

Madam President, President von der Leyen, President Costa, welcome to the European Parliament. First of all, I want to congratulate my colleagues for their re-election as group leaders. Valérie, Iratxe, Nico and Terry were already re-elected. The others will do so in the upcoming weeks. So congratulations for this. The re-election also means stability for this House – that we can count on the supp

Madam President, Commissioner, Mr Prime Minister, dear Luís, welcome in the European Parliament. Allow me also to send a great welcome to our former colleague, Paulo Rangel, as Foreign Minister, back home in the European Parliament. Great to see you, and welcome. Dear Luís, Mr Prime Minister, you represent today with your speech Portuguese and European leadership at its best: responsible with publ

Madam President of the European Parliament, Madam President of the Commission, Commissioners, Prime Minister Carney, it is great to have you here. Dear colleagues, we are facing a fundamental shift that hits Europe with three shocks. The first shock is a technological one. That's why I thank the Commission President for putting AI in the centre. Artificial intelligence: it fascinates, it scares an

Madam President, dear Commissioners, a very warm welcome to the Irish Presidency. Taoiseach Martin, welcome, together with your coalition partner, with Simon Harris, that you are here and also presenting the ideas for the future of Europe from an Irish point of view, having this huge responsibility now on your shoulders. I want to underline that you are setting the right priorities: competitivenes

Mr President, Commissioner, Council, dear friends in the European Parliament, first of all, let me pay respect to the Cypriot Presidency. What they have delivered in the last month under the leadership of Nikos Christodoulides and the team represented by you is remarkable. So thank you so much. You can be proud of this and Cyprus can be proud of this. Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, we are liv

Madam President, Commission, Council representative, dear colleagues, a lot is on our table. I wanted to highlight from an EPP point of view three issues from a content perspective. The first is that Europe needs urgently economic growth, and we know what to do. Simplification started already. Trade is on a good way. On investments, yesterday we agreed on a strong MFF for the future. But the key o

Madam President, It is urgent: The hut is burning in the European economy. We currently have deindustrialisation in the European Union, so this summit is coming at the right time. We need to get gas. If we look at the facts, we see that Apple today has a market value that is just as large as all German corporations have a market value together. In the area of artificial intelligence investments Th

Madam President, Madam President of the Commission, Mr President of the European Council, dear colleagues, beginning of 2026 and people observing what is going on in politics on geopolitical level when they listen to media, a lot of Europeans are concerned or probably even scared. We are living in a crazy world and basic questions are back. Basic questions have to be answered. The first basic ques

Madam President, Commissioner Tzitzikostas, President Christodoulides, dear Nikos, a very warm welcome here in the European Parliament. Good to have you among us. And welcome to the Cypriot Presidency of the Council. Cyprus is a key member of the European Union, with a great history. It was the starting point for Saint Paul bringing Christianity to Europe, and has long been Europe's gateway to the

Dear President Metsola! Dear President von der Leyen! Dear Representative of the Danish Presidency! Ladies and Gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, Dear colleagues! An important, historic week is ahead of us, and the first thing to say is the developments on Ukraine. I would like to demand that this European Council should not fail on the issue of financing Ukraine. It would be a historic failure if t

Madam President, Dear colleagues! When we look at Sydney, we see the brutal face of blind anti-Semitism. And that is why we stand with those who fight against this anti-Semitism. And, of course, we mourn the victims. As an EPP Group, we support the Greens/EFA compromise proposal, which will also be discussed in a plenary debate tomorrow. I speak because the second case that has been raised is Ding

Madam President, Commission, dear colleagues, Christians are the most prosecuted religious group in the world. In Nigeria, over 200 students were kidnapped from a Catholic school just days ago. In Pakistan, Christians live under constant threat from blasphemy laws. In North Korea, Christians are political enemies. Almost 5 000 Christians were killed in the world last year. Dear colleagues, this is

Madam President, Madam President of the European Commission, first of all, I want to thank you for changing your agenda and being today here with us, Council, dear colleagues, 2 000 years ago, Tacitus said: 'They make a desert and call it peace'. That is Putin's concept today. He failed to take Kyiv years ago and since then he has left death and destruction. Hundreds of children have been killed;

Dear President of the European Parliament, the European Commission! Dear Councillors! Dear colleagues! Households are political figures that flow into politics. And so, as householders, we are the ones who hold real power and the ones who work in committee have the power to really shape politics. And the MFF is now a major task ahead of us. To shape the MFF in such a way that we give this European

Madam President, European Commission, Council, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, when we open the windows of this plenary today, then we see what is happening in Europe. So, for example, in Germany, half of the job losses in the last year was in the car sector: 50 000 well-paid jobs. It's the same in France, Romania, Spain, Italy. A big challenge. This summer, another reality in Europe, we ha

Madam President, dear Prime Minister, dear Luc, dear colleagues! First of all, I would like to congratulate you and the Luxembourg citizens on the new Grand Duke Guillaume V. We wish him a lot of strength and success for his important task. He embodies Luxembourg brilliantly, precisely because he does not rely on pomp, but on citizenship. Dear Luc, your leadership also embodies Luxembourg's streng

Madam President, dear Commissioners, dear colleagues, the second time in a few weeks; I have to say it is becoming a little bit ridiculous. A motion of censure is a serious tool for a Parliament – an important right to defend a democratic Europe. Currently, this last resort of a Parliament is being misused by you as a simple propaganda tool, and I hope you have collected enough video material now

Madam President of Parliament, President of the European Commission, dear colleagues, this summer was not an easy summer for Europe. It was Alaska: a missing Europe. It was Gaza: a totally split Europe. It was a US trade deal: not easy. Forest fires. Draghi criticising the economic policy pool. It was really not easy. And it's now easy to stand here in this plenary and criticise – I think a lot of

Madam President of the European Parliament, Madam President of the Commission, dear Commissioners, dear colleagues, with this motion of censure, we are wasting time. Putin will like what his friends are doing here. Let's be brief: from an EPP point of view, we will unanimously vote against this motion of censure on Thursday. Corona: Ursula von der Leyen has said enough. We respect and we applaud t

Madam President, dear colleagues, for me personally, meeting Pope Francis and speaking with him was a lifetime honour and he remains, for me and for us as the EPP Group, a profound source of inspiration. His hope, his wisdom, his faith still speak to all of us. It was a moment of deep sadness when we learned about his passing away and we will miss him. Above everything, as our President already sa

Madam President of the European Parliament, Commission, President of the Council, congratulations, a few months ago, it would have been impossible to see Europe where we are today: a Commissioner for Defence, a White Paper on Defence, an 800 billion-package. And isn't it funny – even the British Government wants to be part of joint investments into the future of defence. So a lot is on the way. Bu

Madam President of the European Parliament, European Commission, Council representatives, dear colleagues, we as the EPP know what we owe the Americans: as Supreme Commander Eisenhower and American soldiers brought freedom and democracy back to Europe; as Reagan's call to the Soviet Union – 'Tear down this wall!' – in 1987 brought freedom and democracy also to Central and Eastern Europe. On the ot

Madam President, Commissioners – especially the Polish Commissioner, I would say to Prime Minister Tusk, dear Donald, in 2022 when you handed me the reins of the EPP in Rotterdam, you said in your speech there in Rotterdam: 'I return to Polish politics to win the battle for democracy, the rule of law and a European Poland'. It was a tough fight, and you won. Poland is again in the heart of Europe.

Dear Madam President, Dear President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, It is good that at the beginning of the new working period of the European Council, a clear focus will first be placed on the Western Balkans. It is clear to us that decisions are now pending – we must now follow our promises to the Western Balkans with action. Of course, the states there must make an effort to contribut

President of the European Parliament, the European Commission, future Commissioners, today is an important day. The European Parliament has to vote on the new Commission – I would call it our European government. Parliament has a strong mandate. 180 million people, Europeans, participated in June's elections. We, all 720 Members, represent the political reality and, more importantly, the political