What Aura spoke about.

Mr President, as a Finnish sergeant in the reserve, I understand that it is necessary to increase defence spending, but it is equally important to spend that money sensibly. We need to invest in the capabilities we need, both now and in the future. The EU is now cutting down on governance, facilitating investment and empowering businesses to increase their production. Next, this must be reflected

Madam President, Europe's next defence challenge is turning spending into military power. We must build faster while focusing on quality, interoperability and the capabilities we actually need today and tomorrow. The priorities are clear. We need to scale up the production of ammunitions, missiles, drones and air defence systems, strengthen European defence manufacturing and supply chains, invest

Mr President, cybersecurity is a matter of national security. Yet even here, Europe remains heavily dependent on US vendors for cloud security, threat intelligence, identity management and endpoint protection. The same is true for AI. We must reduce the risk of supply chain attacks by expanding trusted partners worldwide, while gradually building more of our own tech stack. Our dependency is not p

Madam President, the debate over EU access to advanced AI is part of a deeper problem: our systemic dependence on non-EU hardware and software. There is clearly a lot of product hype in AI right now, but one thing should be clear to us: European tech sovereignty cannot only be a long-term aspiration – it needs clear action now. Sovereignty does not mean isolation. We must engage with like-minded i

Madam President, the Digital Networks Act has been debated, often with conflicting expectations. I am happy to see that the Commission has chosen a pragmatic approach, leaving fair share and dividing merger control proposals out. On spectrum, the direction is right. Poorly designed auctions, short licence durations and fragmented national approaches have drained capital that should be invested in

Madam President, I fully support the proposal we saw today on the Cybersecurity Act, aiming to simplify our overlapping and complex cybersecurity regulation and focusing on reducing dangerous dependencies on high-risk vendors coming outside of Europe. The risk is obvious with China, their state power and big tech companies are interlinked. Huawei and TikTok are frankly dangerous. China is helping

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it has been a great honour to be the chief negotiator on such a positive legislative project that simplifies reporting and mobilises more private sector funding for energy, technology and overall security projects. In practice, we are responding to the challenges highlighted by both Draghi, Letta and President Niinistö, which the European Union is facing today.

Mr President, when the EU delivers something positive it hardly hits the news. But today I hope it will. Why? Because Europe desperately needs growth, and one important factor is to speed up the flow of risk financing. Here we deliver. I do believe that EU subsidies have their place, but I strongly believe that we need much more EU loan guarantees, and I know that InvestEU will deliver what it pro

Mr President, Europe has the talent to lead in AI and deep tech, but we don't have the market. The digital omnibus is a first test of whether Europe can finally become a place where our companies can scale and train their AI models, not just be regulated. Stopping the clock on the AI Act was welcomed by everyone seeking clarity on rules. Simplifying procedures, decreasing overlapping regulations,

Mr President, today, only 39 % of Europeans trust the media. When traditional newsrooms are starved of revenue, a vacuum opens for disinformation, propaganda and anti-democratic narratives. Geopolitics is tough for Europe right now; caught between Kremlin propaganda and an unpredictable transatlantic partner. We must be able to sustain quality, independent journalism in Europe and this will not ha

Madam President, the European Commission's AI strategy launched today is yet again repeating the same problems without offering any solutions. It focuses on building apps for farmers, handing public money, and it speaks about simplification and sovereignty but at the same time will propose new regulations on digital fairness. Real digital sovereignty means having the capacity to scale and option t

Mr President, this year's Internet Governance Forum will test Europe's credibility. We say we defend open internet, while Russia and China push the opposite: state control and surveillance by design. And yet, the Danish Presidency and even our Commissioners are supporting this horrific CSAM proposal that points Europe in the same direction. Introducing scanning to our private messaging services, u

Mr President, as the Niinistö Report outlined clearly, the EU must get its act together with a comprehensive security approach, and we need to back this up with money. Given the urgency of the war in Europe, we must focus on defence investments, as well as in innovation, research and high tech. We must ensure that there is enough reasonably priced energy and keep fighting the climate crisis. If we

Mr President, the affordable energy action plan has a market-based approach, but execution is the key. We must accelerate investment, cut red tape and ensure that competition – not subsidies – drives our transition. Europe cannot afford to slip into state-driven energy markets. Overreliance on government planning will drive investment elsewhere and hidden subsidies would distort price signals. As

Madam President, the Clean Industrial Deal is not only about sustainability goals; it is about Europe's security and competitiveness. It's about resilience. A strong and sustainable industrial base means scaling up our economy and strengthening our defence industry. Without this, we keep being dependent on others. Let's be clear: we needed to get rid of Russian fossil fuels yesterday. An industry

Madam President, the only winner from US export restrictions towards its allies is China. Restricting the supply of AI chips to Europe can stifle innovation we need. Of course, if the restrictions are directly towards only some EU countries, moving chips around the EU is not a problem for us. We Europeans will stick together. Nevertheless, we need short-term and long-term solutions. Let's also kee

Mr President, let's face it. Russia is testing us in the Baltic Sea. Europe needs short-term and long-term actions to protect our critical infrastructure. We need more effective sanctions against intentional sabotage, actors that flag and host fleet vessels, and investigations to identify and sanction also shadow vessels' ultimate beneficial owners. The EU and NATO should utilise AI-driven tools t

The Chinese law is clear: if the Chinese government requests access to data from a Chinese company, it must do so. And we have to be very concerned about this. We have a data contract with the Yankees. We do not have it with China, and we cannot trust the Chinese authorities. That's why TikTok poses a completely different security threat than any other social media platform.

Mr President, TikTok is a danger to European democracy and security. Every user of this Chinese platform should understand that the second you log in to TikTok, you start giving your behavioural data to the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda machine for them to develop their services. When you click that cat video on TikTok or scroll to see your favourite influencer's page, you help terrorist co

Madam President, yes, the Commission's autumn forecast shows a slight uptick in our economic outlook. But the challenges in the horizon are rising: protectionism, escalating geopolitical tensions led by Putin and Trump, and the crisis situation in the Middle East. Our economic stability and growth rely on open markets and rule-based ambitious trade. We need to ensure European companies have the ab

Mr President, I come from south-eastern Finland, a stone's throw from the Russian border. Right now, the EU's border regions deserve special strategic attention, as they are at the forefront of supporting Europe's overall security. It is essential to strengthen border security and economic vitality based on sustainable growth. On the EU's eastern border, the identification and specialisation of re

Mr President, Europe, we are losing this game. We need to stop giving big speeches on Europe's competitiveness and wanting to have European digital champions if we suffocate them with regulation at the same time. Regulatory burden, uncertainty and lack of capital to grow are among the reasons for companies to leave the EU. We must enable and not restrict use of data. We are losing our best and mos

Mr President, as far as we can see, a lot of ongoing work to enforce the DSA is progressing well and shows a serious commitment to protecting and empowering users online, by requiring platforms to assess, mitigate and act against their systemic risks and to provide the right content moderation tools to do so, as well as clear information to users on possible misbehaviour. This shows that the DSA c