Speeches

The S&D and ID groups have notified me of decisions relating to changes to appointments within committees and delegations. These decisions will be set out in the minutes of today’s sitting and take effect on the date of this announcement.

I have received a request from the competent authorities in Belgium for the parliamentary immunity of Alexis Georgoulis to be waived. This request is referred to the Committee on Legal Affairs.

The competent authorities of Italy have notified me that Simona Baldassarre and Luisa Regimenti have been appointed assessors of the Region of Lazio, and that Pierfrancesco Majorino has been elected counsellor of the Region of Lombardy. Parliament takes note of the vacancy of their seats from 3, 4 and 5 April 2023 respectively, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure. The competent authorities of Italy have also notified me of the election of Maria Veronica Rossi, Francesca Peppucci and Mercedes Bresso to the European Parliament replacing Simona Baldassarre, Luisa Regimenti and Pierfrancesco Majorino respectively with effect from 6 April 2023. The competent authorities of Finland have notified me that Laura Huhtasaari has been elected member of the national parliament of Finland. Parliament takes note of the vacancy of her seat from 12 April 2023, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure. The competent authorities of Finland have also notified me of the election of Pirkko Ruohonen-Lerner to the European Parliament replacing Laura Huhtasaari with effect from 12 April 2023. I wish to welcome our new Italian and Finnish colleagues and recall that they take their seat in Parliament and its bodies in full enjoyment of their rights pending the verification of their credentials.

I put the request to the vote by roll call. (Parliament approved the request) Therefore there will be a Commission statement on the rule of law in Malta, and a resolution. Thank you very much. One and a half hours later, the agenda has been adopted. (The order of business was thus established)

Who would like to speak against? Ms Gualmini. Can I please ask you to respect your colleagues who have asked for the floor? Please, Ms Gualmini, go ahead.

Does any colleague want to speak against this request? Otherwise I’ll put the proposal to a vote by roll call. (Parliament rejected the request) For Thursday, tomorrow, The Left Group has requested that a Commission statement on ‘The right to protest and the proportionate use of force in France’ be added as the first point in the morning. The debate would be wound up with a resolution to be voted in April, and as a consequence, the sitting would start at 8:30. I give the floor to Manon Aubry to move the request.

So I ask you now, Ms Reintke, whether you agree with the S&D proposal or the EPP proposal? I see you can treat the Green and the S&D proposal as a joint one, so we vote on that. I put the request to the vote by roll call. (Parliament approved the joint request) Therefore there will be a Council and Commission statement on ‘The rights of children in rainbow families and same—sex families, in particular in Italy’ as a last point this afternoon, extension until the end of the evening. We move next to a request by The Left Group for Wednesday that the Commission statement on ‘Immediate measures to counter the impact of the interest—rate increase decided by the ECB on households and workers’ be added as the last point tonight. As a consequence, the sitting would be extended to 21:00. I give the floor to João Pimenta Lopes to move the request on behalf of The Left Group.

Thank you, so that would mean that the alternative proposal of Brando Benifei is now not on? Or will I give you the floor, Mr Benifei? I don’t know what compromise between whose groups has been reached.

I ask you, dear colleague, also to listen to my announcements earlier. Now we go to the agenda. With the agreement of the political groups, I wish to put to the House the following proposals for changes to the final draft agenda. On Thursday, firstly, the report by Mr Lagodinsky on the request for the waiver of the immunity of Anna Júlia Donáth is to be added to the votes. Then, due to the withdrawal of the candidacy of Martin Klus, the report by Mr Kuhs on the nomination of the Slovak nominee for a member of the Court of Auditors is withdrawn. If there are no objections, these changes are approved. We now move to changes requested by political groups. For Wednesday, the Greens Group has requested that the Council and Commission statements on ‘The rights of children in rainbow families, especially the case of Italy’ be added as the last point in the afternoon. I give the floor to Ms Reintke to move this request.

We now come to the order of business. So I understand that there are some colleagues who want to make points of order, also with regard to changes of the agenda, so we’ll take them one by one.

The AFCO Committee has proposed an interpretation of Rule 9(6) of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure. The text is available on the plenary webpage and will be published in the minutes of the sitting. Pursuant to Rule 236(4), Members or a political group reaching at least the low threshold may contest the committee’s interpretation within a period of 24 hours following this announcement. If the interpretation is not contested, it shall be deemed approved.

Stefano Maullu, former Member, and Clara Ponsatí Obiols have submitted requests for defence of their parliamentary immunities in the context of legal proceedings in Italy and Spain respectively. These requests are referred to the Committee on Legal Affairs.

The minutes and the texts adopted of the sitting of 16 March 2023 are available. Are there any comments? I see that there are no comments, so the minutes are approved.

In relation to the decision by several committees to enter into interinstitutional negotiations, pursuant to Rule 71(1), announced at the opening of the sitting on Monday 13 March, I have received requests for a vote in Parliament pursuant to Rule 71(2) from Members reaching at least the medium threshold on the decision to enter into negotiations on the European Digital Identity framework. The vote will be held tomorrow, 16 March 2023. Regarding the other decisions, I have received no request for a vote and, therefore, the committees may start the negotiations. (The sitting was suspended to celebrate International Women's Day.)

Ms Wiesner, this is precisely why you had the one minute: to use the catch-the-eye in order to ask a question to the Commission or the Council Presidents.

The political groups and non-attached Members have notified me of the appointments to the new Subcommittee on Public Health. The list of the committee members will be published online and in the minutes.

We have with us today the President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda. Mr President, dear Gitanas, thank you for accepting our invitation to address the European Parliament as part of our ‘This is Europe’ series of debates. It has been over a year since Russia launched its full-scale military invasion of independent and sovereign Ukraine. In this time, Lithuania has never held back from sending aid to Ukraine and has been one of the strongest supporters of Ukraine’s European perspective. The Lithuanian people have welcomed more than 74 000 Ukrainians into their homes and their hearts in what is the largest inflow of refugees in the history of the country. Lithuania’s solidarity towards Ukraine has never let up. Thank you also for your commitment to a democratic Belarus. Dear colleagues, we have already witnessed our Union becoming stronger and more resilient. Facing these challenges together has made us more united. In this time of global instability, we need to speed up investment in Europe to put our economy back on a stable path of growth. Mr President, your push for a long-term competitiveness strategy, an ambitious trade policy, and boosting conditions for investment has been central to this vision of a better, more prosperous Europe. Dear President, the floor is yours.

We put the request to the vote by roll call. (Parliament rejected the request) The agenda remains unchanged and the agenda is thereby adopted. The order of business is thus established.