What Dubravka spoke about.

5 Oct

2023

EN Speech

Urban wastewater treatment (debate)

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– Mr President, let me start by thanking the rapporteur, Mr Torvalds, the shadow rapporteurs from the ENVI Committee and the rapporteur of the AGRI Committee, Mr Huitema, for the excellent work done to advance on this file. The report presented here today preserves both the main elements of the proposal and the spirit of the directive. This directive is more than 30 years old. It has served Europe…

5 Oct

2023

EN Speech

Financial services contracts concluded at a distance (debate)

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– Mr President, once again, thank you for this debate and I want to thank Parliament for the work you put into this proposal. It is a key step to achieve a high level of protection of consumers in Europe. It is also a crucial piece of legislation to ensure that businesses understand which laws to apply when concluding financial services at a distance. It is obvious from your debate that we need cl…

5 Oct

2023

EN Speech

Financial services contracts concluded at a distance (debate)

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– Mr President, honourable Members, I am pleased to be with you today for this debate concerning the Directive on Financial Services Contracts Concluded at a Distance, commonly referred to as the DMSFD. I am replacing Commissioner Reynders, who unfortunately could not be here today. To begin with, I would like to thank the rapporteur, the shadow rapporteurs and all the Parliament’s team for their …

17 Apr

2023

EN Speech

The implementation of civilian CSDP and other EU civilian security assistance (short presentation)

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– Mr President, on behalf of the Commission and the High Representative Borrell, I would like to thank the rapporteur Ms Alametsä and the MEPs who have contributed to the EP report on the implementation of civilian Common Security and Defence Policy and other EU civilian security assistance. Today’s debate provides a timely opportunity to summarise the results achieved under the first civilian Com…

17 Apr

2023

EN Speech

eGovernment accelerating digital public services that support the functioning of the single market (short presentation)

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– Mr President, honourable Members, today we are discussing the report on eGovernment by the IMCO Committee and honourable Member, my dear colleague, Tomislav Sokol. As recalled in last month’s Communication on the Single Market, digitalising public services cuts red tape and makes the single market work better, in particular for SMEs. That is why the Digital Decade policy programme sets a target …

17 Apr

2023

EN Speech

Sustainable carbon cycles (short presentation)

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– Mr President, let me start by thanking the rapporteur, Mr Bernhuber, for his work. To reach climate neutrality in 2050 we need deep and drastic emission cuts, but it is impossible to bring all our emissions down to zero. We will need carbon removals as well. We will have to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, store it through technology or natural carbon sinks. The International Panel on …

17 Apr

2023

EN Speech

Institutional relations between the EU and the Council of Europe (short presentation)

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– Mr President, I would like to thank the rapporteur Mr Vincze and the honourable Members who have contributed to the Parliament report on the institutional relations between the European Union and the Council of Europe. As you know, the Foreign Affairs Council recently adopted new European Union priorities towards the Council of Europe, which aim to strengthen our political dialogue and cooperati…

17 Apr

2023

EN Speech

Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System - Monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport - Carbon border adjustment mechanism - Social Climate Fund - Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System for aviation (debate)

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– Mr President, dear Members of European Parliament, I want to thank you for this interesting debate and I want to thank especially the rapporteurs for their constructive position during negotiations. When facing the climate crisis, every day of inaction costs us more than we can afford in economic and human terms. Action cannot be delayed, and the implementation of our commitments must start as s…

12 Dec

2022

EN Speech

A long-term vision for the EU's rural areas (debate)

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– Madam President, many thanks, dear Members, for this enriching discussion. I will use this opportunity of the closing remarks to refer to some of the key points that you mentioned and that I heard from your exchange. First, in relation to the budget, one of the EU financing instruments helping the development of rural areas from an agricultural perspective is the European Agricultural Fund for R…

12 Dec

2022

EN Speech

A long-term vision for the EU's rural areas (debate)

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– Madam President, I want to thank honourable Member, Isabel Carvalhais. Your work, and that of the co-rapporteurs and Members of this House demonstrates the importance of the long-term vision and the added value of the Rural Pact. Your report welcomes the Rural Vision as a valuable opportunity for coordinated and reinforced actions on rural areas. The Commission is committed to ensuring that rura…

5 Jul

2022

EN Speech

Common European action on care (debate)

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– Mr President, first of all, I want to thank you very much for your contributions. I was listening carefully and I’m really very grateful for the support of the European Parliament in putting care high on the European agenda. I was listening carefully and what I heard is that all of you agreed that there is demographic change, that there is a change in family structure, and that we need the infra…

5 Jul

2022

EN Speech

Common European action on care (debate)

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– Mr President, honourable Members, first of all I want to thank Milan Brglez and Sirpa Pietikäinen, both co-rapporteurs, for this initiative and for this report. I really appreciate what you are doing and I appreciate your call on the Commission – although last year during the State of the Union speech, when President von der Leyen addressed this House, she promised that we would come up with a c…

9 Jun

2022

EN Speech

Illegal logging in the EU (debate)

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– Mr President, honourable Members, thank you for all your comments. You know, the European Union forest strategy refers to the need to better respond to new challenges and needs, in particular concerning climate and biodiversity objectives and the issue of forest health, which is of concern for all Member States. It specifically announces further work on indicators and thresholds and refers to th…

9 Jun

2022

EN Speech

Illegal logging in the EU (debate)

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– Mr President, honourable members, first I would like to thank the Petitions Committee for adding this oral question to this week’s plenary agenda and for giving us the opportunity to discuss today this highly important topic. Let me start by stressing the Commission is strongly committed to protecting and restoring existing forests worldwide and that the protection of forests features very highl…

9 Jun

2022

EN Speech

A new trade instrument to ban products made by forced labour (debate)

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– Mr President, only a few comments. First of all, the Commission aims at adopting the legislative proposal after the summer break, as many of you asked. The initiative requires urgent action, which does not allow us to prepare an impact assessment, but the Commission will publish the evidence, as I said earlier, in a staff working document. We published a call for evidence on 23 May, and it is op…

9 Jun

2022

EN Speech

A new trade instrument to ban products made by forced labour (debate)

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– Mr President, the Commission is addressing forced labour in global value chains as a priority. Forced labour exists on every continent, including Europe, unfortunately. However, it should be noted that the physical characteristics of a product do not reveal whether forced labour has been used. It also often takes place at the early stages of a supply chain. To address it efficiently, we need to …

9 Jun

2022

EN Speech

The call for a Convention for the revision of the Treaties (debate)

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– Mr President, I was listening carefully to this debate this morning, and I want, first of all, to thank you for inviting me to this debate. I think now that all of us agree that, following this intense year of deliberation and engagement with citizens through the Conference on the Future of Europe, the input of engagement of citizens helps reinforce representative democracy. At the beginning it …

9 Jun

2022

EN Speech

The call for a Convention for the revision of the Treaties (debate)

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– Mr President, thank you, good morning to everybody. Dear colleagues, you know that in the Conference on the Future of Europe, we gave our citizens a central role. We have heard their voice, and now it’s up to each institution to deliver on the follow-up of the Conference according to the commitment in the joint declaration at the beginning of the Conference. Follow-up is a shared responsibility.…

5 Apr

2022

EN Speech

EU Protection of children and young people fleeing the war against Ukraine (debate)

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– Madam President, good morning. I want to thank honourable Members for dedicating time to this very, very important topic. All of us know that children’s rights are human rights, and this is something we have to keep in mind. Every child has the right to grow up in a secure environment, to play, to learn, and to have prospects for a peaceful future. Today, we see children under attack in Ukraine,…

5 Jul

2021

EN Speech

Amendments to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure (short presentation)

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– Madam President, I would like to thank the honourable Members and the rapporteur, Ms Gabriele Bischoff, in particular for consulting the Commission on these amendments of its Rules of Procedure. This is foreseen in paragraph 21 of the framework agreement on the relations between the two institutions. The Commission gave due consideration to the amendments adopted in December last year to ensure …

5 Jul

2021

EN Speech

EU-NATO cooperation in the context of transatlantic relations (short presentation)

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– Madam President, on behalf of my colleague, High Representative and Vice President, Josep Borrell, I would like to congratulate the rapporteur, Antonio López—Istúriz White, for the comprehensive report on EU—NATO cooperation in the context of transatlantic relations. Let me welcome that it incorporates a number of elements of key importance and relevance for EU—NATO cooperation, such as emphasis…

5 Jul

2021

EN Speech

Trade-related aspects and implications of COVID-19 (short presentation)

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– Madam President, honourable Members, on behalf of Vice—President Valdis Dombrovskis, I want to thank Parliament and the Committee on International Trade (INTA Committee) and our rapporteur, Kathleen Van Brempt, for the attention, work and time invested in this report. I also want to thank you for your involvement in the trade policy review process, which led to the adoption by the Commission of …

5 Jul

2021

EN Speech

Citizens’ dialogues and citizens’ participation in EU decision-making (short presentation)

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– Madam President, honourable Members, on behalf of my colleague Vice-President Věra Jourová, I thank you for this opportunity to exchange views on this important matter. The Commission is fully committed to engaging with citizens in shaping European Union policy. We have been using various methods and tools for some time. Since 2012, the Commission has promoted a format of citizens’ dialogues. Th…

5 Jul

2021

EN Speech

The impact on the fishing sector of offshore windfarms and other renewable energy systems (short presentation)

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– Madam President, the Commission welcomes the report by the Committee on Fisheries (PECH) on the impact on fisheries of offshore windfarms and other renewable energy systems. On behalf of my colleague, Virginijus Sinkevičius, I want to thank in particular the rapporteur, Peter van Dalen, for all his work and strong commitment to this important issue. This report puts a much—needed emphasis on env…

5 Jul

2021

EN Speech

Old continent growing older - possibilities and challenges related to ageing policy post 2020 (debate)

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– Madam President, I want to thank you for this very enriching debate. All of you said ageing starts from the moment we are born, so ageing is a very complex phenomenon. Many of you said that ageing is a challenge, but it is also an opportunity since we said at the beginning that in the last 50 years we live 10 years more, which means that we live longer and healthier lives, so this is also very i…