What Luděk spoke about.

4

May

2022

EN Speech

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The social and economic consequences for the EU of the Russian war in Ukraine - reinforcing the EU’s capacity to act (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, dear guests, the cruel, illegal and irresponsible attack of Putin’s Russia on Ukraine has killed so far thousands of people, brought full—scale war to Europe and destroyed the remaining naive trust in a rule—based relationship with Russia. Economic and social implications are only part of this, as Esther de Lange mentioned in her speech. But this is the part that sho…

23

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Debriefing of the European Council meeting in Paris on 10 March 2022 - Preparation of the European Council meeting 24-25 March 2022 (debate)

Madam President, let me be very short. Maybe it’s time to speak less and act more. So let me ask the Council first to drastically reduce or eliminate the cash flow to Russia for purchasing gas and oil. Second, to take measures that will minimise the negative impact across the EU of these steps. Last not least, in order to support millions of Ukrainian refugees, to use as much as possible of EU mon…

9

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery strategy (debate)

Mr President, let me start by saying that I have just come back from the meeting outside supporting Ukraine, and I am sure that the minds of many of us are with the people suffering as a result of the attack of Russia on Ukrainian territory. But in spite of that, we have to work. By the vote in this plenary, we will conclude the work that has lasted for more than a year. With my colleagues, we had…

8

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Rising energy prices and market manipulation on the gas market (debate)

Mr President, last year we made a big mistake. We allowed Russia to squeeze our gas market. Most likely, the mistake was a consequence of naivety vis-à-vis Putin’s Russia, but also the belief of the Member States that they have the right to choose their energy mix allows a lack of cooperation and almost no coordination. We paid a high price and European risk management failed because we didn’t eve…

16

Feb

2022

EN Speech

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EU-Russia relations, European security and Russia’s military threat against Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, the Commission President rightly said that this conflict was about democracy, about values and about freedom. And she’s right. But also in such a conflict, diplomacy plays a very important role. It seems to me that it was the rather clear position of NATO, the first stance of US diplomacy and efforts of some European politicians that turned the situation to the better. EU foreign …

24

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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State of the Energy Union (debate)

Mr President, energy union, in my view, is one of the most important and functional policies of the European Union. We are step by step introducing efficient rules for market functioning and reducing the threat linked to energy imports. But we must look into the future. So what would be on my agenda? First of all, we must keep developing and enforcing the rules promoting market efficiency, for eve…

20

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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Global Tax Agreements to be endorsed at the G20 Summit in Rome, 30th/31st of October (continuation of debate)

Mr President, this agreement shows the ability of more than 130 countries to agree. Having signatures below such a complicated technical agreement in a politically sensitive area shows that we can agree, and now I guess without any delay we should implement. This agreement doesn’t mean that we solved most of the tax issues in the European Union. I can name a huge tax gap, especially in the VAT are…

20

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 21-22 October 2021 (debate)

Madam President, I was listening carefully to the Council and Commission statements on the programme and they have my endorsement, but let me mention three issues that deserve attention. They are from the area of the economy. First, I appreciate the long and competent statement of the Commission President on energy, and we know what are the causes. Despite of the fact that the current crisis, almo…

19

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022 - all sections (debate)

Madam President, just four quick points. As rapporteur for the opinion of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, let me express great appreciation of the work of the rapporteurs. Thanks for taking all points on board, but let me just add three more, focused rather into the future, that are not reflected. First of all, we should pay attention to proper financing of the European Supervisory…

6

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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Pandora Papers: implications on the efforts to combat money laundering, tax evasion and avoidance (debate)

Madam President, it seems to me that journalists are doing a much better job than the tax authorities or politicians. That’s why we will probably have more such scandals. But it’s also fair to say that we are making progress. One of the most important things that was not mentioned by the Commissioner is that these days tax authorities have access to data – not only to EU data, but also to global d…

6

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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European solutions to the rise of energy prices for businesses and consumers: the role of energy efficiency and renewable energy and the need to tackle energy poverty (debate)

Madam President, at the end let me make my few remarks. First of all, I guess we should not forget that the energy market is a market. It is heavily regulated but still it is a market, and as a result of that we can see that the demand for electricity has increased unexpectedly but the supply is not reacting appropriately and winter is approaching. That is why the prices are very, very high. Accor…

15

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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Implementation of EU requirements for exchange of tax information (debate)

Madam President, I guess our colleague has made a very good report about quite a bad situation. Why do I think the situation is bad? I can use just one example: to effectively use the data, we should have high—quality data. The quality of data depends also on the implementation of the Anti—Money Laundering (AML) Directives, and we know how poorly Europe does in the area of the AML Directives. In t…

15

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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State of the Union (debate)

Madam President, I guess we can be very proud of the things we have done last year. I just hope we saved more lives, reduced the suffering and saved some costs. But now we must face the future, and here I must say that I share and agree with the agenda, the programme presented by you, Madam President, commented on by Manfred Weber and the others. And unlike a lot of people in this House, I believe…

7

Jul

2021

EN Speech

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Review of the macroeconomic legislative framework (debate)

Madam President, good evening first of all. I guess almost everything was said, so just a few remarks. So first of all let me thank the rapporteur and shadow rapporteurs for their cooperation and willingness to find the compromise. Let me also suggest that the involvement of experts in our work helped us to build bridges and find the agreement. And also let me appreciate the great work of our nego…

7

Jul

2021

EN Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 24-25 June 2021 (debate)

Madam President, I still remember the dark time of communist injustice in my country. I still remember the brave people that were fighting for more justice and freedom for everyone and for a better future. It is sad and shocking to see that, just a few decades later, one of them, Viktor Orbán, is pursuing a policy that is nearly a copy and paste of the politics of that time, a policy that will har…