Speeches

The next item is the one—minute speeches on matters of political importance (Rule 172). I would like to inform you that for the one-minute speeches you are invited to take the floor from your seat.

The next item is a short presentation of the report by Marie—Pierre Vedrenne on engaging with citizens: the right to petition, the right to refer to the European Ombudsman and the European Citizens’ Initiative (2020/2275(INI)) (A9—0018/2022).

The next item is a short presentation of the report by Cristina Maestre Martín De Almagro on the role of cohesion policy in promoting innovative and smart transformation and regional ICT connectivity (2021/2101(INI)) (A9-0010/2022).

The next item is a short presentation of the report by Tomislav Sokol on cohesion policy as an instrument to reduce healthcare disparities and enhance cross—border health cooperation (2021/2100(INI)) (A9-0026/2022).

The ID Group has notified me of a decision relating to changes to appointments within a committee. This decision will be set out in the minutes of today’s sitting and shall take effect on the date of this announcement.

The minutes of the sittings of 14 to 17 February will be submitted to Parliament for its approval at the beginning of its next sitting. If there are no objections, I shall forward forthwith the resolutions adopted at these sittings to the persons and bodies named in the resolutions.

I will now move to the results of the second voting session of today, 17 February 2022. (The President read out the results of the votes)1 _____________ 1 See Minutes for details

The next item is the major interpellation for written answer with debate by Martin Hlaváček, to the Commission on the surge in commodity and input prices in the agricultural sector (G-001004/2021) (B9-0005/2022)

The next item is the major interpellation for written answer with debate by Mara Bizzotto to the Commission on strengthening the system for protecting PDO and PGI denominations in the EU after the Prosecco/Prosek case (G—001003/2021) (B9-0004/2022). I would like to remind Members that for all the debates of this part-session there will be no catch—the—eye procedure and no blue cards will be accepted. Furthermore, as during recent part-sessions, remote interventions from Parliament’s liaison offices in the Member States are foreseen. I would also like to remind you that interventions in the Chamber will continue to be made from the central rostrum. I therefore kindly invite you to keep an eye on the speakers’ list and to approach the rostrum when your speaking time is imminent.

We now come to today’s second voting session. We will vote on the files as indicated on the agenda and the voting session will be open from 13.45 until 15.00. The same voting method will be used as during the previous voting sessions. All votes will be held by roll-call vote. I declare the second voting session open. You have until 15.00 to vote. The results of the second voting session will be announced at 16.00. (The sitting was suspended at 13.47)

Mr President, well, every time you travel nowadays in Europe, be it for skiing in Austria or carnival in Germany, you need to read numerous websites. Do I need two vaccine shots or three? Do I need a test for my children? Currently, we have a patchwork of different national measures, which change all the time. It is impossible for anyone travelling in Europe to follow what the rules are. Therefore, my suggestion today is very simple. Please create a simple and user—friendly application. Learn from the weakness of the Reopen Europe site, which is not up to date and honestly, people do not know it even exists. Since we will not have harmonised COVID rules in the foreseeable future, we can at least have an information app that works for our citizens, and I ask the Commission to act.

Madam President, Ukraine is an independent and a sovereign state, a free European nation that should decide its future itself. So our message today to our friends in Ukraine is that Europe is ready to help, from arms to funds. It must be clear who are the true friends of a free Ukraine and that the Europeans’ doors are open. I still hope for a diplomatic solution. However, if Russia acts, we as Europe must be ready to respond. These sanctions must hit hard, not only the economic ones, but also the oligarchs and corrupt officials in Russia. More than anything, we must show our solidarity with Ukraine. Ukraine needs strong allies in these difficult times. Glory to Ukraine.

Mr President, the single market will never be completed until all four freedoms are fully available to the citizens. This means goods, capital, persons and – a missing piece – services. Here in Strasbourg, we are on the border between two big countries. If I need a plumber, an accountant or another service provider, it should not matter if they are registered in France or in Germany, as long as the work gets done. I, as a consumer, should have a choice and they, as a business, must equally do so. This should be true across the European market, across any border in Europe – from the Czech Republic to Germany, Spain to Portugal. Yet today, every Member State continues to put up administrative and other non-tariff barriers. We are one European market and there should be no internal borders to our businesses. This House adopted an interesting study last term on the cost of non—Europe. It showed that by not completing the single market for services, we are leaving EUR 297 billion on the table – 297 billion! If we do this study again, I am sure it will be even more today. Commissioner, you must have the courage to stand up to those Member States blocking progress. We call for you to act.

Madam President, 1.3 million people die of cancer in the EU every year. Every nine seconds, a new case of cancer is diagnosed in the EU, meaning that by the time I’ve finished speaking, six people will have been diagnosed. This is already shocking, but studies show that it will only get worse, that by 2035, the number of cases could double and an estimated 40% of the population will face cancer at some point in their lives. COVID has showed us that we can and should do more at European level to save lives. We need to invest more in research to utilise new technologies like AI, and to ensure earlier detection and better care, and we need to share best practices. The fight against cancer is not new. We have been pledging to defeat cancer for a long time. I don’t know if we will ever be truly free of it, but I know that, as the European Union, we can do more. So let’s do it.

Mr President, we start 2022, the European Year of Youth, still in the grip of a pandemic. Since the beginning, the virus and the effect of the health measures have greatly affected our youth’s lives and their well-being. The pandemic has taken a toll on mental health, with the number of young Europeans suffering from anxiety and depression rising steeply; it has had an impact on their social lives and on their education, with school closures and shifting to online learning, and it has only worsened their employment prospects. Madam Commissioner, we must put our youth needs first in this post-pandemic recovery. We must do everything to empower and invest in our youth, to encourage their creativity, to innovate and for them to be ready to help to solve the challenges of our times, such as the digital and green transitions.

Mr President, the internet is a mirror; a mirror of the best and worst of our society. It mirrors the realities of our offline world. If the real offline world cannot be perfect, neither can the internet. But this does not mean that we should not try to make it a better and safer place, a place which respects freedom of speech while supporting our European businesses. This must be the goal of the Digital Services Act. This is about creating a better system that will help us fight illegal content while giving citizens the right to challenge removals. It is about requiring the big giants to take a transparent look at themselves and to address the risks that are inherent within their systems. It is about making all providers, including marketplaces, understand that they have a social responsibility, and they must be honest and true in how they act towards us, their users. It is about protecting our children so they can avoid the worst of the internet. At the same time, we create a system that will support the growth of e—commerce and digital innovation in Europe without unneeded over-regulation. We need start—ups, we need scale—ups in Europe, and a system that works for them. Today, we create a law and a justice system for the internet, a system that can work for the whole diverse internet. However, this law is just the first step. Not the last one. We still have a lot of work ahead of us.