Speeches

The next item is the debate on the report by Vladimír Bilčík, on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the 2022 Commission Report on Serbia [2022/2204(INI)] (A9-0172/2023).

The next item is the debate on the statement on the Situation in Sudan by the Vice—President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy [2023/2684(RSP)].

The next item on the agenda is the joint debate on the following reports: - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2021, Section III – Commission and executive agencies [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0227/2022- 2022/2081(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteurs: Jeroen Lenaers and Monika Hohlmeier (A9-0101/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2021, Section I – European Parliament [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0228/2022- 2022/2082(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Isabel García Muñoz (A9-0086/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2021, Section II – European Council and Council [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0229/2022- 2022/2083(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Mikuláš Peksa (A9-0085/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2021, Section IV – Court of Justice of the European Union [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0230/2022- 2022/2084(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Mikuláš Peksa (A9-0073/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2021, Section V – Court of Auditors [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0231/2022- 2022/2085(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Mikuláš Peksa (A9-0081/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2021, Section VI – European Economic and Social Committee [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0232/2022- 2022/2086(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Mikuláš Peksa (A9-0074/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2021, Section VII – Committee of the Regions [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0233/2022- 2022/2087(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Mikuláš Peksa (A9-0080/2023) - Discharge 2021: EU general budget - European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2021, Section VIII – European Ombudsman [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0234/2022- 2022/2088(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Mikuláš Peksa (A9-0067/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2021, Section IX – European Data Protection Supervisor [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0235/2022- 2022/2089(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Mikuláš Peksa (A9-0070/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2021, Section X – European External Action Service [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0236/2022- 2022/2090(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Mikuláš Peksa (A9-0088/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0237/2022 - 2022/2091(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Mikuláš Peksa (A9-0079/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0241/2022- 2022/2095(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Olivier Chastel (A9-0125/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0265/2022- 2022/2119(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Olivier Chastel (A9-0109/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0269/2022- 2022/2123(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ramona Strugariu (A9-0141/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0256/2022- 2022/2110(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ramona Strugariu (A9-0107/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Environment Agency for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0248/2022- 2022/2102(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Katalin Cseh (A9-0143/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0264/2022- 2022/2118(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Alin Mituța (A9-0132/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0240/2022- 2022/2094(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Olivier Chastel (A9-0104/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Medicines Agency for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0255/2022- 2022/2109(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Katalin Cseh (A9-0106/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0266/2022- 2022/2120(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ramona Strugariu (A9-0122/2023) -Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Training Foundation for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0262/2022- 2022/2116(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Alin Mituța (A9-0135/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Maritime Safety Agency for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0257/2022- 2022/2111(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ilana Cicurel (A9-0113/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0243/2022- 2022/2097(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Olivier Chastel (A9-0098/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0250/2022- 2022/2104(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Katalin Cseh (A9-0131/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0246/2022- 2022/2100(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Katalin Cseh (A9-0146/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of ENISA (European Union Agency for Cybersecurity) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0258/2022- 2022/2112(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Katalin Cseh (A9-0115/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agency for Railways for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0259/2022- 2022/2113(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Olivier Chastel (A9-0100/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0242/2022- 2022/2096(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ramona Strugariu (A9-0102/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0270/2022- 2022/2124(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ramona Strugariu (A9-0142/2023) - Report ondischarge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (before 12.5.2021 the European GNSS Agency) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0268/2022- 2022/2122(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Katalin Cseh (A9-0116/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Fisheries Control Agency for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0249/2022- 2022/2103(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ilana Cicurel (A9-0112/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Chemicals Agency for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0247/2022- 2022/2101(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Katalin Cseh (A9-0133/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Euratom Supply Agency for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0260/2022- 2022/2114(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Katalin Cseh (A9-0126/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0267/2022- 2022/2121(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ramona Strugariu (A9-0138/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Institute for Gender Equality for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0251/2022- 2022/2105(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Olivier Chastel (A9-0121/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Banking Authority for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0245/2022- 2022/2099(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Alin Mituța (A9-0110/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0252/2022- 2022/2106(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Gilles Boyer (A9-0103/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Securities and Markets Authority for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0261/2022- 2022/2115(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Gilles Boyer (A9-0137/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0238/2022- 2022/2092(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Katalin Cseh (A9-0111/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Agency for Support for BEREC (BEREC Office) for the financial year [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0239/2022- 2022/2093(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Katalin Cseh (A9-0129/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0253/2022- 2022/2107(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Katalin Cseh (A9-0130/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Asylum Support Office (now the European Union Agency for Asylum) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0244/2022- 2022/2098(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ramona Strugariu (A9-0123/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0263/2022- 2022/2117(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ramona Strugariu (A9-0105/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0275/2022- 2022/2129(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ryszard Czarnecki (A9-0092/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking (before 30.11.2021 the SESAR Joint Undertaking) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0278/2022- 2022/2132(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ryszard Czarnecki (A9-0118/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking (before 30.11.2021 the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0272/2022- 2022/2126(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Joachim Stanisław Brudziński (A9-0078/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (before 30.11.2021 the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0271/2022- 2022/2125(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Joachim Stanisław Brudziński (A9-0093/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking (before 30.11.2021 the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0277/2022- 2022/2131(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ryszard Czarnecki (A9-0069/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (before 30.11.2021 the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0276/2022- 2022/2130(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ryszard Czarnecki (A9-0083/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (before 30.11.2021 the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0279/2022- 2022/2133(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ryszard Czarnecki (A9-0090/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking (before 30.11.2021 the ECSEL Joint Undertaking) for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0273/2022- 2022/2127(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ryszard Czarnecki (A9-0082/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0274/2022- 2022/2128(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Ryszard Czarnecki (A9-0089/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh European Development Funds for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0321 - C9-0281/2022- 2022/2135(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: José Manuel Fernandes (A9-0114/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union agencies for the financial year 2021: performance, financial management and control [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0280/2022- 2022/2134(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Olivier Chastel (A9-0144/2023) - Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Labour Authority for the financial year 2021 [COM(2022)0323 - C9-0254/2022- 2022/2108(DEC)] - Committee on Budgetary Control. Rapporteur: Alin Mituța (A9-0117/2023)

The Minutes of yesterday’s sitting and texts adopted are available. Are there any comments? That is not the case, so the Minutes are approved.

The next sitting is tomorrow, Thursday, 20 April 2023 at 9.00. The agenda has been published and is available on the European Parliament website.

The next item is the debate on six motions for resolutions on the risk of death penalty and execution of singer Yahaya Sharif Aminu for blasphemy in Nigeria (2023/2650(RSP))*. _______________ *See minutes.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on six motions for resolutions on repression in Russia, in particular the cases of Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexei Navalny (2023/2657(RSP))*. _______________ *See minutes.

The ECR Group has notified the President 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.

The next item is the debate on Council and Commission statements on ‘Dieselgate – suspected widespread use of defeat devices in cars to reduce effectiveness of pollution control systems’ (2023/2647(RSP)).

Mr President, Madam Vice-President, Putin’s regime keeps attacking the most vulnerable civilians: the children. The official Ukrainian data speaks about already hundreds of dead children, but NGOs assume this number is much, much higher. At the same time, Ukrainian children are being deported to Russia. We have been receiving horrible stories about Russian soldiers stopping cars and trains, and picking out children and taking them to unknown places. Children being indoctrinated and young boys trained as soldiers. Children being forcibly adopted by Russians. This is a genocide, and those responsible for these horrible crimes must be brought to justice and punished.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, first of all, I would like to thank everybody who spoke today. As with many of you, I am particularly happy that we managed to have all these concrete practical improvements to product safety in the European Union while also taking the right balance – the right balance between the need to protect consumers and to keep proportionality. I think we managed to address the weak points of our safety net, taking into account a risk-based approach, keeping bureaucracy at a minimum, and focusing on the real needs of consumers and economic operators. I take this occasion to thank all my shadows who helped and contributed to this process. I would like to thank also the IMCO Secretariat, Renew advisors and special thanks to my assistant, Andrew Hillman – the force behind me. Our priority was to bring the single market into the 21st century, both online and offline, to make sure Europeans have the best and widest choice of safe products. A Single Market where you can always find what is right for you, what is right for your family. Tomorrow we can all vote in favour of this legislation and be proud that we, as the European Parliament, have done something to help our citizens to be even safer in the future.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, well, this law is our safety net and constitutes the general framework for ensuring the safety of all products circulating in the Union's market, sold offline and online. The new benefits for consumers from these regulations are long and important. Companies will have to make sure they have internal processes in place to make sure that they only produce or sell safe products, from smartphones to toys. Just because something is cheap is no excuse. More requirements to report if anyone in the supply chain sees something dangerous, they are now ‘see something, say something’ requirements. Companies will also have to keep records of who they buy from and to which other companies they sell to. This will mean we can trace dangerous products. No longer can a company say, yes, it is unsafe, but I don’t know where it went to. They must know. Chemicals are the most reported problem with products, but it is not always the final producer who is the source of the problem. Every product has to have a legal representative inside the European Union, even if it is a product sold straight from China. This means there will be someone to hold responsible if something goes wrong. 50% of dangerous products come from China. Today you just get a random address somewhere that is impossible to check, let alone find someone responsible there for what they make. Now, every product must have on the label the name of the legal representative in the European Union, their address and email address. Moreover, you can sue them if they don’t solve the problem, and to make sure it works, consumers can sue as a group. We made sure that all accidents and reports of dangerous products must be checked and reported to the authorities. If someone reports something to a marketplace or trader, they have to report it. This will help governments spot bad products faster. This law makes it so online marketplaces must remove dangerous products and fast to this maximum, and it must be done. Today, if a product is removed, it often just comes back. We can see this, especially with sales of electronics and toys. This cannot happen anymore. Marketplaces must remove all sales for the same products and prevent any new sales to reappear. No matter the trader, no matter what name they call them, products have to remain removed. And if you bought something and the online shop or normal shop has your email, they will have to email you if something you bought is recalled. How many people check the recall websites every day? How many people know that these websites exist? No one. And now you will not have to do it. They will have to tell you directly. Finally, a repair, a replacement, or your money back. Companies have to give you a choice of at least two of them if you bought a recalled product. Altogether, this regulation is a big win for consumers, a win for safety and a reason to feel free to shop anywhere in Europe, starting before Christmas next year.

Madam President, Mr President, Mr Vice-President, I am glad to see that the European Union, the Member States, stay firmly together on our further support to Ukraine. However, I would like to see also Europe’s Member States stand firmly together also when it comes to mitigating the economic impact of the war – the impact on our economies, on our competitiveness. China leads the world in 37 out of 44 key critical technologies and Europe is just lagging behind. We need to ensure we can compete as a global leader in strategic technologies and succeed in this digital and climate transition. But in order to achieve this, we need to include all clean energies available in the new Industry Act. For some it will be solar, for others, nuclear. This is what is missing, from my point of view, in the Council’s conclusions.