Speeches

Madam President, Commissioner, the Renew Europe Group has always been and will always be a voice for persons with disabilities. I have said it before but it bears repeating: our society will never be complete until all our citizens can play a full part in it, including the more than 100 million EU citizens with a disability. The report we discussed today highlights two of the barriers to an inclusive society, and they are access to information by our citizens with disabilities and the implementation of accessibility requirements. European legislation creates many good and useful obligations on Member States and businesses to take into account different needs. But if our citizens with disabilities cannot easily access information about our rights, how can they exercise those rights? How can our citizens exercise their rights if the laws are not fully implemented? Through this report, we call on Member States to establish national disability accessibility hubs and for the Commission to create a digital AccessibleEU Centre to address these problems. These hubs need both adequate funding and human resources to work in practice and Renew supports these calls for action. To overcome the gaps and inconsistencies in current legislation and to overcome the knowledge levels of our officials is not going to be easy, but it is of vital importance. We need political will, and I can assure you that there is a political will in the European Parliament. Europeans with disabilities are not ‘others’, something apart, they are us, and each of us deserves the right to live a life to our full potential.

Madam President, we made it after many years of memorandums of understanding, after years of asking the Commission to act, we made it. The common charger is an example of the European Union making people’s lives easier: no more searching for the right cable, while also protecting the planet from unnecessary electronic waste. Consumers will have a choice: the choice to buy a new device with or without a charger. More consumer choice should always be our goal. At the same time, our decision today should not prevent future innovation. USB-C is the most efficient form of charger today, but USB-D may come tomorrow, or a new wireless standard. European legislation needs to dynamically adapt and not stifle innovation, so the Commission must ensure that we amend this legislation as soon as technological developments merit it. This is good progress today, but let’s make sure it doesn’t hold us back in the future.

The next item is the Council and Commission statements on the EU’s actions in the field of freedom of religion or belief worldwide (2022/2861(RSP)).

– The next item is the report by Lídia Pereira, on behalf of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, on the impact of new technologies on taxation: crypto and blockchain (2021/2201(INI)) (A9-0204/2022).

The next item is the report by Clara Aguilera, on behalf of the Committee on Fisheries, on striving for a sustainable and competitive EU aquaculture: the way forward (2021/2189(INI)) (A9-0215/2022).

The minutes of this sitting will be submitted to Parliament for approval at the beginning of the next sitting. If there are no objections, I shall forward forthwith the resolutions adopted at today’s sitting to the persons and bodies named in the resolutions.

The minutes of yesterday’s sitting and the texts adopted are available. Are there any comments? As that is not the case, the minutes are approved.

Madam President, Commissioner, we are seeing that the repression of the Ortega regime does not stop or stop at anything: journalists, students, political opponents, NGOs and, if that were not enough, now also priests. The Catholic Church is the last remaining independent institution in Nicaragua; The attacks against the Church represent the coup de grace against democracy in the country. This is the fifth resolution in three years on human rights in Nicaragua, the second resolution this year. We always ask the same thing: activate the democratic clause of our agreement with Nicaragua. What are we waiting for? How much more suffering, how many more human rights violations, how many more political prisoners locked up in subhuman conditions, do we have to witness so that you, Mr High Representative, are happy to implement what Parliament has been asking you to do for years? Now is the time to activate the democratic clause.

Madam President, Madam President of the European Commission, well, difficult moments in Europe indeed: how to continue helping Ukraine and at the same time how to mitigate the energy crisis in Europe? Households are struggling to pay the energy bills. Doctors to close their practices. Industries preparing massive redundancies. There is a French, German, Spanish way on how to deal with this crisis. It’s time to decide what we must do at European level to help citizens in their current struggle and those industries heavily affected. Some companies will receive state aid in one country while the same sector in another country will not. We need to ensure a fair level playing field for all affected sectors in Europe. Winter is coming, we need solidarity, common rules, targeted help for affected businesses and, above all, for our citizens.

Dear President of the European Parliament, dear President of the European Commission, dear Prime Minister, the Czech Presidency begins at a very difficult time: the ongoing war in Ukraine, its uncertainties and the deteriorating economic and social situation in Europe. I personally welcome the steps that the Czech Republic, the Czech Presidency, intends to take in relation to Ukraine. Support for Ukraine is crucial for the security of the whole of Europe. However, the centre of the Czech Presidency must be the citizen and he should be in the first place, not in the last place, as you had in your speech. Therefore, hand in hand with our support for Ukraine, you must urgently address how to ensure enough energy for households and businesses this winter, how to unblock Ukrainian ports to prevent the global food crisis and the ensuing migration waves, how to maintain Europe's competitiveness amid drastically rising energy prices and ever-increasing inflation. The Czech Republic must be a crisis manager. A crisis manager who has a crisis plan for Europe. Mr Prime Minister, when you ask in Brussels about the first Czech Presidency in 2009, in which I was personally actively involved, most people remember the distinctive Czech humour that colleagues in the European Parliament here know. But then the world press evaluated the presidency as having great officials, great diplomats and bad politicians. You now have the opportunity to improve this image of the Czech Republic and it would be a shame if you missed this opportunity.

Mr President, Madam Commissioner today we face the double challenge of the need to cut CO2 emissions and a war in Europe. We must face both at the same time. Those who say we can meet these challenges without nuclear are wrong. At a time of energy crisis, we have even greater obligation to ensure that all citizens have a secure supply of energy in their homes. And that is what this vote is all about. Nuclear is vital to our energy independence and economy. This is crucial for countries like the Czech Republic. For Sweden and Austria the answer might be hydro, but for the Czech Republic it is nuclear. You don’t need to follow this path, but we must respect the choice. Now is the time to put ideology, politics aside and to act responsibly. Therefore, I call on all colleagues to vote against this objection.

Mr President, this is a big step, a huge change, and a huge chance to make the digital world better. Instead of piecemeal solutions, these two laws create one system for the whole European single market and with time perhaps the wider global Internet. I hope today we start a new era for the Internet, that we start the hard work of making the Internet safer and better for our citizens and especially our children. An Internet that keeps the best of us – free speech, innovation, and universal knowledge – while limiting the worst. References to the Wild West, gold standards and what is illegal offline is illegal online have come to the point of being Internet memes and different games, especially among the tech journalists. But the key point here is that our citizens should know that their lives will get better thanks to this vote.

Madam President, today we send a clear message: Daniel Ortega's regime is a dictatorship that has destroyed the rule of law. It continues to systematically violate human rights, imprisoning opponents, members of NGOs, intellectuals, students and journalists with the collusion of the judiciary. More than 400 organizations can no longer work in the country. Thousands of Nicaraguans have fled into exile. The Academy of Language has been dissolved, in an unprecedented decision on the continent and in the Spanish-speaking world. The Ortega regime, which ravages and kicks human rights, which sits next to Russia and supports it in all its aggressions against third countries, cannot maintain any relationship with the European Union. We have to suspend our agreement with the dictatorship that binds Nicaragua now.

The next item is the debate on the report by Nacho Sánchez Amor, on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the 2021 Commission Report on Turkey (2021/2250(INI)) (A9-0149/2022). I remind you that free seating is applied, with the exception of the first two rows that are allocated to Group leaders. You will be able to request catch-the-eye and blue cards via your voting machine after having inserted your voting card, therefore I invite you to always bring your voting card with you. Instructions have been made available in the Hemicycle. Should you wish to register for the catch-the-eye I invite you to do so starting from now, without waiting for the end of the debate. Moreover, I remind you that blue cards can also be raised for a short intervention and will allow a follow-up question. I would also like to remind you that interventions in the Chamber will continue to be made from the central rostrum, except for catch-the-eye, blue cards and points of order. I therefore kindly invite you to keep an eye on the speakers’ list and to approach the rostrum when your speaking time is imminent.

The minutes of this sitting will be submitted to Parliament for its approval at the beginning of its next sitting. If there are no objections, I shall forward the resolutions adopted at today’s sitting to the persons and bodies named in the resolutions.