What Henna spoke about.

12

Nov

2025

EN Speech

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Protecting EU consumers against the practices of certain e-commerce platforms: the case of child-like sex dolls, weapons and other illegal products and material (debate)

Madam President, honourable Members, safe e-commerce for European citizens is one of the key priorities of this Commission, especially for vulnerable consumers, including minors. We are very closely monitoring the recent events concerning the sale of illegal products in France, such as child-pornography-related items and bladed weapons. We welcome the steps already taken by the French authorities …

21

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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Delayed justice and rule of law backsliding in Malta, eight years after Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination (debate)

Mr President, honourable Members, thank you, all of you, for your contributions during this very important debate and for this opportunity to present developments in the rule of law situation in Malta, in the light of the 2025 rule of law report. I count on the Maltese authorities to continue with the reforms already underway and also to address our recommendations, and that they will launch refor…

21

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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Delayed justice and rule of law backsliding in Malta, eight years after Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination (debate)

Mr President, honourable Members, thank you for including in the Plenary agenda this debate to mark the eighth anniversary of the assassination of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The Commission has repeatedly condemned Daphne's murder, which was a horrible crime. Attacks on our journalists are attacks on press freedom and democracy itself. This eighth anniversary should se…

8

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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Promoting EU digital rules: protecting European sovereignty (debate)

Madam President, Council, honourable Members, thank you for this debate. I think it clearly shows how important our digital rules are to our citizens and to our businesses, and also to you. These rules are equally important to us at the European Commission, and we are fully committed to enforcing them. At the same time, we are also working with the digital simplification package, with the digital …

8

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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Promoting EU digital rules: protecting European sovereignty (debate)

Mr President, honourable members, I remember very well when, in July 2022, this House approved two very groundbreaking laws; two laws that are crucial for our democracy and for our single market in the digital age – the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. Back then, this House confirmed both laws with an overwhelming majority, and in the Council both laws were agreed by all Member St…

8

Sep

2025

EN Speech

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Governance of the internet – renewal of the mandate of the Internet Governance Forum (debate)

Mr President, honourable Members, I want to thank you very much for your remarks. Let me underline again our commitment to wide multilateral solutions to the challenges brought by this digital world. We are fully committed to shaping values-based global digital governance and standards together with partners around the world. As stated in our international digital strategy, we need unified EU effo…

8

Sep

2025

EN Speech

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Governance of the internet – renewal of the mandate of the Internet Governance Forum (debate)

Mr President, honourable Members, on behalf of the European Commission, thank you for this opportunity to present to you our policy on the Internet Governance Forum and the importance we give to the Internet Governance Forum. My words today echo the joint declaration signed by myself and the delegation of the Members of this House at the Internet Governance Forum in June 2025 in Norway. We are als…

16

Jun

2025

EN Speech

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State of play and follow-up two years after the PEGA recommendations and the illegal use of spyware (debate)

Mr President, honourable Members, thank you very much for this very topical debate; it clearly shows the complex nature of the illegal use of spyware we are facing. Let me state again that the Commission's view is very clear here: any attempt to illegally access data of citizens, including journalists and political opponents, is unacceptable. We are determined to protect the fundamental rights of …

16

Jun

2025

EN Speech

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State of play and follow-up two years after the PEGA recommendations and the illegal use of spyware (debate)

Mr President, honourable Members, thank you for putting this very crucial issue on the plenary agenda. The Commission strongly condemns any illegal access to interpersonal communications and other data stored on user devices. Any illegal access to the data of our citizens, including journalists and political opponents, is unacceptable. It undermines our core European values, such as the fundamenta…

1

Apr

2025

EN Speech

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Presentation of the New European Internal Security Strategy (debate)

Mr President, honourable Members, thank you very much for this debate. Commissioner Brunner and I have been listening very carefully to what you all have said here, and I think it's very encouraging to hear that in this House, there seems to be broad agreement that we need a change in our approach to security. And this is also, as we know, something that EU citizens also expect from us. According …

12

Mar

2025

EN Speech

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100 days of the new Commission – Delivering on defence, competitiveness, simplification and migration as our priorities (topical debate)

Mr President, honourable Members, I want to thank you very much for your very valuable comments and remarks. It's clear that bold and swift collective action is needed for our security, for our economy, and also our way of life. The proposals the Commission has been tabling in these first 100 days are based on extensive dialogue with civil society businesses, experts and the policy makers. As you …

12

Mar

2025

EN Speech

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100 days of the new Commission – Delivering on defence, competitiveness, simplification and migration as our priorities (topical debate)

Madam President, honourable Members, Council Presidency, this is a watershed moment for Europe. We face a clear and present danger. We must be able to protect ourselves and to defend ourselves, just as we have to put Ukraine in a position to protect itself and to push for lasting and just peace. That is why last week President von der Leyen presented the ReArm Europe Plan to mobilise up to EUR 800…

11

Feb

2025

EN Speech

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US AI chip export restrictions: a challenge to European AI development and economic resilience (debate)

Madam President, honourable Members, I think it was very good to listen to this discussion and see how united the Members of Parliament were on this issue because I think it is very important that we are united and we are defending our European competitiveness together here. We should now convey the same message to the USA, regardless of Member State, because it is very important that we are all d…

11

Feb

2025

EN Speech

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US AI chip export restrictions: a challenge to European AI development and economic resilience (debate)

Madam President, Chair of the ITRE Committee, honourable Members, thank you for this very timely question on the US export restrictions on AI chips. This issue is of great concern for the Commission. The restrictions limit European access to the latest AI chips and also AI models. The EU is strategically positioned to advance and develop safe and secure and also trustworthy AI applications and sys…

21

Jan

2025

EN Speech

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Need to detect and to counter sabotage by the Russian shadow fleet, damaging critical undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea (debate)

Mr President, first, thank you for this debate. And thank you for all the support for our very strong and coordinated actions we are making. Keeping Europe safe is my priority during this mandate. Much has been done, but much more is needed, as we know. You can count on the Commission to ensure that this will happen. We will together defeat Putin's war of aggression and hostile actors sabotaging o…

21

Jan

2025

EN Speech

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Need to detect and to counter sabotage by the Russian shadow fleet, damaging critical undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea (debate)

Mr President, honourable Members, in recent months we have seen a series of further incidents affecting sub-sea critical infrastructure. The latest was on Christmas Day and resulted in damage to an undersea power transmission cable between Finland and Estonia and four undersea data cables. First of all let me commend the swift action taken by Finland and Estonia, as well as their transparency in s…

21

Jan

2025

EN Speech

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Need to enforce the Digital Services Act to protect democracy on social media platforms including against foreign interference and biased algorithms (debate)

Madam President, honourable Members, thank you for this very lively debate and your very valuable contributions. This Commission and me personally are fully committed to promoting and protecting democracy across the EU. The DSA has given the Commission now the tool needed for a high level of responsibility by providers of online platforms, combined with very robust oversight. I will continue apply…

21

Jan

2025

EN Speech

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Need to enforce the Digital Services Act to protect democracy on social media platforms including against foreign interference and biased algorithms (debate)

Madam President, honourable Members, democracies today face an increasing challenge from interference. And indeed, we have seen that social media is one of the vehicles used. We have seen it during the past years in the so-called 'doppelganger campaign', a Russian influence operation on Facebook and Instagram. We opened formal proceedings on that influence operation under the Digital Services Act.…

17

Dec

2024

EN Speech

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Misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms, such as TikTok, and related risks to the integrity of elections in Europe (debate)

Dear President, honourable Members, free and fair elections are the cornerstone of democracy and democracy is a fundamental European value according to Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union. Democracies today face many vulnerabilities, as recently witnessed during the Romanian presidential elections. Democracies face threats from hostile actors both within the EU and also from abroad. The …

23

Apr

2024

FI Speech

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Conclusions of the recent European Council meetings, in particular on a new European Competitiveness deal and the EU strategic agenda 2024-2029 (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, there are two themes on which the European Union must focus in the coming years: strengthening overall security and improving the competitiveness of the economy. For the past 15 years, the European Union has been lagging behind the growth of the United States. We need to create a Europe that encourages innovation and investment in Europe. It is excellent that Member Sta…

10

Apr

2024

EN Speech

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Union code relating to medicinal products for human use - Union procedures for the authorisation and supervision of medicinal products for human use and rules governing the European Medicines Agency (joint debate - Pharmaceutical package)

Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, on behalf of ITRE Committee, I would like to thank all the rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs for your good cooperation on this very important file. Europe must strengthen our economic and security capabilities across all critical sectors. One of these critical areas is the pharmaceutical industry. It’s one of our most important industrial sectors. I…

13

Mar

2024

EN Speech

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Minimum requirements on minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest periods in the occasional passenger transport sector (A9-0370/2023 - Henna Virkkunen) (vote)

Madam President, I want to thank all the rapporteurs, shadows and all the committees who have been working with this very important report. This legislation gives now more flexibility for our tourist buses, and in the same time, we are also taking care of our single market and about our safety of transport. So I want to thank everybody and I think we find a balanced agreement with the Council, and…

13

Mar

2024

EN Speech

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This is Europe - Debate with the Prime Minister of Finland, Petteri Orpo (debate)

Madam President, Prime Minister Orpo, I wish to thank you, Prime Minister, for being here with us today, and thank you for your excellent speech. The three main priorities you highlighted – strengthening Europe’s strategic competitiveness, improving our comprehensive security and promoting a clean transition – are precisely the sectors on which the European Union must focus. We must create a Europ…

12

Mar

2024

FI Speech

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EU climate risk assessment, taking urgent action to improve security and resilience in Europe (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, yesterday, for the first time, the European Environment Agency published a European climate risk assessment. The message of the evaluation was quite harsh: extreme heat, drought, forest fires and floods are worsening in Europe, even in the most optimistic scenarios, affecting living conditions across Europe. Risks are elevated in the areas of the environment, food safet…

11

Mar

2024

FI Speech

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Energy performance of buildings (recast) (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this process of negotiating the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive has been very difficult and it is worth thanking all those involved for putting the proposal on a much better track than the Commission's original proposal. The directive is still quite ambitious. The goal is that new buildings should be zero-emission by 2030 and public build…