Speeches

Mr President, it will be one year since Russia's brutal and criminal invasion of Ukraine. During this war, the European Union, together with the Western Alliance, has shown unprecedented unity with regard to sanctions against Russia and assistance from Ukraine, but these efforts need to be intensified. Europe was far too dependent on Russian energy for far too long, and it slowed down the imposition of effective sanctions. I am very pleased that the tenth package of sanctions is already being prepared. These sanctions need to be strengthened. Similarly, arms assistance to Ukraine now needs to be stepped up, in particular heavy weapons and tanks, which many Member States have already made promises about. These are urgently needed to help Ukraine. The people of Ukraine are fighting for freedom and democracy and they need all our support. We must support Ukraine in this fight and support their path towards membership of the European Union.

Mr President, Vice-President, colleagues, if we want to be climate neutral by 2050, we have to focus on transport. We know that the transport sector is the only sector in the EU where emissions they have increased. That trend cannot continue. Maritime, aviation, road transport all have an important part to play in this regard. Today we are debating and voting about new CO2 standards for passenger vehicles and vans. And I have to say that I am not fully satisfied about the trilogue outcome. Yes, indeed, we have to cut emissions from road transport, but we should do it in a technology neutral way. We, as politicians, shouldn’t be choosing winners and losers in the industry. This regulation entails that from 2035 onwards, all new vehicles should be electric or hydrogen vehicles. This regulation would phase out internal combustion engines, and I don’t think that this is the right approach. Technology diversity is needed where all technologies, including electrification, hybridisation, hydrogen, but also sustainable and renewable fuels, can play a role. And we should also encourage those innovations. We should set the targets and industry should find out what is the most efficient and best technology to achieve this target. And we know also that for too long we have been focusing only on tailpipe emissions. So I think this is a positive step here that the new regulation will now introduce a common EU methodology by 2025 for assessing the full lifecycle of CO2 emissions of cars and vans placed on the EU market.

Madam President, Presidency, Commissioner, dear colleagues, I am pleased to say that we are discussing enhancing the competitiveness of Europe. However, I want to underline that the way of boosting Europe’s competitiveness is not done by relaxing the state aid rules – not at all. In order to be competitive on the global markets, Europe needs successful companies, industries and jobs. To achieve that, we need to have regulation that encourages investments and innovations in Europe. We have to cut red tape from our businesses, SMEs and industries. Here I find it very positive that Commission President von der Leyen has promised to perform a competitiveness check on all new regulations being introduced. This is an important step in the right direction. Secondly, Europe needs to invest more in research and development. In this regard, we have fallen behind the US and China. And thirdly, we need to ensure that Europe has a skilled workforce. We know that the lack of skilled workforce is a crucial issue, especially in the digital sector, which is a sector essential for increasing our productivity and economic growth.

Mr President, High Representative, the European Union must intensify and strengthen the common foreign, security and defence policy. EU decision-making needs to be reformed. Certain foreign policy decisions need to move to qualified majority voting. Although over the past year EU countries have succeeded in imposing fairly effective sanctions against Russia, too often a Member State has blocked and blocked decision-making. At the latest, this war has also shown that the Member States of the European Union need to invest much more in security and defence. According to the Commission's calculations, in the last twenty years before the war, EU countries had increased investment in defence by only 20%, while at the same time Russia had increased its own investment by almost 300%. We therefore need to strengthen the European defence industry and increase joint procurement. Decisions on Ukraine's arms assistance are now also urgently needed. Ukraine needs heavy weapons, and decision-making now needs to be speeded up, especially on tanks.

Mr President, Prime Minister Kristersson, I would like to wish Sweden every success in your Presidency. In my opinion, Sweden has chosen very good themes for its Presidency: of course, security, the rule of law, the green and digital transitions, but above all, I appreciate the fact that you have put competitiveness very strongly at the heart of the Presidency. We must ensure that Europe continues to thrive in the future, that we have successful companies and that we have work to do. It requires us to have a skilled workforce and legislation that encourages innovation and investment in Europe. I am very pleased that Sweden has made better regulation one of its top projects and that you will be hosting a conference next week in Stockholm in this regard. I hope that you will support all initiatives that promote European competitiveness. In the autumn, the President of the Commission made a commitment in this Chamber that the Commission will carry out a competitiveness assessment in all its legislative projects in the future. I hope that the Swedish Presidency, on the side of the Council, will certainly also take this theme forward. In this House, we attach great importance to this. We need to take care of Europe's competitiveness.

Madam President, President of the Council, Vice-President, I need to say that I am very concerned over the competitiveness of European industry. We have been far too dependent on energy supplies from outside of Europe, and now the energy crisis and increased energy prices are placing a heavy burden on our industry. At the same time, we know that the population of the EU is ageing and companies are struggling to have access to a skilled workforce. The Green and Digital Transition require a new type of skills. For that reason, we need to invest in education and skills as well as in research and development, much more than we have done. At the same time, we need to ensure that our regulations are encouraging innovations and investments in Europe. I am expecting the Commission to take this matter seriously and to abstain from introducing any new legislation that increases the administrative burden and costs for European industry and for our SMEs.

Mr President, Europe has been too dependent on imported energy for far too long and now we see what it has led to when there is a huge shortage of energy across Europe. It is imperative that we now step up investment and invest in all low-emission energy sources, including nuclear power, and step up investment in energy interconnections and storage. At present, the main obstacle to the rapid progress of these processes in all European countries is too slow permitting processes. It is therefore very good that this issue has now been addressed and that these core development areas are being proposed, where permitting processes should be taken forward very quickly so that we can speed up investment. This is a very welcome proposal. In addition, in my own country, Finland, citizens also have a very wide right to appeal against investment decisions, and it is therefore important that Member States also put sufficient resources in the judiciary so that the judiciary can quickly handle the various complaints and these necessary construction investments can be triggered, as energy is needed now.

Madam President, Vice—President, for decades Europe believed that strong economic ties and trade and multilateral cooperation would help to promote democracy and human rights in China. We now know that was not the case and that President Xi only used this to strengthen his own power. Europe must learn from the mistakes we made with Russia. We were far too dependent on Russian fossil fuels, and now when we are boosting our green transition and digitalisation, we must not allow ourselves to become dependent on Chinese critical raw materials. We must find alternative suppliers and develop our own production capabilities. This is why I welcome the Chips Act’s objective of doubling Europe’s share of semiconductors, and I look forward to the Commission’s upcoming proposal on critical raw materials. Europe can’t afford to neglect our own security of supply and resilience. Trade with China must be fair and also reciprocal.

Mr President, Commissioner, the resilience of Europe's critical infrastructure needs to be strengthened, both in terms of cybersecurity and the physical environment. This legislation now being adopted, together with the Information and Network Security Directive (IS2), is an important step towards strengthening common European security. We have seen in recent months what kind of destruction Russia is sowing in Ukraine by destroying critical infrastructure and pushing people into distress. In the European Union, we have experienced the detonation of Nord Stream 2 and the sabotage of the German rail network. They demonstrate the importance of strengthening joint preparedness and response, and also closer cooperation with NATO, as proposed by the Commission in October. It is a good step that, in addition to energy and transport infrastructure, eleven very critical sectors have been included in this legislation, including digital infrastructure, banking, drinking water, health, food. We know that these are all very critical functions for society and for the lives of citizens.

Mr President, Vice-President of the Commission, thank you very much to all the colleagues who have worked on this important directive on network and information security, NIS2. This is a very important part of the legislation. We know that cybersecurity is a very central part of overall security in societies. And now that we have accelerated digitalisation, people, services and many critical functions have moved online, we are even more vulnerable. It is therefore important, from a technical point of view, to ensure that the processes in the various Member States are in order in these important sectors, which we are talking about here: energy, transport, health and digital infrastructure. We need certain common processes and minimum standards to ensure that we are prepared for cyber threats and attacks. Next, we will be dealing with the legislation on the cybersecurity of devices and software in Europe. Very important legislation, too, but it is at least as important now to pay attention to skills in this area. We know that one third of people in employment in Europe do not have sufficient digital skills. There is already a real shortage of cyber experts in particular, so it is important to invest in training in this area in all Member States, both in basic skills and in expert work.

Mr President, Madam Commissioner, Rapporteur and colleagues, in order to reach our climate targets, we must work to decarbonise the transport sector, as we know it is the only sector where emissions have increased. At the same time, it is important to remember that the maritime sector, like aviation, they are global industries, so unilateral changes that could hinder the competitiveness of European companies must be avoided. There are also challenges, as we know, regarding the availability of renewable maritime fuels. As such, I am glad that the Parliament’s position here is ambitious but also realistic. It is vital that we progressively increase the share of low-carbon fuels, respect technology neutrality and ensure necessary incentives for funding research and development in this area. While we are creating these Europe-wide regulations, we must take the special conditions of Member States also into account. For Finland, this included the compensation formula for ice navigation. I commend the rapporteur and my colleagues for taking this into consideration and including it in the final report.

Madam President, Madam Commissioner, dear colleagues, small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of the European economy. But right now, their situation is alarming. The fallout from the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine, together with increasing administrative burdens, means that the situation for SMEs is only getting worse. Simply put, our SMEs are not getting the support they need. This is why we need a dedicated SME envoy in the Commission to defend SMEs and make sure that all new legislation is SME—friendly. We also need to implement the one-in, one-out principle like the Commission has promised many times, so that SMEs are not overburdened by new rules and regulations that would hinder their growth and innovation. It’s regrettable that the Commission has dragged its feet for so long in this matter. While I also welcome President von der Leyen’s proposed SME relief package, it is simply not enough. It is the time for the Commission to bring forward a comprehensive SME package that addresses these issues. Strong SMEs are key for new innovations, economic growth and the green transition in Europe. Now the Commission must get to work and act for our European SMEs.

Mr President, Commissioner, many European countries were far too dependent on Russian energy, and now we see that it is not easy to replace it. Today, energy demand is much higher than supply in the EU, and that is what this crisis is all about. The most important thing now is to be able to reduce consumption, just as the Member States have already committed themselves to gas. We also need to be able to reduce consumption peaks and reduce the entire electricity demand in order to get more capacity. At the same time, we need to encourage investment in all our own low-emission energy sources. The idea put forward here by many colleagues that the sustainability criteria for forest energy or hydropower are now being tightened up and questioned, on the one hand, and that we are now discussing yield caps for different forms of energy, on the other, is quite ill-suited to that. This is not very inspiring and encouraging for investors. It is precisely these investments that should now be mobilised. As far as the electricity market is concerned, it would now be essential to be able to separate gas from the rest of the electricity price, because that is the problem. And Germany should keep the third nuclear power plant running.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, deforestation is a very big problem worldwide. We know that the world's forest area has decreased considerably over the last decade, and the main cause of deforestation has been population growth and the consequent expansion of agricultural production. EU countries import around 10% of the world's deforestation-causing products, which is why we can do a great deal here to combat deforestation. The EU is a big market with global influence. We are currently in the process of having a very large number of legislative procedures at EU level aimed at influencing the use of forests. And now the most important thing is to ensure that these are consistent and that we avoid excessive duplication of regulation. What is very important is that everything is now based on a careful impact assessment – all the actions we propose. And, just as the rapporteur, Mr Hansen, said here, we must be very critical of the proposal that, for example, the financial sector should now be included in this legislation, because it is not part of this deforestation legislation. The concern here is that the financial sector could not possibly provide services to the wood industry at all. Similarly, excessive burdens on SMEs must be avoided.

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, audience, it’s a great pleasure to speak about cycling here. Not only because, personally, I like cycling very much, but also because I see that cycling has great potential in our transport system and especially in urban mobility. When we speak about decarbonisation, we know that cycling can contribute to significant reductions in CO2 emissions and air pollution and help also reduce dependence on fossil fuels, contributing to our climate goals. In addition, it has many other benefits, such as less road congestion, and it improves health for individuals too. So cycling can therefore greatly improve the quality of life in our cities. Cycling-friendly infrastructure, including street design and parking facilities, is key to increasing cycle use in urban areas. So cycling should be recognised as a transport mode at EU level. Including cycling in the revised Trans-European Transport Network and sustainable urban mobility plans could help to increase the share of cycling in EU cities. When we speak about digitalisation, cycling and public bike-sharing are also generating lots of data and various services. Therefore, cycling data should be integrated into the standardisation and harmonisation of multimodal and real-time transport data.

Madam President, Minister, Commissioner, the Three Seas Initiative is a great example of cross—border cooperation in the areas of transport, energy and digital infrastructure to achieve interconnections. It is now extremely timely and important for Europe to invest in modern and mass connections that combine digitalisation, clean energy and transport. We know that this is crucial for both an efficient single market as well as the international competitiveness of the Union. Like it was said here already by my colleagues, the Russian attack on Ukraine has highlighted the importance of connectivity and infrastructure for the security of supply and public security. EU funding should be directed more towards the building and maintenance of cross—border infrastructure in the European Union. Therefore, I am regretting that the Connecting Europe Facility funding did not receive more funding from the Member States. In particular, I want to mention the military mobility part, because the war in Ukraine highlights how military troops and equipment should be able to move more efficiently across the EU. This, in turn, requires more investments for infrastructure from the European Union.

Mr President, Commissioner, it was an important step from the summit that Ukraine and Moldova, as well as Georgia under certain conditions, were granted candidate status. These countries have shown a strong desire to join the European Union. Ukraine is currently fighting for freedom and democracy. It must be supported by all means. We must also support the path of these applicant countries towards membership of the European Union, as well as the path of the countries of the Western Balkans. It is clear that membership as such requires major reforms and major progress from all sides, but the European Union also needs to reform. We will soon have a dozen applicant countries and it is clear that the European Union must strengthen its economic structures, strengthen the rule of law and increase its own foreign policy decision-making capacity in order to be ready for this enlargement. It is a great pity that the Member States have not taken up this Parliament's initiative, which calls for reforms in the European Union.

Mr President, Commissioner, in order to get rid of fossil energy, Europe needs to invest in all low-emission energy sources, including nuclear power. Already today, half of Europe's zero-emission electricity comes from nuclear power and we know that the need for electricity will only increase in the future. It is therefore appropriate to support the Commission's approach here, which considers that new investments in nuclear power, as well as extensions of operating time under certain conditions, are sustainable investments. That is the right line to take, but I also understand well those colleagues who are concerned about the final disposal of nuclear waste in countries where it has not been solved, and it should also be solved. In my own country, Finland, is the first country in the world to arrange the final disposal of nuclear waste. It was decided 30 years ago. Nuclear waste will be buried in the bedrock, and that area will be taken into use in a few years' time. The Commissioner has also visited. These solutions are needed.

Mr President, dear colleagues, Commissioners, as the ITRE rapporteur, I would like to thank all the colleagues for their excellent cooperation on this DSA. The DSA sets landmark standards for a safer and more transparent digital space for users, and also a level playing field for businesses. We can also say that it puts Europe to the forefront in regulating the online world. As ITRE rapporteur, my focus has been especially on the ICT industry innovations and small and micro—enterprises. It is important for European businesses, especially for our SMEs, that we ensure that they have now a level playing field and fair competition. And we have to make sure that European values and rules are also respected in the online world. At the same time, we should encourage companies to scale up, innovate and invest in Europe. Our SMEs and start-ups play a crucial role in creating Europe’s digital competitiveness and growth. Regulating the digital market should not set obstacles for growth. So that’s why we must ensure that the smallest enterprises are not faced with too heavy an administrative burden. Necessary flexibility and legal certainty is needed for SMEs to operate and grow. So I think we have now a very balanced outcome of two regulations here, DSA and DMA. On behalf of the ITRE Committee I would like to thank all the colleagues and rapporteurs and shadows and all the institutions for this work.

Mr President, it is good that Europe is ambitious in climate policy. It is the only way forward. We should be ambitious, but also realistic. Carbon leakage must be avoided to preserve European competitiveness. Environmental, economic and social sustainability must all be taken into account. If implemented correctly, the Fit for 55 package can both reduce emissions and also generate growth. We need technology-neutral legislation which encourages investments in all kinds of viable clean energy solutions, such as nuclear and bioenergy. The ETS should remain as a market based tool to guide these investments. The main focus of the package should stay on stopping our dependency on fossil fuels. This is the most efficient way to reduce emissions. Carbon sinks play an important but limited role in the process. LULUCF targets should be supported as proposed by the Commission. At the same time, we must enable sustainable use of forests and recognise also the possibilities of bio-based solutions in replacing fossil based materials.

Mr President, dear colleagues, the Russian attack on Ukraine has profoundly highlighted the importance of democratic values and freedom of expression in society. In a society based on the rule of law, the freedom of expression is a cornerstone. For a functioning democracy, it’s essential that those holding power can be scrutinised and criticised for their actions. The media has a key role in this. It is the watchdog of democracy. Media freedom is essential for democracy to succeed. The Pegasus spyware cases are concerning examples of illegal, targeted surveillance. It’s extremely important that we recognise such matters of illegal surveillance that are increasingly used, as they have significant effects on the right to privacy. The revealed Pegasus illegal surveillance cases are not only devastating on the victims, but they also affect the development of democracy and the rule of law. The misuse of spyware against journalists, defenders of human rights and the opposition affects everybody who wants to critically examine their government, protect democracy and the rule of law. They are cyberattacks against democracy and violate the fundamental values of the European Union. We must not stand by and watch such violations of democracy emerge, but take action against illegal surveillance, support the victims of such cases, and protect our fundamental rights.

Madam President, every day we Europeans keep funding Putin’s war by importing Russian fossil fuels. This is completely unacceptable, unsustainable and also an immoral situation. Since the beginning of the EU energy union and the Russian occupation in Crimea, there have been efforts to decrease our energy dependency on Russia. However, the direction has been the opposite. The energy dependency rate is now at a record high level. This is a huge failure. The EU Member States should now unite on energy policy in the same way they have united on security and defence in the past weeks. The Member States should together stop Russian gas, oil and coal imports to Europe as soon as possible. The only sustainable way to ensure stable energy prices and security of supply in Europe in the future is to encourage investments in all viable clean forms of energy production, including nuclear energy. We can’t afford to miss the decarbonisation benefits of any available alternatives.

Mr President, Commissioner, now that the COVID-19 pandemic has been going on for two years, we need to assess where the European Union has succeeded and where we need to improve for the future, because it is unfortunately quite clear that this pandemic will certainly not be the last. Vaccines have often been introduced here today. From the outset, the European Union started investing heavily in vaccines and pharmaceutical research, which has been very important in reducing serious illnesses and deaths. In addition, large joint procurements carried out on behalf of the member states also helped the smallest member states to get the vaccines into use immediately. Another major success, in my opinion, has been precisely the single COVID certificate, which made it technically very functional. This is evidenced by the fact that more than 60 countries have already adopted this certificate. The issue that has failed in this respect has already been raised in previous speeches. Different Member States have used the COVID-19 certificate in a very different way and have constantly changed the rules related to it. As such, the certificate has facilitated travel and helped many Member States to keep services open and organise events safely, but the ever-changing rules have made this very difficult for citizens to predict, and as we have a single internal market and a single European Union, we need to better ensure that Member States coordinate their actions together and that our common rules work across the internal market. Only then will we be able to operate efficiently and safely in the future.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, there are major shortcomings in the transport of animals. This is reflected in the work of the committee and in this report. In particular, there are two major problems, one of which is in the regulation governing the transport of animals in general, which was adopted more than 15 years ago. Since then, the world has changed. More research has come. The legislation needs to be updated, in particular to better take into account the species, size, age of the animals, feeding needs, watering, temperature. Legislation therefore needs to be reformed. Another major problem is that it seems that the Member States do not monitor properly or very poorly the implementation of the legislation. It is, of course, a matter that affects both animal welfare, but it also creates unfair competition when some do not comply with the rules. This is also a big financial issue, with millions of animals being transported within and outside the EU each year. That's about 10 billion euros of money. Financially, it is about big things. It also appears that vehicles used for transport and their requirements need to be revised. There are also major differences between Member States in terms of the requirements imposed on vehicles and, for example, ships in general are not even designed for the transport of animals. The report also makes it clear that, although EU law also applies to transport outside the EU, in practice this is not controlled at all. That is why I personally support the line that we should not accept that animals are transported from the EU to poor conditions, but rather that we should transport meat and genetic materials instead of live animals.

Mr President, as the rapporteur for the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), I would like to thank all the colleagues from other committees, rapporteurs and shadows, for their good cooperation on this dossier. In the ITRE report, my focus as the rapporteur has been on ICT industry innovations and small and micro-enterprises. It is important for European businesses, especially for our SMEs, that we ensure a level playing field and fair competition and make sure that European values and legislation are respected in the online world. What is illegal offline should be also illegal online. This also means that businesses from third countries should follow European rules when operating in our digital markets. Our SMEs and start—ups play a crucial role in creating Europe’s digital competitiveness and growth. When regulating the digital market, we should make sure that we are not setting obstacles for growth. We should encourage companies to scale up, innovate and invest in Europe. In particular, we must ensure that the smallest enterprises are not faced with excessively heavy administrative burdens. Flexibility and legal certainty are necessary in order for SMEs to operate and grow. Therefore, in the ITRE text, we also introduced various exemptions for small and micro—enterprises.