Speeches

Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, tomorrow we will elect the President of the European Parliament in accordance with our Rules of Procedure. I would like to remind you that, following the decision of the Conference of Presidents of 12 January 2022, the elections of the President, Vice-Presidents and Quaestors will be organised in a remote format, in accordance with the instructions and modalities that everyone received by email on 12 January 2022. In accordance with Rule 15(1), nominations shall be submitted, with the agreement of those concerned, by a political group or Members reaching at least the low threshold. New nominations may be submitted before each ballot. By the end of today's deadline at 17.00, the following nominations for President of the European Parliament have been submitted in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Rules of Procedure: Alice Kuhnke - Roberta Metsola - Sira Rego - Kosma Złotowski The candidates confirmed that the applications were submitted with their agreement. Tomorrow, at 9 a.m., there will be a short presentation of the candidacies in our plenary. The first ballot is scheduled for tomorrow at 09:30. The vote will last 45 minutes and will close at 10.15 a.m. Once the vote is closed, Members will no longer be able to exercise their right to vote within that time limit. I would like to remind you of the importance of strictly personal and secret ballots for our institution. Instructions concerning the election of the President were circulated electronically to all Members.

Following the appointment of Ms Schreinemacher as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Government of the Netherlands, Parliament declared the corresponding vacancy with effect from 10 January 2022, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure. The competent authorities of Germany informed the President that Mr Malte Lenz Gallée was elected Member of the European Parliament in place of Mr Sven Giegold with effect from 22 December 2021. I would like to welcome the new colleague and remind him that he sits in Parliament and its bodies in full enjoyment of his rights under the Rules of Procedure.

Ladies and gentlemen, the sitting is reopened.We started with the approval of the minutes.The minutes and the texts adopted of the sittings of 13, 14, 15 and 16.12.2021 are now available. Is there any observation? I don't see any observations. The minutes were therefore approved.

This request will be put to the vote after the vote on the Commission proposal. We now move to today's voting session. Files will be voted as indicated on the agenda. Voting will be open from 12.40 to 13.45. The vote shall be taken by the same procedure as in the previous voting session and all votes shall be taken by roll call. I declare the voting session open. Members may vote until 13.45. The results of the votes will be announced at 7 p.m. as scheduled. The debates will resume at 3 p.m. with the topical debate under Rule 162 of the Rules of Procedure, in particular the European Commission guidelines on the use of inclusive language.

Before opening today's voting session, I would like to give the floor under Rule 59(4) to Andreas Schwab on the referral back of his report on the Digital Markets Act to the committee for interinstitutional negotiations. Mr Schwab has the floor.

I would like to start with an announcement to inform you that the EPP has communicated to the President some decisions to change the nominations made to committees. These decisions will be recorded in the minutes of today's sitting and will take effect from the date of this announcement.

Thank you very much, Minister, and let me thank you in particular for the cooperation of the Slovenian Presidency with this European Parliament. The debate is closed. Written statements (Rule 171)

The debate is closed. The sitting is suspended for a few minutes until 12.00, when the formal sitting on our agenda will take place. Written declarations (Rule 171)

The next item on the agenda concerns Council and Commission statements on the situation in Belarus and its border with the European Union: security and humanitarian consequences. I recall that, as has been the norm in this session, there will be no catch the eye nor questions in the form of a ‘blue card’ and interventions are also planned from our Liaison Offices in the Member States. The speeches in the Chamber will, of course, continue to be made from the central gallery. I would like to start by giving the floor, on behalf of the Council, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Anže Logar. You have the floor.

The next item on the agenda is the Commission statement on the coordination of Member States’ measures in light of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the EU (2021/2984(RSP)). I would like to remind the Honourable Members that in all the debates of this part-session there will be no catch-the-eye procedures or blue card questions. In addition, as in recent part-sessions, remote interventions are planned from the European Parliament Liaison Offices in the Member States. I would also like to remind you that speeches in the Chamber will continue to be made from the central rostrum, except for spontaneous requests to speak, blue cards and points of order. I therefore invite the Honourable Members to follow the list of speakers and to approach the podium when their speaking time is imminent.

The debate is closed. The vote on the amendments will take place on Wednesday and the final vote on Thursday. Written declarations (Rule 171)

Good afternoon everyone, ladies and gentlemen. The next item on our agenda is the oral question to the Commission on the introduction of a European social security passport to improve the digital enforcement of social security rights and fair mobility (O-000071/2021 - B9-0041/21). It falls within the remit of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. I would like to remind the honourable Members that in all the debates of this part-session there will be no catch the eye nor questions in the form of a “blue card”. In addition, as in recent part-sessions, remote interventions are now planned from the European Parliament Liaison Offices in the Member States. I would also like to point out that the speeches in the Chamber will continue to be made here from the central gallery. I therefore invite the Honourable Members to follow the list of speakers and to approach the gallery according to the procedure they are familiar with.

As regards today's and yesterday's sittings, the minutes will be submitted to the European Parliament for its consent at the beginning of its next sitting. If there are no objections, I will immediately submit the resolution adopted during this part-session to the persons and bodies referred to in the resolution.

Madam President, the statute and funding of political parties are, in any democracy, a fundamental part of the rules of the democratic game. The improvement of these rules, as proposed in this excellent report by our colleagues, Mr Goerens and Mr Wieland, is undoubtedly an important contribution to the qualification of our democracy at European level. In addition to the question of funding rules, which has already been discussed here, two aspects seem to merit particular attention. First, the requirement to respect European fundamental principles and values as a condition for registration of European parties, which should be monitored in the framework of the announced European Commission Action Plan for European Democracy. And, secondly, enhancing the visibility of European political parties, including through the association of their logos in campaign materials and other forms of communication of national parties. These changes would be very concrete ways of promoting the recognition by citizens of a genuine European democracy.

The next item on the agenda is the report by Mr Wölken and Ms Metsola - Strengthening democracy and media freedom and pluralism in the EU (2021/2036(INI)) (A9-0292/2021). I would remind the Honourable Members that they will be able to request catch-the-eye and blue cards through your voting device once they have inserted their voting card. I would therefore ask the honourable Members to carry the voting card with them at all times. Instructions have been made available in the Chamber. Should you wish to register for the catch-the-eye procedure, we invite you to do so from now on, without waiting for the end of the debate. I would also like to remind you that speeches in the Chamber will continue to be made from the central rostrum, except for spontaneous requests to speak, blue cards and points of order. We therefore invite the Honourable Members to follow the list of speakers and to approach the podium when their speaking time is imminent.

We now continue with the debate on – the question for oral answer (O-000065/2021 – B9-0039/21), and – the question for oral answer (O-000066/2021 – B9-0040/21).

Thank you very much. Before proceeding, I would like to announce today's first voting session. We will vote on the files as indicated on the agenda. Voting will be open from 1 p.m. to 2.15 p.m., and the vote will of course follow the same procedure as for previous voting sessions. All votes shall be taken by roll call. I hereby declare the voting session open. This means that they will be able to vote until 2.15 p.m. The results of the votes will be announced at 19.00.

Thank you, Prime Minister. You will take note that I was extremely flexible regarding the allocated time so that nobody can say that you didn’t have time enough to give explanations to the European Parliament. But the respect of the allocated time is also a way of showing respect for this House of European democracy.