What Maria spoke about.

21 May

2026

RO Speech

Need for an adaptation of the EU legal framework on sustainable biofuels (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we need a new legal framework for the use of biofuels. We need an energy mix. We need technological neutrality. But, Commissioner, let us stop making mistakes. Climate targets must be set in such a way that we do not destroy industry. We cannot use biofuels, which actually support decarbonisation, in such a small percentage. There is no use of biom…

21 May

2026

RO Speech

European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Stop destroying videogames’ (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to stress first of all how important the citizens' initiative is, and I say this for the citizens of my country and of other countries who are not yet using this instrument. The citizens' initiative allows citizens to intervene, to propose regulation to us. If we are talking about today's regulation, about stopping the destruction o…

20 May

2026

RO Speech

Advancing towards a care society: addressing the gender care gap (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, let us look at the reality. Care services are not easy work. You have to take care of a child, an old man, a disabled person. It takes effort, but also dedication, a vocation. That is why I think the first thing we need to regulate is that these care services are really paid, not humiliating work. And yes, the figures show that 80% of the staff, th…

20 May

2026

RO Speech

Recent proposals to fight poverty in the EU (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that we must be realistic. We now have a social package and a proposal from the Commissioner on the anti-poverty strategy. Let's see how we build. The Commissioner has a very important role, but also a very difficult role, in the Council of Commissioners. Because yes, I said it today, when we talked about the single market, if we don't…

20 May

2026

RO Speech

High time to deliver on the Single Market, providing certainty and predictability for EU businesses and quality jobs (continuation of debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we have been talking about the single market for 30 years. We will have a single market when we understand, Commissioner, that the single market means people. Here, even today, the President of the Commission puts the social dimension on the last point. Without people with a standard of living who can support their families, we won't be able to compete. Stop …

19 May

2026

RO Speech

Presentation of the Fertilisers Action Plan (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the European fertiliser industry is very much affected by high energy prices and we have known it for a very long time. Because of this, many fertilizer productions in the European Union have closed, as is Azomures in my country. From November 2025 they closed the gates and left people home. The problem is keeping you in a state of uncertainty. …

19 May

2026

RO Question

EU cybersecurity and preparedness in view of advanced AI systems (debate)

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We are discussing advanced artificial intelligence systems in the European Union and how we can protect ourselves. There has been a lot of debate, a lot of vulnerability. After all, artificial intelligence must be based on a well-trained human resource, systems, collaborations, as has been said here. Do you think that if we apply the Artificial Intelligence Law from August, we can face these chall…

19 May

2026

RO Question

EU cybersecurity and preparedness in view of advanced AI systems (debate)

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You have raised many issues related to artificial intelligence and protection cybersecurity. I ask you, the Commissioner said that, of course, it is not enough to have the technical part solved, we have to see how we fix the vulnerabilities. Do you think the application of the law since August 2026 - the artificial intelligence law - is good? We are ready, the whole internal market is ready, will …

18 May

2026

RO Speech

Negative trade-related effects of global overcapacity on the Union steel market (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, steel must be protected and should not have been from today. The overcapacity of global steel production was known and we did not take timely action, but at least now let's try to end the dumping of steel imports. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost, tens of thousands of jobs. In my country, in Romania, thousands of jobs have been lost. The people in the steelworks …

30 Apr

2026

RO Speech

Women’s entrepreneurship in rural and island areas and outermost regions (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we are talking about female entrepreneurship. I know him very well, I run an association in my country for 29 years. Commissioner, there is some statistical data that clearly shows that women also have a lower percentage in employment, not only in agriculture, and in urban areas, but now we are talking about rural areas. It is not only in agriculture that wom…

30 Apr

2026

RO Question

How to secure a sustainable future for the EU livestock sector in light of the need to ensure food security, farmers’ resilience and the challenges posed by animal diseases? (debate)

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Dear colleague, I listened carefully to what you said. I'd like to ask you a few specific questions. Do you know a statistic, how much of the population of the European Union and the world eats meat and how many are vegetarians? That's a question. Second question: what do you think we would do in the European Union if mountain areas, pastures were not used? How many millions of jobs would we lose …

30 Apr

2026

RO Speech

How to secure a sustainable future for the EU livestock sector in light of the need to ensure food security, farmers’ resilience and the challenges posed by animal diseases? (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are talking today about a sector that is much more than just a component of agriculture, and I am glad, Commissioner, that you understand. You have to take the next step: to impose within the Commission the measures that we, Parliament, see from left to right, are calling for. Let's not forget that livestock farming is second in global meat prod…

29 Apr

2026

RO Speech

EU strategy in response to the ongoing Middle East crisis, its implications on energy prices and the availability of fertilizers (joint debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are once again debating something important, but which we are not debating for the first time. I am sorry, Madam President of the Commission, I have been hearing it since 2019 saying what it should, but it does not say what it has done, because of the energy market in the European Union, of the single market, of organising and having a solida…

28 Apr

2026

RO Speech

Interim report on the proposal for the multiannual financial framework for 2028-2034 (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, of course the new financial year is extremely important for the future of Europe and of course I, as a citizen and as responsible for the internal market, as Vice-President, would have liked this budget to be much clearer. First of all, to have a separate budget for agriculture, to have much more money and targets for small and medium-sized enterprises, to make them sol…

27 Apr

2026

RO Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I want to talk about the Waste Water Directive. We all know – we want a clean environment, we want clean water. But, Commissioner, from all the discussions we have had with the experts, it seems that the Commission has not carried out an impact assessment. The tax is unbalanced and all the weight falls on the drug industry. There are 52 factorie…

27 Apr

2026

RO Speech

Financial literacy and the rise of finfluencers in the context of the savings and investments union (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, once again, the Commission is holding an own-initiative report. Very good. You can't be free, you can't make decisions about how to spend your money, many or few, if you don't have a minimal financial culture. And it doesn't have to be done now, when we're adults or when we start a business, even after we finish college, it has to be done from school, maybe even from…

27 Apr

2026

RO Speech

Protection of the European Union’s financial interests – combating fraud – annual report 2024 (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, the protection of financial interests, we have debated this very often. I have been a member of the Committee on Budgetary Control for two mandates and I have discussed with all the institutions that we pay. Citizens pay them to protect the financial interests of the European Union. But does it protect them? Doesn't personal example matter? We have former Commissioners …

27 Apr

2026

RO Speech

Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank Group – annual report 2024 (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, Vice-President, of course the European Investment Bank, especially in this context, has a very important role to play. I am a member of the Committee on Budgetary Control and I have looked at this very often. I believe that investments must be well calculated, well targeted, calculated the risk, obviously, not to happen as was the case here, the example of Sweden, wi…

26 Mar

2026

RO Speech

EU-US trade deal (joint debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the European Union's agreement with the United States, of course, is a necessity, but from my point of view, the agreement also means respect between partners. Raising taxes five times, from 3 to 15, wanting to impose for steel and aluminum 50% and believing that you respect your partner, seems absolutely unacceptable to me. That is wh…

25 Mar

2026

RO Speech

Energy security, independence and supply in the geopolitical context - ensuring market stability and affordable energy for industry and citizens (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, we have learned today from the Council that there would be no danger, that we must not be afraid that there is no danger to energy security. Commissioner, let us be realistic. Yesterday I met with 11 branches of industry in Romania: cement industry, steel, metallurgy, fertilizer industry, construction, building materials. They all raised the question of t…

11 Mar

2026

RO Speech

Package travel and linked travel arrangements: make the protection of travellers more effective and simplify and clarify certain aspects (debate)

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11 Mar

2026

RO Speech

Savings and Investments Union: time to accelerate the process to deepen market integration (debate)

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11 Mar

2026

RO Speech

EUCO and situation in the Middle East (joint debate)

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10 Mar

2026

RO Speech

Presentation of the Energy Package (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, it is good that we are discussing an energy package. In fact, we have been discussing for a very long time that we need an energy market, because - it has been said here - we have millions of European citizens living in energy poverty. In my country, in Romania, we have millions of citizens who cannot pay their bill. Why? First of all, in Europe we have the price higher…

10 Mar

2026

RO Speech

Housing crisis in the European Union with the aim of proposing solutions for decent, sustainable and affordable housing (debate)

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