Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, of course, we are discussing the broad lines of the 2025 budget. Someone else will finalize: a new Commission, a new Parliament. My perplexity is why, if we always say that we must have social cohesion in the internal market, that we must support SMEs, that we must support research and innovation, why we do not arrive after so many years making budgets – however, SMEs are the most in demand, the operating costs of SMEs are the highest, innovation and research cannot benefit SMEs, but only large companies, bankers are getting rich, polarisation in society is high. That is why my requirement is that, in the future, the budget really be managed on the principles that lead to social cohesion, to an increase in the number of SMEs, which we say are the backbone in the European Union, and to lifting citizens out of poverty. The money from the European budget is the money of the citizens and this is how we must think if we want to have peace and cohesion in the European Union.

The Prime Minister has said here several times: “must, must, must”. I want to ask you whether, from what the Prime Minister has presented here, you understood that we all have equal opportunities in the European Union now? The Prime Minister was also Minister of Agriculture. I ask you, the Prime Minister has used the word ‘must’ several times (The speaker is interrupted for technical reasons). The Prime Minister has said several times in his speech that he ‘must and must and must’. I will relate to one sentence, which is that we need equal opportunities, all of us, in the European Union, that is, all the citizens of the 27 countries. Do you think that, with what the Prime Minister said, we now have equal opportunities? Domnul prim-ministru este și membru al Consiliului și fost ministru al agriculturii, și întreb: How does it consider that the CAP should be amended in order to be equal for farmers in the European Union? How should Schengen advocate for a single market?

Mr President, Commissioner, of course we are debating a very important topic, especially since we have so many elections this year. Do you think it is important to be concerned about all elections, not just elections at the level of the European Parliament? Because, in the end, elections at local level, at national level, national parliaments, those will then influence the outcome of the elections there, they will also influence the elections for the European Parliament. Therefore, if there is a foreign interference in the local and national elections and it distorts the outcome of the elections, obviously the others will be influenced as well. Can you estimate in what percentage do you think there are foreign interferences in the 27 states now? You've said a few things, but I think asking them just not to use artificial intelligence with fake videos isn't enough. Don't you think we should have regulations at European Union level that restrict? That doesn't mean we don't have freedom of speech, but to severely restrict and sanction all this false information and manipulation.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is sad that this year, 2024, we are still discussing violence and harassment against women at work, but also on the street. Maybe we should do a prevention and maybe we should have a much better gender balance in all institutions, because when we have a female majority, there would probably be no violence and harassment in the workplace. I think it is very welcome and of course I will vote for this document. It is very welcome for all Member States to ratify this ILO agreement, because it is not enough, we must also act, and behold, this year is an extremely important year, because in most Member States there are elections, both local, and national, and European Parliament. Political parties must promote women more and gender balance in all institutions – state, private, political – will certainly lead to less violence. We also need education and culture. And yes, I believe that our male partners must assume this, support women on the basis of value in all jobs where it could be done, and fight, associate and fight when violence occurs.

Thank you, dear colleague, for your question. Yes, I'm an engineer by profession and I've never gone on improvisation. It is good to make sure that everything that is placed on the market also has the safety of using devices.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is very good that we are discussing patient safety today. It's late. After 12 years, we're going to change the rules. Too much of us follow the ‘better late than never’ principle. Domnule comisar, în țara mea și în multe alte țări pacienții nu au acces la dispozitive. Be scheduled in three months for a C.T. or CT scan. Not to have access to a prosthesis, not to have access, as has been said here, for children, to catheters or essential things. It is absolutely astounding that after so many years patients die because they do not have access to devices. On the other hand, there are devices on the internal market that do not have performance, are not certified and have even led to the death of the use of devices. Health systems are in crisis, it is clear and I hope, Commissioner, that if we now analyse and amend the regulations, we will also be able to have access for patients, no matter in which country they live, to these devices, on which their lives ultimately depend. After all, nothing is more important than people's lives. (The speaker agreed to answer a question raised under the ‘blue card’ procedure)

Madam President, Commissioner, we are discussing strengthening common defence. Very little has been said about peace. The President of the Commission leaves again after she has made her point of view known. It is not interesting to hear Parliament's views. Yes, of course we need to strengthen our defenses, but we also need to fight for peace. This is what European citizens expect, and look, my country has 2.5% of the defence budget, but unfortunately it is not treated in the same way as the other states that have less for defence, and the best example is Austria. Romania is discriminated against both in the case of farmers and in the case of Schengen. We are talking about consolidation here: in order to be able to strengthen defence and fight for peace, we need to aim at least for this. We do not have a very good diplomatic outcome and yes, it may be a good proposal to have a Commissioner for Peace, but what do we do now? Peoples are impoverished, people are dying on the front lines, and we are unable to find a peaceful solution.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today I am glad that we are coming to talk about this regulation, which I fought for when I was in the employers' movement. I believe that geographical indications for wine, spirits, but also for agricultural products bring effects including in the circular economy, preserve cultural traditions, and small producers in rural areas can develop tourism. They know best and this tradition is passed down from generation to generation. The label put on the product assures consumers that it is an authentic product from that area and somehow combats counterfeiting. That is why I support this regulation and I hope as soon as possible and I am glad that from my country we have Dobrogea pie, Ibănești cheese and many other products with a geographical indication and I hope that we can apply the geographical indication to other handicraft products as well. This identifies us in the world and, Commissioner, of course, I am also saying that in trade agreements we should also put in place and protect instruments to support small producers.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, of course the regulation makes sense. We need to see how we can protect intellectual property. My problem, from the point of view of small and medium-sized enterprises, from the point of view of the internal market (I am the Vice-President of the internal market): I believe that the regulation will have detrimental effects on small, small and medium-sized enterprises. Additional administrative costs are introduced, there is not enough transparency. Commissioner, I believe that this point of view that I am now saying has been conveyed to you through over 200 questions by the Member States. Neutral experts said it too. I think we had to think about when we make this regulation and the impact of the end-user and the impact on research and innovation if we want the European Union to be a leader in innovation, in research, in technology compared to the global market, and that is why I think it would be wise to withdraw this proposal, because the future effects will be hard to counteract if this regulation comes out in its current form.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are discussing an extremely important thing if we start from statistics and we are well aware that we have a lot of road accidents. It was normal to come up with a proposal and improve traffic conditions. It is strange to hear colleagues here say that it would cost us to have a medical visit at 15 years old. I strongly support it, because we cannot expose citizens to accidents just because we would not want to make this visit at 15 years old. Good thing we do the car overhaul every year or two. I also agree that we have a driver crisis in the European Union, which is why I support lowering the age of driving trucks to 17, but of course with an attendant. After all, our target is zero accidents and we can't make a difference. We have an internal market. If in a Member State there is already a mandatory medical visit at 15, that man may be exposed to an accident in a country where no medical visit is ever made and say that you discriminate when we know well that, physiologically, at 70, you do not have the same skills is absolutely strange. I support, however, the protection of citizens and security in the internal market.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, of course this is a step and it is the first step we are taking to revise the financial framework, but I am sceptical because, Commissioner, did you say, at the end of your presentation, 'the need to increase competitiveness'? I speak from an internal market perspective, I am the Vice-President of the internal market. It is not normal to review and cut exactly the funds that could lead to social cohesion, that could lead to competitiveness, that could lead to reindustrialization, because here we are behind the other states and, of course, lead to this cohesion and this geographical balance. That is why I believe that what the Commission is sending us and Parliament is working to correct, the Council is demolishing – and this is not the first time that it is demolishing, fragmenting the market, making decisions that are only politically related, not to what we need and what citizens need after all. If we don't have industry, we don't have jobs, if we don't have competitive industry, we can't have high wages and people are getting poorer every day.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are discussing food price inflation. Commissioner, you came and told us a story here. Nothing happened. We're talking about causes, root causes. Do you know what the root cause is? It's speculation, Commissioner, because it's speculation. The farmer sells his wheat for less, but the bread is more expensive on the shelf. The farmer sells his milk for less, but the dairy products on the shelf are more expensive. Why? They don't interfere with those who speculate. Who? Big stores, hypermarkets. What bargaining power does a small producer have with these colossi? No, no, no. And you were talking about inputs. What's been done? Fuel, energy, farmers are down. And no, we have not mobilised you and the Commissioner for Agriculture has not mobilised what is still happening in Brussels today. Commissioner, either we want to save European agriculture and not impoverish or starve people, or then I think very strongly that you do not care about people. People, millions, tens of millions of people have nothing to eat, they can no longer afford from wages and pensions to buy at the prices we are talking about today, and there is no concrete measure and you have not presented here any concrete measure.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today we are talking about what we can do with this regulation so that there is this balance between transparency and the right to expression. We all know, I don't think there is a country where there has not been interference in elections, for example, an attack on democracy, as the Commissioner said. It's fine and we're taking some steps with the ledger we want to set up, but I'm skeptical that any unclean paid political advertising can be identified, so to speak, and fake news. Commissioner, I support these things personally: I received the European Parliament Award for MEP of the Year in 2019 at the IMCO Committee. Do you know what the press says? That I was awarded by Sputnik. So, these deformations will, of course, lead to a lack of credibility in front of the citizens, and I believe that we should not stop here. We must continue to find ways to really counter fake news and manipulation of citizens, especially in the act of elections that can distort the democratic act.

Mr President, Commissioner, Mrs Lagarde, I come from a more recent country in the European Union, Romania. The main task of the bank, as has been said here, is price stability. The fantastic loss has reached the citizens. We have a lot of poor citizens, Mrs. Lagarde, who can't even buy bread. Inflation has not been curbed. We have to go from results. "It means that the policies you have applied have not been good," the colleague said before. SMEs do not have access to finance. You, in your report, have not specifically stated how you want to achieve 2% inflation in 2026. You may answer us, because if you take care of everything and do not remain in the mandate of the bank you run, we certainly do not achieve our goal, because there were crises after crises, and monetary policy was not adapted at all to crises and poverty increased in the European Union. I'm asking for an answer, Mrs. Lagarde, if you've come here: Tell us how, because we also have to tell the citizens when we go home.

Madam President, Mr President, dear Minister and the whole team, at first I want to thank you for describing my country so beautifully. That is so and I would like, dear colleagues, those who today have tried to blame her, to understand Romania. Visit her first, talk to the people there and understand her. Mr. President, I will be objective. I want to raise the issues that I have raised before all Heads of State and Government and ask you: Do you really like what Europe looks like now? Do you think more could have been done? Is there really social cohesion? Is there equity? I am the Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and I refuse to use the term ‘single market’ that you have used, as has Commissioner Breton. I don't think it's a single market and that's what we have to fight for, Mr President. I end my second term with a bitter taste that Romania is not in the internal market, that we are not in Schengen and it is unfair, and my colleagues from all political groups have said it. Next, do you think the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is fair? Why haven't we had this equity for so long? Farmers in all states, if we have a single internal market in all states, be equally rewarded. I think there are things that could have been solved during this period and I do not think that you should not, even at the last hundred meters, insist, Mr President, because, we know well, in the Council it is finally decided how Europe should go and where.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we have a priority debate with farmers on the street and the Commissioner for Agriculture is not here. How can we debate priority issues for agriculture without the Commissioner who has the job description to deal with it? Thank you, Mr Vice-President, Commissioner, for being here. Neither is the President, nor does she participate in priority debates. Colleagues, we need solutions here. Yes, we are proud of the agricultural sector, but are they proud of us, of what we do for them? Commissioner, did you say that we need to find solutions? Well, the solutions are clear. Now, in the crisis, we need to increase the budget for the crisis. We urgently need to change the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). What fairness are we talking about when there are no equal subsidies in all Member States? What fairness are we talking about when 8,000 grams per hectare of pesticides are consumed in the Netherlands and 600 in my country? That's what farmers want. What equity are we talking about when we take their land and lay them fallow and make butter out of fly and eat locusts and cricket flour? Farmers want natural agriculture, consumers want natural agriculture. Let's give them action, not stories.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I will speak from a consumer perspective. I am the Vice-Chair of the Committee on Consumer Protection in the European Parliament. Of course, I am not a specialist, but I am an engineer and I support research and innovation, but it is absurd to apply the result of the research without making an impact analysis. We are talking here about people's health and if the argument we heard today that we want to apply this and make a regulation, it means that there is no longer freedom of decision in every state and the citizen does not know if he has the right to choose what he consumes. If the argument is that we import such products from elsewhere, the argument is zero. Because we can ban trade agreements from importing what we don't know is good for health. I would vote very broadly on this regulation if, before and not after, you bring us all the evidence that there is no impact on health. I didn't hear this, several colleagues asked for it and that's why I have a big doubt. Citizens ask us: Do we still have the right to choose something in our lives? Where do we go, how do we go, what do we eat, what do we wear? So I think this regulation is absolutely unprepared. We don't have all the data at hand and we know what happened to the vaccines.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I want to talk about the internal market, consumer protection and the protection of the internal market. We talk a lot, we debate a lot, the Commission makes cosmetics, but here we are, to serious violations of consumers' rights to know what they consume. Behold, we have farmers on the street all over Europe, because, yes, horsemeat is imported from Uruguay without knowing the quality of the meat. We import products and cereals, finished products from third countries, making unfair competition to farmers and we are not able to cover the words we say with facts. The trust of citizens and farmers has been lost and we need to find a solution. I think the solution, Commissioner, is the following: the common agricultural policy must be amended, trade agreements that finally protect the internal market and protect consumers must be reviewed and made safe, they must be quality standards, product standards, we must not import products in which the labour force is exploited, so that we really ensure fair conditions for both consumers and producers in the internal market.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the directive that we are debating today, relating to driving disqualifications, has only one purpose: to save lives, to reduce road accidents. Of course, we have road accidents not only because of drivers who may be drunk, use drugs, have excessive speed, but also because of infrastructure, which is another subject, as in all Member States, to manage to have a proper road infrastructure. But yes, I agree that those who violate road traffic rules should be treated the same, because life has the same value, no matter in which country the accident happens. Prevention is very important, the rigors of the law too. Sure, we have the right to move, it is a fundamental right, but we also have a responsibility not to endanger the lives of children, of the elderly. Accidents are mostly in cities, but also on highways. That is why I agree and I support that this directive should apply in the European area, that we should have security in all the Member States.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I think that we have strayed very far from the title of the debate because we had to talk, in fact, about the situation of solar energy in the context of unfair competition. There was more talk about the energy mix, about what contributions solar energy made. The problem is, Commissioner, if you can tell us, how we are fighting unfair competition. We have a policy, an industrial strategy, a policy of reindustrialisation of the European Union. We don't just have problems with solar panels, we have problems with other areas as well. I believe that the internal market of the European Union is the least protected from unfair competition and I believe that here, if we really want to increase the value chain and all the components that contribute to solar energy, we must take a serious look at this plan of reindustrialization. How do we support this? Then you said that solar energy contributed 8% and replaced the import of Russian gas. That's right, but we have to see that the Sun is not the same in all Member States and we cannot impose a project ... (The president interrupted the speaker)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this regulation has long been awaited. We all have to understand. I'm surprised at the position of some of my colleagues. This regulation actually helps everyone: it helps the consumer, the citizen, it helps SMEs, it helps safety, of course. It also helps the time, the cost. Let's be serious, very often it happens to us that we pay for a commodity, the money leaves us, does not reach the suppliers and is kept by the bank. Cashflow and cash are in the bank. This regulation will allow banks to stop making this instant payment service optional and in return for payment. That is why I think it must be very well explained to the citizens what the advantage is. It has nothing to do with cash. You can't pay from Germany to France in cash. You have to make these instant payments and I hope that this regulation will apply as soon as possible, which, as I was saying, in addition to the free protection of IBAN, checks and protects it. We make cashflow to SMEs, especially, but also cash to arrive on time and not to be stored at banks.

Madam President, it is good that we are looking at the situation of respect for human rights in the European Union. The problem is not only to analyze, the problem is to implement, to function, not to be just a slogan, because if we look now and take a photo of how respect for human rights works in the European Union, we can see ... and I have countless petitions, and at the Committee on Petitions there are examples coming from the Member States where children are taken without reasons and institutionalized, freedom of movement is restricted, as is the case for Romanians, because we are not in the Schengen area. What human rights are we talking about? I believe that this resolution must continue with pressure on the Commission to verify respect for human rights. And I have another problem: We have Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova that we want here, in our country, in the European Union, but Romanians in Ukraine have no rights, Madam President. Many times we have taken steps to respect the right of the Romanian minority to the Romanian language, to use the Romanian language and it is not respected. So, but from my point of view, it doesn't just help to regulate and debate, we must aim to implement.

Madam President, this report is expected in many Member States because, as many colleagues in the European Parliament would say, there is - and statistical data show - a gender difference. Women, of course, are, at least in my country, the majority population, but if we look at the percentage of women in well-paid positions, in leadership positions, even here in the European Parliament, we see that they are minority. Of course, all the successive crises have brought, if you will, a greater effect on women. Domestic violence is often not fought properly and I am glad that this report - and I voted for it - also indicates the tasks of the Member States, because it cannot be done only at the level of the European Union. Member States have the power to resolve and include gender equality in all its policies. After all, in a workplace we must all have equality, both men and women, and I tell my colleague who disagreed with this report that I, as a woman, faced this problem at the beginning of my career. So I voted for this report.

Madam President, incitement to hatred, we are seeing it increasingly in the global space, but also in the space of the European Union. And although the Commission presented almost two years ago to the Council a communication entitled ‘A more inclusive Europe’, the Council did not take any decision. I believe that we are all confronted in our countries with incitement to hatred and it is extremely dangerous. It went from verbal violence to physical violence. I voted for this report because I believe that we need to take steps to regulate, to delineate what incitement to hatred means and what freedom of expression means. We do not want to restrict freedom of expression, but neither can we accept - and I have many examples to give, in many states, where even politicians and people from non-governmental organizations funded by I do not know who incites hatred. This is not the goal of mankind, the goal of mankind is love, not hatred.

Madam President, Commissioner, today's topic is extremely important and I am sorry that it comes at the end of the plenary session in Strasbourg. People's health is extremely important, at the same time, fair competition on the domestic market, because now we are talking about importing horse meat from Argentina, from Uruguay, but we also had situations of importing beef from Great Britain, which entered the European Union market infested. You said, Commissioner, that you had a timetable. The problem is that this calendar does not respond to the speed at which it is consumed. Why should we end up importing horsemeat, as has been said here, from animals that have been injected, unchecked? Why don't we apply the standards? Farmers are finished, and stockbreeders, and farmers. So if we don't regulate that in the internal market ... there must be competition, but there must be fair competition and we must protect consumers. That is why, Commissioner, you must make this timetable very quickly and answer why the standards for meat imports have not been met so far.