What Siegfried spoke about.

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, welcome to the European Parliament. Thank you for a very pro-European speech, which is confirmed by your daily actions as Prime Minister. Finland is a model for many of us in many aspects. Finland is a model in terms of research and innovation, in terms of education, and Finland is globally a top-five country when it comes to defending the rule of law, fightin…

12

Mar

2024

EN Speech

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Council and Commission statements - Preparation of the European Council meeting of 21 and 22 March 2024 (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, I will say a few words on the enlargement in continuation of what President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen just said. Dear colleagues, the last strategic message which the European Union gave to candidate countries was President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker in 2014, when he told candidate countries that there will be no enlargement …

27

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027 - Establishing the Ukraine Facility - Establishing the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (‘STEP’) (joint debate - multiannual financial framework revision)

–Mr President, colleagues, today is a good day for the European Parliament and for the European Union. We will be voting with a very large majority on the revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework, which will make Europe safer, which will allow us to protect our borders, to provide for people in need to tackle migration. We will make EUR 50 billion available for Ukraine so that the European …

7

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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This is Europe - Debate with the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis (debate)

Madam President, President Iohannis, welcome back to the European Parliament. We very well remember here your speech from 2018 when you stood up for European values and told us that unity and solidarity are the solutions for Europe. Time has proven you right. We have seen that Europe stays united. It provides solutions and helps people in need. We have seen you defending European values, and we ha…

7

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Empowering farmers and rural communities - a dialogue towards sustainable and fairly rewarded EU agriculture (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, one of the greatest achievements of European integration is the quality of food in Europe. People in Europe trust food quality, they trust food safety, and at the centre of this success is the European farmer. This is why we have the duty to listen to farmers in Europe, this is why we have the duty to support and to protect them. Of course, agriculture in Europe is m…

6

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meetings, in particular the special European Council meeting of 1 February 2024 (debate)

Madam President, President von der Leyen, President Michel, Vice-President Šefčovič, dear colleagues. Congratulations, President Michel, to you and to the Members of the Council for unanimously reaching an agreement on the revision of the multiannual financial framework and on granting EUR 50 billion to Ukraine. The message from this Council is clear: Europe is delivering, Europe stays united and …

17

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 14-15 December 2023 and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of 1 February 2024 - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds (joint debate - European Council meetings)

Madam President, I say to Mr Hidvéghi, your narrative on an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine we have heard from the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. The choice is not between war and peace in Ukraine. The choice is between victory and surrender, and we will not surrender and we will support Ukraine for as much as is needed. This has always been the will of the European Parliament and of the Europe…

16

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Transparency and accountability of non-governmental organisations funded from the EU budget (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, NGOs are an essential part of our society. They give voice to those in need. They influence public opinions. They help raise awareness. They fight for democracy, for rule of law. They fight for human rights. They do this inside the European Union and they also do this outside the European Union. They are an essential part of our society. We talk to them; we listen to…

16

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Presentation of the programme of activities of the Belgian Presidency (debate)

Madam President, Prime Minister De Croo welcome back to the European Parliament. Obviously, Belgium takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union at a very important moment in time, specifically, also due to the European elections. Obviously, Belgium will have three main responsibilities, duties, opportunities during this presidency: firstly, to defend and promote whatever we have…

15

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Commemoration of Jacques Delors

Madam President, dear colleagues, today we are looking back at the life and legacy of Jacques Delors, an honorary citizen of Europe. Almost a century of life, a century in Europe, a century in which Europe has fundamentally changed – for the better, I say – and Jacques Delors had a big role to play in this. In the aftermath of the Second World War, Jacques Delors witnessed how the founding fathers…

13

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Planned dissolution of key anti-corruption structures in Slovakia and its implications on the Rule of Law (continuation of debate)

Madam President, Commissioner Reynders, thank you very much for outlining here, in the plenary of the European Parliament, the concerns and the actions of the European Commission, and for telling us in detail the steps that the European Commission is undertaking to protect the rule of law in Slovakia. It will be very important that we, as institutions of the European Union, will together be active…

13

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Review of the Spanish Presidency of the Council (debate)

Madam President, Mr Sánchez, let us be honest: the Council Presidency is the best opportunity any country has to influence the European agenda and to promote itself. Unfortunately, Mr Sánchez, you lost this opportunity for Spain. What did you do? You lost the regional election in May. You called for an early parliamentary election at the beginning of the Council Presidency and lost it, then spent …

13

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 14-15 December 2023 (debate)

Madam President, President von der Leyen, dear colleagues, just over the course of the recent weeks, we as institutions of the European Union have achieved a lot together: we have reached an agreement on the first global Artificial Intelligence Act, we have adopted the Critical Raw Materials Act, reducing our dependency on China and providing predictability to our industry. All of this makes Europ…

22

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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Threat to rule of law as a consequence of the governmental agreement in Spain (debate)

Mr President, colleagues, whenever a politician attacks the rule of law, they ask everyone else to be silent. This is exactly what happened in the European Parliament today. The representative of the Government of Spain asked us all to be silent. And our answer is ‘no’! We are not going to be silent. Europe is not going to be silent. Europe sees, Europe listens, Europe hears the millions of people…

21

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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2024 budgetary procedure: Joint text (debate)

Mr President, this week – tomorrow, specifically – the European Parliament will vote in favour of the budget of the European Union for 2024. The first and most important signal that we are herewith giving to the citizens of Europe, to enterprises, to regions, is the funding from the European Union for next year is safe. We have a budget. Funding will be there for all those in need. The funding is …

9

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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System of own resources of the European Union (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, rapporteurs, the introduction of own resources will make the EU financing more transparent, more predictable and less political. Instead of having politicians every seven years politically decide how we finance the European Union, this will be made in an automatic, in a transparent way. Citizens, enterprises, regions will know exactly that the financing of the Union …

8

Nov

2023

RO Speech

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EU enlargement policy 2023 (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today's decision by the European Commission to start negotiations for the accession of Moldova and Ukraine to the European Union is correct, justified and a historic day. This decision is correct because the negotiations for accession to the European Union are one of the most powerful tools that the European Union has to support transformations,…

8

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 26-27 October 2023 - Humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause (joint debate - Conclusions of the European Council and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause)

Mr President, President von der Leyen, President Michel, welcome back to the European Parliament. Firstly, let me say very clearly, we welcome the European Council’s unequivocal condemnation of terrorism. The brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks by Hamas against the innocent people of Israel deserve our full attention and our strongest condemnation. More than this, our focus also lies with …

18

Oct

2023

EN Speech

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Draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2024 - all sections (vote)

Mr President, just one technical adjustment that we need to put to the vote: a pilot project that we are going to finance was wrongly mentioned. It would be a new pilot project, but in fact it is the continuation of an existing pilot project. It is the European body for jet fuel standards and safety certification, coming from the TRAN Committee. So technically we have to include this in budgetary …

17

Oct

2023

EN Speech

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Commission Work Programme 2024 (debate)

Madam President, welcome back to the European Parliament, and thank you on behalf of the EPP Group, for the good cooperation that exists between the Parliament and the European Commission in the context of the interinstitutional agreement and interinstitutional relations. Of course, the context today in Europe is uncertain. In addition to the one war that we have been facing in Ukraine for more th…

17

Oct

2023

EN Speech

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General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2024 - all sections (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, dear colleagues, thank you very much for this constructive and very positive debate – first point from my side. Second point, we have seen today a united European Parliament, a Parliament which is ready to adopt tomorrow a position on an ambitious budget for the Union, a budget which is capable of providing solutions to the problems that people are facing all …

17

Oct

2023

EN Speech

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General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2024 - all sections (debate)

Mr President, good afternoon, dear colleagues, and welcome to this important debate on the position of Parliament on the budget of the European Union for 2024. Dear colleagues, the budget of the European Union is one of the most important tools that we have to do good for the people of Europe, for enterprises, for regions, to help people, to be in solidarity with them when they need support, to re…

3

Oct

2023

RO Speech

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Taking stock of Moldova's path to the EU (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Republic of Moldova is a candidate state for accession to the European Union. The citizens of the Republic of Moldova want to live, like us, in freedom, in democracy and with the Republic of Moldova, now a candidate state, we, the members of the European Parliament, must say very clearly: one day the Republic of Moldova will be a member of the …

3

Oct

2023

EN Speech

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Interim report on the proposal for a mid-term revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, whenever people in Europe are in need, the European Union is helping through the budget of the European Union. People, enterprises, regions which were in difficult situations in COVID had to face economic and social consequences of the pandemic, and high energy prices, inflation were helped from the budget of the European Union. This MFF was agreed in 2020. Since …

13

Sep

2023

EN Speech

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Presentation by the Council of its position on the draft general budget - 2024 financial year (debate)

Madam President, Madam State Secretary, Commissioner, welcome back to the European Parliament. We, as the European Parliament, are looking forward to a swift and meaningful decision of the European institutions on the budget of the European Union for next year. We have to work together; we have to deliver as institutions of the European Union, because whenever people in Europe face difficulties, t…