What Siegfried spoke about.

13

Sep

2023

EN Speech

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State of the Union (debate)

Madam President, I would like to thank President von der Leyen for putting competitiveness back at the heart of Europe’s agenda. This will make our economy stronger and it will allow us to safeguard higher social standards in Europe. Thank you very much for putting farmers back on the European agenda. Farmers had to manage high uncertainty since the Russian invasion. They need all our support and …

12

Jul

2023

EN Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 29-30 June 2023, in particular the recent developments in the war against Ukraine and in Russia (debate)

Mr President, thank you very much and I know exactly what I want to share with colleagues this morning. The title of our debate is, of course, ‘Developments in the war against Ukraine in and in the Russian Federation’. 500 days since the beginning of the war, we are seeing that the Russian Federation is a threat for the security of all of us in Europe. And now, it’s time to invest in the security …

10

May

2023

RO Speech

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Ukrainian cereals on the European market (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we all want to help Ukraine. Ukraine has been attacked illegitimately, unfairly, illegally by the Russian Federation, and we all want to help Ukraine. But we must help Ukraine in such a way that we do not affect farmers in Member States of the European Union and, Commissioner, for a year now we have known that we have a surplus of cereals in Ukraine, too many…

10

May

2023

EN Speech

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The role of farmers as enablers of the green transition and a resilient agricultural sector (continuation of debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, we have just decided together the new common agricultural policy, which is under implementation since the beginning of this year, and this is why I say now that the priority needs to be to implement what we have decided together. Do not add additional costs, additional burdens to the farmers. Farmers have already needed to adapt a lot. They have already made sacrific…

9

May

2023

EN Speech

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Discharge 2021 (continuation of debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, I would like to say a few words on the discharge of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which is part of the discharge of 2021. And it is for the first time that this happens, because in 2021, the largest package of economic support that we ever created at European Union level, entered into force. And because it is so large, you have to make sure that money is w…

9

May

2023

DE Speech

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This is Europe - Debate with the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz (debate)

Madam President, Welcome to the European Parliament, Chancellor, where a very large majority of pro-European colleagues are working together on solutions for the citizens of Europe. But in order to find the right solutions, we need to make the right diagnoses. February 24, the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has changed a lot for us Europeans. It's not just about Ukraine, it's about our Eu…

9

May

2023

EN Speech

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Revision of the Stability and Growth Pact (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, the debate that we are having today is a very fundamental debate for the European Union. It is not a technical debate. Debates about fiscal rules and about public budgets in Europe are debates about and decisions about people’s money. Our obligation is to manage people’s money with great care, to make sure that the next generations have more opportunities than the pr…

8

May

2023

EN Speech

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Impact on the 2024 EU budget of increasing European Union Recovery Instrument borrowing costs - Own resources: a new start for EU finances, a new start for Europe (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, what we are doing now is to propose a transparent, an objective and a predictable mechanism for the funding of the European Union for the future. Always in the future, people should know and enterprises should know how the budget of the European Union is formed, where the resources, where the revenues are coming from. This should be clear many years in advance so tha…

19

Apr

2023

EN Speech

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This is Europe - Debate with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel (debate)

Madam President, thank you, Prime Minister Bettel, and many thanks to the people of Luxembourg for being excellent hosts to the European Parliament and to many institutions of the European Union for more than 70 years. The people of Luxembourg have always been at the forefront of European integration and at the forefront of defending European values. Let us stick together in defending Europe again…

18

Apr

2023

EN Speech

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Guidelines for the 2024 budget - Section III (debate)

Mr President, through the guidelines on the budget of the European Union for 2024, the European Parliament gives a clear message. We give a message of development, of support. The guidelines put forward by the Parliament’s general rapporteur, Janusz Lewandowski, will allow us to support small and medium-sized enterprises, to invest into research, into innovation, to give a perspective to enterpris…

18

Apr

2023

EN Speech

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The need for a coherent strategy for EU-China Relations (debate)

Mr President, High Representative, Executive Vice-President, four points from my side on China. Firstly: reduce dependencies on China. We saw with regard to the Russian Federation and dependency on an undemocratic, autocratic regime can be a vulnerability to the European Union. It is a significant risk to the European Union, particularly in times of crisis. We should learn from this. We should inv…

29

Mar

2023

EN Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 23-24 March 2023 (debate)

Madam President, President Michel, thank you for keeping Ukraine high on the agenda of the European Council. Let me be clear: the best and quickest way for peace in Europe and in Ukraine, and for safeguarding peace on our continent, is providing immediate and consistent military support to Ukraine. This helps Ukraine and it protects also Europe. We should not be afraid of Russia’s defeat. We shoul…

14

Mar

2023

RO Speech

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The challenges facing the Republic of Moldova (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in order to be able to live safely and securely within the borders of the European Union, it is essential to be surrounded in our immediate neighbourhood by states that are safe and stable. The Republic of Moldova is a neighbour of the European Union and the Republic of Moldova is a neighbour of Ukraine. That is why a pro-European Moldovan Republic…

15

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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One year of Russia’s invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, President von der Leyen, High Representative, one year after the start of the war, we have to say clearly thank you to the people of Ukraine. The fight of the people of Ukraine is heroic. It is an inspiration to all of us. It is an inspiration to the free world. And we have the duty to say thank you. Our second duty is as long as the people of Ukraine are fighting we have to help the…

13

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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EU funding allocated to NGOs incriminated in the recent corruption revelations and the protection of EU financial interests (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues. The accusation in the room, made by prosecutors, is that a small number of individuals have created a so-called non-governmental organisation and have used this so-called NGO to influence democratic processes in the European Parliament. The accusation is also that money has flown, and this is grave. I believe that we, as Members of the European Parli…

13

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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REPowerEU chapters in recovery and resilience plans (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, thank you very much for this positive debate. We have shown tonight that the European Parliament is united in applying REPowerEU. EUR 20 billion in fresh money coming from the European Union to the people of Europe so that people can easier face the difficulties that we all encounter nowadays: high energy bills; energy security. The problems of the past, the probl…

13

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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REPowerEU chapters in recovery and resilience plans (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, we have all seen over the course of the last year, since the illegitimate and illegal invasion by Russian armed forces into Ukraine, we have all seen how important energy independence is. We have seen that dictatorships, that autocrat leaders are not hesitating to use energy as a tool or political weapon against the people of Ukraine and also against…

2

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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Preparation of the EU-Ukraine Summit (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, we have all seen this year that we can only live in safety and stability within the borders of the European Union if we are surrounded in our Eastern Neighbourhood by countries which are safe, stable, at peace. This is why I am telling to you today that the fight that the people of Ukraine are fighting is also our fight. This is why it is right to support Ukraine …

18

Jan

2023

EN Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 15 December 2022 (debate)

Madam President, President von der Leyen, President Michel, welcome back to the European Parliament. Indeed, almost a year ago, Russia started what is an unjustified and unprovoked war in Ukraine. We have seen during this time that Russia knows no limits in harming people. But we have also seen that Europe can help people more than Russia can harm people. We have also seen the fundamental differen…

17

Jan

2023

EN Speech

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

Madam President, Prime Minister, welcome to the European Parliament and thank you for assuming this important role of leadership on behalf of all of the European Union in these important times. Let me address two topics. Firstly, competitiveness: the Swedish Government is absolutely right to put competitiveness high on the agenda of the European Union in this first half of the year, because we can…

14

Dec

2022

EN Speech

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Upscaling the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, when we adopted the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027, we adopted it together with Next Generation EU. Next Generation EU and the budget together allow for more spending, more investments than ever at the level of the European Union. But these two together are bigger than previous budgets. But, because of Next Generation EU, we decided to cut…

14

Dec

2022

EN Speech

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 15 December 2022 (debate)

Mr President, President von der Leyen, Minister, dear colleagues, tomorrow’s European Council comes at an end of a year in which we delivered together. We, the European Parliament, together with the Commission and the Council, managed to support Ukraine throughout the year, managed to keep the European Union united, and we managed to sanction the aggressor. Just in recent weeks, we managed to prov…

13

Dec

2022

RO Speech

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The recent JHA Council decision on Schengen accession (debate)

Mr President, Romania's accession to the Schengen area is a fundamental objective for my country, Romania. People want this precisely because they are pro-European and because they want to be closer to Europe. In order to achieve this goal, we have made a lot of efforts, we have secured Romania's border according to the highest international standards, we have fulfilled all the conditions, which t…

22

Nov

2022

EN Speech

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2023 budgetary procedure: joint text (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, the European Union has a budget for 2023, and that is good news. All beneficiaries of EU funds now have certainty. Farmers, researchers, small and medium-sized enterprises: they all know that money will come and money will come on time. That is good news. I would like to congratulate the two co-rapporteurs of the Parliament, Mr Ştefănuță and Mr Herbst, for defending …

21

Nov

2022

EN Speech

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Borrowing strategy to finance NextGenerationEU (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, firstly I would like to start by congratulating the two co-rapporteurs, Valérie Hayer and José Manuel Fernandes, on what is a very good report, widely reflecting the points of view of the Members of this House. Secondly, I would like to congratulate the Commission and the Commissioners specifically for what has been a successful borrowing strategy so far, if we ev…