What Franc spoke about.

16

Oct

2023

SL Speech

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Establishing the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (‘STEP’) (debate)

Honourable Commissioner, Honourable Vice-President. At the beginning of our mandate, we talked a lot about the Green Deal. Very little was said about industry, about the competitiveness of the European economy. Covid has shown that we do not have strategic autonomy. The war has finally revealed how much protectionism, protectionist moves by various large countries, and how, all of a sudden, Europe…

4

Oct

2023

SL Speech

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The proposed extension of glyphosate in the EU (debate)

Dear Commissioner, Mr President-in-Office! As has already been said today, glyphosate is certainly the most inspected pesticide, a herbicide for weed control. I can safely say that probably no drug has been as reviewed as glyphosate has been in use for almost 50 years. This last review was also given and entrusted to four countries – France, Germany – France, the Netherlands, Hungary and Sweden. T…

14

Sep

2023

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Improving firefighters’ working conditions (debate)

Madam President! I come from Slovenia, where the firefighter is the most respected profession. In Slovenia, we have just under 900 professional firefighters, 160,000 members of volunteer firefighting associations, and I have been a firefighter for 40 years, among them about 60,000 firefighters who can go into action. It is essential that professional and volunteer firefighters work well together. …

13

Sep

2023

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Framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials (debate)

Dear rapporteur! Dear Commissioner, Vice-President! It was also with great pleasure and speed that we received this report in the Committee on Regional Development. We agree with all these basic goals of increasing the extraction of raw materials in Europe, of increasing the share of processing in Europe, of recycling as well as of diversifying our flows where these raw materials come from. Of cou…

13

Sep

2023

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Reviewing the protection status of wolves and other large carnivores in the EU (topical debate)

Dear Commissioner! Dear Vice-President! I very much welcome the fact that we are talking so much about agriculture in this area today. In her annual address, the President of the European Commission referred to agriculture and also said that she wanted to create normal conditions for farming. I think that this debate, which is the result of a letter from Commissioner von der Leynova, the president…

11

Jul

2023

SL Speech

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Nature restoration (debate)

Madam President. Hvala za besedo in tudi hvala za odlično razpravo, ki kaže na razdeljenost tega Parlamenta, kar je tudi jasen znak, da je ta predlog zelo problematičen. Europe is very diverse. In Europe, we have different, from Malta to Finland, I myself come from Slovenia, where we have 60 percent of forests, 39 percent of nature, excellent cooperation with beekeepers and also excellent biodiver…

12

Jun

2023

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Large transport infrastructure projects in the EU (debate)

Good evening, dear Vice-President of the European Commission, Madam President-in-Office, dear colleagues! Colleague Novakov prepared an excellent report in which we talk about very important topics, that is, about the connectivity of the European Union. We are talking about transport corridors that run from Portugal to the East, from the Baltic States, also through my Slovenia, to the South. And a…

10

May

2023

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

Mr President, Commissioner, Vice-President. We can thank European farmers for having healthy food, food available at prices that average Europeans buy, and for having the most sustainable agriculture. Farmers are always supporters of the European Union, but today, waiting for these applications for subsidies for this year, they look with fear at what we are preparing for them in the European Parli…

20

Apr

2023

SL Speech

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Cohesion dimension of EU state aid and de minimis rules (debate)

Dear Commissioner, esteemed Vice-President, colleagues, honourable visitors, it is cohesion policy that implements two key principles of the European Union. On the one hand, the principle of solidarity, that is to say, more funding is given to those regions of the country that are more affected, whether they are remote regions, mountainous regions or less developed regions. Cohesion policy also co…

17

Apr

2023

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Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System - Monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport - Carbon border adjustment mechanism - Social Climate Fund - Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System for aviation (debate)

Dear Sir/Madam, The Fit for 55 package is an ambitious part of the Green Deal. It concerns energy and the topics we are dealing with today: emission allowances, CBAM mechanism, Social Fund. On the one hand, we want to help the climate, get rid of greenhouse gases, on the other hand, we also want to limit the access and entry of CO2 from other continents through products, and at the same time, with…

16

Mar

2023

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European Citizens’ Initiative "Save bees and farmers! Towards a bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment" (debate)

Madam President, Honourable Commissioner, Honourable Colleagues! I come from Slovenia, which can be quietly called a beekeeping country. We have 11,000 beekeepers per two million people, the most per capita. We have an excellent beekeeping association, which was the initiator of the honey breakfast, so for decades in Slovenia, every third Friday, young people learn about biodiversity, the role of …

16

Feb

2023

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Availability of fertilisers in the EU (debate)

Madam President! Thank you to Norbert Lins for this question, so that today we can talk about the importance of fertilisers and, at the same time, we can calmly see how the war in Ukraine has revealed that we in Europe have not cared enough for all three basic security: on the one hand military, food, as well as energy. The sharp rise in the price of gas, which was largely linked to the war, made …

14

Feb

2023

SL Speech

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Question Time (Commission) - Strengthened EU enlargement policy to the Western Balkans

Can we roughly say that, through this programme, there will then be as much investment as we have received from the countries that joined the European Union in the last ... after 2004? That's between $5,000 and $8,000 in the head. And will this money also be shared in some way more according to the principles of cohesion policy, where many people are involved in these projects, not just large nati…

14

Feb

2023

SL Speech

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Question Time (Commission) - Strengthened EU enlargement policy to the Western Balkans

Dear Commissioner, during the enlargement process, we talk a lot about these political problems, such as conflicts between countries, but also respect for the rule of law. I personally believe that the biggest problem in the Western Balkans is a growing backlog in various policies, including infrastructure, a large backlog in environmental infrastructure, broadband infrastructure. On the other han…

18

Jan

2023

SL Speech

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

Madam President. We are discussing a very important topic, and energy is also one of those that, also because of the war, marked a great deal last year and will continue to do so in the future. We are also talking about US measures to de-escalate inflation, and one of these measures taken in the US is very much related to the use of nuclear energy. They plan on how to transform coal sites into nuc…

16

Jan

2023

SL Speech

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30th Anniversary of the Single Market (debate)

Mr President, the single market, with its four freedoms, is a very great achievement for the European Union, and we can peacefully call it the heart of the EU. Free crossing of the border, export of goods, services, exchange of students - this is something that we take for granted today, but it is because it was so agreed thirty years ago. It has brought prosperity to Europeans, and 450 million of…

12

Dec

2022

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A long-term vision for the EU's rural areas (debate)

Madam President-in-Office, honourable Commissioner, esteemed rapporteur, I am pleased that we can address the long-term vision of rural development. The vision with which we are actually rounding up the goals that we have already written into the concept of smart villages since 2016, i.e. to solve the problem of depopulation, on the one hand, the departure of young people from the countryside, and…

23

Nov

2022

SL Speech

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Protection of livestock farming and large carnivores in Europe (debate)

Mr President, honourable Commissioner, dear colleagues. The Habitats Directive works perfectly on the case of wild carnivores, because the population that was completely threatened has become so numerous that it now threatens others in nature. In Slovenia, the country where the Commissioner and I come from, over the course of 10 years, 300 wolves have produced 1 200 wolves, 20 to 30 wolves, and be…

21

Nov

2022

SL Speech

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Prevention, management and better care of diabetes in the EU on the occasion of World Diabetes Day (debate)

Madam President, diabetes, diabetes, or even a silent killer, we like to call you a widespread disease. The silent killer, however, is because many of us do not know whether he is our companion or not. 33 million people are already diagnosed in Europe as diabetes patients today, 38 are expected to be by 2030, and I myself was diagnosed a month ago with a medical examination in the European Parliam…

9

Nov

2022

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Communication on ensuring availability and affordability of fertilisers (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, thank you for the message we received today on food security and the link with mineral fertilisers. Yesterday in the Committee on Agriculture, and also today, you said how great these increases were and how the costs for the farmer have increased. And indeed he himself, as well as European farmers, expect some concrete help from the Commission. In the measures you ha…

18

Oct

2022

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General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2023 - all sections (debate)

Honourable Commissioner, Honourable Colleagues, Colleagues, Rapporteurs. The budget for each year is the most important political document that we are adopting and must at the same time follow the vision, development and also respond to the current situation that arises. Surely 2023 is an unpredictable year that will surely come with a lot of surprises. It is therefore right that the budget we are…

6

Oct

2022

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The urgent need for an EU strategy on fertilisers to ensure food security in Europe (debate)

Mr President-in-Office, honourable Commissioner, colleagues. The war in Ukraine has finally exposed how Europe is dependent on fertiliser imports from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine. On the other hand, what effect does the price of gas have on the price of fertilizers. Here, in the European Parliament and in the European Commission, we are aware of the problems of energy supply and we are taking a numbe…

4

Oct

2022

SL Speech

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Question Time (Commission) Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument

Mr. President! Thank you for the opportunity. Dear Commissioner! To keep young people in rural areas, we need quality infrastructure, including modern broadband, and jobs. And all this together we also rounded up in the concept of smart villages, in which we want to create conditions for populated countryside. This includes agriculture, rural mobility, tourism, energy, care for the elderly in rura…

14

Sep

2022

SL Speech

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Economic, social and territorial cohesion in the EU: the 8th Cohesion Report - EU border regions: living labs of European integration (debate)

Dear President-in-Office, Commissioner, esteemed rapporteurs. First of all, sincere congratulations to the rapporteurs for their excellent reports. Thank you very much, Mrs Constanze, for your unique cooperation over the years, as I have done in the European Parliament in the Committee of the Regions. As we have already said today, I think it is necessary to repeat that cohesion policy works and i…

13

Sep

2022

SL Speech

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Consequences of drought, fire, and other extreme weather phenomena: increasing EU's efforts to fight climate change (debate)

Mr President. Droughts, fires, climate change. These are the words we have said many times this summer. That is why I would like to thank the firefighters, volunteers and police officers who have helped people in the worst fires all over Europe and also in Slovenia. Airplanes from Croatia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania also flew in the Karst, where the biggest fire in history occurred, so I …