What Paul spoke about.

1

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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Transparency and targeting of political advertising (debate)

Madam President, colleagues, how many political advertisements of different political groups do you see in your timeline daily? In fact, I’ve counted and all the ads on my Instagram account came from just three political parties, while in the Netherlands we have at least 20. So why is that? In a proper functioning democracy, the voter decides. So no tracking. The voter decides on what data to shar…

19

Jan

2023

EN Speech

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Investment practices of sustainable investment funds (debate)

Madam President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues that have found a way of transport to home without the buses leaving this early this afternoon. It’s good that you’re here to address the issue, among others, of greenwashing. If you buy a television and get a microwave, you would be upset. I would be upset. But you have a whole range of options to take on a fraudulent salesman. But if I invest i…

16

Jan

2023

NL Speech

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Rules to prevent the misuse of shell entities for tax purposes (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, yes, I speak in Dutch today. Tax evaders and letterbox companies, they are almost synonymous. It is therefore good that we get the dust comb through companies and clean up European businesses by removing mailboxes. Letterboxes contribute nothing, but nothing, to the economy and exist only to avoid taxation. And in the latter they are successful, to…

14

Dec

2022

EN Speech

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Tackle the cost of living crisis: increase pay, tax profits, stop speculation (topical debate)

Madam President, it is collective action that is essential to face the challenges of our time. Together, we stand. Divided, we fall. The war in the Ukraine, extremely high energy prices, the impact of the pandemic, the consequences of climate change – what we needed and what we need is collective action to protect people and small businesses from the disruptive effects of these challenges on norma…

6

Jul

2022

NL Speech

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Taxing windfall profits of energy companies (debate)

Mr President, rising energy prices are hitting many people hard. In addition to losers, there are winners. Energy companies across Europe are making an additional €200 billion in profits. 200 billion because of the war in Ukraine, because of the extreme price increases. The day Russia invaded Ukraine, the energy companies had a winning fate in their hands. But is it fair that they accept their fat…

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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Objection pursuant to Rule 111(3): Amending the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act and the Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act (debate)

Mr President, a full debate on a delegated act does not happen every day, but this issue goes to the heart of who we are. Are we still serious about defending our planet? Serious about advocating energy independence in a geopolitical world? Serious about building a sustainable Europe for all citizens? By labelling gas and nuclear as green we answer these questions with a clear and resounding ‘no’.…

4

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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Digital Services Act - Digital Markets Act (debate)

Mr President, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act will rewrite the rules of the internet. I would like to thank our dear colleagues Andreas Schwab and Christel Schaldemose for taking on the job of finding the compromises, and its compromises are a giant leap forward. But no thanks to the shadow lobbying of the big tech. Some of you may have read last week a piece in The Guardian. …

23

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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National vetoes to undermine the global tax deal (debate)

Mr President, I could almost hear the screams when, after significant work by the Commission and by the French Presidency, a last-minute blockade was erected yet again. But pointing fingers is easy but doesn’t really work. Yes, Orbán torpedoed a European minimum tax, harming his own citizens for his own narrow gain. But let’s be frank, and I hate to say this, but this is also the Commission’s doin…

18

May

2022

EN Speech

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Minimum level of taxation for multinational groups (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, after years of hard work and an international agreement, a minimum tax is right before our eyes, but we cannot grasp it yet. Because just when solidarity is key, the Polish Government blocks us, blocks us from earning EUR 60 billion extra each and every year. Because Morawiecki doesn’t care about Europe; he doesn’t care about ending tax avoidance by multinationals; h…

3

May

2022

EN Speech

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Strengthening Europol’s mandate: cooperation with private parties, processing of personal data, and support for research and innovation (debate)

Mr President, as someone said, this debate is scheduled at the end of today’s plenary agenda – the graveyard shift – not because of the wonderful contributions by all the speakers, but because this debate revolves around one of the most difficult questions we face again and again in this Parliament, a question that is relevant to all citizens and thus to all parliamentarians: what is the right bal…

9

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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European Withholding Tax framewor (debate)

Mr President, Uber in Amsterdam, Nike in Hilversum, Pfizer in Capelle aan den IJssel. Yes, it’s a list of multinationals in the Netherlands, but it’s also a list of multinationals in the Netherlands that shift profits and cheat us out of billions. It points to a fundamental flaw at the heart of Europe, and the flaw is that when we removed the borders within Europe, we forgot to put up a common Eur…

9

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery strategy (continuation of debate)

Mr President, when preparing this debate, I thought, what a mess the VAT is. And I was last year approached by a small business owner, she organises one-off events across Europe and she faces a different nightmare every time. Endless forms in German or in Spanish, piles of documents to send around and high consultancy costs. For a one-off event in Rome, this amounted to EUR 11 000, 10% of her prof…

7

Mar

2022

NL Speech

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Citizenship and residence by investment schemes (debate)

Mr President, I would like to start by thanking the rapporteur, Sophia in’t Veld, and the other shadow rapporteurs for this report. It is not the first time that the European Parliament has expressed itself strongly, but it is now expressing itself at a very timely moment. A relevant moment, because right now Ukrainians have to leave their homes to seek security in the European Union and some rich…

14

Feb

2022

NL Speech

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European Central Bank – annual report 2021 (continuation of debate)

–President, today ShareAction announced that the major European banks have invested some €50 billion in oil and gas extraction. What do they think? Science is very clear: In order to achieve the Paris goals, oil and gas extraction must end. And we want to achieve those goals! So oil and gas extraction must be stopped, either through a CO2 price or through regulation. That's a billion-dollar streak…

14

Dec

2021

NL Speech

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Digital Markets Act (debate)

Mr President, there is a great deal at stake today, witness perhaps the largest lobbying operation Brussels has ever seen. Google, Facebook and others have spent millions, including in the form of advertisements in newspapers, to harass us. And yet there is a proposal that drastically restricts the power, the market power of the tech conglomerates. It's a triple. First, the proposal cuts into trac…

10

Nov

2021

NL Speech

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Disclosure of income tax information by certain undertakings and branches (debate)

Transparency can work wonders. She exposes what cannot be explained and shows what else can and should be done. Transparency, however, cannot come only from whistleblowers and investigative journalists, as was the case with the Panama Papers and the Pandora Papers. The law we are discussing today is welcome. After all, it offers radical structural transparency with regard to companies: where they …

20

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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Global Tax Agreements to be endorsed at the G20 Summit in Rome, 30th/31st of October (continuation of debate)

Mr President, there’s no doubt that the global tax deal is historic, and not just because even Ireland accepted it. For the first time in history, it allows a country to tax profits without the physical presence of a company on their territory and to ensure a global minimum effective tax rate. The Social Democrats have been, for a long time, strong and vocal supporters of this principle. So yes, i…

20

Oct

2021

NL Speech

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Increased efforts to fight money laundering (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, the European money laundering rules are still as leaky as a basket. The European Court of Auditors knows it, Parliament knows it and since the Pandora Papers, the whole world knows it. But I am still here with good hope, because the requirements for a strong approach are clear: transparency on the owners of letterbox firms, including those located outside the EU, increa…

6

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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Banking Union - annual report 2020 (debate)

Madam President, I would like to thank Danuta Hübner and the shadows for an excellent report. Ik zal doorgaan in het Nederlands, want ik wil graag toch een punt maken dat voor verdere discussie van belang blijft, want na de financiële crisis zeiden we: dit nooit meer. We wilden niet meer opdraaien voor de riskante weddenschappen van bankiers, bankiers die het risico namen met het idee “bij kop win…

6

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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Reforming the EU policy on harmful tax practices (including the reform of the Code of Conduct Group) (debate)

Mr President, I must say, I’m fed up. I’m fed up because less than 48 hours after the Pandora Papers came out, the Council showed that it wants to change absolutely nothing. Removing the Seychelles from the EU list of tax havens, although it is prominent in the Pandora Papers, and Anguilla, with its 0% tax rate, is a disgrace. The fact that this decision was taken in tax haven Luxembourg only show…

6

Oct

2021

NL Speech

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Pandora Papers: implications on the efforts to combat money laundering, tax evasion and avoidance (debate)

Mr President, yesterday the finance ministers decided not to expand the blacklist of tax havens, but to limit it. The Seychelles, one of the star players of Panama, Paradise and Pandora Papers, have been removed. And that is exactly what the ministers are doing in the week in which the Pandora Papers show that with great ease and on a large scale celebrities, criminals, politicians and scammers ar…

15

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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Implementation of EU requirements for exchange of tax information (debate)

Madam President, what is it that they are hiding? That’s what I think when I hear the rapporteur and the shadows say that they didn’t get from the Council the relevant documents and data; and that is needed to fulfil our democratic duty to assess the implementation of the EU rules on administrative cooperation and on taxation. The stance of the Council is unacceptable. It underlines a fundamental …