What Maria spoke about.

13

Mar

2023

EN Speech

Watch

Energy performance of buildings (recast) (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner Simson, dear colleagues, we are here today to make another step towards a more sustainable and energy efficient way for living. What we aim to do today is to provide to citizens in the Member States a complete toolbox to achieve a zero emission and fully decarbonised building stock by 2050. How this is going to be a realistic framework? First, by the facilitation of m…

16

Feb

2023

EL Speech

Watch

Availability of fertilisers in the EU (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, you are all aware that the increase in variable production costs has reached 90 % for nitrogen fertilisers. This, as you all know, results in an increase in the price of products for our farmers in the European Union, to have a 149 % increase last September, September 2022, compared to September 2021. And all this because, among other things, natural gas, which accou…

15

Feb

2023

EN Speech

Watch

Access to strategic critical raw materials (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner McGuinness, dear minister, the EU is now well equipped to step up and seize the net-zero opportunity. Critical raw materials is one of the most important tools to serve this purpose, as without secure and sustainable access to the necessary raw materials, the ambition to become the first climate-neutral continent is at risk. In light of the announcement of the industr…

13

Feb

2023

EL Speech

Watch

EU response to the humanitarian situation following the earthquake in Türkiye and Syria (debate)

Madam President, no picture, no number can describe the pain. He cannot describe the tragedy in Syria. We are neighbors and we arrived from the first, our own rescue teams, our own medical teams, 1,500 people at the beginning, 90 tons of humanitarian aid. Is that enough? Maybe it's not enough. The Donors' Conference, at the initiative of the European Union, must proceed with binding conclusions an…

18

Jan

2023

EN Speech

Watch

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

Madam President, Vice-President Šefčovič, today we welcome the Commission’s proposal to accelerate and facilitate investments for the clean—tech sector. It is of paramount importance to implement, to deliver our Green Deal industrial plan. However, in the meantime, there are two issues, according to my opinion, on which we need to take immediate action. The first one is the urgent facilitation to …

16

Jan

2023

EN Speech

Watch

Shipments of waste (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, Commissioner Sinkevičius, today we discuss an updated legal framework which could be a game changer in terms of a global challenge. The waste shipment regulation intends to protect the environment and public health from the impacts of unsound transboundary shipments of waste, since the non—appropriately controlled shipments of waste across borders may generate risks …

13

Dec

2022

EN Speech

Watch

Renewable Energy, Energy Performance of Buildings and Energy Efficiency Directives: amendments (REPowerEU) (debate)

Madam President, Executive Vice-President, dear Colleagues, we are living very sad days and we have to clean our houses as soon as possible. And at the same time we have to continue to serve our mandate. As part of the REpowerEU package, this House makes today another step forwards towards Europe’s energy independence from fossil fuel. A large bundle of measures are intended to lower dependence on…

23

Nov

2022

EL Speech

Watch

A truly interconnected Energy Single Market to keep bills down and companies competitive (topical debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner Simson, a full single common energy market is now an urgent precondition for the European Union to continue to have cohesive societies. Social cohesion is under threat and Member States' measures are not sufficient. In my country, Greece, more than €5 billion has already been allocated to citizens and businesses – in total more than 3.6% of GDP –…

21

Nov

2022

EL Speech

Watch

Assessment of Hungary's compliance with the rule of law conditions under the Conditionality Regulation and state of play of the Hungarian RRP (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner Reynders, ladies and gentlemen, this is the first time that the conditionality mechanism has been applied to judge the performance of a government, in this case the Orbán government, in applying the rules of the rule of law. And this is the first time that the European Union has actually considered linking funding to the application of our fundamental principles and v…

19

Oct

2022

EL Speech

Watch

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 20-21 October 2022 (debate)

Madam President, welcome – Vice-President Šefčovič – the Commission’s complementary initiatives, including the additional indicative indicator for liquefied natural gas and the temporary ceiling price in the single market. But, you know, you're late. You are late because these proposals have been on the table since last March, on the initiative of the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.…

17

Oct

2022

EN Speech

Watch

Sustainable maritime fuels (FuelEU Maritime Initiative) - Deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner Vălean, dear colleagues, today we make an important step forward for a quick and efficient facilitation for the decarbonisation in the shipping sector. And according to my opinion, I strongly believe that we have managed to propose a piece of legislation that focuses on reducing shipping’s climate impact while encouraging and accelerating investments in that direction. W…

17

Oct

2022

EN Speech

Watch

FRONTEX's responsibility for fundamental rights violations at EU's external borders in light of the OLAF report (debate)

Mr President, Madam Commissioner, I would like to bring to your attention some details on the aspect that Commissioner Johansson has already included in her introduction. It was the morning of 14 October when the Greek border police found two groups, in total 92 irregular immigrants including 6 children, naked next to the River Evros, which constitutes the border between Greece and Turkey, between…

4

Oct

2022

EL Speech

Watch

Radio Equipment Directive: common charger for electronic devices (debate)

Madam President, Vice-President Vestager, in politics progress can be reflected in crucial changes in the lives of our citizens, and today the introduction of the single charger for mobile, computers, gaming machines, including Apple devices from 2024, is an important step towards producing sustainable products as a norm rather than as interesting exceptions. It took more than a decade to have tod…

3

Oct

2022

EL Speech

Watch

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control - Serious cross-border threats to health (debate)

Madam President, Mrs Kyriakides, Commissioner, the Health Union Regulation, which we are voting on tomorrow, is an important step in creating the legislative framework, which will be immediately applicable to the Member States, so that in principle they can cooperate in the exchange of data safely and interoperability and directly shift their focus to the prevention of diseases and epidemics. The …

3

Oct

2022

EN Speech

Watch

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control - Serious cross-border threats to health (debate)

Madam President, sorry, the machine said ‘yes’, and you have to behave fairly in this procedure.

14

Sep

2022

EL Speech

Watch

State of the Union (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to ask you the following: Are you satisfied with the way in which the President of the Commission has described the change of the new model of decoupling the price of gas from the price of electricity? Do you not think that the Commission needs to go into detail in order to stabilise the market and thus enable us to attract investment? You know, …

13

Sep

2022

EN Speech

Watch

EU response to the increase in energy prices in Europe (debate)

–Madam President, Commissioner Simson, more renewables and energy efficiency is the way to go, and I fully agree with you. However, in the meanwhile we are facing a state of emergency and, as Esther de Lange has already underlined, we have to fight this war by all means. People are suffering. Industry is asking for immediate relief. And I would like to table two very brief questions. The first one…

13

Sep

2022

EN Speech

Watch

Renewable Energy Directive (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner Vălean, today we take another step towards Europe’s energy independence from fossil fuels. Today, we give another lesson to all third parties, starting with Putin, who consider that Europe is being blackmailed. And today we confirm that all together managed to bring affordability as a key element that guide all our efforts to increase the renewable energy sources share u…

12

Sep

2022

EL Speech

Watch

Energy efficiency (recast) (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, the climate crisis has not been put on hold because Putin invaded Ukraine. Nor has climate change stopped because Putin uses energy as a weapon and in fact creates an artificial shortage in the European market, putting pressure on our households and businesses. Today's debate demonstrates that we need to accelerate especially with regard to the energy efficiency of buil…

12

Sep

2022

EL Speech

Watch

Surveillance and predator spyware systems in Greece (debate)

Mr President, the case of the surveillance of Mr Androulakis' mobile phone is very important, as is the attempt to install illegal spyware. This is why the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, immediately removed the objectively and politically responsible, strengthened the parliamentary and judicial control of the National Intelligence Service, which had been monitoring in the past – during the S…

5

Jul

2022

EL Speech

Watch

Question Time (Commission) Increasing EU ambitions on biodiversity ahead of COP 15

Mr President, Commissioner Sinkevičius, you have visited the areas affected by the fires in my home country, Greece, and you know that one of the species affected by these fires is pollinators, namely bees. Since you have this in mind, I would like to know whether the Commission intends, especially for areas affected by natural disasters due to climate change, to take measures to support farmers' …

5

Jul

2022

EL Speech

Watch

Question Time (Commission) Increasing EU ambitions on biodiversity ahead of COP 15

Mr President, Commissioner, because of climate change, human negligence and some major accidents, the fires have already broken out in the Mediterranean and especially in my country, Greece, which has been facing a serious problem in recent days. My first question is whether you intend, also in view of COP15, to ask the Commission to proceed with the establishment of specific measures relating to …

23

Jun

2022

EL Speech

Watch

Gas storage (debate)

Mr President, Executive Vice-President Timmermans, ladies and gentlemen, the platform for voluntary joint gas orders from Member States, the introduction of 80% occupancy on 1 November 2022 and solidarity with Member States that do not have sufficient storage space allow us today to talk about an important European step ahead of next winter. However, prices are not falling significantly. The Commi…

22

Jun

2022

EN Speech

Watch

Implementation and delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner Gentiloni, in a recent White Paper, the UN explicitly emphasised the crucial role of companies in accomplishing development goals, wealth distribution and sustainable economic growth. No matter how large or small and regardless of their industry, all companies can contribute to the SDGs. Multinational enterprises can contribute to the SDGs by conducting responsible resea…

22

Jun

2022

EN Speech

Watch

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 23-24 June 2022, including the meeting with Western Balkan leaders on 23 June - Candidate status of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia (debate)

Mr President, Vice-President Šefčovič, in the framework of the preparation of the European Council meeting, it is important to send a clear message to a candidate country, to Turkey. It is important to remind all of you here in this House that President Erdoğan once again is demonstrating his revisionist approach to the Treaties and he’s ready to violate international law. Turkey is a candidate co…