What Johan spoke about.

8

Jul

2026

NL Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 18-19 June 2026 (debate)

Mr President, the MFF is finally, I would say, also on the Council's agenda. We are at the beginning of this process around this new multiannual budget and the classic contradictions and red lines are already emerging within the Council, in the Commission and also in this Parliament. However, we should go beyond the traditional debate and not limit the exercise to a dry discussion about more or le…

17

Jun

2026

EN Speech

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Preparation of the European Council (joint debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, colleagues, the West fundamentally misunderstood China. China pursues a simple but effective strategy – dictatorship at home and coercion, deception and protectionism abroad. We were blind, believing that economic liberalisation would lead to political freedom. Instead, China used its WTO accession to perfect a pattern of dominance, dependency and blackmail de…

28

Apr

2026

NL Speech

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Interim report on the proposal for the multiannual financial framework for 2028-2034 (debate)

Mr President, when drawing up this MFF, we must not be blind to the essential challenge, namely that the structure of the European budget is outdated. It relies too heavily on choices from the past and leaves too little room for the future. This hypothesizes the efforts we need to make to meet the challenges of our time. This is precisely why the next MFF will be a turning point. Or at least it sh…

11

Mar

2026

NL Speech

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EUCO and situation in the Middle East (joint debate)

9

Feb

2026

EN Speech

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European Central Bank – annual report 2025 (debate)

Madam President, colleagues, Commissioner, Madam President Lagarde, first of all, I would like to thank the shadow rapporteurs, the Chair of the ECON Committee and Parliament's services for the work that led to this report. A few brief comments to conclude. First, price stability must remain the undisputed anchor of our monetary policy. It has been repeated several times, and although Mr Eickhout …

9

Feb

2026

EN Speech

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European Central Bank – annual report 2025 (debate)

Madam President, President Lagarde, dear colleagues, in times of uncertainty, it is essential to return to the fundamental goals of monetary policy. In prosperous times, a central bank must ensure that money and credit grow at a pace consistent with the broad stability of the value of money. In challenging times, it must also ensure that liquidity is sufficient to absorb shocks and sustain confide…

19

Jan

2026

EN Speech

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Safeguarding and promoting financial stability amid economic uncertainties (short presentation)

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, most of our attention is, of course, focused on Greenland, Iran, Ukraine, Venezuela and a lot of trade troubles. And so we tend to overlook issues related to financial stability. The report I present today, which is the result of excellent cooperation with the shadow rapporteurs, highlights the current threats to financial stability, which have become eve…

25

Nov

2025

NL Speech

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2026 budgetary procedure: joint text (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, just ten days ago we reached an agreement with the Council and the Commission on the EU budget for 2026. This budget, amounting to around €190 billion in commitments per year, aims to focus resources on today's biggest challenges. We are investing in our defensive preparedness, in the security of our external borders and in strengthening our compet…

22

Oct

2025

NL Speech

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Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report 2024 (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, President, ladies and gentlemen, reports such as those of the European Court of Auditors, like those of, for example, the European Public Prosecutor's Office, are not non-committal piles of paper. The work of these independent control bodies is, in my opinion, too often under-exposed and, unfortunately, too often unanswered. In its report, the Court of Auditors again cl…

21

Oct

2025

NL Speech

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Stepping up funding for Ukraine’s reconstruction and defence: the use of Russian frozen assets (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it goes without saying that the brutal attacks on Ukraine, and indeed on our Western freedoms and values, must not go unpunished. We must continue to target the Russian regime through targeted sanctions where it hurts and fully and resolutely support Ukraine and its society. As far as the use of frozen funds for a repair loan is concerned, I would …

9

Jul

2025

NL Speech

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The EU’s post-2027 long-term budget: Parliament’s expectations ahead of the Commission’s proposal (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are facing a major exercise, as it is clear that the current MFF framework does not address contemporary needs and challenges. We are therefore looking forward to the proposals that the Commission will put forward next week. As Mario Draghi has clearly explained: Common debt is not the first priority. What Europe urgently needs are structural re…

18

Jun

2025

NL Speech

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Upcoming NATO summit on 24-26 June 2025 (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, in the midst of an increasingly chaotic and threatening world, we are at a tipping point. The European Union and its Member States have a choice: either we strengthen our defence, our security and our resilience, or our democracy and freedoms will be undermined. He who minimizes this does absolutely no service to European values and gives wind in the sails to the anti-d…

6

May

2025

NL Speech

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A revamped long-term budget for the Union in a changing world (debate)

Mr President, we are well ahead of the new MFF and, of course, this should not be yet another purely technical exercise. It is a fundamental choice about the direction that Europe wants to take, where the status quo is really not an option. In terms of budget, the European Union is still too tied to policy choices from the past, to outdated budget lines that lay a mortgage on the future. At the sa…

1

Apr

2025

NL Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 20 March 2025 (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the discussions at the European Council focused on defence and competitiveness. As separate themes, although they are actually inextricably linked. Without security, there is no healthy economy. However, the reverse also applies: Without a healthy economy, a real development of defence worthy of that name is impossible. A strong economy is not an e…

12

Mar

2025

NL Speech

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Frozen Russian assets (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Russia's brutal attack on Ukraine cannot, of course, go unpunished. It is our duty to frozen assets to use it thoughtfully and strategically to maximise the pressure on Putin. What we cannot and should not do, however, is direct confiscation. And this for at least two reasons. First, if we do that, we will lose a crucial bargaining lever to force P…

12

Mar

2025

NL Speech

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100 days of the new Commission – Delivering on defence, competitiveness, simplification and migration as our priorities (topical debate)

Mr President, the first 100 days of the Commission must of course be a moment of reflection, but more of urgency. The next 100 days are even more important. A war at our borders, disruptions in international trade and a new technology race. More than enough reasons to make ourselves less dependent on external powers. But that requires a fundamental change of direction. In recent years, we have bee…

12

Feb

2025

NL Speech

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Competitiveness Compass (debate)

Mr President, Europe is at a crossroads. The philosophy behind the Green Deal was defensible, but its implementation has put us in trouble. Our productivity is stagnating and our competitiveness is eroding. The Commission is finally acknowledging this. But good intentions will not suffice. Europe is indeed investing in research and development, but it is too fragmented and inefficient. Our compani…

26

Nov

2024

EN Speech

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2025 budgetary procedure: Joint text (debate)

And most finally, in English I address myself to the Commissioner with whom we were able to work for five years. We often had discussions, heated discussions, but always in good spirit, and therefore I thank him a lot. And I would like to end with some of the words of my late father, who used to say, trees don't run into each other, but people do. So I hope I have the chance to run into you more f…

26

Nov

2024

NL Speech

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2025 budgetary procedure: Joint text (debate)

26

Nov

2024

NL Speech

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2025 budgetary procedure: Joint text (debate)

26

Nov

2024

NL Speech

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Reinforcing EU’s unwavering support to Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression and the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia (debate)

22

Oct

2024

NL Speech

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Establishing the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism and providing exceptional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Russian invasion threatens not only the sovereignty of Ukraine, but also the foundations of our European values. Let's not worry about it: Consider the recent revelations about cooperation between Russia and North Korea. North Korean forces would de facto mean China's entry into this conflict. Our continued support is absolutely necessary. We m…

21

Oct

2024

NL Speech

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Empowering the Single Market to deliver a sustainable future and prosperity for all EU citizens (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the internal market is not just an economic construct. It is the backbone of our European cooperation and enables us to act, invest and innovate freely. We need to further integrate and strengthen that internal market in order to promote economic growth and employment. The Single Market also needs to adapt to modern challenges: the climate challeng…

8

Oct

2024

NL Speech

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The crisis facing the EU’s automotive industry, potential plant closures and the need to enhance competitiveness and maintain jobs in Europe (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the crisis in our automotive sector is actually the canary in the coal mine. The entire European manufacturing industry, which nevertheless remains an indispensable pillar of our prosperity, is in danger of falling into severe thunderstorms. What can we do about it? I see four lines: 1) First of all, let's stop with those dirigist industrial plans …

18

Sep

2024

NL Speech

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Presentation by the Council of its position on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 - all sections (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, State Secretary, ladies and gentlemen, the rapporteurs have already dealt with the various parts of the budget for the coming year in quite detail and have also given an initial assessment of the Council's position, so I will not go into that further. It is now up to us to take responsibility with a responsible budget that proves that targeted European spending does hav…