What Johan spoke about.

22 Jun

2022

NL Speech

Implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (debate)

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These are uncertain times. One crisis follows another and no one knows what to expect in the near future. And man does in such cases what he or she can best, namely adapt. At European level, we have added a recovery plan to the multiannual investment framework. That recovery plan will also serve as a new focus on our joint energy independence with REPowerEU. You yourself pointed out, Commissioner,…

7 Jun

2022

NL Speech

Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System - Social Climate Fund - Carbon border adjustment mechanism - Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System for aviation - Notification under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) (joint debate – Fit for 55 (part 1))

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I think that just about everyone in this House is convinced of the need for a sustainable transition for the European Union. Europe can and should also play a leading role in this. But what I see is not a Europe that leads the way, but a Europe that threatens to overtake itself. The transition must be more than just sustainable. It must also provid…

23 Mar

2022

EN Speech

Pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, dear Commissioner McGuinness, dear Minister Beaune, integrated capital markets are a prerequisite for sustaining growth over the longer term. I therefore welcome all measures to provide additional input impetus to the European Capital Markets Union. At the same time, digitalisation is rushing through the financial services industry, and to cope with this trend, it…

9 Mar

2022

NL Speech

European Semester for economic policy coordination: annual sustainable growth survey 2022 – European Semester for economic policy coordination: employment and social aspects in the annual sustainable growth strategy survey 2022 (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, Vice-President, under normal circumstances, I would reiterate here my call for growth-oriented reforms and sound, austere public finances, the best guarantees for the prosperity and well-being of our citizens. Moreover, such a combination also allows to absorb external shocks and thus increase our resilience and resilience. Unfortunately, these are not normal circumstan…

14 Feb

2022

EN Speech

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

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Madam President, President Lagarde recently referred in an interview to not being prepared to take a turn in fifth gear. Now you’re absolutely right to do that, but we all know that the car that has a fifth gear also has a fourth, a third, a second and a first gear. And in terms of adapting its policy to the new environment of high and still rising inflation, the European Central Bank’s car at the…

24 Nov

2021

NL Speech

Outcome of the COP26 in Glasgow (debate)

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Mr President, when we talk about the results of COP26, we must certainly talk about nuclear energy. If we are serious about the goal of European climate neutrality by 2050, we need nuclear energy. Both the Commission's internal services and the International Energy Agency clearly recognise this. Nuclear energy is good for the climate, safe and makes us less dependent on volatile third countries. F…

23 Nov

2021

NL Speech

2022 budgetary procedure: joint text (debate)

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Mr President, to conclude this debate, the agreement on the 2022 budget as a whole is a good agreement. It responds to a number of challenges that we will face in the coming years, and certainly also specifically in 2022. It also responds to Parliament's expectations over the past year. It has already been pointed out several times: an additional EUR 500 million has been raised. I have listened ca…

23 Nov

2021

NL Speech

2022 budgetary procedure: joint text (debate)

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Mr President, the budget agreement reached for 2022 cannot be separated from the reinforcement provided by NextGenerationEU. In addition to the 169.5 billion commitments from the regular budget, another 143 billion in grants/gifts come from the recovery plan. In addition, there is of course also the possibility for Member States to take out loans. Next year's budget is therefore fully geared towar…

20 Oct

2021

NL Speech

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 21-22 October 2021 (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, rising energy prices, very high energy prices are high on the political agenda. The uncomfortable truth is that in the short term, we stand with our backs against the wall. We are on the Russian gas infusion and can only hope for a mild winter at the moment. It really shouldn't be much more cynical. The question may also be asked, I think, why this…

5 Oct

2021

NL Speech

EU Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority: ensuring a coordinated EU approach for future health crises and the role of the European Parliament in this (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, the crucial question of whether we need a new institution at all remains unanswered. Is it not better, or was it not better, to further expand the tasks of EMA and ECDC? HERA's cooperation with these two institutions is still very unclear. Another pressing problem is the Commission's €50 billion budget. A budget of this size has a huge impact on ex…

14 Sep

2021

EN Speech

Presentation by the Council of its position on the draft general budget - 2022 financial year (debate)

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– Mr President, I think it’s an understatement to say that a lot has changed in the past year. We kicked off a new budgetary cycle with the adoption of the new MFF a little bit more than six months ago, and we also reached an historic agreement on the recovery instrument. However, it is clear that at this point in time the signs of improvement of the economic scene remain very fragile. We cannot i…

13 Sep

2021

NL Speech

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

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, COVID-19 has been keeping us under a spell for a year and a half now. The pandemic has exposed many pain points, in particular that the EU was absolutely not ready for a crisis of this magnitude and indeed most Member States were not. We pay a high price for this with a lot of human suffering and heavy socio-economic costs. Better cooperation and c…

7 Jul

2021

NL Speech

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 24-25 June 2021 (debate)

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President, President Michel, Vice-President Šefčovič, earlier this year, the Council decided to provide further support for the reception of refugees in Turkey. The Council also decided that efforts should be made in the wider region to help Syrian refugees. This is certainly necessary for these refugees, but is also well-understood self-interest. The final word has not yet been said about the bud…

5 Jul

2021

NL Speech

Financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2020 - Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2019 (debate)

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Mr President, President Hoyer, Vice-President Dombrovskis, the COVID-19 pandemic has partly put our lives on hold, but at the same time has exacerbated the challenges we face. We need to invest more in our people, our businesses and our future. Everyone agrees on this and the necessary resources have now been made available. However, the quality of implementation is at least as important. We count…