Speeches

The next item is the Council and Commission statements on the urgent need for action at EU level to ensure humane treatment of migrants in Europe, including at the borders (2022/2831(RSP)). I should like to inform Members that this debate is foreseen with one round of political group speakers. There is no catch-the-eye procedure and no blue cards will be accepted.

Thank you, rapporteur. We had the possibility of being flexible and have a more lively debate on the new agenda for the Mediterranean. That concludes the debate. The vote will be held tomorrow. Written statements (Rule 171)

The next item on the agenda is the joint debate on: – the Financial activities of the European Investment Bank – annual report 2021 (2021/2203(INI)) (A9-0165/2022); and on – the Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank – annual report 2020 (2021/2235(INI)) (A9-0173/2022).

The sitting is now closed. It will resume tomorrow, Thursday 23 June at 9.00, with the debate on the report from Mr Buşoi on gas storage. The agenda has been published and it’s available on the European Parliament website. Thank you all so much for staying until this time.

The next item is the one—minute speeches on matters of political importance. I would like to inform you also that you are invited to take the floor from where you sit.

The next item is the short presentation of the report by Karlo Ressler on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 3/2022 of the European Union for the financial year 2022 – financing reception costs of people fleeing Ukraine (09095/2022 - C9-0182/2022 - 2022/0126(BUD)) (A9-0181/2022).

Thank you Mr Commissioner, and thanks to the rapporteur for introducing such an interesting topic, and the colleagues that are here, for the future of EU international investments. That concludes the item. The vote will be held tomorrow.

The next item is the short presentation of the report by Anna Cavazzini on the future of EU international investment policy (2021/2176(INI)) (A9-0166/2022).

Thank you so much for your work, Mr Scholz, on the future of EU-Africa trade relations. The debate is closed. The vote will be held tomorrow.

Mr President, so, the rapporteur did excellent work and I think we have achieved our ambitions, with other shadow rapporteurs, to explain what Parliament’s reflections on the legislative and enforcement developments are and also to communicate our priorities to the Commission. Last year was indeed a dense year for competition policy: we saw 1 000 state-aid decisions, 11 cartel decisions, 14 merger cases entering into phase two and EUR 1.7 billion in fines imposed, also delivering the ambition to complement antitrust enforcement with competition policy through the DMA (Digital Markets Act). What we achieved actually with this report provides a path to the next chapter of the European economy by emphasising the importance of effectively assessing market power in digital ecosystems and calling for an inclusive and future-proof revision of the market definition notice – basically to translate offline to online and modernise our rules to meet the new digital challenges. We also highlighted social protection priorities, for example, on self-employed workers, offline and online again. Furthermore, in this section we suggest and we call on the Commission to conduct a market study also on online advertising technology or the practices that exist, and also to integrate privacy and data protection into the assessment of anti-competitive behaviour. Parliament pays great attention against potential uneven level playing fields from different state-aid support strategies or tax policies that could be indirectly state aid. And we emphasised the need to consider the socioeconomic impact also of energy prices now. Finally, the report touches upon the important issues of enforcement, calling for more resources at both national and European level, and also for closer cooperation of authorities and consumers in data protection law to break down the silos that we have identified. It basically builds on our commitment to reach consumer choice, safeguard the internal market and make our economy a fair, competitive and future-proof ecosystem. (The President cut off the speaker)

Mr President, Commissioner and colleagues, to protect our democracy and citizens in respect of fundamental rights offline, we also have to translate them online. We need to define first exactly what is legal and what is not the responsibility of the national authorities. Even if you exclude matters of national security, still we need to act for the rest of the cases and to do so, our inquiry committee, not just for Pegasus, but for any spyware, needs first to understand the extent of the use of such spyware and such practices – the origin of such spying, because it can also take place outside European borders, and of course, to offer a possibility similar to The CitizensLab – so a service for European citizens in order to restore trust and to ensure that they have the right to understand if their devices are being hacked. We offer that service through ITEC, and I want to thank them for that. It’s a service that’s provided now for the Members of the European Parliament. But of course we need end—to—end security. This means we need to be able to extend that also to our staff and anybody that’s involved in political decisions. So we would expect a budgetary line to extend this service for everybody that feels that they have been targeted illegally. Alternatively, we have to ensure that by default and by design, the applications in our devices will not allow access to our cameras or microphones, as they tend to. We have the choice to switch off when we talk about location data. We don’t have such a choice for microphones – once you allow the access, it’s always on. So we need to do that and in these cases, we can act as Europeans at European level. So, for sure, the European citizens understand that this is not a problem about a specific spyware. It’s about its use, about its misuse, and about the abuse by those who acquire it. It is also about the legal framework in which those who produce the technology operate or not. So I think even if the name is Pegasus, we need to broaden the scope and to ensure that we come up with specific recommendations and follow—up steps, and also with a comprehensive report that will ensure that we can restore the trust of our citizens and we will ensure that our fundamental rights are also being protected online. We have not done enough.

Thank you, Ms Pereira. Now for this specific debate, we accepted all blue—cards and all the catch—the—eye requests, I believe maybe we had a record today, but it’s a most important and lively debate and it’s well—deserved as we discuss the future of Europe. I really want to thank our Vice—President, Ms Dubravka Šuica, for staying and listening to the whole debate in the European Parliament from so many colleagues staying with us, and also our Vice—President, Mr Margaritis Schinas, who also stayed and followed all the debate. I have received also three motions for resolutions to wind up this debate and now the debate is closed. The vote will be held tomorrow. Thank you colleagues, we may proceed to the next item. Written statements (Rule 171)

Thank you, Commissioner. The deadline for tabling motions for resolutions to wind up this debate expired at 10.00. The debate is closed. The vote will take place on Thursday, 5 May 2022. We can now proceed with the voting. Written statements (Rule 171)

The next item is the debate on the Commission statement on the ongoing hearings under Article 7(1) TEU regarding Poland and Hungary. I will remind you that free seating is applied with the exception of the first two rows, which are allocated to group leaders, and also inform Members that this debate is foreseen with one round of political group speakers. The interventions in the Chamber will continue to be made from the central rostrum except for catch—the—eye, blue cards and points of order. I therefore kindly invite you to keep an eye on the speakers’ list and to approach when your speaking time is imminent.

The next item is the debate on the Council and Commission statements on the ongoing hearings under Article 7(1) EU regarding Poland and Hungary (2022/2569(RSP)). I want to remind my colleagues that free seating is applied with the exception of the first two rows, which are allocated to group leaders. You will be able to request catch—the—eye and blue cards via your voting machine after having inserted your voting cards. You have the instructions next to your office. I would also like to remind you that interventions in the Chamber will continue to be made from the central rostrum except for catch—the—eye, blue cards and points of order.

I think you correctly responded to what concerns you and, as for the rest, I do not think that this is the time for this debate. It’s a personal statement concerning yourself and it’s not on the different matters. So thank you Mr Puigdemont. The debate is closed. Written statements (Rule 171)

We now have a personal statement under Rule 173, under which Members who ask to make a personal statement are to be heard at the end of the discussion of the agenda item which is being dealt with. So Mr Puigdemont wants to take the floor. He has three minutes.

Madam President, first, I would like to thank Angelika Niebler and the shadow rapporteurs for successfully negotiating such a swift and strong agreement. Data is the core value of the digital economy and data being generated constantly, so this value will continue to grow. Our mission is to protect our data and ensure we have a secure and fair framework for data sharing, access and re-use and also based on trust. Our aim is to introduce also neutrality obligations for market places and to boost data altruism. I think this has been succeeded by giving us also more control of our data. The DGA is a decisive step towards breaking data silos in Europe and, in a human centric way, facilitating data flows and data—driven innovation. But we must keep the same ambition to unlock the value of the Internet of Things, ensuring data portability and preventing unlawful data transfers outside the EU. We have ensured that the ICT of Parliament can check the mobile devices of all colleagues, of politicians, for malicious activity like Pegasus. We should ensure that this is a possibility that goes beyond the Parliament – that it goes for diplomats, for activists, for journalists, I think. Thank you, Commissioner, for all the work and I think we can continue with this target.