What Marc spoke about.

17

Sep

2024

FR Speech

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War in the Gaza Strip and the situation in the Middle-East (debate)

Madam President, you know, in school, when I was a kid, I was told the story that Europe was about human rights, international law, democracy. It is the same story, moreover, that European diplomats and politicians all over the world will tell: We are good, we are human rights. And then we see what is happening in Palestine and Gaza, and we see that the European Union is supporting. Because, let's…

17

Sep

2024

FR Answer

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Continued financial and military support to Ukraine by EU Member States (debate)

First of all, we should differentiate between France and Belgium: I'm Belgian, it's another country. It's a bit like European geography. Secondly, any European initiative, any diplomatic initiative that can bring peace, that can stop the massacres, that can allow Europeans and Ukrainians to live in peace, we will support it, if it is based on international law, on sovereignty. And we do it everywh…

17

Sep

2024

FR Speech

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Continued financial and military support to Ukraine by EU Member States (debate)

Mr President, I would first like to respond to the words of Kathleen Van Brempt, who claims that we would support Putin. Mrs Van Brempt knows that this is absolutely not true and that we have strongly condemned the war from the outset. She should be embarrassed to tell such lies. It is true that after two and a half years of war, we are asking ourselves questions about European policies and Europe…

25

Apr

2024

FR Speech

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Framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s net-zero technology products manufacturing ecosystem (Net Zero Industry Act) (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let me speak today about the Audi factory in Brussels, my hometown. This plant is expected to manufacture electric cars, but workers are now worried about the closure. It is not your sacrosanct competitiveness that is the problem. The cost of labour in Brussels is no higher than in Germany, the factory has a good financial balance sheet, productivity is huge and…

24

Apr

2024

NL Speech

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La Hulpe declaration on the future of social Europe (debate)

Mr President, what people are really allergic to is when politicians promise one thing and then do the opposite. And that risks happening here again. Indeed, on the one hand, there are good promises from the castle in Terhulpen – better wages, better pensions – and on the other hand, at the same time, there is a vote for austerity targets that ensure that there will soon be attacks on our wages, o…

24

Apr

2024

FR Answer

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Iran’s unprecedented attack against Israel, the need for de-escalation and an EU response (debate)

This is the fundamental difference between you and me. When Hamas commits terrorist acts or war crimes, I have no problem condemning that. But when Israel commits war crimes or terrorist acts, you fail to condemn. That is your hypocrisy. You are talking about the release of Israeli hostages, but you are silent about Palestinian children being held hostage in Israeli prisons. You condemn the war cr…

24

Apr

2024

FR Speech

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Iran’s unprecedented attack against Israel, the need for de-escalation and an EU response (debate)

Monsieur le Président, chers collègues, vous demandez de nouvelles sanctions contre l’Iran parce que l’Iran a clairement violé le droit international en répliquant à la destruction de son consulat par Israël. But why don’t you call for sanctions against Israel when it bombs Syria and Lebanon, hospitals in Gaza, an Iranian consulate or when Israeli missiles even fall in Iraq? You call a part of the…

23

Apr

2024

FR Speech

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Withdrawal of the Union from the Energy Charter Treaty (debate)

Mr President, today we all agree to put an end to this absurdity, but let us be clear: it is only a treaty and it is only a rule. I see it as a deer's foot, a foot in the door, with which we must open the debate on the whole trade policy and socio-economic policy of the European Union, for which we must indeed reverse the logic and say that today, what is a priority, is the social and the climate.…

23

Apr

2024

FR Speech

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Withdrawal of the Union from the Energy Charter Treaty (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, last year, a multinational fossil energy company, Klesch, decided to take the German state, Denmark and the European Union to court. Why? Because these authorities had discussed and wanted to introduce, potentially, taxes on overprofits. You think you're still walking on your head. How is this possible? Today, we live in a European Union where multinationals can take…

23

Apr

2024

FR Speech

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EU’s response to the repeated killing of humanitarian aid workers, journalists and civilians by the Israel Defence Forces in the Gaza Strip (debate)

Madam President, listen today in Gaza, every day there are mass graves and mass graves, which are the symbol of all genocide. Hundreds of bodies, sometimes in medical uniform, sometimes apparently handcuffed, executed summarily. Images of children shredded around a foosball table can be seen. What is the European Union doing about this? There are colleagues here who have the courage to support Isr…

23

Apr

2024

FR Speech

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Conclusions of the recent European Council meetings, in particular on a new European Competitiveness deal and the EU strategic agenda 2024-2029 (debate)

Madam President, but what contempt! Frankly, this morning the President of the European Commission, Mrs von der Leyen, must have been there for an hour, an hour and a half. This is the last sitting of the European Parliament, she has to report for an hour and she walks in the middle. Already, the Council is not there, Charles Michel has nothing to do with it, and in addition, Mrs von der Leyen des…

13

Mar

2024

FR Speech

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The immediate risk of mass starvation in Gaza and the attacks on humanitarian aid deliveries

Mr President, listen, after more than 12 300 Palestinian children killed by Israel, which is more in a few months than in four years of war all over the world, Israel is now starving an entire population, and dozens of children have already died of malnutrition. Those who deny it have not listened to the Israeli leadership: already in October the Minister of Defence had announced this. He said: no…

13

Mar

2024

FR Speech

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European Semester for economic policy coordination 2024 – European Semester for economic policy coordination: employment and social priorities for 2024 (joint debate – European Semester)

Mr President, listen, we are living in a state of social emergency in Europe. Our schools lack teachers, hospitals lack resources and carers, transport is subject to more and more delays if not cancellations, and in this context, what is the brilliant idea of the European Union, celebrated by the Belgian Presidency – the Belgian government here? It’s about imposing cuts on national budgets! Not to…

12

Mar

2024

FR Speech

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Compulsory licensing for crisis management and amending Regulation (EC) 816/2006 (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, today we have a Europe where Big Pharma, the big multinationals, decide which medicines to produce – or not – and at what price to sell them. Consequence: we often pay far too much for our medicines and we have shortages all over Europe, thousands of medicines missing – not least because Big Pharma shareholders are no longer interested in producing them. You have been t…

11

Mar

2024

NL Speech

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Energy performance of buildings (recast) (debate)

Colleagues, in Flanders, in Belgium and actually throughout Europe, people are afraid. Fear that they cannot afford the renovation, the insulation of their house and some fear even having to sell their house. And then there is a European directive, a European framework, and then you think: Yes, well, but then you expect that it will guarantee that people do not have to pay everything out of their …

28

Feb

2024

FR Speech

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Preventing work-related deaths following the Florence tragedy (debate)

Mr President, losing your life at work, not knowing what right you have afterwards is horrible, and it deserves to be discussed here. But let’s be clear: we lived it in Belgium, we live it every day and now there is this tragedy in Italy on this site. How many subcontractors were active on this site? How much? So there is a measure that we can take at European level thanks to a directive that limi…

27

Feb

2024

FR Speech

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The current situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (debate)

Commissioner, the masks are falling! To the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, we are talking about years of war, millions of deaths, countless refugees and untold war crimes. And you and the United Nations have pointed to the responsibility of the Rwandan government and the Rwandan army, which supports the M23 rebels and intervenes directly with missiles in the Democratic Republic of Congo…

27

Feb

2024

FR Speech

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War in the Gaza Strip and the need to reach a ceasefire, including recent developments in the region (debate)

Madam President, on the phone with the emergency services, little Hind, a six-year-old Palestinian girl, is terrified: “I am so scared. Please come, pick me up. Are you going to pick me up?" In a car with his family, they are fleeing the Israeli bombs. They ran into an Israeli tank. Her uncle has set himself aside, but the Israeli soldiers have still fired and Hind is stuck in the car, in the midd…

27

Feb

2024

FR Speech

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Multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027 - Establishing the Ukraine Facility - Establishing the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (‘STEP’) (joint debate - multiannual financial framework revision)

Madam President, Europe, with the complicity of the Belgian government, is constantly repeating to us that there is no more money, neither for pensions, nor for education, nor for health. On the contrary, we are told that Belgium will still have to save EUR 30 billion in the coming years. This is huge, while people are already unable to make ends meet! What do we have here? Obviously, the lack of …

8

Feb

2024

FR Speech

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Association agreements for the participation of third countries in Union programmes (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, you are in fact bothered by our work. The European Commission wants to take away our right of control over your agreements with other countries. Is it because we can read? Because yes, we know how to read, and so we looked a little bit, for example, at the association agreement you made with Israel: Strong support for Israel, which has seen Europe become the first tradi…

8

Feb

2024

FR Speech

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Working conditions of teachers in the EU (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, listening to you, sometimes I wonder what theatre I have landed in, frankly. Because, this morning, you come here to say loud and clear that teachers are important, you see the lack of teachers, the poor state of school buildings, too many students per class, and, listening to you, I spontaneously say to myself: 'Ben chiche! They got it! That’s goo…

5

Feb

2024

FR Speech

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State of EU solar industry in light of unfair competition (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, major producers of solar panels are threatening to relocate from Germany to the United States. Meanwhile, in my city, Brussels, Belgium, Audi workers are afraid that their company will relocate the production of an electric car. These companies, often, such as Audi for cars or Meyer Burger for solar panels, have obtained European or local public support. What a failu…

16

Jan

2024

IT Speech

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Fight against the resurgence of neo-fascism in Europe, also based on the parade that took place in Rome on 7 January (debate)

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let us face it, if it moves forward today in several European countries, the extreme right is above all because people are looking for alternatives to traditional policies, those policies brought by the centre-right and the centre-left that today have caused people to be afraid even to go shopping, because it costs too much. Let us realize today what is hap…

16

Jan

2024

FR Speech

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Presentation of the programme of activities of the Belgian Presidency (debate)

Madam President, Prime Minister, apparently we need to hurry up a little bit, because you still have to go to Davos. I am well aware that this is not the reality with the millionaires there. You will still take the time to listen to us for five minutes, because the reality of the millionaires in Davos is obviously not the reality of the working class in Europe today. Your government is leading a E…

15

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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The need for an EU and international response to the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and for continued support to the Yemeni peace process (debate)

Madam President, Mr Commissioner, so following the Israeli attack on Gaza, Yemen has indeed been attacking ships, the Houthi groups, and denying freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. This has an impact on world trade. It also has an impact on factories in Belgium. It is, of course, remarkable, first of all, that those that are now calling for action against Yemen are the same ones that never calle…