What Marc spoke about.

12

Sep

2022

FR Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in a single month, Israel was responsible for 46 deaths in Gaza, including 16 children, and 360 injuries. The situation of 1,200 people in Masafer Yatta in the West Bank who are threatened with eviction from their homes. From this NGO in Ramallah, which was attacked and shut down while defending, among other things, children’s rights. Air attacks, bombing of air…

6

Jul

2022

FR Speech

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Taxing windfall profits of energy companies (debate)

Mr President, my question is simple: Can we tell people what it is? Because what we are witnessing today, it must be said, is a robbery, a heist on the wallet. The wallet is emptying, prices are skyrocketing, but where's that money going? Where are we gonna find him? It will be found in the coffers of multinationals that make overprofits, i.e. additional profits in addition to the profits they alr…

5

Jul

2022

FR Speech

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The EU and the defence of multilateralism (debate)

Mr President, thank you to the European Commission. In fact, the report complains of a loss of influence, an erosion of influence by European countries and the European Union around the world. I think he will be applauded in the house, but I think outside he will make a little laugh. First of all, when I read that the European Union should have a permanent seat in addition to the seats that Europe…

5

Jul

2022

NL Speech

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Common European action on care (debate)

Mr President! You are talking about the state of emergency and the importance of care in Europe. And that's right, of course. But let us not be blind, let us not be silent here that this is the result of concrete policy. First and foremost, the austerity policies that you have imposed on the Member States for years. And today the market forces that are increasingly being introduced in healthcare. …

8

Jun

2022

NL Speech

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Conclusions of the special European Council meeting of 30-31 May 2022 (debate)

Mr President, I am going to put a question to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Mrs von der Leyen. The prices are skyrocketing. People can no longer pay their bills. Food, indeed, but also electricity. And since October, you've been playing ping-pong between the different institutions about who's going to block when the prices, bec…

7

Jun

2022

FR Speech

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The EU’s Foreign, Security and Defence Policy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in your opinion, the Africans have not understood anything, the Indians are picking up and the Chinese are not talking about it! What you want to vote for is a text that, in fact, infantilizes half the world. You see that much of the world does not agree with European policy on Ukraine and Russia, so you say that you are going to explain to them that the Russian…

19

May

2022

FR Speech

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The REPowerEU Plan: European solidarity and energy security in face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including the recent cuts of gas supply to Poland and Bulgaria (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, a great European energy plan, and who is forgotten? Workers. Again, not a strong measure to bring down prices – not a strong measure! No major price suppression, no lifting of excise or VAT minima... no, nothing. On the contrary, you are even saying that your policy will further increase energy prices. But this is not possible, workers can no longer do so. And why? Beca…

18

May

2022

NL Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, every time the European Parliament meets, we talk about human rights, we vote resolutions, often with sanctions. Russia, of course, China, Belarus, and so on. But what strikes me is that since I became a Member of the European Parliament, we have not yet voted a single resolution condemning Israel. Not once a resolution on sanctions against Israel. Even now, after the murder of that …

5

Apr

2022

FR Speech

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Guidelines for the 2023 budget – Section III (debate)

I am not surprised that there are Members who worry about their own money. And I will tell you, Mr MEP, it is very easy: I, since the beginning of my mandate, live with an average salary of Belgian worker. Perhaps you should take an example and vote for better texts. Secondly, in relation to your absolutely shameful insinuation, you know that we have nothing to do with Putin. We are on the other s…

5

Apr

2022

FR Speech

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Guidelines for the 2023 budget – Section III (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, what is crazy about this Europe is that when it comes to finding money for war, you find it right away, everywhere. When it comes to spinning money, money, multinationals and banks, no problem: We never miss it. But when it's for people, for workers, then it's "tranquillou bilou". Unpayable invoice: ‘tranquillou bilou’. Unfair tax is the same: ‘tranquillou bilou’. Bu…

10

Mar

2022

FR Speech

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Transparency and administrative standards - the treatment of public access requests based on Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 (debate)

Mr President, we have all heard the Ombudsman talk about bad governance. And we discovered something else: Not only during the negotiations between Big Pharma, Pfizer and the European Commission, the President of the European Commission sent small text messages to the CEO of Pfizer, but in addition, the more text messages she sent, the higher the price. Indeed, the third dose is now paid more than…

8

Mar

2022

NL Speech

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Rising energy prices and market manipulation on the gas market (debate)

Mr President, gas prices are now 20 times higher than they were a year ago. Some families risk paying up to 8,000 euros a year for electricity and gas. Of course, the war makes it all worse. So we have to block prices now, but not at the level of now, of course, but at the level of September, before those massive price increases. And that is possible, because as always, war itself is not a problem…

16

Feb

2022

NL Speech

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EU-Russia relations, European security and Russia’s military threat against Ukraine (debate)

(beginning of the speech next to the microphone) ... de-escalation needed in Ukraine and as always in diplomacy means that we have to negotiate with particularly unpleasant people, such as Vladimir Putin. But Charles Michel just called here to mobilize hundreds of millions to integrate Ukraine into the Western or European sphere of influence. He received support from the nationalist right up to an…

15

Feb

2022

FR Speech

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EU-Africa relations (debate)

Madam President, Mr Borrell, you, who are a bit of a European foreign minister, have still taken a few slaps in Africa, let us say. The European Union went to propose an alliance to the African Union, but Africans considered it a bit excessive. They did not want it. Why? But because they have seen that, rather than seeking mutually beneficial cooperation, you want to somehow perpetuate the hold of…

24

Nov

2021

FR Speech

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State of the Energy Union (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, Winter is coming, winter is on our doorstep and now is the time to take stock, to take stock. The European Commission promised us that liberalising energy would guarantee low prices, that the market would solve all our problems. Fifteen years ago, you won this battle. The traditional parties, both right and left, have accepted; our state-owned companies have been destro…

24

Nov

2021

FR Speech

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The EU's role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic: how to vaccinate the world (topical debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I am a little lost here. After two years of COVID, we are still talking about how to offer a vaccine to the world? You can only laugh at these rumours, right? Because it has been a year since India, South Africa, the World Health Organisation, a hundred countries told you how to do it, namely by lifting patents and sharing technology, to allow countries all o…

22

Nov

2021

FR Speech

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A pharmaceutical strategy for Europe (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, when you read this parliamentary report, you still feel that there is something rotten in the pharmaceutical sector. In particular, many of the innovations presented to us offer little or no improvement for the patient. We also read that multinational pharmaceutical companies artificially extend the duration of their patents, their monopoly, to make us pay mo…

20

Oct

2021

IT Speech

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The rise of right-wing extremism and racism in Europe (in light of recent events in Rome) (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we too were in Rome in solidarity with the CGIL. And since we're talking about Italy, let's talk about it. Italy today is the only country in the European Union where people live worse than thirty years ago, workers earn less than thirty years ago, and this is the concrete result, clearly, of policies, policies brought by the government, of course, of the cen…

19

Oct

2021

FR Speech

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Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe (debate)

Madam President, you have a package of money, public money – like 10 billion – and you promised citizens that it will be used to develop new environmental technologies, new innovative medicines, all that... And what are you doing? You put that money in public-private partnerships. It's called a joint venture now, it's a bit of a new language, but it's the same instrument that failed several times …

6

Oct

2021

NL Speech

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European solutions to the rise of energy prices for businesses and consumers: the role of energy efficiency and renewable energy and the need to tackle energy poverty (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, dear Members of the European Parliament here from the Vivaldicoalitie from Belgium, have you heard? The European Commission is pushing you to reduce VAT on energy. The European Commission says that this is not only okay with the European rules, but also a good idea. It is not every day – dear CD&V, dear MR, dear VLD, the greens, the socialists – that the European Commis…

16

Sep

2021

NL Speech

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EU transparency in the development, purchase and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines (debate)

Mr President, the vaccine contracts are being kept secret. However, we have been able to light up a tip of the veil and have understood that Pfizer and Moderna are increasing their prices by 20 and 13 percent respectively. We are therefore paying the third dose more than the first, while the production costs of these companies are decreasing. The production capacity of the companies is often creat…

14

Sep

2021

FR Speech

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Natural disasters during the summer 2021 - Impacts of natural disasters in Europe due to climate change (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, we are talking about real people, about disasters and Mrs von der Leyen, President of the Commission, has come to us. She went to Rochefort, Pepinster and in front of the people there, she said she had a bleeding heart. She said: ‘I have a tight heart’. I think she should have apologized, rather, because because of European austerity, which the Belgian government has be…

7

Jul

2021

FR Speech

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A new ERA for Research and Innovation (continuation of debate)

Mr President, oh dumpling! Ladies and gentlemen, the dumpling! Frankly, it cannot be invented. I read and just learned that two years before the COVID pandemic, the European Commission said: “There is a risk of an epidemic, we have to prepare.” There was already, it is true, a coronavirus in 2003, and then a second coronavirus in 2012. It actually makes sense to want to be ready. And what is the E…

5

Jul

2021

FR Speech

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Old continent growing older - possibilities and challenges related to ageing policy post 2020 (debate)

Madam President, for years Europe has been pushing people to work longer – 60, 65, 67 – and the lower the pension age, the more long-term sick people there are. Basically, your policies make people sick. You can imagine my revolt when I read in your new analysis, your Green Paper, that ideally the pension age should rise to 70 in Europe, or even 72 in Luxembourg and Lithuania. But you imagine your…