11
Feb
2026
Watch
Developing a new EU anti-poverty strategy (debate)
Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! I am amazed that Mr Bystron has not presented his very personal programme for combating poverty here. Unfortunately, this is not accessible to everyone, namely: Cleaning women at the expense of taxpayers, bribes from Moscow and cross-border employment of AfD family members with other AfD deputies – the AfD has developed its own personal poverty reduction programme. However, this does not apply to all citizens, but only to the ladies and gentlemen who accuse others of corruption, who accuse the other nepotism, who stand here and say that Europe and Germany have failed. The opposite is the case! On the very specific political agenda, I would also like to say: In the end, I can only underline what Mrs Kemp has just said here twice and three times. It is not a question of replacing national policies here from Brussels, from Strasbourg, but of complementing them. We need the resources that we have so far made available in different places – this is now also about bringing them together better. We have a lot of programs, but we also need to look at how we can increase effectiveness even further in the end. Indeed – Martine, you said it: Poverty has many faces. Above all, poverty now also has many reasons and many drivers. One is certainly the crazy development in many real estate markets; Many families, hard-working families are now being crushed by these developments. Energy poverty is also a huge issue. But from my point of view, it's not just a question of moving funds from A to B, but above all we have to get involved in the question: economic growth, on the one hand, but on the other hand, how do we ensure better integration into labour markets? Because it is best, and this must be our goal – we do not want to feed people first and foremost, but we want to organise participation, and this must also be our common European claim.