Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, yes, Montenegro is still the frontrunner and has a realistic chance to join the European Union until the year 2028. Yes, the government is delivering EU acquis legislation at a very high pace. And yes, Montenegro is a state on the Balkans that has kept good neighbourly relations very much in the past, and I very much recommend to invest time and effort to also do this in our present time. But there are also concerning things happening. The investment deal with the United Arab Emirates was already mentioned, and unfortunately it looks as if it might allow circumvention of EU procurement rules. Montenegro has to be aware, even if the chapter 5 on procurement may be closed – let us see what the Council says – this is just provisionally closed and once circumventing the rules, it can immediately be reopened. Montenegro is also a country of fantastic natural heritage – a lot of jewels. If you have not been there, go there and have a look. But protecting these jewels like the Komarnica River, Salina Ulcinj or the protected dunes of Velika Plaža will be key to closing chapter 27 on environment. Let us work on it and let us do whatever we can to welcome Montenegro as the 28th Member of the European Union.

Madam President, colleagues, the Second World War was raw brutality. It was demonisation and dehumanisation of big parts of society. It was devastating warfare, total destruction and mass murder. That's what it was. Fascism didn't happen overnight. It was carefully woven into parts of society or into society, piece by piece, many years before the Nazis took over Germany and Austria, driven by blind hatred, by white supremacy and racism. Countless people were targeted and killed. But based on acknowledgement of crime, reconciliation and forgiveness, we are building this, our European Union. Yes, to forgive, but never to forget. Because remembrance is not an act of the past, it's a pact with the future. But, colleagues, somehow I have the impression that we did not learn. Once again, strong men have returned – in the US, in Russia, in China, in Hungary. Based on hatred and on disrespect for human rights, we once again see the rising forces of anti-democratic and anti-human policies. Even here in this House we hear hate speech, we hear blunt, fearmongering propaganda. But freedom is still strong and the fight for freedom is still strong. The freedom to love who you love, the freedom to decide over your own body, the freedom to live the life that you want to live, and the freedom to learn from history and the freedom to strive for peace. Because 'never again' is now!

Mr President, Madam Commissioner Kos, Kosovo has developed towards a modern rule of law state and is still developing towards a modern rule of law state. And yes, there are still things to do, and they are not yet there. But they are developing really well. It's a country with 100 % foreign policy and security policy alignment, which is really impressive in this Balkan region. It's a flourishing democracy and they once again have proven that they are a flourishing democracy. They have increasing living standards. They have a young and well-educated population. But still they are blocked from joining international organisations. They could be a frontrunner in the accession process. but they're still blocked from even starting the accession process by the outcomes of the Serbia-Kosovo war of the 90s. And I clearly call on Serbia here to finally make peace with their neighbour and to recognise their neighbour, to move on towards a European future. And I strongly call also on the five non-recognisers within the European Union to lead by example and to free the way to finally start accession talks with Kosovo. I thank the rapporteur for the good cooperation, and I thank Madam Commissioner for her good words. Thank you very much and let us work it out together.

Mr President, Commissioner, you expect us farmers to produce cheap for the global markets. You expect us farmers to produce affordable food for our citizens. You expect us farmers to produce extra cheap raw material for the food processing industry and for the retailers in the European Union. That's why farmers need income support from taxpayers' pockets. This income support should be based on the amount of jobs farmers are offering: you have winemakers with direct marketing who can supply two full-time jobs with five hectares, while sometimes crop farmers with 50 or 80 hectares are not even able to supply one full-time job. So I definitely welcome the slight indications in your vision that we need to allocate some of the basic income support budget based on the amount of jobs a farm is actually supplying. But before we can actually supply income support, we need to have a budget. And you all know here in the room that the CAP budget is not secured. It's clearly not secured, even if farmers have the potential to help us with climate mitigation, with climate adaptation. They help us with biodiversity, with rural areas, with animal welfare – a lot of important roles in society. So let's build this partnership between farming, environment, climate and rural areas. Because if you ask me, this will be the only way that we can secure a reasonable budget for our farmers.

Madam President, Commissioner, has the Commissioner been listening to the family farmers on both sides of the Atlantic that urge us not to sign this trade agreement? Or have you been listening to the big land‑owning oligarchs that are teaming up with the agrochemical multinationals that run thousands of hectares‑big farms, spreading pesticides that are banned in Europe with aeroplanes? Have you been listening to the indigenous communities and Quilombo communities that came all the way to Brussels to report about their poisoned rivers, their poisoned wells, their burned‑down forests, the deforestation and the attacks on them. Have you been listening to the labour organisation that reports about child labour, about forced labour, but in very high numbers? Yes, we need to increase our cooperation with Mercosur. Yes, we need to increase our cooperation with democracies. But as it stands, this trade agreement, in my point of view, is not fit for purpose. We still need to work on that and need to improve it. As it stands, this trade deal is toxic for the planet and the people.

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, as an Austrian, I am once again reminded of the darkest times of the last century. Once again, the Christian Democrats and conservatives are allowing the extreme right to take power. At this very moment, there are negotiations still going on about making the extreme-right leader of Austrian FPÖ the chancellor of one of our European Member States, and they are doing it even knowing what the demands of FPÖ are. You know what the demands are – did you read into it? They're saying politics should prevail over justice and Austrian justice should prevail over European justice. This means destroying the European Union through the back door. This is questioning the main values and principles our European Union is built on, and this is questioning the prosperity and economic unity of our European Union. And unfortunately, parts of the European People's Party are becoming complicit in doing this and becoming complicit in weakening our European Union, especially in these times. I think this is extremely dangerous. So turn around, remind yourself that you were once one of the founders of this European Union, and stop destroying it.

I don't think you listened to me. I talked about how dangerous it is for our democracy to give you power. Take a look at our beautiful Hungary together – my grandfather is Hungarian: the restriction of media freedom, the restriction of freedom of expression, the restriction of the independent judiciary. Look at your hospitals that are completely on the ground. Look at your education system, look at your economy! That's where we come from when people like Mr. Orbán and your friends take power. Thanks, I don't want that!

I don't know what Mr Musk meant with his move, but to me, as an Austrian, it looked like a Hitler salute. And to many citizens, it looked like a Hitler salute. I don't know what he meant with it, and I cannot judge this, but what I see is that terms that were used in Nazi Germany and Nazi Austria are getting normalised. Our candidate for the extreme right is calling himself 'Volkskanzler'. That's how Adolf Hitler was naming himself before he called himself a 'Führer'. So a certain normalisation of terms that we know from this time is unfortunately something I am watching. And I really, seriously think that the pro-Democratic parties should stick together, beyond different opinions, beyond different political affiliations, but to the core of European unity, of European togetherness and for our democratic principles.

Mr President, Commissioner! I think it has been clear since yesterday that we cannot rely on the US as a partner or even friends in terms of security policy or trade policy. But what has also been clear since yesterday is that the US will make policy for the super-rich and especially Musk and Trump for further enriching themselves. And Trump joins his colleagues, the autocrats Xi Jinping and Putin, because they have a common interest: The common interest is to weaken the European Union, to divide the European Union, to attack freedom of expression and to abolish the independent judiciary. And all three support right-wing populist and far-right parties – our Orbáns, our Melonis and also our Austrian mini-Trump Herbert Kickl. But it is also our European People's Party that helps the far-right to power. This is the opposite of a pro-European policy. This is the opposite of a pro-democracy policy. And I urge you to: Rethink your path. Take a pro-European course again and do not help these people to power, because it will be to the detriment of the European Union, to the detriment of our citizens and to the detriment of our values-based policies. Turn around.

Thank you, Madam President. And also thank you very much to our Commissioner Várhelyi for being here today in this debate – unfortunately not many MEPs, but the public is very interested in this issue: Well over 80% of the European population wants improvements in the area of animal welfare. In this respect, this should be a clear mandate for all of us to work on it. And many farmers also welcome it when there are clear rules on animal welfare, especially those broad, broad majority of farmers who take good care of their animals. They have no interest in sending their animals on long-distance transports, but they have an interest in finding a slaughterhouse in their region. We must also make visible those farms that are good-farming, that are animal-friendly. Commissioner, we need animal welfare labelling so that those farmers are also rewarded by the market and so that consumers can see what they are buying and under what circumstances it was produced. And this labeling is a piece of legislation that we still miss. Animal welfare standards for agriculture are also a clear help to make visible how it works, but also to make visible who does not adhere to them and then to take appropriate measures. And last but not least, animal welfare standards in the slaughterhouse – which was also announced by the Commission – I think that even if animals go on their last journey, this should take place under humane conditions – as little suffering and as little horror as possible. I would ask you to submit a law on this matter as well.

Mr. Chairman! Commissioner Hansen! If my colleagues in the dairy industry get up every morning at 5 a.m. and then find that the milk is no longer being picked up – for cost reasons – then that creates frustration. And when you see that the price of milk also falls below the production costs, then that creates very great frustration. And if you are still in a pinch, because you bear the entire entrepreneurial risk of milk production on the investments and you cannot simply turn off a cow, just because the milk price is bad, then this milk must also be sold below the production costs, then this creates a huge frustration. It is no wonder that 800 companies are still closing down every day in the European Union. And it's no wonder, unfortunately, that we have such high suicide rates within agriculture. When I can't hand over a business because the boys don't want to do it anymore, because they see how hard the work is and how little money comes out in the end and a business comes to an end where generations have worked to build this business, that creates tremendous frustration. We need to reverse to an agricultural policy that is human-friendly, animal-friendly and environmentally friendly. That's our job here.

Madam President, dear colleagues, yes, it was a wake up call to see the Russian army invading Ukraine. It was a wake up call also for some of our governments that did not have the priority when it comes to enlargement of the Western Balkan countries - some of them have finally realised that the Western Balkans is not somewhere at the outskirts but in the inner yard of the European Union. And I very much welcome that now the Council has this meeting with the Balkan leaders and engages with ambition when it comes to enlargement. We also have to see that we, as European Union, have also caused some disappointment, because we were not always keeping up to our promises. But ok, now is the time to move forward. We just have to see that with good initiatives like the growth pact, we need to look into who are we giving this money to. Is it governments that follow the rule of law? Is it governments that support independent justice? Is it governments that align with our geostrategic positions? And there we need to be very clear and also very critical. Where the rule of law is kept, that must be clearly decisive. Also we, here, in this House have some homework to do. I call on all Members here in the House from countries that are still not accepting Kosovo as an independent state. We have some work to do here. Speak to your people back home. Let's get this moving. We also have some homework to do when it comes to bilateral issues that are unfortunately in involving and evolved and included into our negotiations towards accession. Please let us clarify bilateral issues on a bilateral basis and not use the accession process to actually talk about bilateral issues. Let's find compromises. Let's move on. Let's welcome the Western Balkan states at the table of European nations as soon as possible.

Mr President, yes, if you read the Budapest declaration, you have to go all the way through the bullet points to the last bullet point, which is finally touching agriculture. And yes, it says we need a resilient and sustainable agriculture. And, God's sake, it says farmers need a proper income. But isn't that in contradiction with point 11, open trade policy? And unfortunately, you missed the word 'fair'. It's not in the text, so it's not about fair trade. And you want to put us into a competition with global agriculture that is heavily industrialised, that is destructive and poisonous, that is actually troubling the local communities? That's the competition you want to put farmers into? I think that's not going to work because that's unfair competition with lower production standards. And did you actually think of the potential of farming that it has for CO2 sequestration, that it has to protect biodiversity, that it has for flood prevention? Is that something you consider? No, you missed it in the text. This is a potential that agriculture has and that we urgently need to leverage. And towards Fidesz, you take care for agriculture? Yes, you took care that agriculture comes under the control of your Fidesz, Viktor Orbán friends and oligarchs - that's how you took care of agriculture! You're talking about agriculture. You are misusing the bad state agriculture is in for your rhetorics. But working on bettering the agriculture, that's not something I have seen up to now. So don't tell us this fake news here.

Good morning, Mr. Colleague! I am not surprised that you have no idea what measures are being taken. It is your group that does not appear here in Parliament at work, but all you are doing here is sowing hatred and discord. You don't even work here. The measures that the Greens have put in place in all the countries where they govern are the expansion of renewable energy, fewer fossil fuels, more railways and fewer roads, and investments in climate protection. This is how forward-looking politics works, together and without you, which you sow hatred and discord.

Mr President, Agriculture Commissioner Wojciechowski! March 2024: Winter drought in Spain; Only 16% of the water reservoirs were filled. Then July 2024: Heat wave in Romania, more than 40 degrees, 90% of the harvest of sunflowers and maize destroyed. Sicily: extreme drought; Sicily becomes a desert. Last week: country below in Poland, Czech Republic, Austria; Tens of thousands of citizens have lost their homes and tens of thousands of hectares of agricultural land are under water. Everyone here should have understood by now that we have to do something here now, that we have to invest in soils that absorb water, with our common agricultural policy, that we have to give rivers space to flood - i.e. the law to restore nature - and that we need measures to cool our cities in order to avoid heat deaths, which we unfortunately saw again this year in Vienna with 53 tropical nights. We should finally stop burying our heads in the sand, ignoring science, denying climate change and inciting people against each other. We are elected to protect citizens and we are elected to ensure long-term food security. Take your responsibilities finally!

Mr President, Commissioner McGuinness, welcome, colleagues, back from the summer. For some of us it was not so easy to reach Parliament these days, literally speaking from an Austrian perspective. But we're actually debating the dialogue today, and I think it's a good sign that when people sit down and talk to each other, we even find a lot of common ground. So this is a pathway out of polarisation that we have gone into in this election campaign. And you see, if people sit down and talk with reason and based on facts, you actually come to some quite encouraging results. Yes, agriculture, farmers have to be made partners and thriving for good food production, for climate protection, for environmental protection, for good water and for good air that we deliver to our citizens. And yes indeed, it's exactly farmers that are at the forefront when it comes to climate impacts and to impacts of loss of biodiversity. And yes indeed, we're still losing more than 800 farms every single day. And so the statement to say we have to make sure that CAP money comes to the farmers that need it most, and not just spread it over hectares and hectares, I think this is a very good conclusion of this process that we have seen. And yes, we need an equal playing field when it comes to competition. This is meant within the European Union, but it also is meant when it comes to global trade. It needs an equal playing field. We need to acquire the same standards for imported products as we ask our farmers to produce after. And yes, the extreme weather events again show it's important to have resilient agriculture. It's important to have soils that are able to absorb water – so fertile soil. It's important to have resilient forests and to refrain from doing clear cuts to prevent landslides and mudslides. It's important to look into our common task to ensure long‑term resilience of European food production in times of climate crisis, and we need to make sure that we use the funding that we have to help farmers in this transition, to partner with farmers and nature protection and food production. This is the cause for the next mandate here, and I'm looking forward to constructively contribute to that work.

Mr President, Commissioner! From theory to practice: My farm is located in the south of Austria. In 2022, we had to deal with a massive drought. In 2023, a hurricane dragged a swath of devastation through my forest. Last Sunday we had 30 degrees plus – mid-April, in the south of Austria. It's been snowing since yesterday. As I stand here in front of you and speak, the forest breaks down in my home, because it is already in full foliage. And you from the European People's Party and the Austrian People's Party have nothing else to do than to prevent climate action, to delay it, to weaken measures and to prevent certain laws in the first place. And for whom do you do this? You do that for the fossil industry, and you do that for the agrochemical industry. And this is to the detriment of the Austrian and European populations. It is to the detriment of future generations, and it is to the detriment of farmers what you are doing here. Confront yourself with this, and you will also be presented with the bill for it during the election!

Madam President, thank you, as we sign up to the actual motion from the EPP, but we would like to ask a split vote on the addition of Renew because we are in favour of having a resolution, but we’re not in favour of enlarging the scope to generally ensure stability of the EU agricultural production, because banning foodstuffs from Belarus and from Russia has a security aspect – it has an aspect that we do not want to finance their wars and their participation in the war of aggression. And to secure our agricultural produce, we need a much broader debate. And this would be off topic to add. So I would ask for a split vote on the addition from Renew to be split from the last point and to add a resolution, because this we would be in favour of.

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, yes, this report that was built with a big consensus between the political parties is also pointing out on the criteria that we need to apply when it comes to new membership candidates. Yes, there’s also geostrategic reasons for us to speed up the candidacy process, but we, in this report, state very clearly that Copenhagen criteria have to be the basis of negotiation and of an accession process. Also, we need to start to reward countries that have a full alignment with our security and foreign policy. We need to reward those that align, but we also need to set consequences for the ones that do not align, because we also have candidate applicants that are actively cooperating with China, that are actively aligning their security and foreign policy with Russia, that are backtracking on democratic standards like election law. There we need to be consequent and also withdraw funds from these countries, because otherwise the process of accession is not a trustworthy one, if you do not reward the ones that deliver. We need to look towards the East, and we need to look towards the new big candidate countries. First of all, the support for Ukraine needs to be uncontested and there is some additional work to do. Because unfortunately we cannot rely on the support that will be coming from the US: who knows how these presidential elections end. We need to take responsibility within the European Union, within our States, and support Ukraine to defend this illegal invasion into the country. That’s the first step and then we look into the candidate process.

Mr President, Commissioner! About a quarter of food inflation comes from food speculation. But by this I do not mean trading on the stock exchanges, but betting on rising or falling prices. The Commission has promised to look at this and to do something about it. My specific question is: What did you do about it, or what do you plan to do? About 10 percent of the price increases can neither be explained by speculation nor by increased production costs. It is reasonable to assume that there are cartel formations in both processors and retailers. What can you give us in terms of concrete results, what are cartel-like procedures? And the production costs for agriculture: We are trapped in a fossil price trap here, while the companies that produce fertilisers doubled their turnover and profits in 2022 – Bayer Agrar plus 82 percent, BASF plus 71 percent, Syngenta plus 32 percent. They make very good money in this business. The price is paid by the farmers and the customers in the supermarket. We urgently need to do something about it. And I ask you: What is your plan for this? What is your concept? What are your answers? It's urgent.

Mr President, Commissioner, I miss dedication to end fossil fuels until 2040. I also missed an ambition to end fossil subsidies until 2040. I miss a goal of 100 % renewables until 2040, even though renewables are the cheapest form of energy for our citizens and for industry, and they are that form of energy that makes us independent from fossil autocracies. By the way, it keeps the money of energy production in our own economy. I don’t get the point why you’re so much focusing on carbon capture and storage. Your own Advisory Board has told you that this is the most expensive form of collecting CO2. Why not pay the farmers well for sequestering CO2 into the soil? Why not pay them well for changing their methods of production that are climate-friendly and environment-friendly? That would be a low-hanging fruit that is much easier to reach and would also fulfil a lot of other goals, and not serve the industry again with technical solutions behind which they can hide their ongoing fossil extraction. I don’t see that needed ambition in this, but maybe my speech is going to change something here.

Ms Šojdrová, firstly, I referred to products in the supermarket and not to the issue of seed labelling. And secondly: It is not my opinion, but that of the European Court of Justice. 2018 the judgment: New genomic techniques are also genetically modified organisms. Read the court ruling of the European Court of Justice, where you will then learn what the realities look like.

Madam President, Commissioner! So you want to ban GMO-free production in Austria? Mind you, a country that is 100% GMO-free, conventional and organic. So you want to contaminate organic agriculture with genetic engineering? Mind you, a production method that works as close to nature as possible. Genetic engineering is the opposite of natural. So you do not want to apply your own precautionary principle here and simply grant permits without having checked whether there are health or environmental concerns. And you want to bring about an approval that, once granted, even if problems arise, can no longer be withdrawn. Here, they provide the large multinational companies with an open door to patenting virtually every type of breeding, whether with or without genetic engineering. I wonder: Do you listen to the citizens? Do you want to eliminate food labelling? Yes, because citizens did not want to buy these products. Fine, then we just don't write on where genetic engineering is inside anymore, then they will buy it already. Count on our resistance! (The speaker agreed to answer a question on the blue card procedure.)

Madam President, there’s clear evidence of electoral fraud, and we have clear evidence of additional voters being brought in by buses into Belgrade. Even dead people have voted, and there’s clear evidence that this fraud was well organised, well ahead of the elections. These elections were not just influenced: they were clearly stolen. Hundreds of thousands of Serbian citizens have been protesting for free and fair elections, and rightly so, because Serbians have the same right to demand free and fair elections and institutions that follow their constitutional obligations as all other European states. So I call for an international investigation into this election fraud, and I call on all Member States not to accept this election result before we see a result of this international investigation, because there is no democracy without free and fair elections.