What Martin spoke about.

7

Jul

2026

DE Speech

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Urgent measures to strengthen the competitiveness and safeguard quality jobs in the EU’s automotive sector (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner! The employees of Mercedes-Benz are refusing to work longer without wage compensation, while excessive dividends are distributed to the major shareholders. Volkswagen's management has announced a drastic job cut; Four locations are to be closed in Germany alone. And CEO Blume is so outrageous to bail out more than 10 million euros every year generated by these employe…

15

Jun

2026

DE Speech

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EU-US trade deal (joint debate)

Mr President, Commissioner! Donald Trump is blackmailing the European Union and has started a trade war with it. He threatens to annex Greenland, designs anti-democratic regime change-Plans for EU states, starts wars of aggression in violation of international law, under which the European economy suffers and jeopardizes European jobs. Ursula von der Leyen should never have agreed to this bad deal…

29

Apr

2026

DE Speech

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EU strategy in response to the ongoing Middle East crisis, its implications on energy prices and the availability of fertilizers (joint debate)

Madam President, All, but especially all with little money, feel the war against Iran in their wallets. Especially for families and for the working population, daily shopping becomes unaffordable and daily commutes to work become unaffordable. Actually, the debate should deal with the EU strategy on how to deal with this crisis, but here only buzzwords fell, I don't see any strategy. Worse still, …

26

Mar

2026

EN Speech

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Adjustment of customs duties and opening of tariff quotas for the import of certain goods originating in the United States of America (A10-0069/2026 - Bernd Lange) (vote)

Madam President, I want to request the adjournment of the vote on the two Lange files. This is nothing personal, but, colleagues, the US Supreme Court has ruled that this EU-US trade deal has no legal basis. And just yesterday, Trump made it very clear that he doesn't intend to honour the tariff section of the deal. This is not a fair deal; this is blackmailing. And as it stands now, the deal is h…

26

Mar

2026

DE Speech

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EU-US trade deal (joint debate)

Mr President! Thank you, Colleague Lange, for the insight into your taste in music. But if I follow the debate here and also refer to Trump's blackmail against the EU, then I can think of a completely different title or album, namely: Master of Puppets fromMetallica. This trade deal puts European industry at a disadvantage and puts jobs at risk. And in addition to the one-sided t…

10

Mar

2026

DE Speech

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Housing crisis in the European Union with the aim of proposing solutions for decent, sustainable and affordable housing (debate)

10

Mar

2026

DE Answer

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Housing crisis in the European Union with the aim of proposing solutions for decent, sustainable and affordable housing (debate)

10

Mar

2026

DE Speech

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Housing crisis in the European Union with the aim of proposing solutions for decent, sustainable and affordable housing (debate)

9

Mar

2026

DE Speech

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Order of business

24

Feb

2026

DE Speech

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Four years of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and European contributions to a just peace and sustained security for Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, President Zelenskyy, I wish you that you will be not only the president who led Ukraine through four years of war, but the one who led it to peace. You have spoken here with the greatest possible openness about the state of diplomacy. For us on the left, it is clear that there must be a lasting and just peace and that this peace can only be achieved if Ukraine is involved on an eq…

11

Feb

2026

DE Speech

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Urgent actions to revive EU competitiveness, deepen the EU Single Market and reduce the cost of living - from the Draghi report to reality (debate)

Madam President, Mrs von der Leyen, I would have expected your speech to include an honest stocktaking so that you would not get lost in wishful thinking and headlines as so often. Honesty also includes the fact that the European economy has hardly been growing for years, but poverty is increasing sharply. Therefore, the sustainable and digital transformation of our industry with job security for …

10

Feb

2026

DE Speech

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Situation in Northeast Syria, the violence against civilians and the need to maintain a sustainable ceasefire (debate)

17

Dec

2025

DE Speech

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 18-19 December 2025, in particular the need to support Ukraine, transatlantic relations and the EU’s strategic autonomy (debate)

Madam President, Finally! After four years of the Russian war in Ukraine, the time of diplomacy seems to have come. The decisions made these days will shape the future of our continent for many years to come. Ukraine needs our support in this, and Russia must and should make reparations payments. However, the path you propose for this, Mrs von der Leyen, is legally highly risky. I honestly do not …

16

Dec

2025

DE Speech

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Presentation of the European Affordable Housing Plan (debate)

26

Nov

2025

DE Speech

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EU position on the proposed plan and EU engagement towards a just and lasting peace for Ukraine (debate)

25

Nov

2025

DE Speech

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Digital Package (debate)

Mr President! This new digital package sacrifices existing high European data protection standards on the altar of corporate competitiveness. Access to public data for businesses, trade in sensitive personal data, more tracking, more profiling - all this should now be possible. One could say that the Commission sells our data protection. Even AI training with private data of workers now wants to a…

13

Nov

2025

DE Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 23 October 2025 (debate)

Madam President, Mrs. von der Leyen! The benevolent speeches and sparse applause cannot hide the fact that today your political future is on the agenda of this House. Because today will answer whether this permanently divided coalition of Conservatives, Social Democrats, Liberals and Greens still carries your policies at all or whether a majority in the centre-right is forming in this House. And t…

12

Nov

2025

DE Speech

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The new 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework: architecture and governance (debate)

Madam President, Wrong priorities, despondent, undemocratic - that is the Commission proposal in one sentence. This EU budget does not meet the growing social inequality, the worsening climate catastrophes or the changing world situation. And instead of involving large fortunes and companies in the social tasks, working families will have to pay the price for this despondency. Multis remain unscat…

6

Oct

2025

DE Speech

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Motions of censure (joint debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Weber, Mrs Hayer, Mrs García Pérez! That a democratic vote of no confidence endangers democracy is really nonsense. In every sports club, the coach changes if the team constantly plays against the relegation. If the bankrupt vultures are circling over a public company or a private company, then the management must go. Only this Commission with its policy o…

10

Sep

2025

DE Speech

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Implementation of EU-US trade deal and the prospect of wider EU trade agreements (debate)

Mr President! Commissioner, I think you really have a very specific positive reading of this trade deal. I think it would be good if you didn't lie to us here. Tariffs on European industrial goods of 15 percent, 50 percent on steel and aluminum, and in return American industrial products can be exported to the European Union at zero tariff or then imported from our perspective: This is, of course,…

10

Sep

2025

DE Speech

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State of the Union (debate)

Madam President, If, like you, Mrs von der Leyen, you want to make politics with a coalition that ranges from conservatives, social democrats, greens to liberals, then you don't really need political opponents anymore. But my group will not do you any favours of political pity, because the trade deal you have concluded with the US is an attack on our industrial base and on many thousands of jobs –…

9

Jul

2025

DE Speech

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EU-US trade negotiations (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner! Before our eyes, the United States under Donald Trump is turning into an authoritarian and corrupt oligarchy. Trump uses trade policy, and in particular punitive tariffs, to enforce U.S. dominance and the interests of his oligarch mates. This is pure trade imperialism. Unfortunately, the Commission has so far distinguished itself in the Trump trade war through passivity…

8

Jul

2025

DE Speech

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Preparation for the 2025 EU–China Summit - Tackling China's critical raw materials export restrictions

Madam President, I very much welcome the fact that, in the run-up to the summit, on the occasion of half a century of European-Chinese relations, there has been a relaxation in mutual relations. Because there is a great chance that we can put the necessary cooperation on a common foundation. The changing world is challenging China and the European Union, and those who want to tackle the great issu…

7

Jul

2025

DE Speech

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Motion of censure on the Commission (debate)

Madam President, The right, once again conspicuous by a corruption scandal, points its finger at the Commission and shouts ‘Keep the corrupt thief!’. This is the state of European institutions in 2025, and you, Mrs von der Leyen, have made this unworthy spectacle possible with your maximum opacity. Europe needs the courage for a policy change that seeks to establish social justice, achieve peace a…

7

Jul

2025

DE Speech

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Order of business

Madam President, We have learned from the media in recent days that an internal audit report by the European Parliament makes it clear that the former right-wing radical ID group here in the European Parliament allegedly misappropriated 4.3 million euros, spending it on companies close to them, on overpriced advertising or on promoting questionable organisations close to them. This shows the true …