What Peter spoke about.

16 Sep

2026

DE Answer

The impact of the implementation of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) on SMEs, its administrative burden and challenges for the European Single Market (debate)

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So that no one thought about it, that's true. And that's because we had too much on the table and because the small companies don't have a lobby in Brussels. And of course that has to change. But this sentence has fallen, dear Jutta Paulus − I have said: ‘Do you know what we are negotiating on the Packaging Ordinance?’ And your answer was: "I don't know because a colleague is negotiating this." So…

16 Sep

2026

DE Speech

The impact of the implementation of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) on SMEs, its administrative burden and challenges for the European Single Market (debate)

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Mr President! Dear colleagues! It is true that we are also fighting the plastic flood, the packaging flood as a whole, through European rules. But we have really extreme bureaucratic excesses here, and Parliament agrees on this: We need quick changes against these bureaucratic excesses. But how could this happen? And, dear colleague Paul, I actually did not want to repeat history today, but attack…

20 May

2026

DE Speech

Reviewing the ETS system to support European competitiveness (topical debate)

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25 Mar

2026

DE Speech

Implementation of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) and risks to the security of supply of medicines (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, We all want clean water. Nevertheless, questions arise here in connection with this legislation. There are too many unanswered questions from my point of view. Firstly, we have existing rules in the EU that have been adopted for decades and are still not implemented in many areas. And the responses I have received from Commission staff have d…

19 Jan

2026

DE Speech

Framework for strengthening the availability and security of supply of critical medicinal products as well as the availability of, and accessibility of, medicinal products of common interest (debate)

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16 Dec

2025

DE Speech

Presentation of the automotive package (debate)

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Madam President, Dear colleagues, I would like to thank Ursula von der Leyen and Wopke Hoekstra for meeting the demands of the EPP. And I think there's too much gossip and too much know-it-all here in the hall. The Greens are no longer there, but you can tell them: I am skeptical if Green MEPs know better what is good for the industry than the industry itself. I'm skeptical. I ask Michael Bloss if…

27 Nov

2025

DE Speech

Outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference - Belém (COP30) (debate)

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22 Oct

2025

DE Speech

UN Climate Change Conference 2025 in Belém, Brazil (COP30) (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Climate protection remains a priority. Despite all the crises, we owe it to our children and grandchildren to take care of the issue. But we need to be more careful that we are truly role models for others in the world. Only the world can win successful climate protection. We should stick to the goals we have already decided. But we need to change our policy:…

8 Oct

2025

DE Speech

Europe’s automotive future – reversing the ban on the sale of combustion cars in the EU (topical debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. Some pretend that the ban on combustion engines is at the heart of European climate policy. That's not true. No, no, no, that's not true. Emissions trading alone is worth 25 times as much. Even if we have the CO2If legislation for cars were to be abolished completely, that would be only a small part. But I don't want to completely abolish them. I want technology…

9 Sep

2025

DE Speech

Devastating wildfires in Southern Europe: the need to strengthen EU aid to restore the massive loss of forests and enhancing EU preparedness (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, I would like to express sympathy and solidarity to the victims in all countries, including on behalf of the entire EPP Group. In the second place, a big thank you to the helpers, also and especially those who helped outside their home country via rescEU. Thirdly, I would like to call on the Member States to take the issue of rescEU even more seriou…

6 May

2025

DE Speech

The European Water Resilience Strategy (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Water is life, and drinking water is our most important food. And we should not forget in the debate on difficulties that drinking water is also the most controlled food. It is even more controlled than mineral water, and the limits are stricter. It also protects the environment when we drink drinking water and not bottled water. We have some challenges: Thes…

13 Mar

2025

DE Speech

Action Plan for Affordable Energy (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. Reducing energy costs is an absolute necessity: Our economy, as well as our citizens, suffer from high energy costs. And for the goals we have politically – climate protection, independence from imports – it is absolutely necessary, above all, to reduce electricity costs. Electricity is the energy of the transformation to climate neutrality. Whether for heating,…

12 Mar

2025

DE Speech

Action Plan for the Automotive Industry (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Employees in the automotive industry and suppliers are worried. A key industry in the European Union is in a serious crisis. The main responsibility for this is borne by the national governments, which, for example, as in Germany, stopped funding overnight, and of course also by the companies that have made serious management mistakes. Nevertheless, I welcome…

11 Mar

2025

DE Speech

Clean Industrial Deal (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, It is extremely important that we do not now talk about further requirements for the industry, but that we even reduce requirements in a targeted manner. If something is important, for example, if you do not want your pants to slide down, you can also install double fuses – suspenders and belts. But we have so many belts, so tightly strapped, that the industr…

10 Mar

2025

DE Answer

Cutting red tape and simplifying business in the EU: the first Omnibus proposals (debate)

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(Start of the answer when the microphone is switched off) That is why I understood what you said, Madam, but I did not understand your accusation on the matter. I was just there talking to Mohammed Chahim, the S&A/D rapporteur for CBAM, and I am of course also talking to the colleagues of the Greens, and I am also talking to the colleagues of Renew. I am sure that at CBAM we will find a very broad…

10 Mar

2025

DE Speech

Cutting red tape and simplifying business in the EU: the first Omnibus proposals (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. Businesses, and citizens in particular, are groaning under excessive bureaucracy. A company representative from my constituency recently told me on the occasion of the omnibus that he is responsible for sustainability in the company, but he is no longer able to plan energy efficiency projects at all because he has to fill out reports for the European Union all d…

12 Feb

2025

DE Speech

US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, the World Health Organisation and the suspension of US development and humanitarian aid (debate)

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Madam President, Dear colleagues! The US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement is a disaster. Unfortunately, I am afraid that we will not be able to achieve the 1.5-degree target in the long term, especially through this exit. But for me, that doesn't mean we should give up. Every tenth of a degree of global warming that we collectively prevent globally is important. The Paris Agreement spea…

12 Feb

2025

DE Speech

Competitiveness Compass (debate)

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Mr President! Dear colleagues! It is true that the Commission is gearing its policy more towards competitiveness and that we are reducing bureaucracy in concrete terms. This does not mean that we have done everything wrong in the last period. A lot of things were right, and I'm fighting to get us to the heart of the matter. Green Deal and, in particular, the climate goals. But we have to throw off…

20 Jan

2025

DE Speech

Heat record year 2024 - the need for climate action to fight global warming (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. The data is indeed frightening: We passed 1.5 degrees last year. While it is still formal that we can achieve the 1.5-degree target in the long term over a period of 20 years and perhaps in the future, we must be honest: Unfortunately, this is not realistic. Above all, because during these hours in Washington, a US president takes office who is actively fighting…

18 Dec

2024

DE Speech

Restoring the EU’s competitive edge – the need for an impact assessment on the Green Deal policies (topical debate)

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Mr President! Ladies and gentlemen, we must maintain the core of the Green Deal, but pay much more attention to competitiveness and drastically reduce bureaucracy in achieving the objectives. The core of the Green Deal, Above all, these are the climate goals. It has been said several times today and the EPP reiterated last week: We want to stick to the climate goals. We owe this not only to our ch…

27 Nov

2024

DE Answer

Recommendation on smoke- and aerosol-free environments (debate)

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The protection of children is particularly important to us as the EPP, and that is why we have proposed an amendment precisely to this effect, namely that we do not want to introduce children and young people to the e-cigarette. We have to be strict. But the fact that someone would have used an e-cigarette at another table in an outdoor restaurant would not have bothered me in the slightest when m…

27 Nov

2024

DE Speech

Recommendation on smoke- and aerosol-free environments (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen! I don't smoke, and I don't advise anyone to start smoking. Anyone who smokes can do nothing better for their health than quit. We should support people in this. Nevertheless, I cannot support this resolution in this way, nor do I support the Commission's proposal for Council recommendations, which is the reason for the whole discussion. It can be said that these…

27 Nov

2024

EN Question

Recommendation on smoke- and aerosol-free environments (debate)

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Thank you very much, Mr Andriukaitis. You have worked a lot and successfully against tobacco addiction as Health Minister and also as Commissioner, and I congratulate you that you have done this. But when we speak about scientific evidence, we have to be clear. I, also as a doctor, don't know any scientific evidence that when somebody uses an e-cigarette in an outside restaurant any third person h…

26 Nov

2024

DE Speech

Outcome of COP 29 and challenges for international climate policy (debate)

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13 Nov

2024

DE Speech

UN Climate Change Conference 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan (COP29) (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen! First of all, I would also like to express my sympathy to the victims of the disaster in Valencia – and the President-in-Office is from Valencia. It is important that we help very quickly very concretely. And, of course, not every weather extreme can be directly attributed to climate change. But it cannot be denied that such events are accumulating and that the …