Speeches

Madam President, thank you very much. If Europe is to meet its climate targets, we need to move from a throwaway society to a more circular economy with sustainable growth. Electronic waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the world. It is a huge waste of resources and an environmental villain that the world cannot afford. But there is hope. Today, more and more people, both large companies and smaller startups, are working to develop new sustainable products and services with growth as a driving force, where repair services and rental are becoming an increasingly important part. Using resources more efficiently and getting more value out of what is produced benefits the climate and it benefits entrepreneurship and creates more jobs. But to, like the left and the greens over here, take every chance to want to stop growth and shamea Those who consume will rather stifle and not help the climate. Bans, taxes and new bureaucracy are not the solution, but we must tear down trade barriers and remove tariffs on goods with a low climate footprint and open up the market for services and rentals, remove bureaucracy around the trade in recycled goods and clean up the jungle of labels, so that consumers can trust that what they buy is truly sustainable. So now let's do right-to-repairthe law of success in the climate transition and not a new example of political greenwashing.

Madam President, thank you very much. Disinformation, cyberattacks, hacking, threats to journalists, funding extremist parties, espionage – yes, the list can be long in this low-intensity war that has been waged against Europe for years, not just now. But that's enough now. We must not allow Russia to wage information wars so that Putin can justify his attacks on innocent civilians and children in Ukraine. We must not allow Russia to buy European politicians with board seats so that Europe becomes dependent on Russian gas. We must not allow these dictatorships to influence democratic elections in the West, as they did with Brexit and in the United States. We must not allow China to buy up European ports and other important infrastructure to use it against us. We need to stop Russian gas, isolate the Russian economy and have tough sanctions. But we can also do much more to protect the resilience of Europe as a whole, both militarily and by other means. The fight for freedom, democracy and a bright future for the peoples of Europe is more important than ever. This is the most important battle we will face in our generation. We must no longer allow Russia and China and other dictatorships to exploit our open societies. It is a struggle we have to fight hard every minute – and we have to do it now.

Mr President, today the European Parliament will send a strong signal that we want a digital market and an internet with clear rules for businesses and safety for users. The internet has made our lives so much better. We can all stay in touch with friends and family, access information, shop online and participate in the public debate, and it will continue to revolutionise the world and humanity in ways we cannot even imagine right now. However, our citizens must also feel safe online. Today, we are exposed to illegal content on websites with fraud, disinformation, foreign interference and dangerous products. I’m glad that we – as European lawmakers – have listened to these concerns, and I’m proud that we have been able to unite behind a strong proposal in the Digital Services Act – the DSA. For me, as the negotiator for the largest political force in this House, three things are most important. Firstly, that we are now creating a framework to remove illegal content more quickly. This will put an end to the digital Wild West, where the biggest platforms are setting the rules and criminal content is going viral. Secondly, we want to ensure that the internet remains an open space. The DSA will strengthen the rights for users, increase transparency online and protect freedom of speech. Platforms will no longer censor opinions or block accounts without any explanation, and users will be able to contest these decisions taken by the platforms. Thirdly, we need a unified digital market where entrepreneurs and start-ups can easily compete, without trade barriers or massive bureaucracy. With the DSA, tech companies in the EU will follow one set of rules, not 27 sets of rules. Right now, we are letting the US and China run the show in several areas, and it’s time for Europe to take the lead in the global digital race. So let’s make the DSA a worldwide example for a better digital future with safety, openness and innovation.

Mr President, thank you very much. The pandemic has shown that trade and cooperation are the most important tools for managing crises. This applies not only to the coronavirus crisis, but also to the climate crisis. Everywhere in the EU, researchers, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs are developing new solutions to reduce emissions and contribute to the circular economy. Here we politicians need to get better at giving carrots to boosta the green relaunch of Europe's economy. We need to eliminate tariffs on climate-smart goods. We need to remove trade barriers on sustainable services such as repairs and rentals. We need to remove red tape and ban trade in recycled materials. The fact that we have tariffs on electric cars feels incredibly strange in these times. Our trade policy is also key to achieving a green and sustainable circular economy, and not only by making it more expensive to release, but also by giving more carrots to entrepreneurs.