What Sven spoke about.

12 Mar

2025

DE Speech

100 days of the new Commission – Delivering on defence, competitiveness, simplification and migration as our priorities (topical debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, 100 days of the European Commission: In fact, time for a first review. A change of mindset has started, a change of course. The fact that the left side of the house is not pleased with this, I am pleased again. You thought you had overcome democracy and this whole left-wing, illiberal course continues – but an election has taken place. And that is why it is good…

14 Nov

2024

EN Speech

Enhancing Europe’s civilian and defence preparedness and readiness (debate)

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Madam President, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, we must confront the fact that, in defence, Europe is utterly unprepared. The numbers are clear: while the European Union maintains 178 different weapon systems, the United States operates with 27. Our defence industry is paralysed by inefficiencies and fragmentation. In supporting Ukraine, we have procured 80 % of our military supplies from outsi…

22 Oct

2024

DE Speech

General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 – all sections (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, This debate is a good occasion to discuss, in principle, the future of European budgetary policy. Reform plans for the Multiannual Financial Framework have been leaked, providing for greater decentralisation and flexibility of funds – I very much welcome this intention. 500 Structural Funds with complex administrative structures cannot be a response to the struc…

8 Oct

2024

EN Speech

Strengthening Moldova's resilience against Russian interference ahead of the upcoming presidential elections and a constitutional referendum on EU integration (debate)

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Mr President, colleagues, Moldova finds itself at a crossroads ahead of its elections. Will the country continue its path of European integration? Or will it be dragged into an oligarchic past? This choice will shape the country for a generation, and this choice must be taken by the people of Moldova and them alone, without foreign interference. Yet at the same time, we as Europeans have to live u…

7 Oct

2024

DE Speech

One year after the 7 October terrorist attacks by Hamas (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to begin by repeating what Daniel Caspary and the previous speaker said: Commissioner Borrell, it is already a late insight for a High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union to realize today, after the end of your term of office, that we Europeans do not play a role in the region, although we are perhaps the …

25 Apr

2024

EN Speech

Interinstitutional Body for Ethical Standards (A9-0181/2024 - Daniel Freund) (vote)

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Madam President, colleagues, the last day of our mandate is such a sad day for parliamentarism in Europe that I lost my voice! According to Rule 200(4), I call, on behalf of the EPP, for the vote to be adjourned. Colleagues, this draft on the so-called interinstitutional agreement has so many legal uncertainties, which need to be clarified before we vote. There is no legal basis. First, it was arg…

25 Apr

2024

EN Speech

Interinstitutional Body for Ethical Standards (debate)

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Madam President, colleagues, this last day of our mandate is such a sad day for parliamentarism that I lost my voice. I was shocked how badly this interinstitutional agreement was negotiated. It is a retrial of parliamentarism. It is a frontal attack against the independence of freely elected Members of Parliament, and you know that. In your case, it is intentionally. This draft needs to be renego…

26 Feb

2024

EN Speech

European Central Bank – annual report 2023 (debate)

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Mr President, Madam President, Commissioners, recent media reports have quoted a senior executive board member of the ECB as stating if you are critical of greening policies, then you are not welcome to work at the European Central Bank. ‘If you’re not green, you’re not wanted’ – this was the headline. Madam President, I was at first doubtful whether this reporting could be true. But after your st…

7 Feb

2024

DE Speech

This is Europe - Debate with the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis (debate)

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Madam President, Mr President Iohannis, you are a president who has always campaigned for reforms in his own country. They stand for a strong rule of law. Their fight against corruption is exemplary. And it is to your credit that Romania is now becoming part of the Schengen Agreement. It is precisely this reform strength that we now need at European level. The European Union was created to protect…

11 Dec

2023

DE Speech

The European Elections 2024 (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Five points to conclude this debate: Firstly, it has shown once again that this Parliament simply suffers from the fact that too few colleagues are sitting here in plenary. We need a debate. The culture of debate needs to improve. This needs to be changed next time. We need more presence. Secondly: It has become clear that most of my colleagues see the same d…

11 Dec

2023

DE Speech

The European Elections 2024 (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, After the 2019 European elections, many people were disappointed. The parties were running with top candidates, and then something happened that you don't have to call democratically responsible: The Socialists did not recognize the lead candidate of the European People's Party, even though he had won the election. The…

21 Nov

2023

EN Speech

Proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties (debate)

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Mr President, colleagues, do we change the Treaties with this report? No. This week we have to answer two questions. First, do we want a convention to discuss Treaty change? Second, is this draft a sufficient basis to open up a discussion? My answer to those questions is ‘Yes’. 16 years ago, the Lisbon Treaty was signed. But the world has changed since then. We are facing new challenges. The finan…

18 Oct

2023

DE Speech

A true geopolitical Europe now (topical debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner for Foreign Affairs! You may have overdrawn the speaking time by 14 minutes, but you said nothing, except a little bullshit. Ladies and gentlemen, at the beginning of the 20th century, Europeans were 20 percent of the world's population. Today we are still 7 percent. At the beginning of 2050, we will be 5 percent. The African continent is growing…

3 Oct

2023

DE Answer

European Media Freedom Act (debate)

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Yes, of course, we should look at that. That's what we're looking at. It's all transparent, it's accessible, but there's a big difference: concentration of media. As far as the question of which medium is owned by a person or a society is concerned, that is one. The abuse of a monopoly position and the intimidation of journalists is something else, and this is happening to you in a particularly ba…

3 Oct

2023

DE Speech

European Media Freedom Act (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, The Media Freedom Act is an important step in protecting pluralism and diversity of opinion in the European press landscape. We are introducing new rules against market concentration in the media sector, Europe-wide standards for public service broadcasting, better source protection for journalists through a ban on the use of espionage software. Of course, th…

14 Sep

2023

DE Speech

Parliamentarism, European citizenship and democracy (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, A lot of clever things have been said here. I want to pick out two quotes. One is from Mr Othmar Karas, who, I think, said something very clever. He said: "The achievements of one generation can be lost in the next", and we must always keep that in mind. I will always stand up for liberal democracy. And I also believe that, in coping with the pandemic, liberal d…

12 Jul

2023

DE Speech

India, the situation in Manipur

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, The situation in the state of Manipur in northeastern India is serious. Since May, more than 120 people have been killed in clashes between two ethnic groups, the predominantly Hindu Meitei and the predominantly Christian Kuki. More than 50,000 people are on the run. Over 250 churches, theological institutes, Christian schools and hospitals were burned down w…

12 Jul

2023

EN Speech

Recommendations for reform of the European Parliament’s rules on transparency, integrity, accountability and anti-corruption (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, Benjamin Franklin is often credited with the quote: ‘Those who would give up liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.’ The same applies to the functioning of this House. Those who disregard the freedom of the mandate, those who aim to severely restrict it in order to have waterproof security against illegitimate influence, …

15 Jun

2023

EN Speech

Composition of the European Parliament (A9-0214/2023 - Loránt Vincze, Sandro Gozi) (vote)

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Mr President, colleagues, I think with this vote on the composition of the next Parliament, we send different messages in different Member States. In some Member States, increasing the number of seats will be understood as a free-for-all at the expense of the taxpayer. In other Member States, taking seats away from them will equally not be understood, and will strengthen Eurosceptics in these plac…

13 Jun

2023

EN Speech

Negotiations on the European Electoral Law (debate)

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Madam President, colleagues, the problem I have now is from a legal perspective. I’m on the side of Mr Gozi because I also think that the President should call to order a colleague who is talking on the content of the European electoral law and not on the topic of negotiations, because it is right that the topic of this debate, in a way, is that the Council is really disappointing with its behavio…

13 Jun

2023

EN Speech

Establishment of the EU Ethics Body (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner Jourová, first of all, I’d like to thank you for the proposal of the so-called ethics body. It’s quite balanced. It reflects the different positions here in the House. Would this so-called ethics body have prevented the case of Eva Kaili? Of course not. No, the Eva Kaili case is about a network of socialist MEPs and staff who are supposed to have received money from Q…

10 May

2023

DE Speech

Adequacy of the protection afforded by the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, The protection of personal data is a fundamental right. With the General Data Protection Regulation, we have set global standards that we can be proud of. However, if we now find in many areas that the application of this regulation – at least according to the German interpretation – leads to absurd situations, then we must of course react to it. Cities and muni…

15 Mar

2023

DE Speech

Need for immediate reform of the internal rules of the Commission to ensure transparency and accountability in light of alleged conflicts of interests (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, First of all, I would like to thank you very much for your transparency and, above all, for telling us that the rules have now been changed, that business trips can only be paid for by public authorities, by international organisations or by universities when it comes to academic purposes. It is very surprising that Commission officials …

14 Mar

2023

DE Speech

This is Europe - Debate with the President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda (debate)

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Madam President, Mr President! You said, I quote: “Violence and lies are meant to destroy what is precious and valuable to us in Europe.” That is how it is. Ladies and gentlemen, the brutal Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has brought us two insights into European unification. Firstly: The states in Europe depend on each other in their defense. NATO and a European Defence Union are more i…

15 Feb

2023

EN Speech

European Central Bank - annual report 2022 (debate)

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Madam President, Colleagues, what can be better than spending six hours in this beautiful city of Strasbourg? My colleague François-Xavier Bellamy knows that I will fight to keep the seat of the Parliament in Strasbourg. I have two remarks on this report where I perhaps disagree: one on proportionality and the other on climate change. In paragraph 30, we stressed that where the ECB faces a choice …