What Damian spoke about.

17

Dec

2024

EN Question

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Misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms, such as TikTok, and related risks to the integrity of elections in Europe (debate)

Thank you, Fidias, I have a couple of questions because, as you said, you have a lot of experience in this field. The first one is, do you really believe the quality of politics has improved with all these extreme things? I mean, the videos you make, they need to have a hook, they need to be somehow engaging, but it feels like they're also often quite limiting and simplistic. And when I listen to …

16

Dec

2024

EN Speech

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A European Innovation Act: lowering the cost of innovating in Europe (debate)

Mr President, I have the firm belief that Europe can unfold a huge potential. We are probably only at 10 % of where we could actually be when it comes to innovation. But I'm with my colleague from Renew, Anna Stürgkh, on the fact that we have exhausted our vocabulary for innovation. And the question is: didn't the politicians in the past also want to be innovative? And why are we not there yet? Th…

27

Nov

2024

EN Speech

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Promoting a favourable framework for venture capital financing and safe foreign direct investments in the EU (debate)

Madam President, first of all, I want to thank you, Commissioner, for your five years of service: we will spend another five years in this Chamber, but you are free to go. I think the problem awareness is there. We all know that we don't have enough VC capital, and this has been said, I'm very happy that Draghi put it in a new report so we can all see it very clearly again. But then, I wonder, why…

27

Nov

2024

EN Speech

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Presentation by the President-elect of the Commission of the College of Commissioners and its programme (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, even a failed German Government started with a happy photo at the beginning. But when I look around here, I see that the coalition is already fuming. And that is because, Mr Weber, you chose to strong-arm the social democrats and the liberals into a coalition with Meloni, and because you decided on reforestation and budget votes with the German AfD. What a great s…

22

Oct

2024

EN Answer

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Establishing the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism and providing exceptional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine (debate)

Thanks a lot for asking, because I was here and I negotiated the Ukraine Facility and the EUR 50 billion we had there, and I did see Orbán trying to block that and only being bought by EUR 10 billion that we had to unblock here in the European Union. That was already blackmail, and he has been doing this a long time. Now again, yes, he is blocking. You can ask him. He's currently blocking the exte…

22

Oct

2024

EN Speech

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Establishing the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism and providing exceptional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, I am very happy and proud we are now approving the EUR 35 billion for Ukraine via the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism. Russia needs to pay. Russia needs to pay for the reconstruction. Russia needs to pay for bombing children and hospitals and electricity plants. And I'm happy we're making the invader pay because – although it's still hard for some to understand – Russia is the inv…

8

Oct

2024

EN Speech

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Preparation of the European Council of 17-18 October 2024 (debate)

Mr President, Minister, you updated us on what national leaders will discuss. And I have to say, even more than Bas and my previous speaker right now, I don't think that these words only lack ambition, I think they are inconsistent. First, they will talk about migration and say, 'Oh, how bad this is!' and congratulate Chancellor Scholz for bringing up borders within the European Union again and un…

17

Sep

2024

EN Question

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Continued financial and military support to Ukraine by EU Member States (debate)

Thank you for your intervention. I have two quick questions. The first one is, what do you say to these people, like the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht, 'we have to retract all the arms, and then suddenly, peace will fall from heavens'? And the second question is, do you think that we should allow Ukraine to attack targets on Russian soil if they're strategically dangerous for Ukraine?…

25

Apr

2024

EN Speech

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Framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s net-zero technology products manufacturing ecosystem (Net Zero Industry Act) (debate)

Mr President, diverging to our German colleague from the FDP, Volt does believe that we need to have a climate neutral economy. But we also believe that we need to unleash the full potential of our entrepreneurs. And here it also needs to be said that the state government cannot foresee what kind of innovation will actually work, but that the state should set the framework for our innovation to th…

24

Apr

2024

EN Speech

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The European Parliament's right of inquiry (debate)

Mr President, thank you colleagues for coming to this important debate about constitutional affairs. I’m very happy that you made this a priority in your busy days. But I have to tell you, this is a priority. This is about our right, our right of inquiry. And about – many, many years now – we haven’t been given the right to summon people here. This is a crucial right of a parliament, to be able to…

27

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027 - Establishing the Ukraine Facility - Establishing the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (‘STEP’) (joint debate - multiannual financial framework revision)

Mr President, to the colleague from the AfD, I would also just invite him to maybe get on a plane from Brussels to Warsaw, take the bus across Poland and then take the night train and get to Kyiv, because then he will understand how close this war is to us, and that it is at our doorstep. Then, when you actually listen to the people there, you understand what it means to lose a brother or a father…

7

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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

Madam President, Mr President, thank you, President Iohannis, for sharing your perspectives on our common European future. Very often this House is used for national debates, even from prime ministers and presidents, so I am very thankful that you shared your vision for what Europe should look like. So let me ask you quite concretely, when do you think can we have an improved decision-making in th…

6

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meetings, in particular the special European Council meeting of 1 February 2024 (debate)

Madam President, dear Commissioner, President Michel, colleagues, yesterday night we concluded the Ukraine facility and I’m very proud to have been part of the negotiating team. EUR 50 billion for Ukraine – what a strong signal of support. Europe will do what it takes to support Ukraine. We will be there until the end. Slava Ukraini! But colleagues, let’s also be honest. This is not a recovery pac…

17

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 14-15 December 2023 and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of 1 February 2024 - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds (joint debate - European Council meetings)

Mr President, Minister, Commission, let me react to some of the statements that have been made in this House today. So, first of all, the Commission President called this ‘the hour of democracy’ and I fully agree. But I just wonder why we start this hour of democracy with a wrapped Christmas present and billions of euros for Viktor Orbán, an autocrat. Second, I hear from Mr Zanni from the far righ…

13

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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One year after Morocco and QatarGate – stocktaking of measures to strengthen transparency and accountability in the European institutions (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, Council, it has been a year since QatarGate and it was quite a shock, to be honest, also for me personally, that colleagues in our House would actually be that corrupt. And since then we have tried a lot to improve our rules, and I think that was very necessary to win at least some of the trust back that we lost because of QatarGate. But I’m not sure it’s going to be en…

13

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Review of the Spanish Presidency of the Council (debate)

Madam President, Prime Minister, this has been quite a national debate, so I want to bring it back to the European level. We have the EUCO coming, and I do want to ask you the question that we asked the President of the Commission this morning, what are you going to do to make sure that Orbán is reined in, that we don’t give in to his blackmailing when it comes to our support for Ukraine, for the …

13

Dec

2023

EN Question

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 14-15 December 2023 (debate)

Madam President, dear Mr Glucksmann, thanks a lot for this strong intervention in favour of support for Ukraine. I just wanted to ask, what would you do if you were Commission President now and you had the choice to act and rein Orban in? What would you do?…

21

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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Continuing threat to the rule of law, the independence of justice and the non-fulfilment of conditionality for EU funding in Hungary (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, the rule of law is non-negotiable. Our laws and values are not worth the paper they are written on if they are systematically broken. And I want to be very clear with our colleagues from the far right: this is not about political differences. It is not about having different opinions on certain issues. It is about undermining the exact stage where democracy is hap…

21

Nov

2023

EN Answer

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

I’m very happy that maybe soon the blaming of Poland can end. I think that’s a very positive development. From my perspective, the question is really of how we can ensure that we are able to act on a European Union level. There might be examples when other Member States have also been blocking and vetoing things that are in the common interest of the European Union. But I think what’s core is that…

21

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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

Mr President, this is not a regular debate. This is not a regular proposal that we are making. This is a very foundational proposal that is happening. And I am very proud and happy that I can actually live in this moment where we, as the European Parliament, trying to change the European Union. And we really have to fix the European Union because it is under attack. We might not see the cracks in …

18

Oct

2023

DE Speech

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New European innovation agenda (debate)

Mr President! Many here seem to want to throw the decades-old regulatory measures overboard. Innovation and competition are increasingly being thought of from ministerial offices in the EU, and the idea is spreading that the state is indeed able to shape new markets and products. The Commission is working hard to help. Of the 60 State aid applications submitted, 58 were approved. But this cannot b…

18

Oct

2023

EN Speech

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Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report 2022 (debate)

Mr President, wasted government spending has a similar effect as tax avoidance or tax evasion. It reduces the positive impact of the EU budget and it erodes the trust that we as a European Union are a guarantor for transparency. So, the work of the Court of Auditors is really very recommendable and important to keep this trust, and it should be the pro-Europeans of this House who point out the iss…

17

Oct

2023

EN Speech

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General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2024 - all sections (debate)

Mr President, I am sometimes thankful for the speeches from the far right, because then when I think of the exact opposite, I know what I have to say. This is true for the budget as it is for everything else. A colleague from the far right in this debate said that we should cut funds because we give too much money to Ukraine. The opposite is obviously true, and it makes me absolutely sick to see a…

16

Oct

2023

EN Speech

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Establishing the Ukraine Facility (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, the Ukraine facility is a sign of historic support for Ukraine and I’m proud to be part of the negotiation team. It’s historic because we sent two strong messages. The first one is that our commitment to Ukraine is long and long term. The Ukraine facility is an institutional design for a long-term tool, that is why it’s so important not only how much we spen…

4

Oct

2023

EN Answer

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Need for a speedy adoption of the asylum and migration package (debate)

So I think what I was trying to say and what I said is that every far right party in Europe has grown on the topic of xenophobia and migration and asylum, and that is the truth. I also condemn anyone that uses easy populist solutions of saying, you know, the others are evil and we should keep them out. And it doesn’t matter what kind of party family they’re from. But it’s definitely true that ever…