What Cindy spoke about.

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NL Written Statement

Empowering European Youth: post-pandemic employment and social recovery (debate)

The COVID-19 pandemic has been gripping our society for almost two years now. The consequences for our young people are enormous. First and foremost, there is the closure of educational institutions with potentially major consequences in terms of learning disadvantage. But also the closure of sectors where many young people work. For example, youth unemployment increased from 11.9% in 2019 to 13.3…

12 Mar

2024

NL Speech

Council decision inviting Member States to ratify the Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) of the International Labour Organization (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your views. It is clear that a large majority of this House agrees with the urgency of ratifying this treaty. It is indeed a milestone in eradicating violence and harassment in the workplace, but let me also be very clear: Although ratification of this treaty is a major step forward for millions of women in the European Union, it is c…

12 Mar

2024

NL Speech

Council decision inviting Member States to ratify the Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) of the International Labour Organization (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, colleagues, first of all, I would like to thank my colleague and co-rapporteur Kira Marie Peter-Hansen for the good cooperation in recent weeks and all the people who have contributed to this. Last week was International Women's Day. A reason to reflect on the achievements during this legislature: the directive on pay transparency, the directive for more women…

7 Feb

2024

NL Speech

Commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Abbé Pierre's appeal on addressing homelessness in the context of persisting poverty and social exclusion (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, 70 years ago, Abbé Pierre already called for homelessness to be tackled. Yet more and more people and families are facing homelessness. In the last survey of housing exclusion of Feantsa and the Abbé Pierre foundation, the number of homeless people is estimated at almost 900 000. This is a doubling compared to ten years ago. However, the right to d…

6 Feb

2024

NL Speech

Limit values for lead and its inorganic compounds and diisocyanates (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the fifth revision of the Carcinogens Directive is extremely important for the health of 100,000 workers who are regularly exposed to lead and the 4.2 million workers who come into contact with diisocyanates in Europe. I am pleased that tomorrow we can vote in favour of a balanced agreement in which the health of workers is the highest priority, bu…

15 Jan

2024

NL Speech

Revision of the European Labour Authority mandate (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, labour mobility is ubiquitous: 10 million EU citizens work in another Member State and the same number of non-EU citizens work in the EU. This offers opportunities, but it should not be a deterrent to abuse and social dumping. Therefore, the European Labour Authority (ELA) was established to facilitate well-functioning labour markets, to support social secur…

4 Oct

2023

NL Speech

Decent Housing for All (topical debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, Council representatives, colleagues, decent housing for all, it seems obvious, but unfortunately the reality shows something else. 15 million families in the EU spend more than 40% of their income on housing. 34 million families are living in difficult conditions and 8 million families are at risk of housing shortage. The most recent report by Feantsa and the Abbé Pierr…

2 Oct

2023

NL Speech

Protection of workers from asbestos (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, three years after the European Parliament itself took the initiative, the European Commission and the European Council are also convinced of stricter asbestos legislation. Every year, 88 000 Europeans still die from the effects of asbestos. As part of the Green Deal, we are facing immense waves of renovation and large amounts of asbestos will be re…

2 Oct

2023

NL Speech

Rising precariousness in Europe including the need for aid to the most deprived (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, poverty and social exclusion still affect 95 million Europeans today, including almost 20 million children. The cost of living is skyrocketing. Energy costs remain high. Renting a house or even just doing groceries has become almost priceless for many families. More and more people are finding it difficult to make ends meet. More and more people are turning …

14 Sep

2023

NL Speech

Improving firefighters’ working conditions (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is high time that we offered our fire brigade the best possible protection, before, during and after the interventions. 52% of annual work-related deaths are currently attributed to work-related cancer. Research shows that firefighters are indeed up to 300% more likely to have cancer than ordinary workers. We have already taken many important st…

10 May

2023

NL Speech

Roadmap on a Social Europe: two years after Porto (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, exactly two years ago, the action plan for the roll-out of the Social Pillar was presented. So it's time to take stock and see where we stand with our expensive promises. We have already taken many steps: the Directive on adequate minimum wages, the Pay Transparency Directive – which aims to ensure that work pays and address the pay gap –…

19 Apr

2023

NL Speech

Keeping people healthy, water drinkable and soil liveable: getting rid of forever pollutants and strengthening EU chemical legislation now (topical debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, as a former coordinator for the EPP in the BECA committee, I have always focused on public health. Ensuring a healthy environment, free from exposure to harmful chemicals, is essential. We clearly fall short in this area. In the meantime, we no longer get many of these harmful substances from our environment, and even from the human body. Science i…

13 Dec

2022

NL Speech

A need for a dedicated budget to turn the Child Guarantee into reality - an urgency in times of energy and food crisis (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, colleagues, poverty and social exclusion still affect 91 million Europeans, including 18 million children. The coronavirus crisis and the war in Ukraine have only exacerbated conditions. Due to rising prices, people in poverty can hardly survive. With the European Child Guarantee, every child should have access to essential basic services: care, education, hou…

22 Nov

2022

NL Speech

Gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, for almost a decade, the European Commission’s proposal for a directive has been blocked by the Member States. Unfortunately, in those ten years of negotiations, we have seen little progress in Europe in the presence of women on boards. That is precisely why this directive is so important. From 1 July 2026, the composition of the boards of director…

18 Oct

2022

NL Speech

Mental health (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, 10 October was mental health day and this issue cannot be sufficiently highlighted. The cost of mental health problems is estimated to exceed 4% of GDP in all EU Member States. The cost of work-related depression is estimated at €620 billion per year. Other research has shown that the number of children and young people with mental health problems …

17 Oct

2022

NL Speech

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today is the International Day against Poverty. However, people in poverty deserve our attention not only today, but all days of the year. Poverty still affects 91 million people – including 18 million children – in Europe. The cost of living in terms of energy, housing and food is on the rise. People can hardly survive and the purchasing power cri…

13 Sep

2022

NL Speech

Adequate minimum wages in the European Union (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, after two years, we are finally giving the green light to European minimum wages today. I would therefore like to congratulate the rapporteurs: You're a good tandem and, as far as I'm concerned, you can solve a lot of files together. At last, because according to Eurostat figures, more than 20 million European workers are at risk of poverty. Unfort…

5 Jul

2022

NL Speech

EU action plan for the social economy (debate)

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Mr President, the ‘social economy’ action plan is particularly important for the 14 million workers who work in it. In recent years we have seen a rapid growth of the sector, with an increasing importance of social entrepreneurship in our society. The action plan was needed to ensure that the sector could continue to grow sustainably and socially in the future. I would like to highlight three impo…

7 Jun

2022

NL Speech

Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System - Social Climate Fund - Carbon border adjustment mechanism - Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System for aviation - Notification under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) (joint debate – Fit for 55 (part 1))

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is an open door when I say that we will vote on a historic package of measures this week. To continue the path towards a climate-neutral continent, we need to be ambitious and social. A more comprehensive emissions trading system, a carbon tax at our European external border and climate-neutral vehicles. And in Belgium, we are sharpening our amb…

5 May

2022

NL Speech

The impact of the war against Ukraine on women (debate)

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Let me begin with a quote from Hillary Clinton: “Women are always the first victims of war. They lose their husbands, their fathers, their sons in battle.” And I would add: They often lose their dignity. And the Women's Council says it correctly. Armed conflicts have long ceased to be a matter of armies fighting far from the civilian population. Women and children account for as much as 70% of civ…

2 May

2022

NL Speech

Amending Annexes IV and V to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants (debate)

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Mr President, a sustainable environmental policy focuses on a pollution-free environment and always takes human health into account. However, we are not that far yet. We still have a tough marathon ahead of us. Nevertheless, we can save ourselves a lot of headwinds by preventing toxic substances from being given a second life through the recycling process. After all, it cannot be the intention to …

9 Mar

2022

NL Speech

A new EU strategic framework on health and safety at work post 2020 (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today we are voting on our report for a new strategic framework on health and safety at work for more than 170 million workers in Europe. First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the rapporteur, Mr Vind, and the shadow rapporteurs for yet another very good cooperation. They are always the same rapporteurs on these issues and it is very pleasa…

17 Feb

2022

NL Speech

Protection of workers from the risks relating to exposure to carcinogens, mutagens and reprotoxins at work (debate)

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Mr President, it is a historic week for the fight against cancer in Europe: yesterday we adopted Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and today we are voting on the fourth revision of the Directive on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work. Almost a year and a half after the European Commission's proposal for a directive, the European Parliament can…

15 Feb

2022

NL Speech

Strengthening Europe in the fight against cancer(debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, dear rapporteur, dear Véronique, after a year and a half of hard work, listening to experts and a working visit to the World Health Organisation, we have sharpened our knowledge with progressive insight. The result is a comprehensive cancer plan. The momentum is now. Every year, 2.7 million Europeans are diagnosed with cancer. Here is a partner of a patient who has alre…

15 Dec

2021

NL Speech

The European Commission Guidelines on inclusive language (topical debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I am a Christian Democrat and, even more so, I am an ideological heir to the Christian workers’ movement, and I am proud of that. It is encyclicals such as Rerum Novarum that give me the courage to regularly go against the flow, and sometimes even give my group leader some grey hair. That is also why I am asking for the floor here, because it would…