What Henrike spoke about.

9 Nov

2022

DE Speech

REPowerEU chapters in recovery and resilience plans (debate)

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Mr President! The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is a major European achievement, because it is also promoting the necessary investments for the digital and green transformation that we need so urgently. The war in Europe and the energy crisis must not endanger these investments, because we in Europe want to become independent of dictators and fossil energy. And no, despite the positive po…

6 Oct

2022

DE Speech

An EU approach for Space Traffic management - an EU contribution addressing a global challenge (debate)

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Mr President! In space, there is the Wild West. What we don't have there is space traffic management, although that's obvious. The war in Europe demonstrates the importance of a strong satellite system for global exchange. At the same time, we have new industrial trends and a strong commercial use of space. As a result, the challenges for management and sustainability have risen enormously. An EU …

15 Sep

2022

DE Speech

Implementation of the Updated New Industrial Strategy for Europe: aligning spending to policy (debate)

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Madam President, The future of green industrial policy should be shaped in Europe. Energy security and energy affordability, that is the topic of these days for small and medium-sized enterprises, for industry, for start-ups and for crafts. It is about competitiveness and survival, about many, many jobs and about the lives of many people in Europe. This is precisely why we need a strategy for Euro…

5 Jul

2022

DE Speech

Objection pursuant to Rule 111(3): Amending the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act and the Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act (debate)

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Mr President! The EU taxonomy now has the chance to become a true EU gold standard, a bar par excellence for sustainable investment. We need a taxonomy that is really credible, a label that shows: Where it is sustainable, it is also sustainable. Nuclear power and fossil energy are not sustainable. Every euro spent on electricity and gas consolidates structures that we do not want in the long term,…

23 Jun

2022

DE Speech

Gas storage (debate)

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Mr President! Gas storage could become the political buzzword of 2022. Gas storage levels in Europe are historically low, Putin is waging a war of aggression against Europe, and while Gazprom is throttling gas supplies, gas prices are exploding. It is clear: First, we must become independent of Russian natural gas. This means that the EU Member States need to diversify their supply chains – and no…

8 Jun

2022

DE Speech

The human rights situation in Xinjiang, including the Xinjiang police files

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Madam President, They now deliver new images of horror. For many, many years, China has been committing massive human rights violations against the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities as well as Tibetans. The EU, the Member States and European companies must now draw the consequences, because human rights are universal and not a private matter for China. Consequences are a clear designation of hum…

7 Jun

2022

DE 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! This is about something big today: the EU climate package, the “” package. Achieving the Paris climate goals is vital to our planet's survival. And in times of war in Europe, we still need energy security and a massive expansion of renewable energies. We need a green European pact with industry. The pricing of emissions of imported goods and a carbon offset in parallel with the colle…

6 Apr

2022

DE Speech

Global approach to research and innovation: Europe’s strategy for international cooperation in a changing world (debate) (debate)

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Madam President, Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine makes the green transformation of European industry more urgent than ever. Of course, this also has implications for research and innovation, for the Horizon Europe work programme and for international cooperation. The shift away from fossil and nuclear energy – a green industrial strategy – is now, of course, also an urgent geopolitical m…

9 Mar

2022

DE Speech

Batteries and waste batteries (debate)

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Madam President, Putin's attack on Ukraine is once again a particularly drastic reminder of how problematic the supply of energy and raw materials in Europe can be. This makes substitution and a circular economy with functioning markets for recycled critical raw materials all the more urgent in Europe. The battery regulation is now an important step in the right direction. The right to repair, sus…

8 Mar

2022

DE Speech

Rising energy prices and market manipulation on the gas market (debate)

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Mr President! The EU needs a new energy policy. After Putin's brutal attack on Ukraine, including the nuclear reactors, this is more urgent than ever. People suffer from high energy prices, and companies worry about their competitiveness, about their existence. Ultimately, we want Europe to be completely independent from imports of fossil fuels. Such imports make us vulnerable and not sovereign. W…

14 Feb

2022

DE Speech

European Central Bank – annual report 2021 (continuation of debate)

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Madam President, Inflation hits people in Europe at the heart of their wallets and also hits industry, small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups. Inflation stood at 5.1% in January and the European Central Bank expects inflation to remain high in the short term. One of the main causes of inflation is higher energy prices, which of course also affect the prices of goods and services. And it …

23 Nov

2021

EN Speech

2022 budgetary procedure: joint text (debate)

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Mr President, tell me what you spend your money on and I will tell you who you are. We all know that government spending reveals what politics stand for, and this is true at EU level as well. In times of the challenging COVID crisis, we have to fight against climate change and for biodiversity. Therefore our Green priorities for the EU 2022 budget are climate protection, biodiversity, and research…

22 Nov

2021

DE Speech

A European strategy for critical raw materials (debate)

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Mr President! Europe needs raw materials for the transition to a climate-neutral economy. The use of critical raw materials in green technologies also has positive effects on the environment. Lithium and cobalt in batteries, for example, enable electromobility and thus contribute to the turnaround in transport. But we also know: Mining for the extraction of raw materials is a risk for local people…

11 Nov

2021

DE Speech

The outcome of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) (debate)

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Mr President! TTC – the Trade and Technology Council – is a building block for a transatlantic alliance for climate neutrality. When it comes to climate protection, the US and the EU are looking in the same direction. We were able to discuss and see this in detail with the Industry Committee in Washington, D.C. last week, but we need much more concrete targets for decarbonisation on both sides. We…

19 Oct

2021

DE Speech

General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022 - all sections (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Many thanks to the rapporteurs for the 2022 EU draft budget and special thanks to my wonderful colleagues from S&D, Renew and Left. Together, we have made this budget not only greener, but also more forward-looking. The 2022 EU budget is the second budget of the Multiannual Financial Framework, for which it is clear that: By 2030 at the latest, we want to ach…

5 Oct

2021

EN Speech

The future of EU-US relations (debate)

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Mr President, the United States is one of the EU’s closest partners and our transatlantic partnership is founded on shared values, such as democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and now we share the fight against climate change. We have to cut emissions, we have to decarbonise and reach climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest. We have to green our industries to achieve that. In the EU, we h…

8 Jul

2021

DE Speech

Sustained price increase of raw and construction materials in Europe (debate)

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Mr President! The coronavirus crisis has not supplanted the climate crisis, and a climate-neutral Europe by 2050 at the very latest – and at its core – is now at the heart of our European policy. Of course, this applies to our investments, our industrial strategy and also our handling of raw materials. The construction sector is one of the most resource-intensive sectors. First and foremost, there…

5 Jul

2021

EN Speech

Financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2020 - Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2019 (debate)

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Mr President, with financing of over EUR 60 billion per year, the European Investment Bank is a key player in putting EU policy into action. At the core of EU policy stands the Green Deal to decarbonise our economy and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest. Therefore, we demand full alignment of the EIB with at least the goals of the Paris Agreement. This seems to be logical, but app…