What Benoît spoke about.

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FR Written Statement

Connecting Europe Facility - Streamlining measures for the realisation of the TEN-T - Railway safety and signalling: Assessing the state of play of the ERTMS deployment (debate)

Mr President, rapporteur, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for this report and for your consultation work in this context. The safety objective pursued by the traffic management system must remain a priority for the Member States when implementing ERTMS. At the same time, improving passenger comfort and interoperability must drive the rest of its application, in order to make the train ever more at…

12

Mar

2024

FR Speech

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Council and Commission statements - Preparation of the European Council meeting of 21 and 22 March 2024 (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this Council is extremely important for those who feed us and for European consumers. This Council must be something other than intentions, good intentions towards farmers. It must take decisions: both, of course, drastic administrative simplification – to relieve our farmers – but also the allocation of additional budgetary resources – costs have skyrocketed fo…

29

Feb

2024

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EU/Chile Advanced Framework Agreement - EU/Chile Advanced Framework Agreement (Resolution) - Interim Agreement on Trade between the European Union and the Republic of Chile (joint debate - EU-Chile agreements)

Mr President, Commissioner, once again, dare I say, a free trade treaty considers agriculture and even the environment as adjustment variables. In this treaty, we do not put in place what has been defended and voted on, and indeed here on my initiative, namely the mirror clauses. These aim to ensure that what enters the European territory respects our environmental, health and social standards. Th…

16

Jan

2024

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Presentation of the programme of activities of the Belgian Presidency (debate)

Madam President, Prime Minister, Commissioner, first of all, in four months you will have to deploy – there is no doubt about the efficiency and speed of the Belgians. In a speech, there is obviously what is expressed and what is not expressed. I deeply regret that there has not been a word for agriculture, not a word for all those who live in rural areas, in the most remote areas at European leve…

12

Dec

2023

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EU-US relations (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, recognition does not prevent vigilance. Friendship does not prevent criticism, nor does a transatlantic project. In my region of the Ardennes, more than 80,000 young Americans have been killed, missing or injured, and the 79th anniversary of this battle will be commemorated in a few days’ time. This has created a foundation of common values – freedom and democra…

21

Nov

2023

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EU/New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, there is indeed progress that can be welcomed in this free trade treaty, particularly in relation to sustainability and better consideration of environmental impacts. But the fact remains that it is also necessary to judge and gauge in the light of all the European Commission’s actions. When I see how the Commission keeps increasing administrative and financial burde…

8

Nov

2023

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 26-27 October 2023 - Humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause (joint debate - Conclusions of the European Council and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to say that it is not easy to provide measures or a moderate and measured response in a debate where extremes, in the end, are agitated and referred back to back. I think we should all be able to say that the terrorist massacre of 7 October calls for a strong response: to eradicate Hamas, which is a terrorist group. Some are struggling to pronoun…

17

Oct

2023

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Commission Work Programme 2024 (debate)

Madam President, Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, the Vice-President spoke about the COVID-19 crisis, the response that the European Union was able to provide at the time, and certainly the Ukrainian crisis as well. But, unfortunately, I have not heard the strength of Europe speak out to say how, in areas as important as health, defence, energy or food – to take just these four examples – …

4

Oct

2023

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Need to complete new trade agreements for sustainable growth, competitiveness and the EU’s strategic autonomy (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the climate, environmental, social and health objectives that we impose on our businesses and our farmers must also be imposed on our borders. It is a democratic question, it is also a question of acceptance by our fellow citizens of what we ask of them as challenges. Climate challenge, of course, but also all the others I mentioned. In trade agreements, thes…

12

Jul

2023

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Nature restoration (A9-0220/2023 - César Luena) (vote)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, let us protect our farmers, our borders, but also biodiversity. That is why I propose recital 12a. The Commission’s Trade Policy Review, an open, sustainable and assertive trade policy, indicates that the European Green Deal is the EU’s new growth strategy, which will drive our competitiveness and lead to a gradual but profound transformation of our economies…

10

Jul

2023

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Industrial Emissions Directive - Industrial Emissions Portal - Deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure - Sustainable maritime fuels (FuelEU Maritime Initiative) - Energy efficiency (recast) (joint debate - Fit for 55 and Industrial Emissions)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, that is enough. No, agriculture is not industrial in Europe. She's family, she's local. It develops with criteria constantly raised on the environmental, health or animal welfare levels. Agriculture has nothing to do with this Industrial Emissions Directive. Agriculture has nothing to do with a text concerning incinerators or cement plants. Agri…

13

Jun

2023

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Ensuring food security and the long-term resilience of EU agriculture (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, let me quote a country in the world that depends on third countries to feed its people and that is stable and secure. There is no such thing. The main challenge is also to support the agricultural world so that tomorrow there are still buyers, young people who want to get involved. However, stress and all-round regulations effectively lead to a defection in the profe…

1

Jun

2023

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Foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation - Election integrity and resilience build-up towards European elections 2024 (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, thank you and congratulations to the rapporteur for the quality of the work. You now have a comprehensive enough action plan at Commission level to effectively protect our democracy. In any case, I would like the Commission to come forward quickly with proposals to implement the proposals made by Parliament. More broadly, if there are forms of i…

19

Apr

2023

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This is Europe - Debate with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel (debate)

Madam President, Prime Minister – gudde moien, dear Xavier –, first of all congratulations, of course, on following the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg’s tradition of defending European values and the European spirit, and defending minorities in particular. However, Prime Minister, I think it is really essential that you also sign up to a strategic autonomy that is not open but firm, solid, in different…

18

Jan

2023

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Terrorist threats posed by far-right extremist networks defying the democratic constitutional order (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, as we know from our history, the far right represents millions of deaths in our European territory, but so does communism. Let’s face it, both the far left and the far right have wreaked havoc. It is the bankruptcy of our societies and the ruin of individual liberties. There is a distinction between the extreme right and the extreme left, to help the debate a little …

17

Jan

2023

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Presentation of the programme of activities of the Swedish Presidency (debate)

Madam President, Prime Minister, you have made supporting Ukraine economically, militarily and politically a top priority for your presidency. Of course, I can only be happy about that. Ladies and gentlemen, you have seen in recent days the cacophony of procrastination that can still exist between the various European countries in terms of military support, particularly. I hope, Prime Minister, th…

23

Nov

2022

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Protection of livestock farming and large carnivores in Europe (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, first of all a correction to what I have heard: To say that the European forest is in decline and that hectares are being lost every year is totally wrong. You can see big. The European forest has grown by the equivalent of Portugal in 25 years, which is not nothing. This does not mean that there is no biodiversity problem, of course. So we have to hear the call…

23

Nov

2022

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Forced displacement of people as a result of escalating conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in view of the atrocities committed – such as rapes, displacements of populations, massacres of different families – all foreign forces present in the Congo in various forms that illegally occupy the territory, in particular the M23 and the ADF, must leave the Congo immediately and unconditionally. All these acts – and this has been said by some perpetrators wit…

22

Nov

2022

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Resilience of critical entities (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, congratulations. Your text is a step in the right direction: more protection compared to all critical infrastructure for Europe, especially in the health and food sectors. The pandemic has shown us how urgent it is to protect these important sectors, which are so vital for Europe – health, food, energy – and to protect them, in particular, from cyber-attacks. I call on …

17

Oct

2022

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Sustainable maritime fuels (FuelEU Maritime Initiative) - Deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this regulation provides answers, guidelines and objectives for the aviation sector, for the maritime sector and for the road sector, in particular for the transport of heavy goods vehicles and light vehicles. But let us recognise that for motorists and in relation to their concerns – in particular that of not having sufficient limits – this text d…

14

Sep

2022

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State of the Union (debate)

So indeed, I would like to see more important details on this decoupling. It is good to decouple and ensure that electricity that is not produced from gas is no longer impacted and does not impact our businesses and families as strongly. It seems to me that this is a good decision for the future. What we are trying to avoid, to correct through this taxation of overprofits, is simply because compan…

14

Sep

2022

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State of the Union (debate)

Madam President of Parliament, Madam President of the Commission, thank you for your inspiring speech, which must inspire us all. Thank you for recalling that the strength of the EU is to be able to act together, by being united. Thank you also for once again expressing your solidarity with the people of Ukraine. What is at stake in Ukraine is also our future and the future of our children. Thank …

13

Sep

2022

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Consequences of drought, fire, and other extreme weather phenomena: increasing EU's efforts to fight climate change (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would first like to thank and salute the commitment and courage of firefighters across Europe and the European solidarity that has intervened. We can only rejoice in these particularly dramatic moments. So yes, it has been more than 500 years, according to the figures, since we have experienced such an episode of drought. I fear that the same thing will be rep…

7

Jun

2022

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Binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions by Member States (Effort Sharing Regulation) - Land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) - CO2 emission standards for cars and vans (joint debate – Fit for 55 (part 2))

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, climate change is also a social and democratic issue. Democratic because, if we leave behind a whole range of people, be they the weakest in our society, those who cannot afford somewhere to commit to climate action through a range of measures and investments, we will miss this goal, both in climate and in democracy. The Social Climate Fund must th…

23

Mar

2022

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Need for an urgent EU action plan to ensure food security inside and outside the EU in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, two weeks ago I was in Ukraine. Do I have to admit that I am sometimes embarrassed to hear certain positions here, embarrassed by the procrastination of some when it should be time to mobilise to produce? We know that Ukraine’s production, storage and export capacity is either damaged or destroyed today. We also know that the risks of war and its continuity m…