What Martin spoke about.

11 Mar

2024

CS Speech

Substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (Green Claims Directive) (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, we have been fighting here for several months to put an end to the unfair practices of companies that do not care about the environment at all, produce products abroad under terrible conditions and then calmly label them as environmentally friendly. We did that, and I'm proud of it. For several months, we have been fighting for farmers who want to be rewarded for storin…

26 Feb

2024

CS Speech

Tackling the inflation in food prices and its social consequences and root causes (debate)

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Commissioner, Mr President, every time our people pay outrageous prices for food, you hold a debate here. Everyone talks and nothing happens. No one asks, why is it that when farmers receive raw materials as they did a decade ago, food prices are now doubling? And you know what the worst part is? It's not that we don't know how it is. How many studies have you carried out at the Commission to find…

7 Feb

2024

CS Speech

Empowering farmers and rural communities - a dialogue towards sustainable and fairly rewarded EU agriculture (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, European politicians have been making useful idiots of our farmers for years. For subsidies that we haven't increased for 15 years, with the cost of energy, seeds, fertilisers, technology rising by tens and hundreds of percent, our farmers continue to sell raw materials at prices similar to those of a decade ago. While traders charge our citizens twice as mu…

16 Jan

2024

CS Speech

Empowering consumers for the green transition (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, this proposal will hopefully finally ensure that people in Europe are no longer deceived by false information about products and services. Nowadays, almost everything that has a green inscription is wrapped in natural paper, claiming how ecologically it was made. In most cases, the reality is completely different. And when we look at the entire life cycle of products, w…

11 Dec

2023

CS Speech

Role of tax policy in times of crisis (debate)

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Madam President, the recent crises have shown us that they cannot be faced without tax measures. Almost all governments have adopted such measures. Unfortunately, our Czech government is late and bad, which is why we are falling economically and have one of the highest inflations. The poorest households, sole traders and medium-sized enterprises are the most affected. Each Member State has the rig…

20 Nov

2023

CS Speech

Union certification framework for carbon removals

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Mr President, Commissioner, if we were to accept the proposal as you have proposed it, there would be a risk that carbon sequestration would become a business for a few speculators who would buy land, not in order to produce food in a more environmentally friendly way, but in order to stop producing food and devote themselves fully to the profitable trade in allowances. We don't want that. We have…

16 Oct

2023

CS Speech

Establishing the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (‘STEP’) (debate)

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Madam President, technology is essential to Europe's prosperity. We're finally talking about it. It is a pity that the COVID-19 pandemic, the war and US support had to force us to do so. It is a pity that you were forced to do so by the lack of parts, because of which the factories stopped production, and the lack of medicines, because of which people are afraid. Only the threat of companies placi…

4 Oct

2023

CS Speech

European green bonds (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, would you like to take care of other parts of the Green Deal? This would certainly be in favour of the Commission's cooperation with the European Parliament. Maybe it's because we've been so happy to work with you in the past. I don't do it often, but I want to thank you for the victory of reason and logic. I really appreciate that the issuance of ‘green bonds’ is to be…

12 Sep

2023

CS Speech

Ukrainian grain exports after Russia’s exit from the Black Sea Grain Initiative (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, let us finally acknowledge that there is nothing left of the European Commission's good intention to help export grain from war-torn Ukraine to countries outside Europe. Not farmers, but crooks in Ukraine and Poland took advantage of the situation and greased their pockets. Grain stays here. Polish, Czech and other farmers have no way to sell our production at a reas…

12 Jul

2023

CS Speech

Need to adopt the “Unshell” Directive on rules to prevent the misuse of shell entities for tax purposes (continuation of debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ensuring fair and effective taxation in the internal market and combating tax evasion are, of course, a priority for all of us, but measures that are meaningful must be promoted. You have such a bad habit in the Commission that when something doesn't work, you suggest something else. Instead of thinking about why it doesn't work and suggesting an adjustment. It happens …

13 Jun

2023

CS Speech

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

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Mr President, Commissioner, we have long taken affordable and safe food for granted. And if we lack something, we will import it and at the same time impose more and more restrictions and regulations on farmers and food producers in the European Union. They wished for it, didn't they? They reduced emissions by 19%, introduced the highest standards for nature conservation, chemistry, animal welfare…

10 May

2023

CS Speech

Ukrainian cereals on the European market (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, the European Commission's solution for Ukrainian grain is not the best solution. The ban on imports to only five countries is unprecedented. It will not have an effect on the European market, which, as you know, has no borders and goods will thus continue to travel freely within Europe. The purpose was also certainly not to distribute compensation to selected farmers…

19 Apr

2023

CS Speech

Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCa) - Information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets (recast) (debate)

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Mr President, trading in crypto-assets is experiencing an unprecedented boom. The total number of users has long exceeded hundreds of millions, and the value of the market is estimated at up to two trillion dollars. It continues to grow and grow. What does that mean? That an increasing volume of values and transactions will be realized through these assets. And while traditional assets are properl…

16 Mar

2023

CS Speech

European Citizens’ Initiative "Save bees and farmers! Towards a bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment" (debate)

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Madam President, the protection of bees and other pollinators is essential and important not only for the environment and biodiversity, but above all for sufficient food production. The solution is undoubtedly to reduce the use of chemicals. Sometimes I hear that farmers may love the use of chemistry. They don't love. Working with her is not a pleasure, and it costs a lot of money. But he has to. …

16 Feb

2023

CS Speech

Availability of fertilisers in the EU (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, the prices at which farmers sell commodities today are gradually falling. The input prices with which farmers produce these commodities are still at record levels. But food prices in supermarkets continue to rise and contribute to high inflation, which we then desperately struggle with. This year, we will be happy if Ukraine delivers to the market around half of the pro…

17 Jan

2023

CS Speech

Question Time (Commission) - Food price inflation in Europe

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Mr President, Commissioner, inflation is crushing Europe and food prices are making a significant contribution. I suppose we don't want to have the same inflation in food as we did this year, and that's why we need to act. We can't just have plans on paper, we have to turn them into reality. Last week, studies by the University of Edinburgh confirmed that fertiliser prices and energy prices – the …

9 Nov

2022

CS Speech

REPowerEU chapters in recovery and resilience plans (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, your proposal is good, it has only two mistakes, which, if removed, will make a great contribution to the current crisis. We are experiencing a period of ever-increasing prices. Inflation in your country and mine is 20%, and for some foods even much more. We are looking for all possible ways to help. And you are proposing that we take additional funds from farmers. This…

19 Oct

2022

CS Speech

Global food security as follow-up to the G20 Agriculture Ministers meeting (debate)

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Mr President. Minister, you are infatuated with the affordability of food here. So I'm asking, why don't you do it? You represent a government that has cut aid to farmers, to those who produce food, and given it to those who produce no food. A government that has not helped with input prices, a government that has the highest VAT on food in Europe – these are the facts – and a government that has …

3 Oct

2022

EN Speech

Impact of new technologies on taxation: crypto and blockchain (debate)

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Madam President, crypto and blockchain, they could serve us for good or they could serve us for the bad. So the question of today is: are we using their potential to help us to fight tax evasion, fraud, to combat all the tactics of those who want to avoid taxation? And the answer is, no. Why? Because villains are always ahead of legislation. And you have been for some time promising us something, …

3 Oct

2022

EN Speech

Striving for a sustainable and competitive EU aquaculture: the way forward (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, we live in a time of concerns on food security. We want to produce more proteins, more sustainably, and we have climate ambitions. We know that aquaculture is a response to all of that. We’ve known that for many, many years. We had the first attempt when the previous Czech Presidency was in place in 2009. We have not moved enough. Why don't we unleash thi…

18 May

2022

CS Speech

Minimum level of taxation for multinational groups (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, multinational companies will only be taxed fairly if the new rules apply globally. It is crucial that the second pillar also replicates the substantive changes agreed in the OECD and that there are only a few derogations that adapt the functioning of the Directive to the internal market. The same rules should ensure in the future that there is no room for circumventi…

23 Mar

2022

CS Speech

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)

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Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, a few minutes ago we were struck by a difficult report. Madeleine Albright, the first Czech, the first woman in the office of the U.S. Secretary of State, who was very committed after the fall of the Iron Curtain to the integration of Central and Eastern Europe into the democratic world of the EU and NATO, has died. I hope that by what we are doing here, …

9 Mar

2022

CS Speech

Fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery strategy (continuation of debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, rapporteur, a good tax system is the basis for a functioning and trustworthy economy. Simplicity, efficiency and fairness are key elements. This is crucial in the post-COVID-19 recovery, but also in today’s security crisis. Therefore, we should not delay with some questions. The VAT system must be adapted to the 21st century. In the context of the current crisis, Member…

14 Feb

2022

CS Speech

Implementation report on on-farm animal welfare (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, the protection of animal welfare has a long tradition in the European Union and is heavily regulated. It brings a significant ethical dimension to our food production, which we will not find anywhere else in the world to such an extent. I am sorry that we often act as if this were not the case, and that perhaps we are somewhere in the Middle Ages. We are …

23 Nov

2021

CS Speech

Common agricultural policy - support for strategic plans to be drawn up by Member States and financed by the EAGF and by the EAFRD - Common agricultural policy: financing, management and monitoring - Common agricultural policy – amendment of the CMO and other regulations (debate)

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Madam President, the reform of agricultural policy comes with a two-year delay. This only illustrates the difficulty of our negotiations. The common policy concerns ten million farmers and tens of millions of jobs. It determines the nature and character of the landscape, guarantees the degree of protection of the environment, soil, water, air, pollinators and the future of our ecosystems. I think …