What Claudia spoke about.

23 Apr

2024

DE Speech

Withdrawal of the Union from the Energy Charter Treaty (debate)

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Mr President! The withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty finally marks the beginning of the end of fossil Europe. Freedom instead of dependence. I think it is also a nice end point for our work on the energy transition. We have made renewables the foundation of a future Energy Union, reorganized infrastructures, modernized the electricity market, decarbonized gas and opened all barriers to offs…

11 Apr

2024

EN Speech

Internal markets for renewable gas, natural gas and hydrogen (recast) - Common rules for the internal markets for renewable gas, natural gas and hydrogen (recast) - Union’s electricity market design: Regulation - Union’s electricity market design: Directive (joint debate – Reform of the energy and electricity markets)

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Mr President, this law is a major step towards decarbonising the gas supply and moving away from gas altogether wherever possible. It will be a key instrument for us to free ourselves from Russian ‘blood gas’. Decarbonisation starts locally and this law supports this transition bottom-up by allowing for local planning. This will be a major step in recognising that decarbonisation strategies will d…

11 Mar

2024

DE Speech

Energy performance of buildings (recast) (debate)

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Mr President! Reporting in Austria on this directive was really adventurous. Opponents have pretended that energy-efficient construction is a total Gaga eco-madness. But energy-efficient construction is local added value. The innovation power for this lies on the ground – in Europe, in Austria, even in my region, in Vorarlberg. Building with wood, building with recycled material, renovating stock:…

6 Feb

2024

DE Speech

Russiagate: allegations of Russian interference in the democratic processes of the European Union (debate)

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Madam President, The Member States have watched for years as various parties in Europe have been gradually drawn into Vladimir Putin's sphere of influence, and we now see the consequences here in the House. Austria has also made its contribution to this. In 2016, two years after the invasion of Crimea, the FPÖ signed a treaty of friendship with Putin’s ‘United Russia’ party, a treaty that they do …

12 Jul

2023

EN Speech

Delivering on the Green Deal: risk of compromising the EU path to the green transition and its international commitments (debate)

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Mr President, the biggest group in this House, the European People’s Party, has decided to launch an all—out assault on our common fight against climate change and – at least in today’s fight for nature restoration – it’s good to say that they lost. It was really a high—risk bet on our common future actually, and the EPP has shown that, if anything, they are not fit to lead this House. To quote on…

12 Jun

2023

EN Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

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Madam President, colleagues, I am seven months pregnant now and I will have to miss a couple of plenary sessions in the fall because I simply will not be able to travel, and I do want to spend a little bit of time with a new-born baby at home. But I am the leader of my own one-woman delegation, and the consequences of missing a session are clear – I will not be able to vote because there is no rem…

18 Apr

2023

DE Speech

Energy storage (debate)

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Mr President! Dear Kadri Simson, thank you very much for this debate and for bringing this issue of energy storage together to the top of our common priority list. The European Parliament had already pointed out in its 2020 report that we urgently need an energy storage strategy. Without sufficient storage, there will be no energy transition. This is very important to stress over and over again. I…

17 Apr

2023

DE Speech

Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System - Monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport - Carbon border adjustment mechanism - Social Climate Fund - Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System for aviation (debate)

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Mr President! With this vote, we are now laying the foundations for making flying in Europe more climate-friendly, or let's call it more climate-friendly. Finally, a truly effective allowance trading system is also being introduced in aviation, a de facto carbon pricing system. Clearly, it can only be a beginning. You could have been more courageous in the details, but especially in the applicatio…

29 Mar

2023

DE Speech

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 23-24 March 2023 (debate)

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Madam President, The topic of cars moves a lot of young people, especially climate-conscious people. A well-informed student asked me the question yesterday in the house: The issue of e-fuels – does this come from lobbying from the car industry? Many are surprised to hear that the industry is actually much wider than many in politics. The European car industry wanted clarity. They already have fin…

14 Feb

2023

DE Speech

CO2 emission standards for cars and vans (debate)

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Mr President! Transport is one of the major emissions problems facing the European Union. We need a proper transport transition in the European Union. This also means, of course, that we have to put goods and people on the rails; Today we are talking about private transport. People are, as is often the case, farther away from politics. While new registrations for electric cars in Germany have alre…

13 Dec

2022

DE Speech

Renewable Energy, Energy Performance of Buildings and Energy Efficiency Directives: amendments (REPowerEU) (continuation of debate)

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Madam President, The energy crisis shows the destructive power of fossil fuels. They are destroying our climate and they are destroying European security. Renewable energies are our future, not only in the fight against the climate catastrophe, but for European independence and affordable energy. These legislative changes finally give us the tools we need to really get into the approval procedures…

23 Nov

2022

EN Speech

A truly interconnected Energy Single Market to keep bills down and companies competitive (topical debate)

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Madam President, dear Commissioner, tomorrow we will be able to observe a jubilee, because I counted and our Energy Ministers will meet for the 10th time since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In February, views were exchanged, and there was a discussion in June at some point – the energy crisis wasn’t even on the agenda. At another meeting REPowerEU was welcomed, and at some point there…

22 Nov

2022

DE Speech

System of own resources of the European Union (debate)

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Mr President! Why does the European Union need more own resources, more own budgetary sources? Because they create more freedom, because they make us crisis-proof. The fact that the European Union was in fact almost entirely dependent on the will of the Member States for major budgetary decisions in the past was a design flaw. And anyone who now claims that possible sources, such as emissions trad…

5 Oct

2022

DE Speech

Countering the anti-European and anti-Ukrainian propaganda of Putin’s European cronies (topical debate)

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Mr President! A Russian newspaper today published a column by the former Austrian Foreign Minister of the FPÖ, Karin Kneissl. Europe needs Russian gas, she assured her Russian readers. The Putin understanders in Austria and the European Union stand not only for the literal kneel, as in the case of Karin Kneissl, but for the complete moral decay. A Styrian member of the Communist Party described Uk…

13 Sep

2022

DE Speech

EU response to the increase in energy prices in Europe (debate)

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Madam President, We really don't have time to act anymore. The citizens of the Union, our entrepreneurs, no longer have time to wait for real action. We are looking forward to a harsh winter here – for many people who also write to me that they are already looking at their energy bills with desperation, entrepreneurs who are afraid that they will not be able to continue their operations in winter.…

23 Jun

2022

DE Speech

Gas storage (debate)

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Mr President! Yes, it's about needing more gas in the gas storages. But I must say that Professor Krasnodębski has already made a good point. What are the gas storage tanks filled with? With Russian gas. The gas that is currently being used to finance the bloody war in Ukraine. Of course, we cannot ignore that. After all, the conclusion he happily drew from the fact that we should not have scolded…

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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Madam President, It is an absolute fact that aviation is a rapidly growing source of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. If we are to be honest about becoming climate neutral by 2050 – and I hope that a large majority of our colleagues still support this goal – then all sectors must make a contribution, including air transport. Yes, we are talking about a global industry, a global industry, a glob…

19 May

2022

EN Speech

The REPowerEU Plan: European solidarity and energy security in face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including the recent cuts of gas supply to Poland and Bulgaria (debate)

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Mr President, Europe’s energy crisis is not the lack of natural gas that we have, but it is our dependence on natural gas. Fossil fuels are not only the drivers of climate change, they are now also instruments of war. And I want to thank the Commission for the REPowerEU plan, because our future, the basis of our liberty and our democracy, depend on its success. We have to become the continent wher…

3 May

2022

DE Speech

The follow up of the Conference on the Future of Europe (debate)

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Madam President, The conference is now coming to an end, and this should be the start of real reforms in the European Union. I hope to speak for everyone when I say thank you: to all the citizens who have taken part here, who have taken the time to do so and have been really passionate about it and, as I have noticed, who have also made a difference to many colleagues, who have triggered something…

7 Apr

2022

DE Speech

Right to repair (debate)

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Madam President, Who doesn't know? A cell phone battery somehow magically gets weaker and weaker. Repairing and replacing the battery would be disproportionately expensive, since you could buy a newer model right away, and the old one somehow ends up in the trash – unfortunately. I think we all agree that this is not sustainable, of course. And we are now working here in the European Union to put …

5 Apr

2022

DE Speech

Trans-European energy infrastructure (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. I would, of course, like to thank the rapporteur and the shadow rapporteurs for their cooperation, starting with the positive. However, the reform of trans-European energy infrastructure includes some fundamental improvements. There is a stronger focus on renewables and offshore, there is a climate check, and the gas grid operators finally have less power in ter…

4 Apr

2022

DE Speech

Revision of the Market Stability Reserve for the EU Emissions Trading System (debate)

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Madam President, EU emissions trading is the European Union's flagship instrument for the efficient reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by setting a clear reduction path that enables us to meet the reduction targets. That is why a strong, well-functioning emissions trading system is essential to achieving our targets. In order for this emissions trading scheme to remain such an efficient, reliab…

24 Mar

2022

DE Speech

The Power of the EU – Joint European Action for more affordable, secure and sustainable energy (debate)

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Madam President, Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine shows us very clearly that dependence on fossil fuels is a dependence on unpredictable dictatorships and dictators. It is also this dependence that leads everywhere to the fact that the bills for electricity and heat go through the ceiling. But are we really doing enough to relieve people on the one hand, but also to prepare for the next …

15 Feb

2022

DE Speech

Tackling non-tariff and non-tax barriers in the single market (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner! Our common internal market is one of the Union's great achievements, and it is freedom and boundlessness in the market that creates prosperity. But the European single market still cannot reach its full potential, but, on the contrary, is constantly under fire from short-term, short-sighted policies. Regulatory loneliness and national foreclosure plans are jeopardising …

15 Feb

2022

DE Speech

Strengthening Europe in the fight against cancer(debate)

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Madam President, We in the European Parliament today call for a coordinated and comprehensive strategy in the fight against cancer. What is beyond question for me is that, of course, all Europeans deserve equal access to innovative therapies. But what we must not forget is the importance of basic research, of investing in research and development in the fight against cancer. And that's exactly wha…