What Alexander spoke about.

7 Oct

2026

DE Speech

Implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! By 1 September, Member States had to send their national restoration plans to Brussels. Austria has done an exemplary job here and has delivered a first plan. The European Commission has not delivered when it comes to providing a financing report, and it would have had more than a year to do so. And now we are in this situation that we should start…

7 Oct

2026

EN Question

Implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation (debate)

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You mentioned that the beaver population is also increasing, but we see also, in fact, that with the increasing beaver population may also be a problem with already existing dams, because also due to our weather, we will have more floods. Now we have the problem that it's nearly impossible to restore these dams because there are beavers in them. Also with the Nature Restoration Law, we do not see …

6 Oct

2026

DE Question

Affordable Housing Act (debate)

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Thank you very much. You have given an example from Rome, from Italy – that there are major problems here, that there is always a housing shortage here. You mention that regulations are needed here in the real estate sector. But why do you really want to create European competence here? For me, this is a national competence, regional competence. I am from Austria. For us, the right as to how housi…

14 Sep

2026

DE Question

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: extension of its scope to downstream goods and anti-circumvention measures - Establishing the Temporary Decarbonisation Fund - Market stability reserve for the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS): ceasing the invalidation of allowances

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19 May

2026

DE Question

Presentation of the Fertilisers Action Plan (debate)

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Mr. Colleague, a former teacher of mine said: Where Mistus, there Christ; where fertilisers, his disciples. And there is a law that our students learn in school. This is the law of increasing yield growth. They act like if you can produce plants without fertilization, you can produce food. But they must also be aware that 4 billion people depend on food production, which is also dependent on miner…

30 Apr

2026

DE Speech

How to secure a sustainable future for the EU livestock sector in light of the need to ensure food security, farmers’ resilience and the challenges posed by animal diseases? (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, With our report on sustainable animal husbandry, we are sending a clear signal. European livestock farming is not a discontinued model. It is the foundation of our food security, our rural areas and a functioning circular economy. Animal husbandry accounts for 40% of agricultural value added in the EU. 4 million people work in this sector. In mount…

29 Apr

2026

DE Question

EU strategy in response to the ongoing Middle East crisis, its implications on energy prices and the availability of fertilizers (joint debate)

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Yes, thank you very much, Mr. Colleague! They say we should abolish fossil fuels – I fully support them. Then why is your group against us using more wood, for example, to get away from heating natural gas? Why is your group against it when it comes to producing sustainable fuels from grain so that we can get away from fossil fuels? We would have the technologies, the opportunities with us in Euro…

24 Nov

2025

DE Speech

Ensuring faster registration and uptake of biological control agents (short presentation)

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24 Nov

2025

DE Speech

30th anniversary of the Barcelona Process and the new pact for the Mediterranean (debate)

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7 Oct

2025

DE Question

Common agricultural policy (joint debate)

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Dear Mr. Colleague! We have an agricultural commissioner here who has really put forward a lot of facilitations for agriculture in recent months. Her former party colleague Janusz Wojciechowski has been agricultural commissioner for the past five years. You now have 30 seconds. Tell me what five initiatives he has taken for agriculture in recent years. I haven't seen much. We now have to repair a …

7 Oct

2025

DE Speech

Common agricultural policy (joint debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner! I am glad that tomorrow we will finally be voting on facilitation in the common agricultural policy. What threatens us in the coming years, however, is more than worrying, and the proposal for the common agricultural policy is for many colleagues rather a beginning of the end of the common agricultural policy. There is a risk of fewer payments for our farmers, who ab…

13 Mar

2025

DE Speech

A Vision for Agriculture and Food (debate)

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Dear Mr President, dear Commissioner! The past five years have been rather five lean years for agriculture: a Commissioner with little interest in agriculture, legislation that has focused more on set-aside and depletion than on food security, and political majorities in the European Parliament that have absolutely not represented the interests of our farmers. I am all the more looking forward to …

13 Mar

2025

DE Question

A Vision for Agriculture and Food (debate)

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Dear Mr. Colleague! Just a quick reminder: There is a National Council resolution in Austria stating that Austria wants to campaign against Mercosur. They speak for fair conditions for our farmers. Your State Councillor in Styria says: We no longer want animal exports to third countries. Your FPÖ State Councillor in Lower Austria says: We need more veterinarians to control our farmers. Your collea…

13 Feb

2025

DE Question

EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement (debate)

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Perhaps I would like to give some tutoring in agriculture and livestock farming, because you say yes, agriculture benefits. But agriculture is very versatile, and a farmer who may have just built a stable can't plant wine and now sell wine in Mercosur countries. So, one has to look closely at which agricultural sectors are disadvantaged by this trade agreement. I do not understand why agriculture …

22 Jan

2025

DE Speech

EU financing through the LIFE programme of entities lobbying EU institutions and the need for transparency (debate)

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Madam President, I think a lot has been debated and we really need to focus on the headline: How is money used, which is actually for nature conservation, environmental protection and should not be used for lobbying against MEPs? It is important that – and it has never been criticised that funds should be cancelled here, but only the way they are used – there should be transparency, that what is i…

22 Jan

2025

DE Question

EU financing through the LIFE programme of entities lobbying EU institutions and the need for transparency (debate)

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So you think it is safe that millions of taxpayers' money, which is actually earmarked for nature conservation on the ground, is used to pay salaries of any people here in Brussels, who then lobby against us MPs, who send mass mails, who do any demonstrations, instead of really using LIFE funds to renaturalize rivers and plant trees? We criticize the influence of parliamentarians.…

18 Dec

2024

DE Question

Challenges facing EU farmers and agricultural workers: improving working conditions, including their mental well-being (debate)

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You also talk a lot about fair incomes for farmers and that it should benefit farmers. But if you look at many proposals from your group in particular, then much of the agricultural money should not go directly into the hands of farmers, but rather be used for NGOs, which then settle any restoration projects and co. So I think farmers are more likely not to feel represented by the Greens. What's y…

18 Dec

2024

DE Speech

Challenges facing EU farmers and agricultural workers: improving working conditions, including their mental well-being (debate)

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Mr President! Dear Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Agriculture is the backbone of our society. As a former teacher once said: It is not gold and money that feeds the world, but a billowing field of wheat. But our agriculture and our farmers are under increasing pressure, economically and therefore physically. It is high time that we recognised physical health in agriculture as an important iss…

19 Sep

2024

DE Answer

Droughts and extreme weather events as a threat to local communities and EU agriculture in times of climate change (debate)

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Thank you very much for the question! I think a lot of things work great here. I know it from our volunteer fire brigade in Austria, in Lower Austria: It helped in the Netherlands last year. We in Austria have now had offers of help from Bavaria, from the Netherlands, from other countries. I believe that always establishing a new structure may not be right. I believe in creating networking – and t…

19 Sep

2024

DE Speech

Droughts and extreme weather events as a threat to local communities and EU agriculture in times of climate change (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner! In the last few days I have witnessed for myself how it is when entire houses are destroyed, streets are washed away and crops are destroyed. And here you really have to say thank you again to everyone who is currently busy with tidying up: Thank you to everyone who helps! And of course, such extreme weather events also affect our agriculture. We've had the hottest summ…

19 Sep

2024

DE Question

Droughts and extreme weather events as a threat to local communities and EU agriculture in times of climate change (debate)

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(Start of speech with microphone switched off) Consciousness. You talk a lot about Europe. But Europe is, I believe, only responsible for 10% or 12% of greenhouse gas emissions, and you blame European agriculture for climate change. Are you aware that European agriculture really contributes only a fraction to climate change? There is also the question to you: What have you already actively contrib…

6 Feb

2024

DE Speech

Plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, After more than 20 years, revising and updating the legislative proposal on the use of genetic engineering is more than reasonable and correct. However, with the pace that has just happened here in Parliament, we have not been able to clarify all the issues in detail. And just for such a scientific debate that we actually have to have he…

12 Dec

2023

EN Speech

Foodstuffs for human consumption: amending certain 'Breakfast' Directives (A9-0385/2023 - Alexander Bernhuber) (vote)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, thank you for the big support. I would like to ask to refer back to committee according to Rule 59(4) in order to start the interinstitutional negotiations.

11 Dec

2023

DE Speech

Foodstuffs for human consumption: amending certain 'breakfast' directives (short presentation)

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Madam President, Commissioner! Yes, tomorrow we will vote on the so-called Breakfast Directive, but in the end we are talking about four different directives on honey, fruit juices, jams and dehydrated milk. At the outset, I would also like to thank all the shadow rapporteurs and staff for having reached an agreement so quickly on the parliamentary side here, and I am also pleased that we will als…

22 Nov

2023

DE Speech

Revised pollinators initiative - a new deal for pollinators (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner! We already have an exciting day behind us today when it comes to plant protection, and again and again the word pollinators, bees and Co. When it comes to the true protectors of our pollinators, then these are the farmers; And if we keep seeing frontal attacks on agriculture here, that's just a lie. Very simple, practical example: I have an apartment in Brussels, and…