What Barbara spoke about.

24 Apr

2024

DE Speech

Trans-European transport network (A9-0147/2023 - Barbara Thaler, Dominique Riquet) (vote)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Today, we are passing a law laying the foundations for Europe's largest civil construction programme. Our trans-European transport network includes the largest 426 cities in Europe, the largest ports and airports, over 100,000 rail kilometres and so on and so on. The Commission estimates the construction costs at 1.5 trillion euros. That is 10% of the total E…

28 Feb

2024

DE Speech

Data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. We will adopt a new law on data exchange between online rental platforms and national authorities this week. And I'm happy about that for two very special reasons. Firstly: We solve a long-known problem. All of us know Airbnb and Co. Many people like to use them to find accommodation or to rent it themselves. And this coexistence of private and …

13 Sep

2023

DE Speech

Framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials (debate)

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Dear Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, We know what happened to our solar industry, and we're just seeing what happens to our wind industry. And you can guess what might happen to our automotive industry. Did we brace the horse from behind? I therefore expressly welcome the fact that our Commission President addressed the issue of critical raw materials so clearly and importantly t…

11 Jul

2023

EN Speech

Greening transport package (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, let us be frank, shall we? Road transport is working because we have a working internal market for road transport. It is as simple as that. And looking at the changes the Commission just made to the Weights and Dimensions Directive, road transport will be even more attractive in the future. Good for road, bad for the others. In the new proposal, the …

14 Jun

2023

DE Speech

Make Europe the place to invest (debate)

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Madam President, Making Europe an investment location should not only be the subject of this debate today, but it should be at the heart of all our policies. Unfortunately, after a closer look at the last few years, I have to say that the Commission in particular and some parts of this House are pursuing some objectives, but consolidating and expanding Europe as an investment location is not one o…

13 Jun

2023

DE Speech

Artificial Intelligence Act (debate)

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Madam President, I've heard a lot of arguments here for the last hour and a half, especially from the left, that are scary. That's kind of a pity. But it has always been that way when it comes to digitalization. Yes, AI will change our lives at least as much as the computer did. It's just not so visible; It's just not as noticeable as it has been in the last 20, 30 years. The reason for this is th…

19 Apr

2023

DE Speech

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

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Mr. Colleague, thank you very much. I did not talk about the risks because some other colleagues have already done so today. This is precisely why the call for regulation has become stronger. Because such a new development, such a niche, which sets out to become a great development, is of course always associated with opportunities, but also risks. I believe – and I have followed the negotiations …

19 Apr

2023

DE Speech

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

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! It's like we've heard it many times here. We are facing a particular challenge, precisely because it is about digital services. There is a small niche here that sets out to conquer the world. And no one on this exciting journey thought of contacting the legal world, which quietly begins to ask after these first successful adventures: Yeah, can they…

13 Mar

2023

DE Speech

Energy performance of buildings (recast) (debate)

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Madam President, I would like to start with four very small questions. Should the building sector contribute to CO2 reduction? Yes, yes. Should the legislator develop rules of the game for this? Yes, yes. Should these rules of the game also lead to the reduction of dependencies on fossil fuels? Yes, yes. Should these measures ensure energy savings and affordable energy bills? Yes, yes. All these q…

16 Feb

2023

DE Speech

Resumption of the sitting

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Madam President, In accordance with Rule 195 of our Rules of Procedure, I would like to draw your attention to something. Sometimes a camera is really in the wrong place at the right time. In my speech on Tuesday on the ban on internal combustion engines, I talked about the importance of jobs and our competitiveness, and it was at this very moment that the camera captured a disrespectful gesture f…

15 Feb

2023

DE Speech

Access to strategic critical raw materials (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. I admit that the geopolitical situation is complex. That's why I thought we'd break it down to a simple example. We take a normal company, and we call this company Europe. This company produces great products, pays its employees well, sheds profits and also takes care of the environment. Now the management of this company wants to produce in the future only p…

14 Feb

2023

DE Speech

CO2 emission standards for cars and vans (debate)

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Dear Madam President, Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, I really have to say: It's been easier to stand here and talk about a topic, because I think we're really facing a historical mistake today. We're banning the internal combustion engine today. That was wrong, that is wrong, and that remains wrong. We are only entering a new dependence on China for rare earths and metals for car batteries,…

16 Jan

2023

DE Speech

30th Anniversary of the Single Market (debate)

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Dear Mr President, dear Minister, dear Vice-President, dear colleagues! We are celebrating our birthday today, and I am very happy about that – the 30th. It is the anniversary of our single European market, the benefits of which we can all feel every day. We can all order goods throughout the European Union. We can travel freely, we can study, work, live, have children, retire. Our companies can o…

24 Nov

2022

DE Speech

Establishing the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030 (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Today we are discussing our policy programme for the digital strategy in order to become, as they say, fit for the location of the future. It's about infrastructure, artificial intelligence, 5G, 6G, cloud computing, blockchain, and more. It's also about quantum computing, and I'd like to go into that briefly. The report, by the way, congratulati…

23 Nov

2022

DE Speech

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

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. I am really happy that we are discussing this topic today. We fought for a year to have the big predators on our agenda this week. And we have heard many examples from all regions of Europe over the past hour: that growing wolf populations lead to more and more damage, but also to more and more suffering and thus become an ever-increasing problem. And that is wh…

13 Sep

2022

DE Speech

Renewable Energy Directive (debate)

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Dear Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Let's call things by name. We feel that Europe must put itself at the back of its feet on the energy question. In recent months, we have fought very hard in the Transport Committee to ensure that already existing hydropower plants can also be counted towards the production of green hydrogen. It is therefore all the more incomprehensible that i…

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, ladies and gentlemen. We approved the Green Deal by a large majority here almost exactly one year ago. And tomorrow we'll see if the green deal is just green or will be a deal. But I don't see a deal if we weaken our airports and airlines with a one-sided emissions trading system. I also do not see a deal if we undermine technological neutrality by banning the internal combustion eng…

7 Apr

2022

DE Speech

Right to repair (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I have listened well here for the last hour and a half, and I note that we all want more sustainability in the single market and more products that are easier to repair. That's a good thing! This path – this common path – must be pursued by innovative companies and self-responsible consumers. The necessary framework for this must come from polit…

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, Thank you also to the Commission and the Council for their statements on our common European approach to affordable, secure and sustainable energy. You will find many partners here in the house along this path. But I would like to remind you once again that ambitious goals are good and right right now, but they must also be feasible. We don't have time to limit ourselves with arti…

16 Feb

2022

EN Speech

Charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures (debate)

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Mr President, thank you and good to see you. Commissioner, dear colleagues, tomorrow’s vote on the Eurovignette goes far beyond the actual text. It is the first piece of legislation which will play a crucial role in light of the Green Deal targets, and the sad truth is that this legislation is not fit for this job. It couldn’t possibly be more distant to our own EP first reading position. If we as…

19 Jan

2022

DE Speech

Digital Services Act (continuation of debate)

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Dear Mr President, esteemed Commission, ladies and gentlemen, In Austria, e-commerce sales last year reached a record high of more than 10 billion euros. The growth rates over the past 20 years have been enormous. Also 20 years old is the e-commerce policy, which still governs the basics of how we shop online. And we know that 20 years online feels a bit like 200 years in offline life. This means …

16 Dec

2021

DE Speech

Barriers to the free movement of goods (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, There is no question at all that our internal market is one of the greatest achievements of the European Union, which we want to protect and improve. Of course, free movement of goods is important, and we have also done everything we can to maintain supply routes during the coronavirus crisis. But I know the original text on this debate and I know …

15 Dec

2021

EN Speech

Stocktaking of the European Year of Rail (debate)

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Mr President, I fully agree. I think the European Year of Rail was a success. The flagship project, the Connecting Europe Express, was a good showcase and I took the good opportunity and joined the ride. The Commission, together with the partners from CEF, did an amazing job to make it happen and how they made it happen. But the Connecting Europe Express also showed that you cannot simply cross a …

6 Oct

2021

DE Speech

European solutions to the rise of energy prices for businesses and consumers: the role of energy efficiency and renewable energy and the need to tackle energy poverty (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, The debate this morning clearly shows that energy in the future must not only be clean, but also affordable. It is unreasonable for people in Europe to have to think about how to get their homes warm in winter. Affordable and clean energy is not either-or, it is both-and-also. To achieve this, both clean and affordable, we need to focus on true …

6 Jul

2021

DE Speech

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)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, If you look at the advantages of the European train control system ERTMS, you inevitably have to ask yourself why we still afford dozens of national systems in parallel. In this report, we have, in rare agreement across all political groups, recorded what it takes to move the rail forward. It is an increase in Europe, it is an internal railway mark…