What Günther spoke about.

7

May

2025

DE Speech

Watch

Democratic legitimacy and the Commission’s continued authorisation of genetically modified organisms despite Parliament’s objections (debate)

Madam President, esteemed Commissioner! Today we are once again talking about the Commission's approval of genetically modified plants. We are also talking about the Commission's approach to democracy in our common Europe. Once and for all, we here in Parliament are voting against further authorisations for genetic engineering, and once and for all the Commission is simply going beyond this. This …

6

May

2025

DE Speech

Watch

The European Water Resilience Strategy (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner! The right to clean water should be a matter of course for us in Europe. But that's not it. We all know the environmental protection reports that point to the dangers of eternal chemicals – the PFAS – in rivers and lakes, in groundwater and thus also in our drinking water. The expiry of the PFAS would be a very significant and important step. But there seems to be a l…

16

Dec

2024

DE Speech

Watch

Right to clean drinking water in the EU (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner! Access to clean drinking water is a human right – we have agreed on this here in the European Parliament in recent years. But this is not self-evident. This also means that we have to deal more intensively with which pollutants find their way into our water supply. We need a new approach to the topic of microplastics. We need to pay more attention to the ever more fr…

25

Nov

2024

DE Speech

Watch

Outcome of the UN Biodiversity Conference 2024 in Cali, Colombia (COP16) (debate)

Madam President, Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen. In the meantime, it should be clear to everyone that our natural resources are not well-ordered. This applies to our climate, this applies to the health of our soils and waters, and this applies to the stock of species. That's why COP 16 in Colombia should have been a real milestone to finally stop this negative trend. Once again, however, …

14

Mar

2024

DE Speech

Watch

Promised revision of the EU animal welfare legislation and the animal welfare-related European citizens’ initiatives (debate)

Madam President, esteemed Commissioner! The European Union currently has to deal with enormous challenges, which cover an incredible number of areas. Against this background, however, I have the impression that animal welfare is deliberately pushed backwards. This is often argued with the security of supply in food production, in addition to resistance from interest groups. However, I think that t…

6

Feb

2024

DE Speech

Watch

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

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, The debate on new genetic engineering is not about yes or no; For me, it is about three central aspects of consumer and health protection. Firstly: A risk assessment is required in advance for approvals. As a policy, we must not abandon this instrument of weighing up risks for humans, animals and nature. Capturing misdevelopments retrospectively is an immense…

15

Jan

2024

DE Speech

Watch

Ozone depleting substances - Fluorinated gases regulation (joint debate - Gas emissions)

Dear Mr President, dear Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, F-gases are used in a variety of everyday products such as refrigerators, air conditioners, heat pumps, asthma sprays, fire extinguishers, to name a few. Refrigerants also play an important role in the construction industry or in switchgear systems of our power supply systems. These synthetic refrigerants, the so-called F-gases, have an a…

21

Nov

2023

DE Answer

Watch

Sustainable use of plant protection products (debate)

There is already an incredible trend in Wachau that you can get away from pesticides here, so to speak. This is also a trend in viticulture that can no longer be stopped. As for the Wachau: This is certainly an extremely sensitive topic. I am sure that the proposal as a whole also takes this into account.…

21

Nov

2023

DE Speech

Watch

Sustainable use of plant protection products (debate)

Dear Madam President, dear Commissioner, We all know that everything we put into nature ends up on our plates and also in our bodies, and environmental toxins have lost absolutely nothing. In my view, this report would be a decisive step towards bringing the Green Deal back to the ground and onward. A clear stance is needed – beautiful headlines are not enough. We are in a situation where the four…

19

Oct

2023

DE Speech

Watch

European Citizens' Initiative 'Fur Free Europe' (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Fur farming is cruel and therefore over 1.5 million people have also supported the European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Felt-Free Europe’. Worldwide, an unimaginable number of animals are killed for their fur, including not only mink, but also foxes, rabbits or raccoons. The conditions of animals on fur farms are intolerable. Far too small cages make it impossible …

17

Oct

2023

DE Speech

Watch

Water scarcity and structural investments in access to water in the EU (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, In view of the current climate problems, increasing pollution, the threat of dehydration of our ecosystems, we cannot regard water as a self-evident and unlimited resource. We need to focus on the long-term benefits of investing in this natural resource, not on quick solutions to the water crisis. It's about rethinking the value of water. Our communities, cities…

16

Oct

2023

DE Speech

Watch

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

Madam President, Commissioner! More green investments in Europe in global competition: This also requires the STEP strategic technology platform. It is about strengthening our EU industrial location, and that means more in the end. The goal must be re-industrialization without smoking chimneys, with competitive technologies and industries. I firmly believe that: At the end of the Green Deal, there…

5

Oct

2023

DE Speech

Watch

Urban wastewater treatment (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, The pollution of our freshwater resources by industrial, chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and agricultural inputs is worrying. Municipal wastewater is one of these sources, with micropollutants from residues of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics being a major problem. The revision of the 30-year-old directive is overdue. New goals need to be defined and challenges …

4

Oct

2023

DE Speech

Watch

The proposed extension of glyphosate in the EU (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, The current discussion about the prolongation of glyphosate justifiably heats up the minds once again. The citizens’ initiative ‘Stop glyphosate’ managed to collect over 1.3 million signatures from the then 28 Member States in less than five months in 2017. The EFSA website states that the assessment of the effects of glyphosate on human, animal and environmenta…

11

Sep

2023

DE Speech

Watch

Surface water and groundwater pollutants (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner! The increasing challenges of climate change and pollution from industrial, chemical, pharmaceutical and agricultural activities are truly worrying. I assume that you will agree with me that both our groundwater and surface waters need to be better protected, and this report is also tackling this. The report before the vote supports these challenges and also supports …

17

Apr

2023

DE Speech

Watch

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)

Mr President, Commissioner! The results of the negotiations on the Fit-for-55 dossiers, which are due to be voted on this week, bring us a bit closer to a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. We can be satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations, even if I personally would have liked a more progressive outcome on one point or another. In the reform of emissions trading, we have achieved the inclusio…

29

Mar

2023

DE Speech

Watch

Fluorinated Gases Regulation - Ozone-depleting substances (debate)

Mr President! The now banned CFC is certainly still a term for many. It has been banned in the EU since 1995. Here, the ban has shown very impressively that this is the most effective way to advance research and innovation for real alternatives. F-gases can be found in air conditioning systems, heat pumps, switchgear or as propellant in asthma sprays. But they have a particularly high global warmi…

16

Mar

2023

DE Speech

Watch

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

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Pesticides are partly responsible for the decline in biodiversity and thus also for bee mortality. This is more than scientifically proven. Unfortunately, when it comes to a real reduction of conventional environmental toxins, many leave the courage, and it often remains only in symbolic politics. However, this is clearly not enough in view of the dramatic situa…

23

Nov

2022

DE Speech

Watch

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

Dear Mr President, Commissioner! We are once again experiencing a very emotional debate about the return of the wolf to our habitat. What I really criticize, however, is the way in which a debate has been raised by some political forces in recent years, which has acted and worked in the first place with fears, detached from facts and without concrete proposals for action and solutions. In the end,…

6

Oct

2022

DE Speech

Watch

The urgent need for an EU strategy on fertilisers to ensure food security in Europe (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner! The biggest problem for our prosperity and cohesion in Europe is dependence on imports. We see this in many areas: energy supply, the problems of global supply chains, but also in the agricultural sector. Russia, which has already been mentioned, is the world’s largest exporter of fertilisers. Up to 60% of fertilisers used in the EU come from Russia or Belarus. We all k…

3

Oct

2022

DE Speech

Watch

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control - Serious cross-border threats to health (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner! The coronavirus pandemic has shown that nation states are completely irresponsible in such a situation. They do not make sense in normal times, but a common crisis requires more solidarity and cooperation. However, it has also been shown that the European Union clearly has too few competences in this area. People have looked to Brussels for answers and solutions, but…

9

Mar

2022

DE Speech

Watch

General Union Environment Action Programme to 2030 (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner! For more than 40 years, the Environmental Action Programmes have defined European environmental and climate policy. The proposal for the now-negotiated Eighth Environmental Action Programme was presented by the Commission in 2020, a year in which we were in the midst of the pandemic. The current vote now strikes us at a time of great geopolitical crisis. We have war …

9

Mar

2022

DE Speech

Watch

Batteries and waste batteries (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. Batteries are a key technology for the energy transition in Europe. They are essential for sustainable mobility and for the storage of energy from renewable sources and are also an integral part of our daily lives. It is estimated that the total volume of industrial batteries, including those for e-bikes and electric vehicles, will increase from…

23

Nov

2021

DE Speech

Watch

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)

Dear Mr President, The objectives of the new common agricultural policy would have been very, very important for all of us, as the largest budget item of the European Union, to ensure that the CAP makes a decisive contribution to combating climate change and ensures greater sustainability and biodiversity, that we in Europe become more independent from food imports and that regional development an…

7

Jul

2021

DE Speech

Watch

General Union Environment Action Programme to 2030 (debate)

Mr President, dear Commissioner! The loss of biodiversity and climate change are unfortunately clearly documented, as well as the constant contamination of our water and soils by environmental toxins such as pesticides. As European leaders, we must consistently reduce the risks to our health and our ecosystems. We also received this mandate from so many voters in the last European elections. Unfor…