What Eugen spoke about.

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EN Written Statement

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)

With sanctions against Russia, little is said about an important issue – the form by which trade barriers against Russia are and will be imposed. Whether these are import bans (quotas, embargoes) or tariffs. In my opinion, it is more advantageous for EU Member States to introduce import duties instead of bans. This is why: with trade bans, the supply of imported goods is reduced and therefore the …

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SK Written Statement

Cohesion policy: promoting innovative and smart transformation and regional ICT connectivity (short presentation)

I will vote against a report that wants to move people away from areas where they have been moving themselves for a long time for better conditions. For better jobs, higher wages and better housing, people have been moving to cities for hundreds of years. If we incentivise them to return to debt now, we can get into trouble at a time when we in the EU will lack public resources not only to maintai…

13

Mar

2024

SK Speech

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European Semester for economic policy coordination 2024 – European Semester for economic policy coordination: employment and social priorities for 2024 (joint debate – European Semester)

Mr President, the common economic and fiscal rules in the European Union should aim at strong economic growth. To support this objective, more than a decade ago, the European Semester was also set up to oversee the order in the economic and fiscal policies of the Member States. In recent years, however, the semester has become quite overloaded. More social and green policies have come to the fore,…

5

Feb

2024

SK Speech

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Union-wide effect of certain driving disqualifications (debate)

Mr President, if a police officer, in the event of a serious breach of the rules, prohibits a foreign driver from driving a car, this prohibition should, in my view, apply throughout the Union, not just in that country, as is the case today. In my view, we can commend the Commission for such proposals. Especially since up to 40% of cross-border offences remain impunity today. Every citizen of the …

5

Feb

2024

SK Speech

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Instant payments in euro (debate)

Madam President, the banking sector in most of the Member States of the European Union seems to have fallen asleep in some segments. Payments to another bank, domestic or foreign, take several days. Competing with traditional banks, i.e. modern fintech companies, allows instant payments throughout the European Union, and even mostly for free. Currently, banks do not offer such services mainly due …

15

Jan

2024

SK Speech

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Amendments to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) - Amendments to the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) (joint debate - Markets in financial instruments regulations)

Madam President, I welcome the increased transparency and availability of price data on capital markets brought about by this proposal. Increasing transparency is important to increase the credibility of trading on capital markets for all categories of investors. This will lead to increased competition and thus easier access to finance from capital markets. Higher investment costs for retail inves…

15

Jan

2024

SK Speech

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

Mr President, reducing the use of hydrofluorocarbons is a nice example of effective action to combat climate change. Indeed, according to the impact assessment for this proposal and independent studies, the cost of removing one tonne of CO2 equivalent by such a restriction is even lower than the European Union Emissions Trading System ETS. The ETS is one of the cheapest ways to reduce emissions in…

13

Dec

2023

SK Speech

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Planned dissolution of key anti-corruption structures in Slovakia and its implications on the Rule of Law (continuation of debate)

Madam President, corruption is certainly not Covid, but it is also transmissible across borders. It is therefore legitimate for EU bodies to deal with corruption in individual Member States. To some extent, corruption in one Member State is corruption throughout the Union. Robert Fico's government wants to dissolve the Special Prosecutor's Office, which focuses on the prosecution of corruption and…

21

Nov

2023

SK Speech

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EU/New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (debate)

Madam President, I welcome the conclusion of the free trade agreement between the EU and New Zealand. I am surprised that there are such loud forces in the European Parliament that prevent protectionism, that is to say, they prevent selected producers at the expense of all consumers. Gross domestic product is estimated to grow by between €1.8 billion and €3.9 billion on the EU side thanks to the a…

20

Nov

2023

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Common rules promoting the repair of goods

Madam President, the new right to repair is intended to guarantee the repair of a mobile phone or washing machine, for example, throughout its lifetime. In particular, the manufacturer will have to produce all the spare parts and tools needed for repair throughout the lifetime of the product. However, the proposed measure may not be environmentally or economically advantageous, as producing all sp…

9

Nov

2023

SK Speech

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System of own resources of the European Union (debate)

Madam President, the primary objective of Next Generation EU was to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the pandemic. This is my first comment. The implementation process has shifted to the objectives of digitalisation and the Green Deal. Later, resources were used to address the energy crisis and Ukraine. Rather, this shows that the objectives of this package were not quite clear from the outse…

18

Oct

2023

SK Speech

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Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report 2022 (debate)

Mr President, I also appreciate the work of the European Court of Auditors this year, but I will add something else this year. Given the challenges facing the European Union, I believe that the key statements of the European Court of Auditors should be more forceful. So far, we have not been able to implement a system ensuring the sustainability of public finances. So far, we have not been able to…

17

Oct

2023

SK Speech

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General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2024 - all sections (debate)

Mr President, the long-term problem with the eurobudget is regular, politically marketing increases in expenditure. The budgetary challenges have been overshadowed in recent years by high inflation rates, which also help the Union to reduce the relative burden of its debt. At the beginning, inflation helps the budget, at the end it hurts. Moreover, most Member States already face medium to large c…

16

Oct

2023

SK Speech

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

Madam President, if the objective is a successful Union and an increase in the standard of living of Europeans, we should not choose, centrally and without published measurable criteria, the sectors that we will subsidise. There is a risk that we will spend taxpayers' money and not achieve our goals. The effort to select winners in the European Union is not new. For example, 15 years ago, France a…

4

Oct

2023

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Need to complete new trade agreements for sustainable growth, competitiveness and the EU’s strategic autonomy (debate)

Madam President, I appreciate the Commission's efforts to conclude free trade agreements. Free trade agreements contribute to offsetting the negative effects of the current crises. By increasing economic growth and quality of life, they will increase the resilience of supply chains and are one of the few tools to reduce the still high inflation in a relatively painless manner. Let us be careful th…

4

Oct

2023

SK Speech

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European green bonds (debate)

Mr President, I agree with greater transparency and scrutiny of the financial instruments that we will call "green". However, the error of the proposal is in its bureaucratic approach, where politicians and officials decide what is green, often at odds with scientific knowledge. Thus, for example, there was a risk that nuclear power generation would not be included in the taxonomy and thus be cons…

12

Sep

2023

SK Speech

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Single market emergency instrument (debate)

Madam President, we know with certainty today that there will be another crisis in the future. We don't know where he's coming from, but he's coming. It is therefore good that we, as a Union, want to be better prepared for it. However, I do not entirely agree with the solution proposed, so that the Commission can, during the next crisis, impose what is to be produced by which firm. For example: Le…

11

Jul

2023

SK Speech

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COVID-19 pandemic: lessons learned and recommendations for the future (debate)

Mr President, after the crisis which the COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly was, it is important to draw lessons from all the positives and negatives in order to act as effectively as possible in future crises. The European Union’s innovative approach to introducing COVID passports was the right step forward. These passports allowed for the safe free movement of persons. This initiative has been well i…

12

Jun

2023

SK Speech

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Large transport infrastructure projects in the EU (debate)

Mr President, major transport projects of EU importance are among the largest investments co-financed by the European Union budget. It is therefore of the utmost importance that their financing is efficient. I therefore appreciate the latest non-legislative report dealing with these projects, for three reasons. Firstly, it draws attention precisely to their problems so far, due to which even ineff…

12

Jun

2023

SK Speech

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Competition policy - annual report 2022 (debate)

Mr President, I am pleased that the report states that protecting competition increases consumer welfare. There is little talk about it today. I am also pleased that he prefers foreign trade over protectionism. And that has to be repeated all the time. I am also pleased that an amendment has been introduced to the proposal, according to which problems with lack of competition can also be effective…

9

May

2023

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Start of the European Year of skills (debate)

Madam President, the ever-changing labour market requires new skills from workers. The European Year of Skills aims to promote training, upskilling and attracting talent to the European Union. The success of this project is evaluated according to the number of events and other outputs, which is not sufficient. It should be measured how in-work productivity has increased thanks to the European Year…

9

May

2023

SK Speech

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Revision of the Stability and Growth Pact (debate)

Mr President, Europe has a serious problem ahead of it. In addition to the consequences of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, energy prices, it is also burdened by an ageing population and relatively costly green policies, which, together with all this, will lead to an increase in public spending of more than three percent of GDP per year. As a matter of principle, Member States should therefore al…

15

Feb

2023

SK Speech

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Access to strategic critical raw materials (debate)

Madam President, the shift from the use of fossil fuels to low-carbon technologies is increasing demand for the extraction of non-traditional raw materials. Opponents of the extraction of these raw materials argue that it destroys living conditions, especially the local community. The same is true for fossil fuels. The negative consequences of mining need to be addressed in both cases. However, th…

15

Feb

2023

SK Speech

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European Central Bank - annual report 2022 (debate)

Madam President, interest rate increases are finally bearing fruit in the form of falling year-on-year inflation. High inflation is a serious economic problem, also a social problem, it destroys the purchasing power of money, destroys savings, increases uncertainty, makes planning impossible, discourages investment. Reducing high inflation to persistently low levels must therefore remain a top pri…

14

Feb

2023

SK Speech

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CO2 emission standards for cars and vans (debate)

Mr President, the fight against climate change is humanity's largest publicly funded project. That is why we must do our best to focus on its effectiveness. Contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is an excellent goal, but it would be quite expensive to achieve through electromobility compared to other alternative solutions. Therefore, I cannot agree with the proposal to ban even…