What Michal spoke about.

28 Feb

2024

SK Speech

Need for an urgent Council decision in favour of amending the protection status of wolves in the Bern Convention (debate)

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Madam President, reducing the protection of the wolf means only introducing hunting. And this is absolutely inefficient and even counterproductive in terms of reducing damage to livestock. What it can do, however, is to create a framework for legalizing infected wolf individuals during the quota period. That's not fiction. Such a poacher, who shot a wolf in the freezer, currently manages our most …

7 Feb

2024

SK Speech

Empowering farmers and rural communities - a dialogue towards sustainable and fairly rewarded EU agriculture (debate)

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Madam President, agriculture needs help. So let's really focus on useful and effective solutions. We deal with fair prices, unfair trade practices, we deal with the impact of foreign imports, we deal with ever-increasing prices of inputs. But please, let us avoid an argument that is false, crooked and that says here that, while nature conservation is contrary to agriculture, it is an obstacle to i…

6 Feb

2024

SK Speech

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

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Madam President, I understand that new genomic techniques have undeniable advantages, speed up the breeding process and are tied to specific modifications to the genome of organisms. I don't understand one thing: how, when introducing such new organisms into practice, we can completely resign ourselves to risk assessment. We say that they are so safe that we do not need to label them and distingui…

17 Jan

2024

SK Speech

Geothermal energy (debate)

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Madam President, I am really pleased that we are finally seriously talking about geothermal energy. It's really high time. This energy has enormous potential for Europe. And at the same time, we have tremendous reserves in its use. Despite having large geothermal water reserves, Slovakia uses this potential to 2-3%. It is a local, clean and carbon-free energy, really a permanent and reliable sourc…

13 Dec

2023

SK Speech

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

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Madam President, the situation in Slovakia is serious. The major changes planned by the current government are not for the benefit of the public. On the contrary, they are tailor-made for selected persons who, through the pro-mafia package of dismantling specialised offices and reducing penalties, are supposed to escape justice. There is even a risk that the most serious crimes will be time-barred…

22 Nov

2023

SK Speech

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

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Madam President, protecting pollinators is not a whim. This is essential for biodiversity and therefore for the preservation of agriculture. The Commission's proposal to revise the initiative goes in the right direction because it is based on the basic premise that the protection of any species is built on the protection of its habitat, i.e. the conditions in which pollinators find food, escape, b…

19 Oct

2023

EN Speech

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

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Madam President, I am not used to speaking that soon in the debate, but thank you very much for the floor. I will continue in Slovak. – Vážená pani predsedajúca, to, čo budeme dneska konzultovať, je štvrtá úspešná občianska európska iniciatíva týkajúca sa vyslovene dobrých životných podmienok zvierat. Celkovo z počtu desiatich úspešných takýchto iniciatív ide až o šiestu, ktorá sa týka naozaj zále…

11 Sep

2023

EN Speech

Renewable Energy Directive (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the directive is good, but regarding the woody biomass, I have to be critical. What started as a policy construct in 2009 on how the large scale burning of wood is sustainable and allegedly does not result in carbon emissions only continues with the recast of this directive. The text strengthens the sustainability criteria on burning woody biomass yet it allows …

11 Jul

2023

SK Speech

Nature restoration (debate)

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Madam President, without restoring ecosystems, without restoring ecosystem functions and without restoring biodiversity, agriculture, forestry and fisheries simply cannot cope with the climate crisis. If I were not a Member of this House, I would have signed an appeal by thousands of scientists who are appealing to Parliament to reflect on science and reflect on the horrific state of our nature, o…

10 Jul

2023

EN Speech

Industrial Emissions Directive - Industrial Emissions Portal - Deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure - Sustainable maritime fuels (FuelEU Maritime Initiative) - Energy efficiency (recast) (joint debate - Fit for 55 and Industrial Emissions)

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Madam President, tomorrow we vote on the Industrial Emissions Directive. Despite tough negotiations, we agreed on a complex position with a solid von der Leyen majority. The report found a good balance between ensuring a high level of protection of the environment and human health and balancing the burden imposed on business. We have strengthened the cross-border elements of the file and general m…

13 Jun

2023

SK Speech

Humanitarian and environmental consequences of the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam - Sustainable reconstruction and integration of Ukraine into the Euro-Atlantic community (debate)

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Mr President, Russia is committing terrorism and ecocide in Ukraine. The destruction of the Nova Kachovka dam released a mass of water that took possessions, lives, absorbed pollutants and transported them to the Black Sea, degraded agricultural land and destroyed protected areas. Thus, biodiversity and the environment of the entire area are fundamentally endangered. This catastrophe, ecocide and …

11 May

2023

SK Speech

Prohibiting chick and duckling killing in EU law (debate)

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Madam President, when I first saw the document about the slaughter of day-old chicks, I was shocked. The natural tendency to protect a tiny chick was confronted with the harsh reality of how that tiny beeping bird was thrown into a grinder and crushed in a fraction of a second. One male after another, half laying just because they did not fit into the breeding. I still remember my wife's words. If…

20 Apr

2023

EN Speech

IPCC report on Climate Change: a call for urgent additional action (debate)

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Mr President, we are on track to exceed 1.5 degrees in the next decade and 2 degrees by mid-century. Of the 15 massive ecosystem tipping points that will be exceeded at two degrees, some of them are dangerously within sight. And yet we are only at around 1.1 degrees of warming. The IPCC finds that all pathways that effectively limit warming depend on some quantity of carbon removal. Many carbon—re…

16 Mar

2023

SK Speech

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

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Madam President, let us save bees and farmers. A very clear call for another successful citizens' initiative on the environment. It's also about saving farmers. The practices that we are still mass-promoting are destroying bees, depriving the country of life and threatening the very nature of agriculture. Let's talk about how many pesticides need to be eliminated, but let's not argue that reducing…

16 Feb

2023

SK Speech

Availability of fertilisers in the EU (debate)

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Madam President, the shortage of fertilisers and their high price is closely linked to the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the disruption of traditional gas supplies. We have managed gas shortages, cut ourselves off from Russia and diversified our suppliers, but at the same time we have targeted savings and significantly deployed alternatives. We need to apply the same procedure to the issue of …

14 Feb

2023

SK Speech

CO2 emission standards for cars and vans (debate)

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Madam President, the objective of a complete reduction in emissions from passenger transport is indeed a huge contribution to the climate and, at the same time, a strong modernisation stream in road transport, with benefits for air quality, noise and public health. Believe me, especially for Slovakia, the country that produces the most cars per capita, this is a very fundamental shift, but not at …

13 Dec

2022

SK Speech

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

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Madam President, renewable energy sources are indeed crucial in combating climate change, in lowering energy prices and in ensuring a seamless energy supply to the European Union and, ultimately, in breaking away from the dictate of fossil fuels. This is why we really need to remove the administrative barriers that prevent us from making the most of them and developing their full potential. Howeve…

12 Dec

2022

SK Speech

A long-term vision for the EU's rural areas (debate)

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Madam President, unfortunately we have it again. The need to reduce the protection of the wolf has been mentioned in the rural development plans. It is said that we should be consistent with Parliament's previous rather unfortunate position. At the Bern Convention Standing Committee on 2 December 2022, all 27 Member States unanimously rejected Switzerland’s request to reduce the protection of the …

23 Nov

2022

SK Speech

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

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Mr President, it is indeed a strange resolution that calls for what has long been legally possible. All the instruments we are asking for are long in the hands of the Member States, including killing problematic individuals of protected wolf, bear or lynx species where this is really the last and only option. It really needs to be made clear that this initiative was taken by the AGRI Committee, bu…

13 Sep

2022

SK Speech

Renewable Energy Directive (debate)

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Mr President, the reform of the directive was supposed to be about reforming the use of biomass for energy, so that in the vain attempt to save the climate by burning wood, we would not destroy our forests. Subsidies for wood burning had to be reduced and the inclusion of wood burning in renewable energy sources had to be prohibited. This was the position of the ENVI Committee. Instead, however, w…

12 Sep

2022

EN Speech

Deforestation Regulation (debate)

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(start of speech off-mic) global deforestation that cannot be done without Europe. And in that regard, I am very happy that this House is ready to acknowledge our responsibility in tackling this issue. The final text is very well balanced. It is based on solid science, and all we need is to support it. What I am, however, concerned about is a lack of coherence with other legislation, and in partic…

5 Jul

2022

SK Speech

Objection pursuant to Rule 111(3): Amending the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act and the Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act (debate)

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Mr President, the role of the Green Taxonomy was a completely clear, unambiguous and precise list of green, renewable and sustainable technologies. There is a great interest in investing in such technologies and there is a great need to invest in such technologies as they define our path to save the climate. The inclusion of gas and kernel in the list weakens the list, confuses the user of the lis…

7 Jun

2022

SK Speech

Binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions by Member States (Effort Sharing Regulation) - Land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) - CO2 emission standards for cars and vans (joint debate – Fit for 55 (part 2))

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Mr President, we are indeed facing a huge challenge to save the climate, and thus ourselves. I am really pleased with the many objectives that this Parliament represents, proposes and supports in this fight. But at the same time, I watch with concern how reluctantly we admit that ecosystems and nature alone can work for our benefit. We literally don't give them a chance. We print technical solutio…

5 Apr

2022

SK Speech

Trans-European energy infrastructure (debate)

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Madam President, Europe's energy infrastructure, as the climate crisis shows and as the terrible war in Ukraine shows, is no longer just about connectivity, and it should be an infrastructure that allows and enables us to meet our climate goals and guarantees us security. What destabilises our climate, what threatens our security and ultimately threatens our future and survival, are fossil resourc…

20 Jan

2022

SK Speech

Protection of animals during transport - Protection of animals during transport (Recommendation) (debate)

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Madam President. Animal transport has two major problems. The first is a massive circumvention of existing rules to guarantee animals good transport conditions. And the second is even more serious. The ANIT Committee was indeed very thorough in questioning the experts and they were quite clear in this regard that it was impossible to ensure animal welfare for the selected types of transport. I am …