Speeches

The next item is the vote. Please don't forget to put in all your voting cards, because everything is going to be roll call. So you will need to be pressing the buttons now.

Let me inform you that the plenary Chamber is a place for the oral exchange of views and expressions of opinion. The display of banners is, indeed, not allowed by the Rules of Procedure, and there has been a Court ruling on that as well regarding the flags. Members who are displaying visual and political symbols have been asked to take them off before speaking.

The next item is Parliament's statement on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (2024/2908(RSP)). And I would ask my colleagues once again to really, especially during this debate, keep the room calm, because this is an important day we are commemorating today and it is a really important debate.

The next item is the Commission statement on foreign interference and hybrid attacks: the need to strengthen EU resilience and international security (2024/2884(RSP)).

The next item is the Commission statement on the important role of cities and regions in the EU – for green, social and prosperous local development (2024/2869(RSP)).

The next sitting will take place tomorrow, Wednesday 23 October 2024, starting at 9:00 a.m. The agenda has been published and is available on the European Parliament’s website.

We will now move on to the explanations of vote on the establishment of the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism and the provision of exceptional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine. And since I don't see my colleague Kelly here, I'll ask my colleague Tynkenkan, please.

The next item is the Commission statement on World Mental Health Day – the need for a comprehensive EU mental health strategy (2024/2859(RSP)). And I am very happy to have this debate today, on World Mental Health Day. So I would ask Commissioner Schinas again for an introductory word on behalf of the Commission.

Mr President, housing is a problem throughout the European Union, especially for young people. The worst thing is in Slovakia. Young people have the worst availability of independent housing across the European Union. More than half a million adults live with their parents. It's an agony with an uncertain ending. Whether for unattainable mortgages or very expensive rents. Yes, we need to build new apartments, we need to build new housing. Let's start where we are built. There are a number of buildings across the European Union, including in Slovakia, that are unused and could be home. And their renovation, their adaptation, energy efficiency are an opportunity not only to address affordable housing, but also to help tackle the climate crisis. Because housing must be sustainable, so that both rental prices and energy prices are not liquidation. We really need to keep our cities green and create better conditions with this approach. And we can only do it together, as a Union, by helping regions, cities and municipalities.

Mr President, Commissioner, the floods in Central Europe have shown the terribleness of the climate crisis in recent days. But they were just the culmination of a summer of extreme heat. Since mid-June, we have had temperatures above 30 degrees in Slovakia every day. Drought, which destroyed farmers' crops, often deprived them of up to a third of their crops, alternating with extreme rainfall and flash floods, such as in Vyšný Kubín, which destroyed many people's crops. The climate crisis is turning into climate disasters. And every bit we can reduce global warming by will save thousands, if not millions, of lives. But at the same time, we need to start adapting. To adapt our country, our cities, so that we do not continue to do communist concreting of the agricultural landscape, but to do what our ancestors did. They worked with nature. So that our cities and our villages are not concreted, but greened, so that the climatic conditions are much milder. And all this will depend both on the next European Commission and on whether nation states can and will be willing to implement these things.

Your party was governing Poland for many years – eight. How do you explain that you were not able to get through the prevention measures, while you blame it on those who wanted you to uphold the Polish laws?

The first item is the Commission statement on droughts and extreme weather events as a threat to local communities and EU agriculture in times of climate change (2024/2807(RSP)).

The next item is the Commission statement on the State of the Energy Union (2024/2813(RSP)). I would like to start by asking Commissioner Kadri Simson to make a speech.