What Bert-Jan spoke about.

8 Jun

2022

NL Speech

Parliament’s right of initiative (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the proposal on a right of initiative for the European Parliament is yet another attempt to make the EU a superstate, arguing that this Parliament is the only directly elected EU institution. And the latter may be the case, but the ministers in the Council are all subject to democratic control, namely that of their own national parliament. So the question is not…

7 Jun

2022

NL 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, ladies and gentlemen, in order for the CO2 reduction plans to succeed, three points are needed: - fair distribution among Member States; - flexibility in the implementation so that countries can opt for the most cost-effective approach; and - realistic objectives. Unfortunately, the plans for the ESR and LULUCF do not meet any of these preconditions: - The Netherlands has to reduce 4…

18 May

2022

NL Speech

Minimum level of taxation for multinational groups (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, the fact that we have agreed within the OECD on a global minimum rate of taxation for multinationals is a good thing. After all, this is an important point for us to make in order to combat tax avoidance. What concerns me, however, is the generous conferral of delegated powers on the Commission in the report as it stands. In this way, we give the Commission a lot of lee…

18 May

2022

NL Speech

The killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqla and the violent incidents at her funeral (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, at the time of the death of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, first of all our thoughts go to the relatives. What a shock. What a sadness to lose such a loved one. The biggest mistake we can make today is to draw premature conclusions. Yes, we saw images and explanations, but the actual facts must be clear from further investigation. The same goes for the funeral confrontat…

4 May

2022

NL Speech

Reports of continued organ harvesting in China

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Mr President, the obscure Chinese trade in organs is of serious concern to us. There are reports of systematic organ harvesting, which mainly affects Falun Gong supporters and prisoners. The lack of openness in organ transplants does not improve the situation. However, this issue is not an isolated one: Concerns about the human rights situation in the People’s Republic of China are accumulating. H…

4 May

2022

NL Speech

Discharge 2020 (debate)

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Mr President, I would like to draw attention to the Palestinian textbooks in the European Commission's discharge report. Once again, European taxpayers' money has been spent on textbooks full of anti-Semitism, full of calls for hatred and violence. This problem has been going on for years. Parliament has been criticising this expenditure for years. However, the problem is not getting any less. A r…

2 May

2022

NL Speech

Persecution of minorities on the grounds of belief or religion (short presentation)

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Mr President, this report on religious minorities and the persecution they face is a good thing. However, I agree with the concerns raised by Peter van Dalen about the fact that Christians are not or hardly mentioned in the report and that a lot of information has been amended. I think this is a very bad thing. What I find particularly inexplicable and indigestible, however, is that the report cri…

2 May

2022

NL Speech

EU action plan for organic agriculture (debate)

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Mr President, Simone Schmiedtbauer's report has become an excellent and very balanced report. What particularly appeals to me in this report is the question-orientation. I am strongly convinced that percentages and targets imposed from above are counterproductive and lead to market distortions and price falls, which do not serve anyone, and certainly not the organic farmer. That is why we do well …

2 May

2022

NL Speech

Amending Annexes IV and V to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants (debate)

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Mr President, public health must of course take precedence in setting limit values for pollution in recycled products. However, we must consider whether this is possible from the point of view of sorting. Mr Vondra's amendments therefore deserve our full support. I welcome the inclusion of PFAS in the annex, but I nevertheless believe that more action is needed in this area. This is because discha…

6 Apr

2022

NL Speech

Human rights situation in North Korea, including the persecution of religious minorities

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Mr President, Commissioner, the people of North Korea have been suffering from a brutal dictatorship for decades. They are supposed to worship the Kims as gods. Don't they? If they entrust themselves to the God of the Bible, as Christians do, they disappear behind bars, or worse, they are killed, as happened recently with dozens of Christians gathered in the deepest secret. Today, with our resolut…

5 Apr

2022

NL Speech

Outcome of the EU-China Summit (1 April 2022) (debate)

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President, High Representative, last week’s EU-China summit reminded me of the previous summit in 2020. Then Merkel and Macron thought they could conclude an investment agreement just as quickly. The summit symbolised the EU’s ambivalent attitude towards China: Beautiful words about human rights, but in the end the wallet is more important. The tone last week was emphatically different, but I stil…

4 Apr

2022

NL Speech

Future of fisheries in the Channel, North Sea, Irish Sea and Atlantic Ocean (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, Brexit has not made life easy for the EU fishermen concerned. Quotas have been reduced. Trading them has become more difficult. Additional requirements for fishing gear and unilateral closure of areas were encountered. What will happen after 2026? That is also very uncertain. Of course, we should try to resolve bottlenecks as much as possible in the spirit of good neigh…

10 Mar

2022

NL Speech

Destruction of cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Armenia has a very rich history. It was the first country in the world to proclaim Christianity as a national religion in the fourth century AD. Many thousands of locations, including in Nagorno-Karabakh, remind us of this. Due to the long-running conflict with Azerbaijan, this cultural and religious heritage is now under enormous threat. Many monu…

10 Mar

2022

NL Speech

Myanmar, one year after the coup

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Mr President, Commissioner, the war in Ukraine is attracting almost all attention, and we would almost forget that terrible things are happening elsewhere in the world. Like in Myanmar, where a coup d'état took place more than a year ago that violently crushed the still fragile democracy. The sad balance after one year: more than 7 000 targeted attacks on civilians by the military; nearly 1 500 pe…

9 Mar

2022

NL Speech

Debate with the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas - The EU's role in a changing world and the security situation of Europe following the Russian aggression and invasion of Ukraine (debate)

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Mr President, Prime Minister, Mr High Representative, the war in Ukraine has hit us hard. War in Europe? That was a thing of the past. Investing in defense? All this was no longer necessary, found many parties. Now we know better. We have to change course, that much is clear. No, not by creating a new European chain of command, let alone forming a European army, but by cooperating and coordinating…

15 Feb

2022

NL Speech

Human rights and democracy in the world – annual report 2021 (continuation of debate)

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Mr President, High Representative Borrell, on 28 October I received the following letter: “In particular, do not worry, Mr Ruissen. The reappointment of the Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion has my full attention. Yours sincerely, Ursula von der Leyen’ We are now four months away and the post is still vacant after almost two and a half years. Mr. Borrell, when will this promise finally be fulf…

15 Feb

2022

NL Speech

EU-Africa relations (debate)

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Mr President, the forthcoming EU-Africa summit offers very good opportunities to give fresh impetus to cooperation with Africa, and that is desperately needed. Geopolitics, to counterbalance China, which increasingly sees Africa as a wingewest, but also because it is simply our moral duty to also contribute to the fight against hunger and poverty in the world. The agricultural sector in particular…

14 Feb

2022

NL Speech

Implementation report on on-farm animal welfare (debate)

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Mr President, in the Bible, the most read book in the world, you sometimes come across very surprising regulations about animal welfare. For example, a farmer in Israel was not allowed to muzzle an ox during threshing, so that the animal could also eat a bite occasionally while working. The task of taking good care of our animals is therefore of all times, but each time has its own challenges. Wha…

20 Jan

2022

NL Speech

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the European Union (continuation of debate)

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Mr President, let me be crystal clear today. Giving room for abortion is undoubtedly one of the greatest mistakes of our time and I would therefore like to make an urgent appeal to the French Presidency to withdraw and withdraw its plans to include abortion in the Charter as soon as possible. Research shows that 31 percent of women regret having an abortion, with an increased risk of suicide, ment…

19 Jan

2022

NL Speech

Violations of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong

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Mr President, for the fourth time during this mandate, we are here to discuss the situation in Hong Kong, and that is not without reason. What was once one of the most free and democratic regions in Asia has now become defenceless prey in the obsessive claws of the Chinese Communist Party. As more and more independent media and NGOs are silenced, the free provision of news is increasingly at risk.…

16 Dec

2021

NL Speech

The situation in Cuba, namely the cases of José Daniel Ferrer, Lady in White Aymara Nieto, Maykel Castillo, Luis Robles, Félix Navarro, Luis Manuel Otero, Reverend Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, Andy Dunier García and Yunior García Aguilera

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Mr President, Commissioner, lack of everything. This is perhaps the best description of the distressing situation of many Cubans today, with only one way out of their despair: peaceful protest – a protest that was then violently crushed by President Díaz-Canel, calling on his supporters to counter-protest and fight for the revolution. It's the pinnacle of a system that has blaming others as the on…

15 Dec

2021

NL Speech

The European Commission Guidelines on inclusive language (topical debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, in two weeks' time it will be Christmas. Let's look at God's intervention in history. He sent His Son to this dark world – this dark world in need – to provide light and salvation. As churches across Europe prepare for this, Commissioner Dalli and her officials were working to remove Christmas from the vocabulary. The inclusive language they advocate apparently excludes…

24 Nov

2021

NL Speech

Outcome of the COP26 in Glasgow (debate)

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Mr President, now that the dust from COP26 has settled, we are taking stock today, and I will limit myself to three comments. One, it is a good thing that we as the EU want to be at the forefront, but if we are too far ahead of the troops, we are competing ourselves out of the market. Two, the EU cannot do this alone. Countries with a lot of polluting industries, such as China and India, must also…

23 Nov

2021

NL Speech

Multilateral negotiations in view of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva, 30 November to 3 December 2021 (debate)

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Mr President, the Ministerial Conference is a good opportunity to give a new impetus to the World Trade Organization, including as regards the dispute settlement system, because an open multilateral trading system with fair rules of the game is in everyone's interest, certainly also in the interest of Europe. I shall confine myself to fishing and the debate on fisheries subsidies. International ag…

23 Nov

2021

NL Speech

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)

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Mr President, if we take our food security seriously, our farmers deserve great respect, appreciation and support. After all, it is they who, day after day, take care of our food supply and our countryside according to the highest standards in the world. This requires a balanced policy in which sustainability and commitment to competing companies go hand in hand. Mr President, what is and remains …