What Ville spoke about.

12 Feb

2025

EN Speech

Competitiveness Compass (debate)

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Mr President, where does industrial competitiveness come from? It comes from productivity. And where does productivity come from? Well, it comes from increasing the added value of our production chains and from technological leaderships. I think it is important that the Commission stops this kind of paradoxical view that at the same time the Commission says that the 90 % climate target is importan…

21 Jan

2025

FI Speech

Need to detect and to counter sabotage by the Russian shadow fleet, damaging critical undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea (debate)

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Mr President, it is absolutely ridiculous to claim that cable breakages in the Baltic Sea are damage. Suddenly, several tankers in the Baltic Sea would have started to drag their anchors tens of kilometres on the seabed without sabotage, and at the same time revolve around well-known cable routes - well, certainly not. Russia's shadow fleet must be stopped because of the major environmental and sa…

27 Nov

2024

FI Speech

Critical infrastructure vulnerabilities and hybrid threats in the Baltic Sea (debate)

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Mr President, the latest case is just one in a series of disruptions to critical links in the Baltic Sea for the EU. Last time this happened with the Balticconnector gas pipeline and the data cable connected to it, the main suspect was a Chinese vessel. And so it is this time as well. We suspect it's damage caused by a Chinese ship. We know that Russia is engaged in hybrid warfare and that Russia …

23 Oct

2024

FI Speech

EU actions against the Russian shadow fleets and ensuring a full enforcement of sanctions against Russia (debate)

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Mr President, the oil spills in the Baltic Sea and the money for Putin's fund of war. No, thank you! The Russian shadow fleet is transporting sanctioned Russian oil to the market at the expense of all of us. Many of these ships are old, unfit and underinsured. Their ownership is unclear and ships are registered under the flag of third countries to hide where the oil comes from and who really gets …

22 Oct

2024

FI Speech

Protection of European journalists reporting on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

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Mr President, democracy and a free society are dying in the darkness. Strong, independent media and freedom of expression are at the heart of democracy and ensure that our values are defended now and in the future. Journalists must be able to do their work safely. It is the basis for the communication of an open and free society, and that is what Putin is deeply afraid of. Russia's attacks on jour…

17 Sep

2024

EN Speech

State of the Energy union (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, I would also like to thank the Commissioner for committed work for a green energy transition in the last five years. But we are still in a position where a lot more needs to be done. And if we look at energy, it has always been a tool of geopolitics. Putin's war of aggression to Ukraine puts the EU in a serious spot. We have managed to cut our dependency on Putin's foss…

23 Apr

2024

FI Speech

Withdrawal of the Union from the Energy Charter Treaty (debate)

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Mr President, the fact that we, as the European Union, now decide to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty shows how far we have come in terms of climate action. This deal has been the only thing that fossil companies have had left as they desperately tried to slow down Europe's transition towards carbon-neutral and clean energy. In recent years, we have mobilised hundreds of billions, if not th…

13 Mar

2024

EN Speech

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

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Mr President, I am worried about the European governments’ capabilities to do the necessary future investments that Europe needs to also increase its competitiveness and productivity in the coming years. If you look at what the Chinese and the Americans are doing, they are spending a lot on decarbonisation and the green goals. More specifically, I would like to raise a question on spending on rese…

13 Mar

2024

EN Speech

This is Europe - Debate with the Prime Minister of Finland, Petteri Orpo (debate)

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Madam President, I do appreciate the way our Prime Minister spoke about European defence and the need to support Ukraine. On that, we Finns are united. Europe needs to lift itself in order to stop Putin’s war policy and his policy of aggression. However, our Prime Minister is a man of softly spoken words. He says, for example, that he wants to build on the Nordic labour model in Finland, when his …

28 Feb

2024

EN Speech

Strengthening European Defence in a volatile geopolitical landscape - Implementation of the common foreign and security policy – annual report 2023 - Implementation of the common security and defence policy – annual report 2023 (joint debate - European security and defence)

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Madam President, coming from the EU country that has the longest border with Russia, namely Finland, I cannot emphasise too much the need for us to move from words to operational strength in security and defence in Europe. It is important that we realise that we have to urgently put the focus on conventional weapons for Ukraine and our own defence readiness in making European cooperation the rule …

6 Feb

2024

EN Speech

EU2040 climate target (debate)

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Mr President, it’s imperative that we get the 2040 emission reduction target right from the start. That is both for the reality of the climate crisis to address that, but also for the efficient decarbonisation of the European economy. We must learn this from the 2020-2030 discussions. The communication feels, from that viewpoint, that of missed opportunities. The Commission has started with the 90…

17 Jan

2024

EN Speech

Geothermal energy (debate)

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Madam President, geothermal energy holds considerable untapped potential within the EU. Given its weather-independent, continuous, reliable and renewable nature, it can play a significant role in the decarbonisation of the energy sector, particularly in heating and cooling applications, and also including linking it with district heating, but also in strengthening the EU’s energy autonomy and enco…

17 Jan

2024

FI Speech

Norway's recent decision to advance seabed mining in the Arctic (debate)

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Mr President, solutions to the green transition and Europe's self-sufficiency must be found elsewhere than at the bottom of the sea. According to a study commissioned by WWF, a combination of circular economy, new technologies and recycling could reduce mineral demand by 58% between 2022 and 2050. Here is the solution we need. A sustainable solution is not to dig up ever more virgin natural resour…

16 Jan

2024

FI Speech

Keeping commitments and delivering military assistance to Ukraine (debate)

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Mr President, every second we debate in this Chamber in Russia, the wheels of the military economy spin. The Bank of Finland has calculated that Russia has increased the production of industries related to the war economy by 35 per cent since the pre-war period in Ukraine. In Russia, production is only increasing. At the same time, weapons are coming from North Korea and Iran. And what are we doin…

14 Dec

2023

FI Speech

Outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (COP28) (debate)

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Mr President, if you expected the climate conference in Dubai to resolve the climate crisis, you were deeply disappointed. If you were expecting even small bright spots in the fact that we are able to take adequate climate action, you can see them too. The bright spot, of course, is that the meeting, dominated and even hosted by fossil lobbyists, provided for the first time a record of humanity mo…

12 Dec

2023

SV Answer

Framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials (debate)

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Of course, as a former Minister for the Environment, I know that we must balance so that we can also open new mines in Finland and Sweden. But it must be done in cooperation with the toughest environmental requirements and we cannot override environmental protection issues or the rights of the Sami people. It is much better now to ensure that we invest in resource reuse and better circulation of r…

12 Dec

2023

FI Speech

Framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials (debate)

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Mr President, with this bill, the European Union is opening a fast lane for mining projects. By defining the status of a strategic project for a mining project, the Commission can in practice steer a Member State in the direction of dismantling environmental and nature conservation objectives and areas. This is the wrong direction. We cannot in any way pursue a green transition at the expense of n…

8 Nov

2023

EN Speech

State of the Energy Union (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, thank you to the Commission for this annual overview. I think this report highlights very well how we have tackled the worst of the energy crisis and managed to cut off a large share of imports from Russia and fossil fuels. But even if we acknowledge that, it is very clear that we need to do even more in the near future. Some Member States have replaced their dependency…

19 Oct

2023

FI Speech

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

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Mr President, fur farming is deeply unethical. All animals must be guaranteed species-specific behaviour, and breeding for killing in a small cage for fur causes them constant suffering, disease and behavioural disorders. The European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Fur Free Europe’ calls for a ban on fur farming across the EU and its message is clear. Fur farming must be banned as ethically and ecologicall…

4 Oct

2023

EN Speech

European green bonds (debate)

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Madam President, the European green bond standard regulation aspires to set the gold standard for European green bonds and aligning them rigorously with the taxonomy technical screening criteria and subjecting them to external review. On behalf of the ENVI opinion rapporteur, Bas Eickhout, I was asked to deliver a few comments on the outcome. The outcome introduces a voluntary standard, permitting…

11 May

2023

EN Speech

Protecting and restoring marine ecosystems for sustainable and resilient fisheries - Agreement of the IGC on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (High Seas Treaty) (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, I have to say I am surprised by the tone of this discussion. This is the spring when finally the nations of the world agreed on a global High Seas Treaty to protect our oceans and ocean wildlife. These have been exploited and we have risks of overfishing, risks of climate crisis, especially in the sensitive Arctic Ocean here near Europe. And this discussion is not talki…

18 Apr

2023

EN Speech

Energy storage (debate)

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Mr President, dear Commissioner, with the Fit for 55 package, energy and climate files are mainly agreed. We are now moving very fast into a renewables-based energy system, and renewables are the main tool to achieve the climate ambition. Currently, energy use accounts for 75% of our greenhouse gas emissions and for these emissions to be reduced in a cost efficient way, we also need different flex…

13 Mar

2023

EN Speech

Binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions by Member States (Effort Sharing Regulation) - Land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) - Revision of the Market Stability Reserve for the EU Emissions Trading System (debate)

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Mr President, thank you for the debate and the positive, constructive spirit. I obviously also want to answer to the question stated by one MEP about is this enough. Obviously, we all know when it comes to climate ambition and keeping the global warming to 1.5 degrees, or even close to that, we as Europe also need to do more. So when it comes to the land—use sector, my view is that this is the sta…

13 Mar

2023

EN Speech

Binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions by Member States (Effort Sharing Regulation) - Land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) - Revision of the Market Stability Reserve for the EU Emissions Trading System (debate)

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Madam President, the way we use our land and soils must change. Instead of contributing to climate change, it can and must be turned into being sustainable both for climate and nature. We must put an end to practices which are damaging for biodiversity and jeopardise the capacity of forests and soils to absorb carbon. This is the future for the economy as well. There is a growing demand for regene…

15 Feb

2023

FI Speech

Access to strategic critical raw materials (debate)

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Mr President, wind turbines, solar panels, batteries and electrolysers are the foundation of the future energy system and their manufacture requires various metals and minerals. Metal does not exist in the world indefinitely, and the demand for metal in the energy transition is multiplied by the current one. The nature of our planet cannot withstand this transformation unless we also change the wa…