What Silvia spoke about.

18

Oct

2022

FI Speech

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Growing hate crimes against LGBTIQ people across Europe in light of the recent homophobic murder in Slovakia (debate)

To the previous speaker, I would like to say that no Member State is free from hate crimes. Not Slovakia, not Finland in my country. It's everywhere, and that's why it's every one of us's responsibility to make sure we don't support hate speech. We stand up to it every time we hear it. In this Chamber, I have repeatedly heard hate speech against rainbow minorities, ethnic minorities, Roma, linguis…

18

Oct

2022

FI Speech

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Growing hate crimes against LGBTIQ people across Europe in light of the recent homophobic murder in Slovakia (debate)

Mr President, the murders in Bratislava have shocked the entire European rainbow community. Young people murdered in front of a gay bar were subjected to hate crime only because they belonged to a rainbow minority, because this was the only thing the murderer knew about them. Although it is only the perpetrator who is legally responsible for the murder, it is still the responsibility of all of us,…

5

Oct

2022

FI Speech

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Russia’s escalation of its war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, Russia's aggression is getting worse. Threatening with nuclear weapons is in itself a violation of international law and a threat before which we will not retreat from our support for Ukraine. The explosion of the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea must be thoroughly investigated by an independent body and we must ensure that our entire critical infrastructure can be secured from…

13

Sep

2022

FI Speech

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This is Europe - Debate with the Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin (debate)

Mr President, Prime Minister Marin, this, both through the European Parliament and through your government, has been curbed by many simultaneous crises. We are living in very challenging times, when we need to be able to respond at the same time to several crises that threaten the foundations of our lives. The COVID-19 pandemic hit both societies and citizens hard, and the crisis is still not over…

5

Jul

2022

FI Speech

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

Mr Huhtasaari, you said that one of the most important tasks of the state is to guarantee the safety of its citizens. I fully agree with you, but you still object, although this delegated act means that it will be more difficult for Finland and Estonia, for example, to release Russian natural gas. For example, this taxonomy regulation does not recognise the joint floating LNG terminal of Estonia a…

5

Jul

2022

FI Speech

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

Mr President, the recipe for combating climate change is, in the end, quite simple: emissions need to be brought down, sinks and biodiversity up, and financial flows need to support this ecological reconstruction. Taxonomy is an important tool in diverting cash flows to the investments needed to make the necessary transition. Financial institutions and investors convey a consistent message: We nee…

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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Question Time (Commission) Increasing EU ambitions on biodiversity ahead of COP 15

Thank you, Commissioner Sinkevičius. And what about the measurable targets? Because we need an agreement with measurable targets. How will we bind the finance to the measurable targets? Because as we have failed completely in our 2020 targets, so have all the countries I know, including my own, has failed their biodiversity targets for 2020. So, we don’t have a very strong reference there to give …

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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Question Time (Commission) Increasing EU ambitions on biodiversity ahead of COP 15

Mr President, biodiversity, of course, has an absolute value in itself, but it’s also a crucial part in our fight against climate change. The stronger the biodiversity is, the better is our planet’s resilience ahead of the inevitable warming we are heading to. That is why we need a strong international agreement. I refuse to accept that the momentum has gone due to these postponements. I think if …

22

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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Voting time

Madam President, the process with this ETS file does not live up to what I consider to be the highest values of democratic decision-making. In the last plenary session, the ETS proposal was voted down and referred back to committee. Where I come from, referring back to the committee means the plenary did not find the proposal sufficient, for whatever reasons, and by referring back to the committee…

7

Jun

2022

FI Speech

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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))

Mr President, imagine yourself in a boat on the high seas. The boat starts to leak, the water comes in visibly at an ever-accelerating speed. How to react? Are you going to start battering the water away as quickly as possible, or are you going to announce that the burden is just too great for you right now, and you are going to wait for someone else to solve the situation? Or do you trust that th…

7

Jun

2022

FI Speech

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Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System - Social Climate Fund - Carbon border adjustment mechanism - Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System for aviation - Notification under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) (joint debate – Fit for 55 (part 1))

Mr President, Parliament has recognised the climate emergency and, in response, we have signed the Paris Agreement and enacted a climate law obliging ourselves to base climate decisions on scientific advice in order to be on a safe path. At the same time, it is estimated that one and a half degrees will be exceeded in less than eight years, and yet we are dealing with the climate package, the base…

19

May

2022

FI Speech

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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)

Mr President, the steps taken by the Commission to break away from Russian energy include many highly supportable measures, such as increased energy efficiency, energy savings and renewable sources, but also very questionable choices, such as the weakening of emissions trading and fossil investments. At the same time as we break away from Russian energy, we must remember that the climate crisis ha…

6

Apr

2022

FI Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 24-25 March 2022: including the latest developments of the war against Ukraine and the EU sanctions against Russia and their implementation (debate)

Mr President, Russia's cruel and illegal war against Ukraine must be condemned and the news of the atrocities committed by the Russians in recent days must be thoroughly and independently investigated and the perpetrators brought before the International Criminal Court. It is not just the future of Ukraine that is at stake, it is the future of all of us. It is a matter of each independent country'…

4

Apr

2022

FI Speech

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Revision of the Market Stability Reserve for the EU Emissions Trading System (debate)

Mr President, for a long time the price of emissions trading fell behind in a way that did not encourage the necessary changes. There were too many rights, the price was low and, in addition, free allocations distorted and ETS compensations granted by governments weakened the effectiveness of the ETS. Indeed, according to the European Court of Auditors' report, free allocations have slowed down th…

4

Apr

2022

FI Speech

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Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (debate)

Mr President, the last reports of the IPCC tell us that we are running out of time and that political decisions are still lacking. The good news is that we are still able to influence and mitigate the negative effects, but it requires that we take action vigorously and immediately. With the current model, we are crossing the 1.5 degree limit already within ten years, and when the 1.5 degree limit …

9

Mar

2022

FI Speech

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Batteries and waste batteries (debate)

Mr President, there has been disagreement in this Chamber on many ways of climate policy and sustainable development. I hope and believe that the circular economy is a solution that presents itself as an opportunity in which everyone wins. As we get rid of the over-exploitation of virgin natural resources, we create new value chains and enable the creation of new jobs. When waste is already planne…

9

Mar

2022

FI Speech

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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)

Mr President, Prime Minister, the war started by Russia is totally unacceptable. It is a cruel and cowardly attack on a sovereign state, and completely innocent civilians are its greatest victims. As we prepare to help refugees, we must do everything we can to bring peace to Ukraine and further tighten sanctions. There is now a heated debate in many Member States about their positioning in the new…

20

Jan

2022

FI Speech

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

Mr President, sexual rights really need to be defended at the moment. In Europe, anti-sexual rights movements have become stronger and more organised. These movements receive significant funding from outside Europe and are not only aimed at opposing sexual rights, but more broadly at opposing the rights of women and minorities, i.e. at undermining human rights. Reproductive rights are human rights…

15

Dec

2021

FI Speech

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 16-17 December 2021 - The EU's response to the global resurgence of Covid-19 and the new emerging Covid variants (debate)

Mr President, the COVID-19 situation has again taken a turn for the worse with the new variant. At the same time as we are vaccinating for the third round in Europe, the average vaccine coverage in developing countries is around 6%. The nature of this pandemic is only such that no one is safe until everyone is safe. We must ensure that all possible know-how and production capacity is made availabl…

24

Nov

2021

FI Speech

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The EU's role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic: how to vaccinate the world (topical debate)

Mr President, the speeches that the Commission has heard in this Chamber about vaccine solidarity in the EU are awkwardly hollow when you look at what the Commission is actually doing. The rich Western countries, including the EU, have scrapped most of the existing vaccines. The division between richer and poorer countries is blatant and unfair. During the AIDS epidemic, patent protection was temp…

24

Nov

2021

FI Speech

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Outcome of the COP26 in Glasgow (debate)

Mr President, I fully understand the disappointment of civil society. It seems difficult to understand that the leaders of states are not able to make sufficient decisions, even though we have all the scientific information at our disposal and its message is clear. With the current decisions, we are heading towards fatal warming. But the most important thing about Glasgow's outcome is that it cont…

20

Oct

2021

FI Speech

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UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, the UK (COP26) (debate)

Mr President, there are now many promises and commitments with regard to the climate. But where are we in reality? According to the UNEP emissions gap report, with the decisions taken so far by the parties to the Paris Agreement, we are moving towards warming of more than three degrees Celsius, while under the Paris Agreement we must strive for one and a half. That is why the Glasgow Summit is of …

19

Oct

2021

FI Speech

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The Rule of law crisis in Poland and the primacy of EU law (debate)

Mr President, this debate is not about Poland, it is about the European Union. Among the values on which the EU is built, the values that all Member States have signed up to, with the rule of law at their core. The exercise of public authority must always be based on the law. Without an independent judiciary, this is not certain. The independence of the judiciary and thus the rule of law have been…

6

Oct

2021

FI Speech

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European solutions to the rise of energy prices for businesses and consumers: the role of energy efficiency and renewable energy and the need to tackle energy poverty (debate)

Mr President, energy poverty is a real problem, and I see it at the moment as the sum of many different things and their simultaneous realisation. What is important now is to analyse the causes, i.e. the factors that make up the price increase, so that we can choose the right means. One very clear reason is the increase in the price of natural gas, but behind it there are many factors that should …

5

Oct

2021

FI Speech

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Implementation report on the EU Trust Funds and the Facility for Refugees in Turkey (continuation of debate)

Mr President, the budget for the agreement with Turkey has been EUR 6 billion. These funds should help refugees and support communities that work on the ground. In the case of Turkey, the Court’s special report concludes that it has not been possible to verify all projects and that the Turkish authorities have not received information on all beneficiaries of the cash grant project. This, combined …