What Virginijus spoke about.

12

Sep

2022

EN Speech

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The impact of COVID-19 closures of educational, cultural, youth and sports activities on children and young people in the EU (short presentation)

– Mr President, honourable Members, let me start by stressing that the Commission very much welcomes this very timely and important report. Schools across the EU are now trying to address negative trends in students’ competence and mental health due to loss of in-person teaching and social distancing during the COVID-19 crisis. This report will be instrumental in helping us direct efforts to suppo…

12

Sep

2022

EN Speech

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Conservation and enforcement measures applicable in the Regulatory Area of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) - Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Area: conservation and management measures (debate)

– Mr President, honourable Members, I appreciate the discussion that we had today on the two proposals and I would like to thank again the rapporteur and all of those involved in the negotiations on both files. A couple of you – Mr Mato, Mr González and other honourable Members –also made some more general observations on the role of our fishing fleet and on the need to develop management measures…

12

Sep

2022

EN Speech

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Conservation and enforcement measures applicable in the Regulatory Area of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) - Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Area: conservation and management measures (debate)

– Mr President, honourable Members, dear Ms Carvalhais, I would like to start by thanking you for bringing the negotiations on this important transpositions to a successful end. Let me briefly say a few words on both of them. The main purpose of the Commission proposal regarding the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization is to implement into EU law the most recent conservation and enforcement m…

12

Sep

2022

EN Speech

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Deforestation Regulation (debate)

– Mr President, honourable Members, let me first of all thank you for packaging the debates on the forest strategy and on global deforestation, because at the end of the day, these are two sides of the same coin. And I have listened carefully to the different interventions tonight, and I take good note of your ambition, and your comments and of the impressions you took back from your recent travel…

12

Sep

2022

EN Speech

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Deforestation Regulation (debate)

– Mr President, honourable Members, I would like to thank the European Parliament, and in particular the ENVI Committee and its rapporteur, Mr Hansen, as well as the shadow rapporteurs, but also many other committees that were involved in this work, and all that they have put into the report we are debating today. It’s extremely important to remember that this sensitive initiative is one of the ke…

12

Sep

2022

EN Speech

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New EU Forest Strategy for 2030 – Sustainable Forest Management in Europe (debate)

– Mr President, honourable Members, thank you very much for this debate and for your interventions today, which clearly reflected the balanced character of Parliament’s report. I have heard many interesting ideas on issues that lay at the heart of both of our institutions. And, I have to say, I can agree with most of the statements made today. For example, by Ms Müller, the rapporteur, who stresse…

12

Sep

2022

EN Speech

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New EU Forest Strategy for 2030 – Sustainable Forest Management in Europe (debate)

– Mr President, honourable Members, I would like to thank this House for putting the new EU forest strategy for 2030 on the agenda of this plenary session. And, of course, I would particularly like to thank the rapporteur, Ms Müller, as well as the shadow rapporteurs, for this comprehensive and balanced report and for the clear support for the new EU forest strategy reflected therein. The new EU f…

6

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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The situation in Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province

– Madam President, honourable Members, last May, violent clashes occurred in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan. Protests started on 14 May, when several dozen residents of Khorog demanded, inter alia, the resignation of the governor of the region and justice for the November 2021 violent events. Tension continued to escalate in the following days and, on 18 May, the Interior Min…

6

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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The situation of indigenous and environmental defenders in Brazil, including the killing of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira

– Madam President, honourable Members of the European Parliament, the worsening situation of indigenous, environmental and human rights defenders in Brazil is a key concern for the EU, which is regularly addressed in the EU—Brazil mechanism for political dialogue and cooperation at different levels. Brazil is one of the EU’s strategic partners, traditionally a strong advocate for human rights and …

6

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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The arrest of Cardinal Zen and the trustees of the 612 relief fund in Hong Kong

– Madam President, 1 July marked the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover and China’s promise to guarantee for 50 years Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and freedoms. With the imposition by Beijing of the draconian national security law in 2020, China broke its promise 27 years before the deadline it had agreed. We have witnessed the rapid dismantling of one country, two systems. This is a …

6

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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Protection of the EU’s financial interests – combating fraud – annual report 2020 (debate)

– Madam President, I would like to thank the honourable Members for today’s debate on this very important subject, and in particular the rapporteur for her extremely important work. I think it’s clear to all of us that effective protection of the financial interests of the EU requires our collective and coordinated efforts. As we heard during the debate, allowing EU funds to land in the wrong pock…

6

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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Protection of the EU’s financial interests – combating fraud – annual report 2020 (debate)

– Madam President, honourable members of the European Parliament, first of all, let me thank the rapporteur Ms Cseh and all colleagues involved for this thorough and well—balanced report that covers a range of important issues. The Commission and Parliament agree that the protection of the EU budget, both in terms of expenditure and revenue, is of the utmost importance. And the efforts of the Parl…

6

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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The Post-Cotonou Agreement (debate)

– Mr President, thank you for this debate and I welcome your efforts to keep the Post-Cotonou Agreement high on the agenda. Today’s debate just confirmed that the Commission and Parliament are on the same page in this regard and I really appreciate the very strong support from this House in stressing the urgency on this matter. To be credible towards our citizens, our partners, in our commitments …

6

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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The Post-Cotonou Agreement (debate)

– Mr President, honourable Members, I am glad that thanks to this House we are having today the opportunity to exchange on the Cotonou Agreement, the foundation of our strategic engagement with the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions. These three regions, covering 79 states and inhabited by 1.5 billion people, constitute an international force and are of strategic interest to the European Union…

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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

– First of all, we all sitting at the same table, we all share the same urgency. Yes, there are different ideas of how to implement, what steps should be taken. But I think we are all sitting at the same table because we are talking about the biodiversity and ecosystem loss, which is a loss of our lifeline basically, of our health support system. So I think, you know, what's extremely important is…

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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

– Of course, when we see the current situation, it’s very difficult, and I really appreciate the Dutch Government’s efforts to deploy a plan with the funding to solve this issue. But this issue aggravated, not yesterday and not even a year before, the implementation of the Nitrates Directive has been hanging there since around the 1960s. So the answer here is of course very simple, even so, that i…

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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

– So, first of all, I fully agree with you and now I think our nature restoration legislation is exactly addressing that we find in bad or poor quality around 81% of our ecosystems. So, of course, deploying for 20% nature restoration, just not to mix it with rewilding because it’s not the same. Nature restoration efforts would of course, allow us to bring that back to around 40%. But of course, we…

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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

– You know, talking about the COP15 agreement, of course I hope and I count on support from Parliament as well and we will be getting that agreement and negotiating together. Now as regards the harmful substances, I think one core element which we maybe didn’t mention in our debate today is, of course, the ‘do no significant harm’ principle in our spending – as regards our funds, as regards our mu…

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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

– Thank you for your question. And again, thank you for your work on the ETAP, which I think we have achieved a great result. So first of all on the first part on harmful subsidy, so the work is already ongoing and as it’s framed in the ETAP, we will propose it in 2023. We started, of course, with the stakeholder consultations and so we will move on, work with the Member States and then finalise t…

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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

– Thank you very much. I think that call was well addressed in REPowerEU as regards the clear need for deployment of renewable technologies and fast—track procedures. The proposal by the Commission is on the table and now I think it will be, of course, in the hands of the co-legislators. I hope for a swift adoption which will allow us, of course, a swift transition and faster permitting procedures…

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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

– I mean, of course, I think our Green Deal policy through these two and a half years from the very beginning when it was adopted, then of course, we had we heard tries to shut down the Green Deal during COVID. We hear similar calls as regards Russia’s war in Ukraine. But we kept on implementing the Green Deal. And the Green Deal proved to be the right direction. And I think this is a very clear s…

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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

– So as regards the Blue Carbon Coalition, you know, EU usually supports the ambitious coalitions, coalitions which lead to example. I’m a bit afraid that after the COP in Glasgow there is more and more coalitions created. But as long as that leads to result and we not devalue the meanings of coalition and we really manage to get the countries, like—minded countries together to make a push, that’s…

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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

– First of all, thank you for your leadership as regards the oceans and their protection. Of course, it was great to meet such a large group of European parliamentarians in Lisbon, which clearly showed that international ocean governance is a key question for the European Union. Now, as regards the progress made in Lisbon, I have had numerous meetings with my counterparts discussing the possibilit…

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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

– So the measurable targets are probably the crucial part. First of all, of course, the overarching target ‘30 by 30’ is the fundamental one. Secondly is, of course, we want to have a measurable target on nature restoration, also the same as we just proposed within the EU of 20%, most likely 10% for the oceans, 10% for terrestrial areas. And then, of course, looking at direct and indirect drivers …

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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

– Thank you for your very concrete question. Don’t get me wrong, the momentum is actually just arrived, I would say, and that will pick up with the clear date and place of COP15 happening due to postponement of the event. I think that’s why the momentum wasn't there. Now it’s there for sure. What can we do? I think, first of all, of course, President von der Leyen made a huge step when she announc…