Speeches

The next item on the agenda is the topical debate (Rule 162): ‘More Europe, more jobs: we are building the competitive economy of tomorrow for the benefit of all’ (2023/2601(RSP)). I should like to inform Members that for this debate there is no catch-the-eye procedure and that no blue cards will be accepted. I would also like to invite the speakers to keep the time as we are running a bit late, so I want you to respect the times.

The minutes of yesterday’s sitting and the Texts adopted are available. Are there any comments on the Minutes of yesterday’s sitting? I don't see any. The minutes are approved.

The S&D Group has notified the President of a decision relating to changes to appointments within a committee. This decision will be set out in the Minutes of today’s sitting and takes effect on the date of this announcement.

We now move to the next item on the agenda: one-minute speeches pursuant to Rule 172.Members are invited to take the floor from their seats. We will start with Mr Sokol. Mr Sokol, the floor is yours.

The next item on the agenda is the report by Urmas Paet on a European Parliament recommendation to the Council and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy taking stock of the functioning of the EEAS and for a stronger EU in the world [2021/2065(INI)] (A9-0045/2023). Mr Paet is not present yet. We are searching for him, but I do not want to interrupt the debate, so I propose that we continue, and I invite Executive Vice—President Timmermans to take the floor and hope Mr Paet will join us very soon.

Madam President, dear Commission Vice-President, dear Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly, and dear colleagues, first of all, I would like to thank our rapporteur, Anne-Sophie Pelletier, for the excellent work she has done on this file and the shadow rapporteurs, the colleagues, I think we did a good work to make this report a success. Since her first election, our Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, has been working on increasing the standards of EU administration. This is not only making us happy here in the European Parliament but this is very important for our citizens and they appreciate it very much, so thank you very much for that work. We, the S&D, welcome very much the hard work of the small office of the Ombudsman that increased its efficiency and has proven to have an important role to bridge the gap between EU citizens and the EU institutions. The structural organisation and the efficiency of the Ombudsman’s office, the need for full transparency, the management of the COVID-19 crisis, the management of our agencies, the avoidance of the risk of conflict of interest for officials from EU institutions – all these are topics covered by the Ombudsman and included also in our report and very important subjects. Transparency is the basis for our citizens’ trust and we must make sure to honour it, especially when it comes to the use of public money. Access to work-related documents is very important and has been discussed in your report, in our report, also including instant messages, the access to which must be included and guaranteed. Indeed, in this particular period, it is important to demonstrate our capability to be close to our citizens. Fundamental rights are the core values of the European Union and they should apply to all of our policies also inside the institution when it comes to ensuring equal access to work and teleworking for all workers, especially persons with disability but also when it comes to the management of our agencies such as Frontex. I am glad to see how the Ombudsman’s recommendation can help to improve our internal functioning in terms of transparency, accountability, but also make our institutions and agencies a better place to work. I would like to apologise to the Ombudsman and to the President that I will leave now because I’m going to the EP Bureau where we discuss cooling-off period, which is also a subject which you are very interested in. So thank you very much and keep on your good work.

The Minutes of this sitting will be submitted to Parliament for its approval at the beginning of its next sitting. If there are no objections, I shall forward forthwith the resolutions adopted at today’s sitting to the persons and bodies named in the resolutions.

Dear colleague, I heard you were speaking on the minimum income resolution, which was not on the vote. We are on cycling right now, so it’s just ‘get on your bike’.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the European initiative to promote civic engagement to protect and better support European volunteers (2023/2564 RSP)

The Minutes and Texts Adopted of yesterday’s sitting have been distributed. Are there any comments? I see no comments. (The Minutes of the previous sitting were approved)

The next item is the topical debate under Rule 162 on ‘The erosion of the rule of law in Greece: the wiretapping scandal and media freedom’. I should like to inform Members that for this debate there is no catch-the-eye procedure and no blue cards will be accepted.

The minutes of yesterday’s sitting and the texts adopted are available. Are there any comments? I see no comments in the room so the minutes are approved.