What Claude spoke about.

11

Mar

2024

FR Speech

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Substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (Green Claims Directive) (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner Thierry Breton, ladies and gentlemen, ‘zero pesticide residues’, ‘carbon neutral’ and ‘environmental protection’ are green claims that 61% of consumers in the European Union have difficulty deciphering. And for good reason: in the majority of cases, it is greenwashing. The Greens/EFA Group therefore welcomed a year ago the Commission's proposal to regulate these allegati…

27

Feb

2024

FR Speech

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Geographical Indications for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products (debate)

Mr President, hello Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, yesterday 900 tractors and as many farmers demonstrated in the European neighbourhoods of Brussels. As you know, the denunciation of the neoliberal policies imposed by the World Trade Organization on farmers is at the heart of this event. This ultraliberalism condemns our agriculture, our territories, our terroirs and is contrary to the neces…

5

Feb

2024

FR Speech

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Instant payments in euro (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, rapporteur, ladies and gentlemen, the text we are about to adopt will bring clear benefits for consumers in the European Union. Instant credit transfers mean more ease, assurance, security and convenience for everyone as an individual, but also as a small or medium-sized enterprise. In a few months, thanks to the work and struggles we have carried out under this regu…

15

Jan

2024

FR Speech

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Amendments to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) - Amendments to the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) (joint debate - Markets in financial instruments regulations)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, behind these names and acronyms of MiFIR and MiFID lie very real and major issues for the lives of people across Europe. As my colleague Karima, the shadow rapporteur on this delicate issue, has said, the texts that have come out of it will indeed have a very concrete impact on the wallets of our fellow citizens, and we can congratulate ourselve…

11

Dec

2023

FR Speech

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Role of tax policy in times of crisis (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, there are those in the European Parliament who, alongside us, call for taxing those who are least subject to tax – the ultra-rich, their wealth, their elitist and polluting modes of transport, the multinationals and their superprofits, and also the carboniest, most polluting companies – and then there is the right, the EPP and its allies, who de…

21

Nov

2023

FR Speech

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Sustainable use of plant protection products (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow, when you vote on the very ill-named report on the sustainable use of pesticides, I invite you to vote in conscience. Think of the 1.1 million of our citizens who have mobilised with the European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save Bees and Farmers’ and are urging us to get out of pesticides. If this warning is not enough for you, think quickly …

5

Oct

2023

FR Speech

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Financial services contracts concluded at a distance (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, imagine your favourite 'streamer' advertising questionable financial products or services to you. Imagine your favorite pop singer pushing you to buy the all-new NFT while promising you that it will make you a lot of money in a very short time. This has happened many times in France and Europe, to the detriment of consumers who have lost thousands …

13

Sep

2023

FR Speech

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SME Relief Package (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, SMEs represent 99% of European businesses. We must help them, protect them, facilitate their development and diversify their financing. But beware, the protection of SMEs must be accompanied by greater firmness towards multinationals, as allowing multinationals to escape taxation directly harms the competitiveness of SMEs that the Commission claims to favour. The packag…

12

Jul

2023

FR Speech

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Need to adopt the “Unshell” Directive on rules to prevent the misuse of shell entities for tax purposes (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, shell companies are the main instrument of tax avoidance used by multinationals and the very rich to evade taxes. Every new scandal regularly reminds us of this bitter taste, that of subtraction from an elementary duty: contribute equitably to civil society. This is at a time when every citizen is paying their fair share, even in difficult economic times, even in times …

12

Jul

2023

FR Speech

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Tax the rich (topical debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, Mr Navarro Ríos, ladies and gentlemen, I do not know you, but I feel like I am repeating myself. We have had this debate thousands of times and every time we call for taxing the rich and these calls remain unanswered. The 75 richest households pay less tax than the rest of society. A month ago, French researchers showed that the tax rate was regressive within the ver…

14

Jun

2023

FR Speech

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Lessons learnt from the Pandora Papers and other revelations (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Pandora Papers have confirmed once again - once again - that the richest 1% of people consider themselves above the rules and that their greed comes before the lives of the remaining 99%. This report that we are going to vote on paves the way for a fairer society that respects citizens. Once again, we ask the Commission and the Member States…

13

Jun

2023

FR Speech

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Ensuring food security and the long-term resilience of EU agriculture (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this report on food security and the long-term resilience of EU agriculture, which is an important report, is once again an attack in good standing on the European Green Deal and a copy-paste of the ideas conveyed by COPA-Cogeca – not a big surprise, coming from the EPP. In this report, you ignore the sirens of scientists, you brush aside the ma…

12

Jun

2023

FR Speech

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Competition policy - annual report 2022 (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, rapporteur, ladies and gentlemen, in this period of crisis and inflation that we are going through, we are once again asking that companies that engage in tax evasion by turning to tax havens in third countries be excluded from public procurement procedures and no longer be able to benefit from State aid. The crates are empty. We cannot allow some companies to rely on r…

31

May

2023

FR Speech

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Geographical Indications for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I too will begin by thanking the rapporteur, Paolo. What a success tonight! And if all the rapporteurs had such success in their files for all the work done and all the collaboration with the shadow rapporteurs around the file, it was really a pleasure to work on this file. Geographical indications are part of our common European heritage and th…

10

May

2023

FR Speech

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Impact of the interest rate increase decided by the ECB on households and workers (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, for the seventh time in less than a year, the ECB is raising its reference interest rate. I feel like I am repeating myself, but the current inflationary surge is the result of rising energy prices and the price of food commodities. And raising the price of money will not reduce those prices, nor will it influence speculation. The ECB'…

10

May

2023

FR Speech

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The role of farmers as enablers of the green transition and a resilient agricultural sector (continuation of debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are facing the sixth mass extinction. But obviously my EPP colleagues, who have asked for this debate, have decided to deny the scientific findings on this subject. The decline of pollinators, sterilization of soils, loss of biodiversity are the major threats. And even the Commission says so in its working document of last January. Wanting to re…

8

May

2023

FR Speech

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Impact on the 2024 EU budget of increasing European Union Recovery Instrument borrowing costs - Own resources: a new start for EU finances, a new start for Europe (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, let us dwell on the following paradox. On the one hand, real estate is booming in big cities, stocks are climbing, dividends are raining down and in front of it, there is real life, the housing crisis, the food crisis, the ecological crisis. For every €100 created in the European economy, 44 went to the richest 1%, compared with 9.6 to the poorest …

19

Apr

2023

FR Speech

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Keeping people healthy, water drinkable and soil liveable: getting rid of forever pollutants and strengthening EU chemical legislation now (topical debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, Council representative, ladies and gentlemen, 17,000 will be the figure of the day. Seventeen thousand sites across Europe are contaminated by eternal pollutants, those pollutants from chemicals used in industry, agriculture, and found everywhere in our daily lives. These pollutants contribute to the obesity pandemic, the significant increase in environmental cancers…

16

Mar

2023

FR Speech

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European Citizens’ Initiative "Save bees and farmers! Towards a bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment" (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, 1.2 million citizens across Europe are crying out for dismay at our deadly farming model. No, the forward flight won't solve anything. Let's finally face the problem. Without farmers, there will be no agriculture. But no pollinators either. However, flying insect biomass has decreased by an average of 76% in recent years across the EU, from 82% …

15

Mar

2023

FR Speech

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Failure of the Silicon Valley Bank and the implications for financial stability in Europe (debate)

Madam President, the failure of Silicon Valley Bank reminds us of the Great Depression, a good old banking panic as at the beginning of the 20th century. Who could have foreseen it? Well, simply supervisors, if the Trump administration had not taken the path of financial deregulation by easing regulatory requirements for medium-sized banks. Without this relaxation, I will take the example of Silic…

16

Feb

2023

FR Speech

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Availability of fertilisers in the EU (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the war in Ukraine has been indicative of the dependence of our agricultural model on imports of Russian synthetic fertilisers. In the EU, synthetic nitrogen consumption pollutes more than commercial aviation. The fertiliser industry accumulates bad points as climaticide, contaminating air, water and soil. It also violates human rights by poisoning…

15

Feb

2023

FR Speech

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European Central Bank - annual report 2022 (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, Mrs Lagarde, for many European citizens, the ECB is independent, it is in Frankfurt and we are talking about key interest rates. But since Putin's war in Ukraine, his role has become much more concrete, especially on his choice to raise these famous rates. Monetary policy can do nothing against rising energy or wheat prices. So what's the point of giving it a restric…

14

Feb

2023

FR Speech

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Amendments to the European Long-Term Investment Funds (ELTIFs) Regulation (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, when we talk about ELTIFs, we are talking about European long-term investment funds. And it is fun because, since the pandemic and since the Green Deal, we have been talking about investments needed for the transition, the famous green and social investments. What is even more striking is that in the long run, for this kind of investment, it is important. So we could ha…

16

Jan

2023

FR Speech

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Rules to prevent the misuse of shell entities for tax purposes (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, a company is a company with offices, computers, employees, a strategy and people talking to each other. A shell company is a small mailbox used to conceal the identity of its holder. Since 2020, two-thirds of the wealth produced has been captured by 1% of the richest. FVCs play a central role in making them even richer, less responsible and less vi…

14

Dec

2022

FR Speech

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Tackle the cost of living crisis: increase pay, tax profits, stop speculation (topical debate)

Madam President, Mr Gentiloni, ladies and gentlemen, 30%. In one year, food prices increased by 30%. It is no longer inflation, it is hyperinflation. But this 30% is not just the result of the war in Ukraine and Putin's maneuvers; they are also the work of war profiteers and speculators who make money on vital products. This is the result of the hyper-financialised world that liberal policies are …