Speeches

Madam President, we really have to thank Daniel Freund for his persistent efforts to get this interinstitutional agreement in place. I believe that the fact that the independent experts will judge the standards and the cases is really important. Can I remind you that when we revised the Advisory Committee in the Code of Conduct for Members of the European Parliament, there was a proposal to add three independent experts to the five MEPs. But those groups who obviously are against this interinstitutional agreement today also opposed putting in place the independent experts. And I believe that, for the European Parliament, it will be very important that there is a kind of second step, because obviously it does not foresee that we will give up our own advisory body, but there will be a body that will be guiding and giving maybe precedents in tricky situations. Lastly, I want to say that something that remains to be solved is undue foreign influence. We need cooperation with national law enforcement agencies and intelligence services. We are, at the moment, in a very difficult situation, because we can’t get that information to judge if there has been misconduct or corruption.

The next item is the statement by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) on efforts to reintroduce the Foreign Agents Act in Georgia and its restrictions on civil society (2024/2703(RSP)).

And then another announcement. In accordance with Rule 241(4) of the Rules of Procedure, with regard to the IMCO, LIBE and ECON corrigenda announced yesterday at the opening of the sitting, it is hereby noted that no vote has been requested. Therefore, the corrections are deemed to have been accepted.

I have some announcements for the plenary. Firstly, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs has tabled a recommendation for a decision not to raise objections to a delegated act. The recommendation was announced at the beginning of yesterday's sitting and has not been objected to within the 24-hour period, so that, in accordance with Rule 111(6) of the Rules of Procedure, the recommendation is deemed to have been adopted and will be published in the texts adopted at the sitting.

– The next item is the statement by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) on the use of frozen Russian funds to support the victory and reconstruction of Ukraine (2024/2702(RSP)).

– The next item is the report by René Repas, on behalf of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules promoting the repair of goods and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 and Directives (EU) 2019/771 and (EU) 2020/1828 (COM(2023)0155 – C9-0117/2023 – 2023/0083(COD)) (A9-0316/2023).

– The next item is the report by João Albuquerque, on behalf of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on preventing plastic pellet losses to reduce microplastic pollution (COM(2023)0645 – C9‐0378/2023 – 2023/0373(COD)) (A9-0148/2024)

Mr President, Commissioner, I speak as rapporteur for the Legal Affairs Committee opinion on the EP discharge, and I want to focus on just one thing: the additional voluntary pension fund. The voluntary pension scheme had a genuine purpose when it was established, but let’s be honest, it was only necessary for mainly French and Italian colleagues who didn’t have a national pension, at that time, for a national MP salary. So I’m very happy to see that the EP Bureau and the Secretary-General – the previous one and the one in office now – have taken measures to reduce and limit the European Parliament’s liabilities. I believe these measures will continue. Tomorrow, when we vote on the European Parliament’s discharge, I would ask you to send a very clear message to the administration and to the European citizens that every legal option must be used to guarantee that no taxpayer money is used for any future bailout of this voluntary pension fund.

Mr President, dear colleagues, this proposal in particular is the most political piece of the patent package. We welcome the Commission’s initiative, learning from the COVID-19 crisis and now introducing a new EU-wide compulsory licensing scheme to make the EU more resilient to crisis and emergency situations in the future. We welcome the introduction of more flexibility in the evaluation clause, so that the Commission and Member States can react swiftly to future crises and emergency situations. So let’s bear in mind that this regulation is not limited to health crises only. The future holds, unfortunately, some unknown crises and emergency situations which should justify urgent public action to be undertaken. This said, we regret that no compromise could be reached on the important issue of exports, which we consider very important. Parliament should have a role to play in disclosing the right message to third countries, particularly in view of preparing future crisis situations.

Thank you, Mr Štefanec, you said that you would like to have one piece of legislation in and two out. But don’t you think that with this legislation, actually, you could do one in and at least five or even more out, because we have the national laws, in France, in Germany, there’s one in Norway and many more in the making. So would you not see the benefit of this legislation in your attempt to simplify the regulatory framework for companies?

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, in my nearly 30 years as a Member of the European Parliament, I have never seen such alarm from businesses and other stakeholders as I’m seeing now with the possible downfall of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). An exceedingly wide range of stakeholders have expressed their support for this legislation, including the historical statements from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Global Compact. I regret that this groundbreaking legislation is now in serious danger of facing death by abstention, despite the outstanding support from businesses, civil society and European citizens. The rejection by the Council through never-ending additional demands from some of the big Member States would leave the companies already respecting human rights and the environment in their value chain in the cold. The irresponsible companies would benefit. Is this what we want ? Indeed, it is not. The ball remains now in the Council’s court. We are running out of time, and I trust that the Member States will live up to their responsibility and adopt this important directive.

The next item is the Commission statement on EU climate risk assessment and taking urgent action to enhance security and resilience in Europe (2024/2628(RSP)). I am delighted to see Commissioner Hoekstra just stepping onto the block, and so we can start this debate.

Thank you. I think perhaps in the future we can have a Question Time where the Commissioners can ask the MEPs – to have a real interaction. That concludes Question Time.

First I asked him to stop. Then I asked for him to be removed from the room. It is up to the President herself, Ms Metsola, to consider sanctions, and I’m sure that she will consider this question. So let’s proceed to the vote.

Excuse me, colleague, this is not proper behaviour, so please stop. We have to proceed to the next vote. Mr Ciocca, you will be taken out of the room. (Mr Ciocca continues to blow the whistle) Let us return to order. Excuse me, this was totally unacceptable and now he has to be taken out of the room. It is very unfortunate, Mr Ciocca, that you had to disrupt this voting session the way you did. It’s never been seen before. (The ushers escort Mr Ciocca out of the Chamber) So, he is out of the room. Let us continue with votes.

Mr President, colleagues, how deep the persecution of human rights defenders and political opposition in Russia is, is revealed by the situation of lawyers who defend them. Yesterday, Alexei Navalny’s lawyer was arrested briefly in Moscow. Three of them have already been detained earlier for accusations of extremism, and one of them is under arrest warrant. Yesterday, our 2009 Sakharov laureate, Oleg Orlov, from Memorial, was convicted on repeated discreditation of the Russian army. He defended himself alone because he did not want to risk that his lawyers would face persecution and prison. And Oleg said in his final statement in court, ‘I regret nothing’. We must show our utmost respect for him and other people persecuted, but we must also find ways, as the European Union, to defend lawyers and their important work. Many of them are now in exile. It is the ultimate eradication, even of the remainders of rule of law and judiciary, if lawyers cannot even do their work.