Speeches

Thank you very much Mr Nagtegaal. You speak very slowly and clearly. I would like to see more of this peaceful way of speaking followed. The interpreters will appreciate it as well.

The next item is the report by Danuta Maria Hübner, on behalf of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, on the 2020 Annual Report on the Banking Union (2020/2122(INI)) (A9-0256/2021).

I think I was a little sloppy here myself, and my colleague got a lot more speaking time than he had. I apologize for my inattentiveness. It wasn't intentional.

Mr President, we should take a closer look at the role and movements of Russian money throughout the EU, including in Finland. The Pandora Papers feature Putin's closest man, Gennady Timchenko, to whom Finland granted citizenship in 1999. Now, according to the revelations, a billion euros were transferred to Timchenko through anonymous tax haven companies. With this money, Timchenko acquired a substantial part of Novatek, Russia's second largest gas company. It was in the early 1990s that the system of transferring Russian oil and gas revenues to tax haven companies was finalised, which now seem to form the basis for the wealth of Putin and his immediate circle. As a friendly neighbour, Finland has been a convenient stepping stone for wider Europe. Information on beneficial ownership of companies is now key. In line with the Commission's proposal, each EU country must create a register to identify the beneficial owners of bank accounts and deposits. Already under the EU Open Data Directive, company ownership information must be made publicly available. This would facilitate the work of investigative journalists.

The next item is the report by Urmas Paet, on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the state of EU cyber defence capabilities (2020/2256(INI)) (A9-0234/2021).

Pursuant to Rule 241(4) of the Rules of Procedure, it is hereby announced that no vote has been requested on the corrections announced yesterday at the opening of the part-session by the Committee on Budgets, the Committee on Budgetary Control and the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. Therefore, the corrections are deemed to have been accepted.

We will now continue the debate on the report by Milan Zver, György Hölvényi and Janusz Lewandowski, on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Development and the Committee on Budgets (A9-0255/2021).

Mr President, after the first euphoric reactions to the new opportunities, some realistic opportunities do arise. I’d like to touch on one of them, and that is the worthy fight against modern slavery and forced labour in global value chains. Modern slavery is a part of the lives of 30 to 47 million people in the world today. The United States has had a ban on the importation of forced labour slavery products since 1930. The newest version puts an obligation on companies to prove that there is no forced labour included in the value chains of their imports. If they cannot do so, the imports will be stopped. As the President of the Commission has recently announced, the Commission is planning a similar type of instrument in the EU, and I believe this is a distinct trade and customs policy instrument. The question of Uyghur forced labour, is of course behind a lot of these discussions, and that is a very worthy cause. I talked recently to the Customs and Border Protection authorities of the United States, and it’s now clear that the EU risks becoming a safe haven for products produced with the help of forced labour. According to their statistics, imports of Uyghur—produced cotton to the United States have decreased, while they have recently increased to the European Union. It is the same with palm oil, which is not only connected to deforestation, but also to forced labour. We have to act now.

The next item is the debate on the question for oral answer to the Commission by Mr Tomas Tobé, on behalf of the Committee on Development, and Mr Norbert Lins, on behalf of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, on the EU contribution to transforming global food systems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (O-000043/2021 - B9-0031/2021) (2021/2750(RSP)).

I repeat that these requests will be put to the vote after the votes on the Commission's proposals. I will open today's second voting session. We will vote on the procedures announced on today's agenda. Voting will be open from 20:00 to 21:15. The voting method is the same as in previous votes. All votes shall be taken by roll call. I now declare the second voting session open. So you can vote until 9:15 p.m. The results of the second voting session will be announced tomorrow, Thursday 16 September 2021, at 9 a.m. (The sitting adjourned at 20.30)

Before today's second votes, I would like to give the floor under Rule 59(4) to Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Chair of the LIBE Committee, to refer back the following reports to the Committee for interinstitutional negotiations: firstly, the report by Jeroen Lenaers amending Council Framework Decision 2002/465/JHA in order to align it with EU rules on the protection of personal data (A9-0236/2021), and secondly, the report by Marina Kaljurand on the European Investigation Order in criminal matters: alignment with EU rules on the protection of personal data (A9-0237/2021). I now give the floor to Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Chair of the LIBE Committee, for one minute. These requests will be put to the vote after the votes on the Commission proposals.

The debate is over. The amendments will be voted on today. The final vote will take place tomorrow, Thursday 16 September 2021. Written statements (Rule 171)

In accordance with the Rules of Procedure, it is my duty to inform you that even t-shirts with text can be interpreted as posters that are not allowed in the Chamber. I'm sorry.

The next item is the report by Hilde Vautmans, on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, on a new EU strategy for China (2021/2037(INI)) (A9-0252/2021).

Before continuing with the debates, I would like to give the floor, pursuant to Rule 59(4), to Ms Trillet—Lenoir on the referral back to the committee responsible for interinstitutional negotiations of the report by Ms Kopcińska on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and her own report on the serious cross—border threats to health. I give the floor to Ms Trillet-Lenoir for one minute. These requests will then be put to the vote after the vote on the Commission’s proposals.

Madam President, we have for over a month now heard that we will judge the Taliban on the grounds of their deeds, not on the grounds of their words. But I think we have seen enough, that the real face is not really new. It’s the old Taliban. However, it’s very important that the channels will somehow be kept open because there’s an urgent and overwhelming need of humanitarian assistance. And I would also like to say that we need in some part to continue development cooperation with the people of Afghanistan and I’m sure that the Commission will find ways to do that. We cannot leave the people of Afghanistan on their own. We cannot leave the women and the children; we cannot leave the people living in the rural realities of the countryside. There’s a huge drought also in the country. I very much believe that the time will also be soon when we have to judge the 20 years of the war against terrorism. We still have terrorism, also in the government of Afghanistan in the form of the Taliban, so it has not been a success story and we have to understand why this all went so.

The sitting is closed and it will resume tomorrow at 9 a.m. with the announcement of the results of today's second voting session. The agenda has been published and is available on the European Parliament’s website.