What Sara spoke about.

15 Sep

2026

EN Speech

Devastating heatwaves, wildfires and droughts in Europe: lessons from summer 2026 (debate)

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Madam President, 'I'm not trying to make a good harvest anymore. I'm just trying to make my plants survive'. That's what Reinier, a farmer, told me a couple of days ago, and he really saw first‑hand what heat can do. He witnessed Belgium's biggest wildfire ever. He drove up there with his tractor for hours with water and he fought against the fire. And when I asked him what still gave him hope aft…

14 Sep

2026

EN Speech

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: extension of its scope to downstream goods and anti-circumvention measures - Establishing the Temporary Decarbonisation Fund - Market stability reserve for the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS): ceasing the invalidation of allowances

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Madam President, colleagues, why should a washing machine made in Europe cost more simply because our European producers pay for their carbon emissions, and a Chinese producer doesn't? That's why we built CBAM, and tomorrow we take the next step by extending it from the raw steel and aluminium to the finished products. And thanks to the Greens, we've extended this to essential green tech products …

7 Jul

2026

EN Speech

Presentation of the programme of activities of the Irish Presidency (debate)

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Madam President, last week I read about a woman in Paris. She was 80 years old. She lived on the top floor of an apartment. There was no cooling. There was just some fans. It was 47 degrees out there in her apartment, and she died there – alone. And many others did this June. In France, deaths at home rose by 91 %. In Belgium, we lost 1 222 people in only 12 days during the heatwave. And in the sa…

7 Jul

2026

NL Speech

Urgent measures to strengthen the competitiveness and safeguard quality jobs in the EU’s automotive sector (debate)

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Colleagues, can you look the people of Volkswagen right in the eye today and claim that the future of their job lies in diesel and gasoline engines? What is happening at Volkswagen today is terrible. Hundreds of thousands of workers fear for their jobs. These are people who have often worked for the company all their lives; It has become their family. They became friends. This reminds me of the re…

18 Jun

2026

EN Speech

Circularity requirements for vehicle design and management of end-of-life vehicles (debate)

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Madam President, colleagues, everyone is fighting over raw materials: the Chinese create monopolies; Trump tries to blackmail us over them; and we, as Europe, we're just giving them away for free. Every year, 3.5 million cars are shipped out of Europe. Those are cars full of steel, full of copper – the exact materials that our factories need. So we dig them out of the ground in some parts of the w…

17 Jun

2026

EN Speech

Electrification Action Plan (debate)

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Madam President, colleagues, once again, people are worried about their energy bills and why it costs so much to cool or to heat their homes. But the thing is, it doesn't actually have to cost that much, because right now the clean option is actually the cheapest option. Think about solar panels. Think about heat pumps. Think about new electrical car models that are entering the market. Their sale…

15 Jun

2026

EN Speech

EU-US trade deal (joint debate)

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Madam President, Trump turned 80, right? And I think it's already clear what his birthday gift is going to be – this so‑called 'trade deal'. The argument that is given is that submitting to Trump is going to give us stability. Well, because of course, with this guy, you already always know what to expect, right? Remember the 15 % tariffs. Remember the threats that he posed against Greenland. The o…

19 May

2026

EN Speech

EU cybersecurity and preparedness in view of advanced AI systems (debate)

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Madam President, so a girl posts a beach photo of herself on Insta, and weeks later she's receiving naked pictures of herself – AI generated. This happened to 20 girls in Spain and it happened to Steffi Mercie in Belgium multiple times. Dear colleagues, it happened to 1 million children in 2025 alone. That is one child in every classroom. So, across Europe, people are waking up to find their voice…

18 May

2026

NL Speech

Negative trade-related effects of global overcapacity on the Union steel market (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we are voting on something that will help hundreds of thousands of steel workers in Europe. And also many thousands in Belgium. China is flooding our market with cheap subsidized steel. And Trump is waging a trade war that will see even more of that steel coming our way. Our steel factories, such as in Ghent and elsewhere in Europe, are struggling to survive tod…

29 Apr

2026

NL Speech

EU strategy in response to the ongoing Middle East crisis, its implications on energy prices and the availability of fertilizers (joint debate)

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25 Mar

2026

EN Speech

Energy security, independence and supply in the geopolitical context - ensuring market stability and affordable energy for industry and citizens (debate)

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Mr President, colleagues, let me ask you a very simple question: is there a solar energy crisis? No. Is there a wind energy crisis? No. But we do again have a fossil fuel crisis. Trump's illegal war in Iran is costing our citizens and our industries a hell of a lot of money. And who next to Trump is also responsible for this? It is his right‑wing puppets like Orbán, like Meloni, that want to prote…

11 Feb

2026

EN Speech

Urgent actions to revive EU competitiveness, deepen the EU Single Market and reduce the cost of living - from the Draghi report to reality (debate)

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Madam President, colleagues, this year, the European leaders will talk competitiveness – and the pressure on our industry is real, because for too long Europe has depended on cheap fossil fuels for our energy supply. Yet De Wever and Meloni, they want to go back there. They want to cut our climate standards, dismantle our laws, go back to fossil. And they claim to speak for the entire European ind…

19 Jan

2026

NL Speech

Just transition directive in the world of work: ensuring the creation of jobs and revitalising local economies (debate)

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Mr President, colleagues, workers ask me what future there is for industry in Europe. I understand that question very well. Just think of the 3 000 people who lost their jobs as a result of the closure of Audi Brussels. Had Audi listened to its employees asking for affordable electric vehicles instead of expensive SUVs, they would still be making cars in our capital today. Everyone is talking abou…

16 Dec

2025

NL Speech

Presentation of the automotive package (debate)

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13 Nov

2025

EN Speech

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 23 October 2025 (debate)

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Madam President, colleagues, some already suspected it was dangerous in 1906, but it took us a hundred years to ban it. I'm talking about asbestos. 80 000 deaths every year in Europe alone. And right now, we're making the same mistake with PFAS, with forever chemicals: they're in your blood, they're in your children's bodies. So, what is the Council's only priority for the chemicals industry? Weak…

22 Oct

2025

NL Speech

UN Climate Change Conference 2025 in Belém, Brazil (COP30) (debate)

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Mr. President, which one of you has an oil sheik in the family? No one. But who has someone in the family who has solar panels on the roof? Almost everyone. Ordinary people opt for their own green energy, reducing their energy bills by EUR 450 per year and becoming independent of oil and gas. Tens of millions of Europeans are already doing this, not because politicians prescribe it, but because th…

21 Oct

2025

EN Speech

Commission Work Programme 2026 (debate)

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Mr President, colleagues, this Commission made us a bold promise: to secure both economic prosperity and the climate and environment. So the clean industrial deal is what we need to protect us against bullies like Trump, unfair competition and climate change. But what I have seen lately is predominantly the dismantling of climate and environmental policies. Do we really think that Europe is going …

8 Oct

2025

EN Speech

Europe’s automotive future – reversing the ban on the sale of combustion cars in the EU (topical debate)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, by 2027 there will be 19 electrical models under EUR 25 000 on our market – those are affordable cars, European cars. I am talking about Volkswagen ID.2, Renault 5; not some distant dream, but on our road, in your driveway. So here's the choice, and I think it's a pretty simple one. Option A – you spend EUR 25 000 on a car produced in Europe that actually strengthens…

9 Sep

2025

EN Speech

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: simplification and strengthening (debate)

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Madam President, well, I'm not sure where all the colleagues are, but I'm glad to be here. Commissioner, Parliament. Mr President, the carbon border tax ensures that large polluters pay, and promotes fair competition, because it also applies to non-European companies. The step-by-step reduction of free emission allowances generates billions of much-needed revenues. Indeed, Europe currently has an …

8 Sep

2025

EN Speech

Circularity requirements for vehicle design and management of end-of-life vehicles (debate)

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Mr President, I have a question: why are the conservatives trying to sabotage Europe's fight for more economic and strategic independence? This law saves precious materials from old cars, and it's a good and well‑needed initiative. European industry, Member States, big names like Letta, like Draghi – they all agree: keeping the resources in Europe breaks dependence on bullies like China, like the …

8 Jul

2025

EN Speech

Need for the EU to scale up clean technologies (debate)

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Mr President, colleagues, Europe has a unique opportunity to protect itself against aggressors like Putin or economic extortionists like Trump. We must stop our addiction to fossil fuels and turbocharge clean tech manufacturers here in Europe, because every month that we delay, it costs our European citizens more. It costs them in their energy bills. It costs them in jobs that are lost overseas. I…

18 Jun

2025

EN Speech

Clean Industrial Deal (debate)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, Europe can't win by playing yesterday's game. If we stick to fossil fuels, we are always going to lose to cheaper competitors, like the US or China. But we can lead the world with clean tech and with renewables. In 2023 alone, they created one third of EU growth and millions of green jobs. So this, colleagues, is our moment. We need to maintain jobs and economic secu…

2 Apr

2025

EN Answer

European Steel and Metals Action Plan (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleague, I think it's very important that this Commission understands that the only way that this transition, this decarbonisation of our industry, is going to work is if it has a social component. Yes, some parts of it will be a Member State competence, but, for instance, when it comes to the handing out of European subsidies, where we need to do it to support our industri…

2 Apr

2025

EN Speech

European Steel and Metals Action Plan (debate)

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Madam President, six months ago, a major steel producer in my home country, Belgium, said that it would delay a EUR 1 million investment in green steel production. That's really a wake‑up call, because it's exactly that kind of investment that we need. Really, the switch to green, to recycled steel, that's a vital opportunity to create jobs while avoiding climate catastrophe. It's good to see that…

11 Mar

2025

EN Speech

Clean Industrial Deal (debate)

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Madam President, colleagues, in these challenging times, doubling down on the Green Deal is the key factor to save our competitiveness, to create more jobs, to reduce energy prices for our industry and for our families. And let me tell you why. When autocrats like Trump, like Musk, like Putin, are trying to bully Europe into submission, sticking to an agenda of deregulation, of slowing down our en…