What Sara spoke about.

16

Oct

2023

NL Speech

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Establishing the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (‘STEP’) (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, last year von der Leyen announced the creation of a European Sovereignty Fund. In response, of course, to the US anti-inflation law, which subsidises the greening of American industry. But this platform is little more than an empty box. With EUR 10 billion in new resources, it is really far from enough to green our industry. It also pits Member States against ea…

4

Oct

2023

NL Speech

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The proposed extension of glyphosate in the EU (debate)

Mr President, the World Health Organisation is crystal clear about the health risks of glyphosate: the substance is potentially carcinogenic, causes Parkinson's disease, leads to reduced fertility and is harmful to bees and to our aquatic life. While the producer in the US has to pay billions to cancer patients, the Commission wants to allow this poison on our plates through food for another ten y…

2

Oct

2023

NL Speech

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Protection of workers from asbestos (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, after almost 20 years of standstill, workers will finally be better protected against asbestos at work. And that is right, because unfortunately today a lot of people still bear the consequences of using it. Every year 80 000 workers die from unprotected exposure that often occurred more than ten years ago. As a child, I was told that asbestos couldn't hurt as l…

2

Oct

2023

NL Speech

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Rising precariousness in Europe including the need for aid to the most deprived (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, you are making a statement here today about the increase in poverty in Europe. I have to say: That is not a minute too early, because President von der Leyen did not mention it in her State of the Union address. Today, one in five Europeans live in poverty and homelessness is on the rise. This impending poverty brings a great deal of fear and insecurity to millions of p…

13

Sep

2023

NL Speech

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Framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we are voting tomorrow on a new regulation on critical raw materials that we need, among other things, for the transition to 100% renewable energy. That is important, because the demand for those raw materials is exploding. In addition to China, the US now also wants to invest in batteries, solar panels and windmills. It is good that Europe is waking up, but let…

11

Jul

2023

NL Speech

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Ecodesign Regulation (debate)

Mr President, our products break down way too quickly and that costs us a lot of money. This is also bad for the environment. Smartphones that are broken after a year and a half or a coffee machine that fails immediately after the warranty. And if our stuff breaks down, they're hard to repair. The parts are glued, there are no spare parts available or they are too expensive. There are no repairers…

31

May

2023

NL Speech

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Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, the sweatshops are still running at full speed. The victims are the invisible hands that make our cheap clothes. It is about millions of workers in the ‘fast fashion’ industry, especially women, who today work in very unsafe working conditions and on hunger pay. A stronger duty of care law should really make a fist against this. It is time for a radical change. The cowb…

10

May

2023

NL Speech

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Roadmap on a Social Europe: two years after Porto (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, colleagues, the Porto Summit two years ago promised to tackle poverty in Europe. Unfortunately, nothing is less true. The longevity crisis has left even more people in poverty. Banks and airlines are saved with billions of euros in state aid, but are freeing up money to really reduce poverty? Unfortunately, these investments are not being made. Inflation, the …

9

May

2023

EN Speech

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Revision of the Stability and Growth Pact (debate)

Mr President, colleagues, for the longest time, Europe stood for one word: ‘austerity’. And as we will have Chancellor Scholz here later with us this morning, I truly have to say that I hope that we don’t return to the fetish of the ‘schwarze Null’. The fact that the Council has scratched out social investments and has put defence instead – I think that is extremely worrying. Colleagues, when in t…

17

Apr

2023

NL Speech

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Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System - Monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport - Carbon border adjustment mechanism - Social Climate Fund - Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System for aviation (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, with this new legislation, we are finally making heavy industry pay for their pollution and strengthening our climate goals. At the same time, we are ensuring fair competition with the rest of the world through the introduction of the carbon border tax. I welcome this step forward for the climate, although the phasing out of these free emission allowances could …

15

Mar

2023

NL Speech

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More Europe, more jobs: we are building the competitive economy of tomorrow for the benefit of all (topical debate)

Mr President, colleagues, Commissioner, Minister, the Green Deal offers huge job potential. Just think of the many jobs in the construction sector thanks to the newly voted renovation wave for buildings or the enormous opportunities that lie in the circular economy for recovery, for recycling, which really offers opportunities for both low- and high-skilled labour. That's really about thousands of…

14

Mar

2023

EN Speech

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Adequate minimum income ensuring active inclusion (debate)

Mr President, we are only halfway through the month, but for a lot of European citizens now the struggle begins. Transaction denied when you’re trying to buy food at a supermarket. You’re feeling guilty keeping your child at home because of a very expensive school trip. You’re ignoring the calls of your landlord on your phone when he’s asking where the rent is. Today, a minimum income doesn’t lift…

15

Feb

2023

NL Speech

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Access to strategic critical raw materials (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we need to move much faster towards 100% renewable energy and electric cars. For the climate, of course, but also to reduce our dependence on rogue states such as Russia. But to produce those solar panels, windmills and batteries, we need critical raw materials, and we do not have them, or to a limited extent, in Europe. We must absolutely prevent a new dependen…

13

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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Order of business

Madam President, as everyone is aware, I’m sure, there will be a strike on Thursday and that means that some Members will not be able to vote because they want to join the strike or perhaps they have other travel arrangements. So, as the rapporteur on minimum income, I would urge you to postpone this vote to March. It’s a very important decision when it comes to getting some action done on the era…

18

Jan

2023

NL Speech

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An EU strategy to boost industrial competitiveness, trade and quality jobs (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, what China has been doing for its state-owned enterprises for years, the United States now also wants to: Distribute hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to U.S. green technology companies. Greening our industry requires investment. But we should not seek out trade wars ourselves through protectionism. Only relaxing our state aid rules is a bad idea, bec…

16

Jan

2023

NL Speech

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Shipments of waste (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Europe is dumping millions of tonnes of plastic waste in countries outside the EU that cannot cope at all. We all know the terrible images of plastic on the beaches. We know the gigantic garbage dumps in Turkey, for example, where that plastic waste disappears into the ground or is burned. And where it is processed, it is often in very dangerous working conditio…

14

Dec

2022

NL Speech

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

Mr President, temperatures are dropping sharply. At the same time, energy prices remain extremely high. This is exactly what we warned about earlier this year: People have to choose between eating or heating their homes. However, those runaway living costs are not just an insurmountable fact. We know the solutions to keep those prices under control, but they take far too long. We still do not have…

18

Oct

2022

NL Speech

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Keep the bills down: social and economic consequences of the war in Ukraine and the introduction of a windfall tax (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in my home city of Ghent, I see people every day who can no longer pay their energy bills or for whom transport has become too expensive, while energy companies and other sectors are making record profits. That is to be furious, because we are not all in the same boat in this crisis. Cynically, it also produces winners. Those big winners do not produce any other…

17

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, Commissioner, last plenary I got the feeling that a big part of this Parliament is living on another planet. Poverty is rising in Europe all over and more and more people are unable to pay for their basic needs, like feeding their children or heating their homes. So, this should indeed send a huge alarm system to all of you and to our European leaders. But instead…

5

Oct

2022

NL Speech

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Outcome of the Commission’s review of the 15-point action plan on trade and sustainable development (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, after years of pressure from, among others, the Greens, all trade agreements must finally contain enforceable rules on social and environmental conditions. If they do not respect the Paris climate agreement, or labour rights, sanctions will be imposed. We see that for the first time in the deal with New Zealand, and that's good. But the question is…

4

Oct

2022

NL Speech

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Radio Equipment Directive: common charger for electronic devices (debate)

Mr President, we have been on the road for ten years, but now it is time! Finally we introduce a universal charger for smartphones, laptops, e-readers and so on. Finally it's done with those cabinets full of chargers. That is a triple win, because it is cheaper for the consumer, it is easier and we also reduce the gigantic amount of electronic waste with it. For smartphones alone, for laptops, for…

13

Sep

2022

NL Speech

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EU response to the increase in energy prices in Europe (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today we see people getting into serious trouble due to skyrocketing energy bills. We are not even in autumn, let alone winter, and we are already seeing social dramas. That, ladies and gentlemen, must not be allowed to happen overnight, especially at a time when fossil-based multinationals are making billions in profits. We really need to throw the taboo of rob…

13

Sep

2022

NL Speech

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Adequate minimum wages in the European Union (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today we have the opportunity to protect the people who are really struggling – namely the people with the lowest incomes – from high energy prices and inflation. There are millions of working people in Europe who are unable to pay their bills today because of wages that are too low. Let us massively support the directive on higher minimum wages as a signal to t…

5

Jul

2022

NL Speech

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Common European action on care (debate)

Mr President, as a young mother, I am concerned about the safety of our children. Unfortunately, this concern is justified today. Nowhere in Europe are there as many children per caregiver as in Flanders. The workload is also unsustainable for the caregivers themselves. We invest too little in childcare and that leads to unsafe situations. However, quality and warm care, that is really where Europ…

9

Jun

2022

NL Speech

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A new trade instrument to ban products made by forced labour (debate)

Mr President, the EU must not be a market for products made through modern slavery. We must take responsibility and ban products that can be linked to forced labour. I would therefore ask you to work on this as soon as possible. After all, we know that such a ban is not only possible, but also works. We can see this in the countries that preceded us, such as the US and Canada, where tens of millio…