What Michiel spoke about.

17 Oct

2023

NL Speech

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (debate)

Watch

Mr President, in 1990 36% of the world's population was still living in extreme poverty. Less than 30 years later, this number had fallen to 9%. How did we manage that? Economic growth. Economic growth is the driving force in the fight against poverty. How do we ensure economic growth? Low burden for citizens and businesses. Cut red tape and avoid reckless spending. Deregulate and strengthen the f…

16 Oct

2023

NL Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Watch

Mr President, behind the scenes, the Eurofederalists are busy amending the European treaties in order to work towards a United States of Europe. But do people at home want this? We asked the renowned I&O Research. And what turns out? Only 20% of Dutch people want more powers for the EU. If you don't believe this research by I&O, a study by Ipsos this month shows that only 12% are in favour of it. …

4 Oct

2023

NL Speech

Need to complete new trade agreements for sustainable growth, competitiveness and the EU’s strategic autonomy (debate)

Watch

Mr President, the EU must focus on the core tasks and do so better. This includes the conclusion of new trade agreements. Fair free trade increases our prosperity, creates jobs and provides a wider range of products. Unfortunately, the EU wants to get a better grip on the internal affairs of our potential trading partners through free trade agreements, with all kinds of additional requirements, su…

4 Oct

2023

NL Speech

European green bonds (debate)

Watch

Mr President, please introduce yourself: We're bringing someone from 200 years ago to our time. What would this person find? That we have destroyed his or her beautiful natural world? Or would this person be surprised at our modern society with heating, cooling, clean water, clean air, food and electricity for everyone? 200 years after the industrial revolution, the climate is changing. The concen…

2 Oct

2023

NL Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Watch

Mr President, the European Commission is demanding 3.2 billion from the Netherlands. The war in Ukraine, inflation and rising interest costs are taking a big bite out of the Brussels budget. However, instead of cutting cohesion funds, development cooperation, subsidy socialism for friendly NGOs and the growing jungle of expensive consultants and civil servants, the Commission wants more money agai…

2 Oct

2023

EN Speech

Economic coercion by third countries (debate)

Watch

Madam President, the Common Market is the geopolitical asset of the European Union, and it needs to be protected from trade bullies. That is why we need this anti-coercion instrument so we can defend ourselves against coercion from third countries. Let it be clear, the intention of this instrument is not to start trade wars, but serves first and foremost as a deterrent. I would like to underline t…

2 Oct

2023

NL Speech

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

Watch

Mr President, the purchasing power of Europeans is under pressure. The recent Eurobarometer shows that more than half of Europeans feel that their purchasing power has decreased over the past three years. These are terrifyingly high percentages. This decline in purchasing power has a clearly identifiable cause: the sharply increased prices, i.e. inflation. No, it's not just because of the terrible…

14 Sep

2023

NL Speech

Parliamentarism, European citizenship and democracy (debate)

Watch

Mr President, the EU's track record on democracy is difficult. A well-known example is that the results of the referendums on the European Constitution were ignored. But the Conference on the Future of Europe also fell short. Unsuspecting citizens were sent by biased experts to a predetermined outcome. And now my colleagues are abusing that outcome in order to argue against the right of veto for M…

13 Sep

2023

NL Speech

Opening of negotiations of an agreement with the United States of America on strengthening international supply chains of critical minerals (debate)

Watch

Mr President, as 19th-century English politician Richard Cobden once said: “Free trade has the same effect on the moral world as gravity has on the universe: he brings people together, overthrows the contradictions between races, religions and languages and unites us in peace.” History teaches us: Where there is free trade, there is prosperity. Where protectionism comes, tensions and conflicts ari…

11 Sep

2023

NL Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Watch

President. Inflation is entrenched in the economy and that is life-threatening. The inflation rate may have fallen in the past year, but inflation is not gone. It still eats from people's wallets at home every day. Prices are not going down. Falling inflation only means that prices are rising less quickly. In two years, the cost of living has increased by more than 15%. Oil prices are already skyr…

12 Jul

2023

NL Speech

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

Watch

Mr President, every year we miss out on some EUR 20 billion in tax revenues from P.O. Box companies operating in the EU. The Netherlands is one of the countries that contribute to the presence of these paper companies that contribute little to nothing to the economy. It is a source of lost tax revenue. Legitimate companies such as our SMEs pay their fair share of taxes and have to comply with incr…

12 Jul

2023

NL Speech

Tax the rich (topical debate)

Watch

Mr President, ‘Tax the rich to pay for the welfare of the rest’, is the common cry here. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. But is it? The fact is that global inequality is decreasing. Yes, the rich get richer, but the poor also get richer, and faster. Why is that? By the free market, in contrast to socialist, protectionist regimes where one divides not wealth but poverty. Compare Colomb…

10 Jul

2023

NL Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Watch

Mr President, when a cabinet falls, it is often seen as bad news. It would mean political instability and stagnation. With the fall of the Rutte IV cabinet, the situation is different. Under the leadership of Minister of Finance Sigrid Kaag, an incomprehensible EU strategy for the Netherlands was deployed. The Netherlands wasted its strong position as a financially frugal country. Instead of suppo…

14 Jun

2023

NL Speech

Make Europe the place to invest (debate)

Watch

Mr President, when we tell a country how to ensure economic growth, we say the following: low burden on citizens and businesses, cut red tape and avoid reckless spending, deregulate and strengthen the free market, and ensure price stability. Point. That's it. Why? Why don't we do that ourselves here, here in Europe? The Commission and our governments are mainly concerned with peripheral issues suc…

31 May

2023

NL Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Watch

Mr President, Brussels will soon be introducing new European taxes. Why? Because NextGenerationEU, the so-called corona recovery fund, has to be paid. Why was this fund needed again? Because the EU needs to grow. Why does the EU need to grow? Because the enormous budgets for bureaucracy, climate and the funds for southern Europe must not be reduced. And why not? Because the EU has to shrink differ…

9 May

2023

NL Speech

Revision of the Stability and Growth Pact (debate)

Watch

Mr. President, appointment is appointment. At the end of the 1990s, Member States made the rules for sound public finances under the Stability and Growth Pact. The European Commission now wants to relax these rules. It wants more spending on climate, more flexible debt repayment and abolishes fines for violations. The German finance minister, Christian Lindner, threw a bomb under the proposal and …

8 May

2023

NL Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Watch

Mr President, it is Europe Day tomorrow and thus a year ago that the Conference on the Future of Europe came to an end. 800 citizens came here in Strasbourg to discuss what the EU is and what it should be, and neither cost nor effort was spared. We received a roaring speech from President Macron and, of course, from conference chairman Guy Verhofstadt, who expressed his European federalist dream. …

8 May

2023

NL Speech

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)

Watch

Mr President, three years ago, EU federalists saw their chance to finally create joint European debts. Under the heading ‘NextGenerationEU’, EUR 800 billion will be transferred to the next generation. But making debts costs money. The rise in interest rates leads to more expensive debt financing. And as always, this Parliament says: “This should not come at the expense of other EU programmes and f…

19 Apr

2023

EN Speech

Digital euro (debate)

Watch

Mr President, when Bitcoin was introduced 14 years ago, it revolutionised the world of finance. It was the world’s first decentralised digital payments infrastructure. The underlying technology of Bitcoin still promises an endless potential of economic opportunity and freedom. And isn’t it ironic that we are now talking about a centralised database controlled by government institutions? Why do we …

19 Apr

2023

NL Speech

Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCa) - Information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets (recast) (debate)

Watch

Mr President, for the EU, the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation is a game-changer. Until now, crypto companies in the EU had to turn to every national regulator if they wanted to serve the EU market. If a company is now granted a MiCA license in one country, it will also be able to offer the same service throughout the common market. With the MiCA Regulation in force, non-regulated compan…

17 Apr

2023

NL Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Watch

Inflation affects us all. According to the International Monetary Fund, the economic outlook is therefore anything but rosy. It warns against long-term low economic growth. I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. Reckless public spending, COVID-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ill-considered climate policies have put us in trouble. We have been warning for years about stagflation, the …

30 Mar

2023

NL Speech

Strengthening the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women (debate)

Watch

Mr President, I feel that it is necessary to counterbalance the pessimism that prevails in this House. The position of the woman is doing quite well. In education, women have not only overtaken men, they have overtaken them. This is reflected in almost the entire EU. Today, around 70% of women in medicine and dentistry are women. In secondary education, 65% of staff are women, while in primary edu…

29 Mar

2023

NL Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Watch

Mr President, the American Inflation Reduction Act is a contradiction in terms. The law encourages reckless public spending and creates barriers to trade and, contrary to what the name suggests, it will keep inflation high. The EU is now taking countermeasures. For example, the Commission is introducing a significant relaxation of EU state aid rules: the Green Deal Industrial Plan. As is often the…

15 Mar

2023

NL Speech

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

Watch

Mr President, the fall of Silicon Valley Bank is the result of the reckless behaviour of policymakers and central bankers. The low interest rate policy and free money took irresponsible risks. As a result, money ended up in the wrong places. This is also the cause of high inflation. Central banks therefore had to raise interest rates quickly, leaving banks that took irresponsible risks in trouble.…

14 Mar

2023

NL Speech

Implementation report on the Agreement on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU - The Windsor Framework (debate)

Watch

Mr President, the Windsor Framework is a new chapter in the EU’s relations with the United Kingdom. Through the green lane goods can be freely traded across the Irish Sea and we avoid a hard border. Northern Ireland can again levy the same tax as the rest of the United Kingdom and we will not see any more reports about empty shelves. The question that arises is why it all took so long. Why did the…