What Michiel spoke about.

23

Nov

2021

NL Speech

Watch

Multilateral negotiations in view of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva, 30 November to 3 December 2021 (debate)

Mr President, the European Union is becoming a second-class trading power. Our trade deficit with China is increasing. Our economic freedoms are under pressure and we praise ourselves with unachievable climate goals. In the days when our continent was still an industrial world power, we determined the rules and the playing field. Together with our American allies, we told how countries in the worl…

22

Nov

2021

EN Speech

Watch

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Madam President, two years ago, the world was informed that COVID-19 had been newly discovered and was making people very sick in the city of Wuhan in China. In the meantime, the entire world is still suffering under the pandemic, causing the deaths of over five million people. But how did this virus come into the world? The only thing we really know is that it originated in Wuhan. The next questi…

11

Nov

2021

NL Speech

Watch

The outcome of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) (debate)

Mr President, when the People's Republic of China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001, it was intended that trade would increase and that China would gradually become a liberal market democracy. However, this has turned out differently than expected. China chooses its own course and combines state capitalism with a highly assertive trade policy. The recent EU-US Trade and Technology Counci…

10

Nov

2021

NL Speech

Watch

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, the weekly shopping, the refuelling of the car, the energy bill, the purchase of a home and in the Netherlands soon also the purchase of Sinterklaasca sauce; These are all issues with which many people go to bed every day and get up again. Everything is getting more expensive. Inflation hasn't been this high in decades. It is said that this is due to the corona crisis and that this i…

21

Oct

2021

NL Speech

Watch

The proposal to build a ‘single market for philanthropy’ (debate)

Mr President, at the end of the 1950s and 1960s, German-American political scientist Ernst Bernard Haas wrote about European integration. He wrote that the established nation-state would withdraw completely. He predicted that gradually, little by little, officials, interest groups and large commercial companies within states would see it in their interest to pursue political and economic integrati…

20

Oct

2021

NL Speech

Watch

Global Tax Agreements to be endorsed at the G20 Summit in Rome, 30th/31st of October (continuation of debate)

Mr President, we support the strengthening of mechanisms for better tax governance and the fight against tax fraud and evasion. However, there are still many countries, from the Fiji Islands to Panama, that do not have cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. So what is the point of the proposed global code of conduct? The following about the proposed global tax rate of 15 percent: Taxation is …

6

Oct

2021

NL Speech

Watch

Banking Union - annual report 2020 (debate)

Mr President, although there are valuable aspects in the annual report on the Banking Union, and in particular in the area of supervision, we also have serious criticism. For example, the text supports the bank’s self-assessment of climate change risks. Since when does climate belong to the monetary mandate of a central bank, let alone the banking sector? We fear that rücksichtslos allocating gree…

5

Oct

2021

EN Speech

Watch

The future of EU-US relations (debate)

Mr President, the relations between the United States and the countries of Europe are under threat, and this is because we have an EU that no longer knows its place in the geopolitical arena. We have a European Commission seeking what it calls ‘strategic autonomy’. We have a Commission President who recently proclaimed her empire, stating European military forces would be part of the solution, und…

15

Sep

2021

NL Speech

Watch

Implementation of EU requirements for exchange of tax information (debate)

Mr President, today we are talking about improving the exchange of tax information in the common market. Of course, we encourage cooperation to fight tax fraud and tax evasion as long as there is no unnecessary bureaucracy for business. However, this debate is another typical example where European federalist types go beyond their limits with their amendments. For example, they deplore tax regimes…

7

Jul

2021

EN Speech

Watch

Review of the macroeconomic legislative framework (debate)

Madam President, as the late US President, John Tyler, once said, ‘wealth can only be accumulated by the earnings of industry and the savings of frugality.’ It is the bedrock on which our societies were built. But it seems today that these principles no longer hold any value. After the 2008 financial crisis and the 2010 European debt crisis, we made a promise to ourselves: from now on, things woul…

6

Jul

2021

NL Speech

Watch

Foreign interference in democratic processes (debate)

Mr President, today we are talking about the foreign influence of the democratic process. And rightly so. It makes our democracies vulnerable. However, how does the EU influence the democratic process in the Member States themselves? For example, structural support for pro-EU think tanks. Take the Jacques Delors Institute. This will receive EUR 350 000 per year. European Movement International: EU…