What Malte spoke about.

9

May

2023

DE Speech

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Empowering consumers for the green transition (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! If we want to secure the prosperity of the citizens of our continent, we must decouple it from our consumption of resources. If we are honest and take a look at what our market looks like at the moment, many companies are not doing well at the moment. There are products, there are screws glued, there are printers that do not print after a certai…

19

Apr

2023

EN Speech

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Universal decriminalization of homosexuality, in light of recent developments in Uganda (debate)

Mr President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, and especially dear colleagues, Members of Parliament outside of Europe: if you criminalise homosexuality, people are going to kill themselves. Children are going to commit suicide for what they are. Be aware of this. Who brought these laws to so many countries in the world? It was the colonisers. Do you really want to follow this path? I doubt it.…

15

Mar

2023

DE Speech

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Conclusions of the Special European Council meeting of 9 February and preparation of the European Council meeting of 23-24 March 2023 (debate)

Madam President, Mr Šefčovič, Mr Michel and also Ms Dalli! Of course, I am pleased when it is now said that the Inflation Reduction Act also takes European-processed raw materials into account. But I'm really worried that we're losing our partnerships in the Global South like this. We are faced with the huge task of diversifying supply chains. This means that we must first and foremost become inde…

13

Mar

2023

DE Speech

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Energy performance of buildings (recast) (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner! We are heading into a climate crisis. We notice it more and more every year, right now at the Po in Italy. We're heading for it. We must act now! 40% of our greenhouse gases only from the building sector are a huge field that we can tackle. And with this building energy efficiency directive, we are steering in exactly the same direction. But now I wonder: What has ha…

15

Feb

2023

DE Speech

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Violence against opposition activists in Equatorial Guinea, notably the case of Julio Obama Mefuman

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! It is precisely such debates that show me again and again how insanely happy I am to be a European citizen – because here we can be an opposition without fear of death. Obama Mefuman did not have this privilege: He was abducted from Equatorial Guinea, kidnapped from South Sudan, arrested, presumably tortured and then murdered. We call on you, Co…

14

Feb

2023

DE Speech

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Tensions between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner! Where do all our raw materials come from, which are stuck in our phones, which are stuck in our cars, which are stuck in our trains, which are stuck in our laptops? We answer this far too seldom, and far too often the answer is: from a war zone. And the east of the Congo is just such a war zone. 70% of the cobalt comes from there. We need it all – for the energy transit…

19

Jan

2023

DE Speech

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The Global Gateway Initiative (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner! We are rushing straight into a climate crisis, which, on the one hand, causes a very large part of us and, on the other hand, is already really noticeable – and noticeable, especially in the Global South. It is precisely for this reason that it is our duty to provide support, especially in the Global South, so that they do not maneuver into the sam…

24

Nov

2022

DE Speech

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The European Year of Youth 2022 Legacy (debate)

What is of course first and foremost the most important thing is that the livelihood for young people to continue to exist on this planet is created at all, that is, the containment of the climate crisis must of course have the absolute, highest priority, because this is of course also the greatest threat to young people. If we think that we will continue with our CO2 emissions as before, then in …

24

Nov

2022

DE Speech

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The European Year of Youth 2022 Legacy (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner! They always say: There is a magic in every beginning. And I think that's the same with life. Indeed, if I look back, I would say that the first ten years felt so much longer than the last ten years I have been on the planet. That's why I think the focus on youth is extremely important – that is, there was the European Year of Youth, which was a …

23

Nov

2022

DE Speech

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Forced displacement of people as a result of escalating conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Where do our raw materials come from? We ask ourselves the question far too rarely, and far too often the answer is: from a war zone. We source more than 70% of the cobalt from eastern DR Congo, where more than 60% of the coltan is stored. These are all fabrics that are stuck in every single cell phone. And that is exactly where almost 200,000 peop…

5

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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The recent humanitarian and human rights situation in Tigray, Ethiopia, notably that of children

Mr President, just some days ago, I asked on my social media whether people knew about what is going on in Tigray in northern Ethiopia. I think like 83% answered that they had no clue at all what is going on there. I think this is really important that we talk about this today again. What is going on there? I think it’s one of the biggest humanitarian crisis on this planet at the moment. There are…

4

Oct

2022

DE Speech

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

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, When the idea of a uniform charging cable first came about over ten years ago, many laughed. Today we decide exactly that, and this is a huge success, because we show: The one who laughs last is the one who makes the law. The EU enforces citizens' interests against the market power of tech giants with laws that protect the wallet and the environment. That's a…

14

Sep

2022

EN Speech

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Violations of human rights in Uganda and Tanzania linked to the investments in fossil fuels projects

Madam President, dear colleagues and of course, dear people with an interest on the further existence of us on this beautiful planet, end of July I was in Uganda, and on the very first day I read the headline on the front page of a newspaper stating that 900 people had just died from hunger due to the severe droughts there. And only one week later I read the exact opposite: heavy rains had caused …

8

Jun

2022

DE Speech

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The Commission's proposal for "Attracting skills and talent to the EU", particularly the Talent Partnerships with North African countries (topical debate)

Mr President, dear Vice-President, dear guests! I would like to say first of all, I am really extremely happy to see how well and quickly the reception of refugees from Ukraine is going with us, especially thanks to all the volunteers. Millions of people have direct access to the labour market from day one and freedom of movement across the EU. Let's take a look at Germany, for example. There is a…

10

Mar

2022

DE Speech

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The need for an ambitious EU Strategy for sustainable textiles (debate)

Madam President, dear Commissioner! How old do you think this jacket I'm wearing right now is? Looks like new, I'd say you saw it yesterday. But the jacket is actually older than me. And it is precisely this quality in the lifetime that I no longer know of new products in the fashion sector. Fast fashion It is a crime against the environment, against the people who produce for us and against all c…

9

Mar

2022

DE Speech

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Batteries and waste batteries (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, dear Simona! I think it is clear to all of us, it has never been so clear and never so urgent as in these days and hours: We need to do everything we can to get away from fossil fuels, and batteries are an absolute key technology for that. Climate crisis, species extinction, pollution – all these crises must be tackled with full force. This requires laws that do just…

16

Feb

2022

DE Speech

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One youth, one Europe (topical debate)

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, Mr Secretary of State, ladies and gentlemen! Imagine the following: You just turned 18, but your party was cancelled. The first festival you've been looking forward to for so long: canceled. Exchange, Year Abroad, Exploring the World: canceled everything. And then you start studying now, and you only see the others in zoom calls. Pretty dystopian, huh? Youth showed…