Speeches

The next meeting will take place on Thursday 2 February 2023 at 8.30 a.m. The agenda has been published and is available on the European Parliament's website.

On a proposal from the Committee on Legal Affairs, Parliament shall examine the validity of the mandates of Mr Bergur Løkke Rasmussen, Mr Erik Poulsen and Mr Anders Vistisen with effect from 22 November 2022 and of Ms Beatrice Covassi with effect from 6 November 2022. December 2022.

– The S&D Group has forwarded decisions on changes to appointments to committees and delegations to the President. These decisions will be recorded in the minutes of today's meeting and will enter into force on the day of this announcement.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the Commission statement on the criminalisation of humanitarian aid, including search and rescue operations (2023/2526(RSP)).

. – The next item on the agenda is the debate on the Council and Commission statements on revelations about Über’s lobbying activities in the EU (2023/2514(RSP)).

The S&A/D Group has forwarded to the President a decision to change appointments to a committee. This Decision shall be entered in the minutes of today's meeting and shall enter into force on the date of this announcement.

Three announcements followed. On a proposal from the Committee on Legal Affairs, Parliament shall examine the mandates of Ms Lara Comi, Ms Maria Angela Danzì, Ms Elisabetta De Blasis, Mr Matteo Gazzini, Ms Paola Ghidoni, Ms Alessandra Mussolini, Mr Denis Nesci, Ms Eleni Stavrou and Mr Achille Variati with effect from 2 November 2022.

. – Mr Lacapelle, that is not true. I was indeed distracted by Mrs Keller, three or four seconds, and you spoke for almost one minute, 15 seconds. I don't know why you're upset. A little more precision in the preparation would be much better.

I would like to point out the following: When I had already switched off, the interpretation came, after which you said: "Isn't that a priority?" This is question time – for good reasons – and we should really limit ourselves to questions. What I have just heard in addition was an opinion, an argument. There is no question time for that. If we now have too many interventions, it is also a question of respect for colleagues that, firstly, we do not exceed speaking time and, secondly, we stick to the question.

You can also see that there are questions now. I ask for your understanding. Question Time is a new tool. It's been going on for a few months, but it's only coming from the focus groups. You have instructions at your table. You can see if you are registered or not. Those who leave, they leave. We are trying to further optimize the process, I ask for your understanding.

I just received gestures from the plenary and I want to say again: We have 90 minutes for this question time. We expect 18 questions to be possible, and this is distributed among the political groups. We will certainly have to improve the procedure a bit so that this is also visible to you. I now have the interventions that I can take into account, namely Mr Waitz, Mr Amaro, Mr Avram, Mr Sardone, Mr Ilčić, Mr Hazekamp, Mr Kelleher, Mr Markey, Mr Rondinelli, Mr De Castro, Mr Deparnay-Grunenberg, Mr Hlaváček and Mr Mortler. We then have an overhang from Mr Lebreton and Mr Kuźmiuk, and they have their say if no one has any questions. Then it may be, there will be a little more, then we will fill up from behind. Those who are not mentioned now can decide whether to stay in the room or not.

I would like to point out that we are trying to strike a balance between the political groups and their strengths. We now have enough comments and would close the list. However, I would like to point out that if someone fails, colleagues will follow suit. But we have enough reports.

The next item on the agenda is Question Time with questions to the Commission under Rule 137 of the Rules of Procedure. I welcome Commissioner Wojciechowski to this Question Time. The theme of this Question Time is “Food price inflation in Europe”. The question time will last about 90 minutes, the speaking time is one minute for the question, two minutes for the answer, 30 seconds for a supplementary question and two minutes for the answer. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that a possible supplementary question is admissible only if it is closely linked to the main question and does not contain a new question. If you would like to ask a question, I would ask you to register your request now by using the function of your voting device for spontaneous interventions after inserting your voting card. During Question Time, comments will be made from your seat. I ask all speakers to respect the speaking time allocated to them. Members may need a few moments to register their request to ask a question via their voting device. I therefore ask you again to submit your request now.

We now come to the spontaneous speeches, and I may perhaps briefly say that it is a constant practice when someone here in the house misses his speaking time, that I then do not connect him to the back, but take part in the process of spontaneous speeches. Today we have several cases. I guess that's due to the weather this time. Otherwise, however, I am of the opinion that the list of speakers is a non-binding proposal as to when one might find oneself here. That is why we have taken a number of speakers into the process of spontaneous interventions. It starts with Mrs Cramon-Taubadel, for whom, of course, my preliminary remark does not apply.