Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we are discussing a common defence and a common security and defence policy. The European Commission is making proposals and we are here today discussing our common stance on defence policy issues. It seems to me that we are missing something crucial: whereas defence can only be an adjunct to a common foreign policy; that you decide to defend something and spend money, when you have decided what is at stake, to shield national sovereignty, national independence and every inch of territorial integrity of the 27 Member States. We cannot, therefore, without weighing up the next steps in a common foreign policy, for which I am in favour and believe in our common attitude and our common future on this continent, rush to spend money without having reached the objective. Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am following the debate. I regret that to a large extent we are coming to review things that we had agreed on both in the European Parliament and in the European Commission. I am glad, however, that voices are heard from various wings of the European Parliament and I will join my own voice so that a deregulation which, at least in my own eyes, seems a little pretentious, does not proceed. We say "yes" to simplifying procedures for entrepreneurship. We want entrepreneurship and competitiveness. We say "no" to pretentiousness. How else can one explain the fact that this famous simplification starts from sustainability? There are so many dozens, hundreds of procedures that could be simplified. Why start with sustainability, ladies and gentlemen? I think we should reject it and stay where we agreed.

Mr President, in the previous plenary we decided here on an upgraded Security and Infrastructure Committee of the European Parliament, Security and Defence. And today's debate from this morning shows that security issues in the European Union are not just about a frantic and obsessive arms and weapons race. They concern broader issues and possibly more important ones. Network and infrastructure security issues, digital security issues, resilience issues, issues related to basic infrastructure. A prerequisite for all this, then, is that we do not give the greatest weight of the debate to this obsessive arms debate, which even comes from abroad. But to focus on our networks and infrastructures and our innovation.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, for two months now we have been overly concerned with what the United States is doing or will do and, I think, less concerned with what the European Union should do. The European Union must remain the guardian of international legality. The European Union must remain the guardian of global health, environmental protection and biodiversity. The European Union must remain the guardian of prosperity and the reduction of social inequalities. And this can be done by revising the treaties, by a common foreign policy, by a common industrial policy, by increasing spending on social benefits and reducing inequalities. Yes to common security, no to the obsessive increase in armaments at the expense of social spending and environmental protection. So we will be re-leasing the global community for these important global goods.

Mr President, let the European Union and its Member States not follow the hypocrisy of other countries on this planet. The dry regions of the Earth today cover about half of the Earth’s land area – 41% – affecting 2 billion people on this planet, and we do not understand. Let us remove the partisan blinkers and stop, ladies and gentlemen, denying the climate crisis. The measures we need to take are not only economic. They are also measures of political will for the restoration of the dried and deserted areas of this planet. I call on the European Union to act, and not to move a centimeter from its position of international leadership in the fight against climate change.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner Šefčovič, I shall refer to the economic dimension of the new relationship with the United States, which I consider to be the most important. The architecture of world trade, as we know it after the Second World War, is changing. But it doesn't change now. It's been going on for years. Already under the Obama administration, I believe that the United States has begun to withdraw its interest from the World Trade Organization and to discuss at the regional level. Europe's response can only be more regional cooperation and, above all, linking the European Union's industrial policy to the common commercial policy. Now and without further obstruction.

Mr President, Commissioner, in my recent question on the protection of Natura sites in the Mediterranean, you answered me, sincerely and thank you very much, that the figures are disappointing, for countries in the Mediterranean where biodiversity is at risk. So, ladies and gentlemen, now is the time for action. I cannot understand what delaying the implementation of the deforestation law is all about. And I also want measures from the European Commission in order to strictly enforce the European Union regulations on the protection of Natura sites. And finally, I would like to see in the medium-term budget measures and funds for biodiversity. Actions now. No more wishes.

Madam President, there are European countries par excellence that have been asking for decades to join our European family. And yet, the European Union has turned its attention to other corners of Europe and not to the Western Balkans. We need a strong message of support to countries that are trying to honour the Copenhagen criteria and to converge towards our European family. Και τα Δυτικά Βαλκάνια, στην καρδιά της Ευρώπης, χρειάζονται ένα ισχυρό μήνυμα. I am calling here and now for the accession of Montenegro and Serbia to the European Union. If not these countries, which ones? If not in the heart of Europe, if not in the arms of Europe, then in whose arms and in whose influence, ladies and gentlemen of the European Commission? Serbia and Montenegro now join our European family.

Mr President, what distinguishes the European Union from other countries of the world, from other federal states, from other international organisations? What is perhaps its most emblematic intervention on the issues of humanity and the planet today? Protecting the environment, the future generations, the planet. The protection of what is a self-evident prerequisite for our existence. As a member of the Environment Committee, I also had the opportunity to follow closely the work on the climate crisis in Baku, COP29. The results are unsatisfactory because there is no commitment to either funding or to developed countries' next steps towards a cleaner planet. Here, then, as we speak, negotiations are ongoing in Busan, Korea, for an international agreement on plastics under the auspices of the United Nations, and the European Union must take the lead. I call on the European Commission to remain firm and committed to the goal of reducing plastics – not just increasing recycling, but reducing plastic production, which is disappointing. It's growing at a geometric speed. First of all. Secondly, recycling. Only 9% of plastics are recycled every year. This number should be doubled and tripled immediately. Thirdly, we must not allow all those lobbying companies that have currently flooded the work of the global conference in South Korea, in Busan, 220 - the largest number of mineral and plastic companies ever to appear at such an international conference - to establish their agenda. Here and now we need global rules, legally binding for all, especially for developed but also developing countries. First, to reduce plastics. And secondly, to increase recycling.

Madam President, dear Mr Letta, I welcome you to the European Parliament. We welcome some of your proposals, such as those for a common tax policy or a common European industrial policy. However, I do not agree with the further deregulation of labour relations and the exclusive emphasis on investment mobility. I also call on you and the European Commission to take into account the fact that a key pillar of the internal market since the creation of the European Union, competition policy, competition rules and antitrust legislation, in many countries of the European Union and in the European Union itself does not work. There are countries, such as my own country, Greece, where some crucial sectors of the economy are completely cartelized, as well as sectors of basic social goods. That is why efforts must be stepped up, from the outset, to ensure that the basic pillars of the internal market, such as competition rules, are strictly respected and enforced. I therefore call on the European Commission, in the context of the European competition network, to pay more attention to cartelised markets and to place greater emphasis on the social dimension of the internal market.

Madam President, we unequivocally support the countries affected by the catastrophic natural disasters and we support the activation of the Solidarity Fund. We call, however, for disasters to be taken into account in relation to the scarce appropriations we have for their restoration and, of course, for the disbursement procedures to be speeded up.

Madam President, the devastating fires in the Mediterranean and in the south of the European Union have had enormous repercussions, even more so in some of the Mediterranean countries and especially in my own country, Greece, where we have had a negative first for consecutive years, which testifies to the failure of the state apparatus. I am therefore addressing our European family and the European Commission and calling on them to proceed swiftly with the coordination of civil protection mechanisms in order to remedy the inadequacies of national civil protection systems. Secondly, it is necessary to disburse the funds quickly in order to alleviate the suffering souls, victims and families of the catastrophic natural disasters. And thirdly, and also importantly, I call on the European Commission to cooperate, I call on the services of the Directorate-General for Agriculture and the Directorate-General for Environment to work together so that we can move forward on what we have proposed and on which we insist: a third pillar in the Common Agricultural Policy, a fund to help repair damage to the agricultural sector caused by natural disasters.

on behalf of the ALDE Group. - Mr President, I am addressing the European Commission in particular and calling on it to integrate environmental policy into the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy, in terms of horizontal management and other policies. Yes to the integration of environmental policy into the CAP, but not to the sacking. That is, distinct policies and resources for those countries most affected by the climate crisis. Secondly, cooperation with the common commercial policy portfolio. Yes to green policy in agriculture. No to the competitive disadvantage of European farmers in relation to imported raw materials, materials, animal and crop production from third countries with zero cultivation standards.

Mr President, agricultural policy is one of the fundamental policies of our European vision. A basic policy, but one that is now being shaken because our farmers and stockbreeders feel that the European Union may no longer be able to protect them. I, too, would like to point out that, in the context of the debate that has begun for 2024-2027, we must also take other policies seriously. One policy that has taken on a large dimension is environmental policy. Progressive democratic forces in Europe cannot refuse environmental policy in the Common Agricultural Policy. But they can vigorously defend some competitive disadvantages for our farmers and breeders coming from third countries. This also applies to the common commercial policy. Where there are strict cultivation, biodiversity, herbicides and other standards in animal and plant production, the same should apply to imported products from third countries.