What Elisabeth spoke about.

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DE Written Statement

Single Market Strategy (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, The Commission's new Single Market Strategy promises a "simpler, seamless market", but it raises critical questions. Firstly: The Commission intends to remove the top 10 trade barriers, such as different packaging and labelling rules, lengthy recognition procedures for professional qualifications and complicated business start-ups. But many of these obstacles…

6 Oct

2026

DE Speech

Effective measures to protect and empower children in the digital world (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Almost 80 percent of young people between the ages of 12 and 15 inform themselves about world events via social networks. That's what we want, isn't it? Hopefully we like all interested young people. And yes, then it may well be that through this free flow of information now also everywhere in Europe the approval of right-wing parties among young people incre…

16 Sep

2026

DE Speech

The impact of the implementation of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) on SMEs, its administrative burden and challenges for the European Single Market (debate)

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Mr President! Unfortunately, many European laws do not achieve what the population expects of us, namely an improvement. Just think of the 2021 Medical Devices Ordinance, which emerged from a left-wing moral panic, resulting in three times longer approval waiting times and massive cost increases for European patients. In the case of the packaging regulation, the time has come again. The pious desi…

7 Jul

2026

DE Speech

EU-Mexico (joint debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, This house is being presented with completed facts today. The Commission has deliberately split this agreement. The Interim Trade Agreement will enter into force as soon as this Parliament and the Mexican Senate approve. The national parliaments, including the Austrian National Council, may ratify only retrospectively, when long-completed facts have been crea…

17 Jun

2026

DE Speech

Protecting children’s safety and mental health from the risks posed by social media – our duty to act now (debate)

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Madam President, Yes, of course we take seriously the problems and dangers that can arise for young people, but also for all of us, connected with social media. It is therefore particularly important to take a close look at the proposals put forward. The Commission has made age control on the Internet the focal point of its interventions, and has even developed a digital identity card for this pur…

20 May

2026

DE Speech

Rights, support and protection of victims of crime (debate)

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Madam President, For us, the protection of crime victims is of course the highest priority. But although there are some positive aspects here, I do not spare criticism. Above all, once again a text is presented in which a strongly ideologized language prevails. Let's look at terms like intersectional discrimination and gender identity, then the involvement of NGOs in positions of power and the lin…

20 May

2026

DE Speech

High time to deliver on the Single Market, providing certainty and predictability for EU businesses and quality jobs (continuation of debate)

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Madam President, The single market is one of the few areas in which the European Union can actually create practical benefits for businesses and citizens. It is all the more frustrating if the Commission fails here. The European Court of Auditors confirms too little strategic ambition and insufficient enforcement of existing rules. Services account for around 70% of our European economic output, b…

28 Apr

2026

DE Speech

Enforcement of the Digital Markets Act (debate)

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Madam President, Rather than discussing what the Commission has done to implement the Digital Markets Act in the last two years since it entered into force, one should first of all look at the actual impact of the Digital Markets Act – in my view, much less than is presented here. Google, for example, continues to control over 90 percent of searches in Europe, which is practically the same as befo…

27 Apr

2026

DE Speech

Importance of consent-based rape legislation in the EU (debate)

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Mr President! Sexual violence is a crime, and the victims deserve every protection and the perpetrators a consistent, harsh punishment. We should not be discussing this at all here in this House. But now it goes on. It has already been mentioned today. There has been a social change, and it is also worth talking about here. And even if you think it always comes in one direction: Yes, numbers are c…

11 Mar

2026

DE Speech

Package travel and linked travel arrangements: make the protection of travellers more effective and simplify and clarify certain aspects (debate)

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11 Feb

2026

DE Speech

International Day of Education, fighting inequalities in access to education (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, As a former teacher, I listened carefully to the previous speakers and said: Yes, you can see how unrealistic you often speak, because the reality looks very different. I would like to take out one point, because unfortunately I was only allowed one minute of speaking time: All or many previous speakers have spoken of equal opportunities. Then we start with a…

10 Feb

2026

DE Speech

Presentation of the action plan against cyberbullying (debate)

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17 Dec

2025

DE Speech

2030 Consumer Agenda (debate)

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Mr President! Ladies and Gentlemen! The present Consumer Agenda shows a fundamental change of direction in European consumer policy. However, consumption is no longer understood as an expression of individual decisions, but as a political control field. Purchase decisions, mobility, digital use and forms of payment are assessed and regulated by the Commission. Here are some examples. This is parti…

16 Dec

2025

DE Answer

European Citizens’ Initiative ‘My voice, my choice: for safe and accessible abortion’ (debate)

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16 Dec

2025

DE Speech

European Citizens’ Initiative ‘My voice, my choice: for safe and accessible abortion’ (debate)

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25 Nov

2025

DE Speech

Protection of minors online (debate)

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Madam President, Protecting children and minors in daily life should be at the heart of our discussion and reflections – and all this without limiting our freedoms. It should also remain the focus of the parents, and the parents should continue to have the care and supervision in their hands. This is what makes me think, makes me think, in particular the proposal to carry out the control in a cent…

23 Oct

2025

DE Answer

Combating violence against women and girls, including the exploitation of motherhood (debate)

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I would have liked to have understood the question in more detail. No, my mother has not experienced violence – thank goodness – and I am happy for that. But what she sees, what it means for her granddaughter, for her daughter, what it means for everyone else around her in this future generation, she sees, she speaks clearly. And I'll tell you that too: She is repeatedly condemned for allegedly in…

23 Oct

2025

DE Speech

Combating violence against women and girls, including the exploitation of motherhood (debate)

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Madam President, 51 years old and a proud Austrian woman, for 26 years mother herself, and at this point also congratulations to my mother, who celebrates her birthday today. And one minute is not enough at all for this big issue we are talking about today – violence against women. But there's one thing I'll tell you too: Recently, the cityscape has changed. My entire life as a woman has changed. …

9 Oct

2025

DE Speech

Declaration of principles for a gender-equal society (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Yes, here we are on the two terms – there are two genders. We all share principles such as freedom, the prevention of violence, and even the prevention of violence. We need safe spaces, the protection of women and girls and the creation of these very safe spaces. These are all goals that deserve our support. But unfortunately, the commission sacrifices them on t…

11 Sep

2025

DE Answer

A new vision for the European Universities alliances (debate)

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Dear colleague, you started your speech by nagging America; Do the same with Hungary. I have spoken of it and will emphasize it, as Kant once said: Let us give the universities their freedoms, let people decide for themselves there and never patronize them!…

11 Sep

2025

DE Speech

A new vision for the European Universities alliances (debate)

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Mr President! Of course, the recognition of degrees within Europe always opens up opportunities for students. However, unification should not mean paternalism and national sovereignty in the field of education should always be respected. Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán strongly demonstrates this. Despite significant difficulties caused by EU sanctions and political pressure, Hungary's go…

10 Sep

2025

DE Speech

Package travel and linked travel arrangements: make the protection of travellers more effective and simplify and clarify certain aspects (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, The planned revision of the Package Travel Directive may, at first sight, bring improvements in consumer protection. But their pitfalls for citizens and businesses are: Although the experiences from the Thomas Cook bankruptcy and the corona crisis provide important lessons, the practice threatens to disproportionately burden our small and medium-sized tour op…

17 Jun

2025

DE Speech

Combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child sexual abuse material and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA (recast) (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, The numbers are upsetting, and they have already been mentioned. It is therefore undoubtedly our duty to protect children from sexual abuse. But if there is then a cut, an ideological paternalism, the erosion of national competences and partly the disempowerment of the parents, yes, then we say no to it. It happens again and again that the children are taken …

8 May

2025

DE Answer

Old challenges and new commercial practices in the internal market (debate)

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If that's how you see yourself, it's up to you. I am one of those who are still people's representatives and feel the same way.

8 May

2025

DE Speech

Old challenges and new commercial practices in the internal market (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Once again, we see the EU's motion for a resolution on the single market resonate with great words, but ignore the real problems of our economy and our citizens. For years, we have been hearing promises about cutting red tape and reducing the burden on our companies. But the reality is different: More and more new regulations, more and more regulation, less and …