What Julie spoke about.

19

May

2026

Answers FR

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EU governance under pressure – institutional responses to global challenges (debate)

The reality is that you wake up a little late. That is to say, the European Commission has been deciding for years on everything that is done in Europe, since, as you know, the European Commission has the right of legislative initiative and therefore the European Parliament has only been a chamber of registration for years. So, even if the European peoples democratically and directly elect the European Commission, the reality is that the European peoples are already directly electing their European governments and heads of state. And so the European Council must have more powers. That's exactly what we're saying. The European Commission does not have the democratic legitimacy today to have such power. We want to strengthen the European Council and the European Parliament, which are two bodies that are ultimately democratically elected.

19

May

2026

Speeches FR

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EU governance under pressure – institutional responses to global challenges (debate)

Mr President, today we have a real question: Who should govern Europe? Behind the discourses on efficiency, there is actually a political shift that is very clear: less power for the nations and therefore, mechanically, more power for Brussels. We are told that the veto should be abolished, that the unanimity rule should be abolished and that more and more powers should be transferred to Brussels. Behind all this, there is an ideological will: gradually transforming the Commission into a true European government. I prefer to be clear: We will never accept that. Democratic legitimacy in Europe does not come from the Brussels technostructure. It comes from the European peoples organized into sovereign nations. The political centre of gravity of the EU must remain the Council, i.e. the democratically elected states. Parliament needs to be more active in monitoring and evaluating EU texts. Europe is not destined to become a federal superstate that gradually withdraws the ability of nations to decide for themselves. The veto is not an archaic block, it is democratic protection when the vital interests of the people are at stake. One thing is for sure, it is the nations that make Europe and you will never be able to change it.

18

May

2026

Speeches FR

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Negative trade-related effects of global overcapacity on the Union steel market (debate)

Mr President, today's wake-up call is very late. For years, politicians here have been hailing the opening-up of the market while other powers have been massively protecting their strategic industries. But we are not fooled. Successive European leaders have a great deal of responsibility. Their blindness to fierce global competition has largely penalised the steel sector. For years, we have allowed massive entry of low-priced Chinese steel, while imposing extremely costly environmental and energy standards on our producers. We do not forget the thousands of French workers who saw their factories shut down, sometimes after several generations of working in the steel industry, abandoned overnight, with the feeling that their know-how and sacrifice no longer mattered. Without steel, there is no strong industry, there is no credible reindustrialisation project. There is also no strategic autonomy or serious defence capability. It was time to wake up. But this awakening must not lead to new technocratic half-measures. In the face of unfair global competition, we must finally assume a genuine policy of economic protection. Finally, let us dare European protectionism and let us dare it for all our industries, whether upstream or downstream, before it is definitely too late.

29

Apr

2026

Speeches FR

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The need to combat antisemitism and protect Jewish life in Europe, following the recent attacks against the Jewish community in the Netherlands and Belgium (debate)

27

Apr

2026

Speeches FR

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Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank Group – annual report 2024 (debate)

Madam President, overall, the European Investment Bank is well managed, but the reality is that its mandate is drifting. Originally, the EIB financed strategic projects that neither the market nor the Member States could carry on their own. Today, it intervenes everywhere, including abroad, and it has become a tool to do everything. By expanding its field of action, it has moved away from its mission. It has competed with the private sector and, above all, it lacks transparency today. We need to refocus it on the essentials, i.e. financing our factories, supporting our SMEs, modernising our transport and energy networks and securing our supplies. Only in this way will it finally have real added value.

9

Feb

2026

Speeches FR

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Amending Regulations on agricultural products as regards market rules and sectoral support measures in the wine sector and for aromatised wine products (debate)

21

Jan

2026

Speeches FR

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Presentation of the Digital Networks Act (debate)

Madam President, that is it, the alarm clock seems to have finally sounded. Europe wants to move faster to deploy critical infrastructure such as digital networks. On paper, that's a very good thing. But the method is not the right one. While our competitors are investing heavily in the technologies of tomorrow, we in Europe still spend time putting those of yesterday back in order. The act we are talking about today does not mark a turning point. It does not launch a new dynamic. It simply organizes the catching up of an industrial revolution that we have already let pass. It's useful, yes, but it's not ambitious. Harmonising the rules, simplifying them, better coordinating the players are administrative measures that are necessary after years of regulatory excesses. But that's not a vision, it's not a project for the future. The heart of the problem is time. Time for Europe to discuss and adopt its rules. The time that states transpose them, the time that companies adapt. Meanwhile, he, the market is moving forward and obviously, he is not waiting for Europe. We did not invest when it was necessary to build real industrial capacity. And as is often the case, there is a risk that these late efforts will mainly benefit non-European actors. Who can guarantee, for example, that strategic materials such as copper will be produced tomorrow at home rather than imported? Who can ensure that the major projects will not be entrusted to a workforce from elsewhere, instead of creating jobs for our own workers? After ten years of illusion, Europe is faced with a clear choice: either it is content to manage its delay, or it finally decides to project itself and invest definitively and seriously in innovation, in industry and in the mastery of these technologies. Without this courageous choice, this act will not change anything in our place in the world. He'll just confirm it.

16

Dec

2025

Answers FR

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Presentation of the European Affordable Housing Plan (debate)

16

Dec

2025

Speeches FR

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Presentation of the European Affordable Housing Plan (debate)

26

Nov

2025

Speeches FR

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The situation of Christian communities and religious minorities in Nigeria and the Middle East, and Europe’s responsibility to protect them and guarantee freedom of conscience (topical debate)

25

Nov

2025

Speeches FR

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Effective use of the EU trade and industrial policy to tackle China’s export restrictions (debate)

Madam President, yes, the reality is cruel. World trade is not a neutral terrain, it is a continuous balance of power. While here we recite the myth of perfect free trade, China protects its industry, massively subsidizes, advances its pawns and surpasses us. In its naivety, Europe even goes so far as to impose all-electricity by 2035, while China has invested 230 billion in this area in recent years. This is absurd and irresponsible. If China gets ahead, it's no mystery. It has been following a strategy of power for years, without hesitation and naivety. So yes, we must protect our market and relocate our productions, as we have defended at the Rassemblement National for years. It must be done to stop being dependent on Beijing. This is the price of our sovereignty. If Europe wants to remain a power, it is time for it to act as such.

23

Oct

2025

Speeches FR

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

Madam President, at the age of eight, a little girl should be able to play and laugh, not howl under a blade. Yet in Europe, more than 600,000 women have undergone female circumcision and 180,000 girls face the same fate every year; A crime imported in the name of cultural relativism and tolerated by ideological cowardice. At 12, she should be dreaming of the future. Not end up like Lola, victim of a monster that France has not been able to expel, symbol of a country disarmed by migratory angelism. At 18, she should be able to believe in justice. Not to discover that, in this Europe, we excuse everything, we understand everything, except the victims. At 30, she should be able to return home alone without fear of aggression, in a Europe where insecurity settles with the import of foreign mores that the left refuses to name. And at 50, she should be able to tell her daughters: Here you are protected because we defended our civilization. To protect women is to refuse silence, relativism and submission. It is about defending our borders, our culture and our dignity.

7

Oct

2025

Speeches FR

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Rising antisemitism in Europe (debate)

Mr President, I come from a country, France, where, in 2024, more than 2,000 of my compatriots of Jewish faith made their alya to Israel. I come from a country where, in 2024, more than 1,500 anti-Semitic acts were recorded. These people sometimes say they are safer in a country at war than on the streets of their own country. The cause of this fear is clear: There was indeed a "October 7 effect". Hamas's atrocities against Israeli civilians have disinhibited unhealthy anti-Semitic passions. Hamas has succeeded in uniting the struggles of the far left and Islamism in the same Islamo-Palestinianism, the new face of anti-Semitism. In Bordeaux, where I live, the extreme left has pushed the environmental majority to suspend the twinning of our city with the port of Ashdod in Israel. This is where contemporary anti-Semitism is. We must have the courage to fight it on this ground as a priority.

11

Sep

2025

Speeches FR

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A new vision for the European Universities alliances (debate)

Mr President, today global academic competition is intensifying and Europe is trying to hold on to it, but it is shrinking. China dominates in terms of number of patents and our venture capital remains far behind that of the United States. Today's vision is nothing new: broadening alliances, multiplying joint degrees, standardising procedures, moving towards common governance. We have been following these same recommendations for more than 30 years now. The ECTS already ensure the recognition of the routes. Erasmus+ is well endowed and that's all the better. But doing more of the same will not change the game. What is needed is a change of strategy. It is necessary to set some essential priorities instead of multiplying ideological criteria. Universities must be opened up to private investment to accelerate the transition from the lab to the market. We must better protect and value our patents rather than idealize an open science that drains our scientific and human capital. Above all, let us do what the Union has never done before: Finally, dare autonomy where it is only a supporting competence. Let's let states and universities experiment. Good practices will be spread by example, not by an additional layer of Brussels centralisation.

8

Jul

2025

Speeches FR

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Need for the EU to scale up clean technologies (debate)

Mr President, once again, the European Commission is stirring up the mirage of clean technologies as if it were a solution to all evils. It promises billions, plans, platforms, but the reality is that it is a failure. Heat pumps? They are more than 70% imported and they are unsuitable for 60% of the old building stock. Solar panels? They are 90% made in China, while European factories close one after the other. European batteries? They are three times more expensive than Chinese batteries and have a global market share of less than 5%. These clean industries are too often false green solutions. They only hold up thanks to massive subsidies. Rather than admit failure, Brussels pushes the nail: it refuses to fully support nuclear power, which is nevertheless the only low-carbon energy that is manageable, competitive and truly sovereign. Then we say stop! We say stop this leak forward that is ruining our competitiveness, destroying our historical industrial base and discarding the real solutions: sovereign, local and efficient.

18

Jun

2025

Speeches FR

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Electricity grids: the backbone of the EU energy system (debate)

Mr President, electricity networks are the backbone of the European energy system, but this backbone is now weakened. 40% of distribution networks in Europe are over 40 years old and 60% will have to be renovated or replaced within 10 years. The Commission itself acknowledges this in its own Action Plan of November 2023: €584 billion of investment will be needed by 2030, including more than €400 billion for distribution alone. And yet, instead of mobilizing states and their industrial capacity, you persist in imposing above-ground planning, conceived in Brussels, dictated by lobbyists and unable to respond to the realities on the ground. Meanwhile, connection times are increasing throughout Europe, up to ten years for some agricultural or industrial projects. All because you wanted to build a single electricity market without guaranteeing its stability, sovereignty or security. And while you talk about interconnection, Europe loses up to 10% of its electricity every year in the grids, the equivalent of France's consumption. We have another vision: a controllable sovereign network, based on nuclear power, stability and public control. Yes to European investments, but at the service of nations, not at the service of technocratic dogma. Electricity is not a commodity, it is a vital good, a lever of power, a matter of sovereignty. Our position is clear and consistent. France does not have to be dictated its energy choices by the European Commission.

7

May

2025

Speeches FR

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The role of gas storage for securing gas supplies ahead of the winter season (debate)

Mr President, this debate on gas storage raises a key question: Who decides? Since 2017, the European Union has been building a centralised energy policy piece by piece, as if Member States were unable to ensure their energy security on their own. What was voluntary coordination becomes guardianship. Since 2022, mandatory filling thresholds have been imposed, with controls, timetables and sanctions. Today, the Commission is proposing to extend these measures until 2027, and tomorrow it will be endless. We said it as early as 2022: Energy is a strategic skill. It must remain national, because each country has its resources, its mix, its needs and its vulnerabilities. To believe that a single threshold and uniform planning will protect Europe is to ignore reality. We reject this logic of rampant centralization. Storage is a tool: It must serve the nations, not lock them in a single reading grid dictated from Brussels.

7

May

2025

Speeches FR

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Winning the global tech race: boosting innovation and closing funding gaps (topical debate)

Mr President, the European Union claims to want to win the global technological race, but the reality is quite different. In 2024, venture capital investments for technology-expanding companies reached $30 billion in the European Union, compared to $110 billion in the United States, a gap of 82%. In semiconductors, only 4.5 billion have been contributed by the European Union, and again, it is the Member States that have proved to be the most effective in this area. For artificial intelligence, Brussels announces 200 billion euros of investment, where the United States aligns 500 billion euros for a technological ecosystem that is much more mature than ours. European start-ups wait an average of eight months to obtain an authorisation, compared to three in the United States. Europe is not in the race, it is lost in the labyrinth it has created itself. Rather than multiplying the envelopes, we must free up private investment, facilitate the installation of the latest generation of digital infrastructure and strengthen the links between research and industry. Innovation must be a lever of sovereignty and freedom, not a pretext for yet another bureaucratic inflation.

3

Apr

2025

Speeches FR

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110th anniversary of the Armenian genocide

Mr President, a hundred and ten years ago, an immense tragedy took place, one of the darkest in the 20th century. Today, this event resonates in European memory as a warning. It all started with the arrest of civil and religious figures, before more than a million men, women and children were driven from their homes and sent on the roads. Through the arid and hostile expanses of Anatolian interior, they walked endlessly, without water, without roof, without return. To commemorate the Armenian Genocide today is to acknowledge the harm done to a people whose history is intimately linked to ours. It is a reminder that Armenia, on the border of Europe and the Caucasus, shares with us a millennial culture and a vibrant diaspora, deeply rooted in our societies. In honouring this memory, we reaffirm our strong bond with this sister nation. It is by looking straight at this past that Europe can build a sincere relationship with its close environment, populated by nations with which it sometimes forgets that it shares so much.

2

Apr

2025

Speeches FR

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European Steel and Metals Action Plan (debate)

Madam President, the European steel industry is going through a major crisis. In France, there are only five blast furnaces left. In Dunkirk, 1,500 jobs are at stake and €1.8 billion in decarbonised investments have been suspended. In Germany, ThyssenKrupp announces 11,000 job cuts and in turn freezes decarbonisation projects. Since 2017, steel production in Europe has fallen from 160 million tonnes to 126 million tonnes. Our share of the global market has fallen below 8%, while China's share is above 50%. Global overcapacity is 600 million tonnes, and since March 12, the United States has imposed 25% tariffs on our exports. Faced with this dramatic situation, the Commission extended the safeguard measures: import quotas on 26 product categories, with an additional duty of 25% once the volumes are exceeded. This safety net is necessary, but it is not a long-term strategy. The Steel and Metals Action Plan identifies the right loopholes – energy, dumping, frozen investments – but it remains silent on three key points: how to produce green steel when the cost of carbon is already 10% of the selling price? How can we take advantage of global overcapacity to strengthen our stocks and secure our supplies? Last but not least, how can we reindustrialise if we do not finance the initial investment and modernisation of our sites?

12

Mar

2025

Speeches FR

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Union of Skills: striving for more and better opportunities to study, train or work in the EU and to bring our talents back home (debate)

Mr President, Europe is winning. Mario Draghi recalled: We are losing the battle of talent. Every year, 20% of European researchers go abroad, while the US attracts more talent than it loses. Let us take the Toulouse School of Economics, which – ironically – hosted a Nobel Prize which itself had a career in the United States. When she was last recruited, she offered six positions to brilliant researchers. For what result? Six refusals. Two researchers joined the private sector in the United States; others from foreign universities. US institutions offer up to $300,000 per year. Here, even by doubling wages, we remain far behind. Why? Because our companies do not have sufficient incentives to invest in innovation. However, it is not just a matter of money. Precarity, blocked careers, stifling bureaucracy... Research, which should be a space of freedom, is saturated with constraints. Meanwhile, China and the United States roll out the red carpet. Europe has been a scientific bastion, at the forefront of technological progress and rationality. Today, we devalue our researchers and let our talents go. If we do not react, our discoveries, our patents and our competitiveness of tomorrow will be built elsewhere.

10

Mar

2025

Speeches FR

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Cutting red tape and simplifying business in the EU: the first Omnibus proposals (debate)

Mr President, the Commission is trying to exercise humility and decides to go back on some of its rules. She rediscovers a principle of wisdom: Little things the legislator does not care. The reduction of reporting obligations is good, but is it enough? Certainly not, as these adjustments do not put an end to the administered economy it has created. As a reminder, the CSRD Directive involves 50 000 companies, up to 600 ESG indicators to be provided and a cost of more than EUR 100 000 per year for certain companies. The Commission claims to simplify, but it only temporarily exempts certain companies from excessive regulation, without calling into question the bureaucratic logic behind them. Who can believe that European industry will be saved with forms? The "omnibus" does not change the substance of the problem. This problem is structural overregulation, which is suffocating our economy. Today, compliance costs 3 to 4% of GDP, and a European company spends 2.5 times more on formalities than a US company. The elephant in the room is this block of green regulations, which deprives us of growth. As long as we do not overhaul this bureaucratic machine, these adjustments will remain anecdotal.

12

Feb

2025

Answers FR

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Competitiveness Compass (debate)

But you're not ashamed? Aren't you ashamed? Because in reality the policy pursued by the European Commission in recent years is the policy of degrowth. If it has carried out this policy, it is in particular because the extreme left and the Greens, the ones you represent today, have infused this ideology into all public policies and especially into the politics of the company. Today, it is a total failure – fortunately – and it is time to get out of it.

12

Feb

2025

Speeches FR

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Competitiveness Compass (debate)

Mr President, Mr Séjourné, the Commission loves the great ten-year macroeconomic programmes which return with the same regularity as the Soviet plans of another time. In the 2000s, the Lisbon Strategy promised us the knowledge society and the whole tertiary sector. Today, his latest plan, the compass for competitiveness, claims to show us the way forward. But who can still believe that the Commission knows where it is going? For 20 years, she has been systematically wrong. She did not see that we were not entering a post-industrial society, but a hyper-industrial world. It did not understand that globalization did not undermine relations between States, but paved the way for economic and trade wars. She did not anticipate that exposure to global competition would not make us more competitive, but more vulnerable. The language of sovereignty, protection and power, we have never ceased to hold, conscious of the world we were entering. But the Commission has never paid attention to our warnings. Now, instead of assuming its mistakes, the Commission blames the Member States for misapplying its recommendations. It is finally high time to really change course.

21

Jan

2025

Speeches FR

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Situation in Venezuela following the usurpation of the presidency on 10 January 2025 (debate)

Edmundo González was declared the winner by many independent observers and by the opposition’s own polls. The evidence, voting records and testimonies of Venezuelans clearly show that he won the election with considerable margin. The repression that followed the announcement of the fraudulent results was violent and merciless. Thousands of arrests, lives lost and heightened censorship of media and social media have been the weapons of a regime that is afraid and knows that its power is being usurped. We must strongly support the legitimacy of Edmundo González’s victory. The time has come for Venezuela to free itself from the chains of oppression. The time has come to see truth triumph, freedom prevail over tyranny and the Venezuelan people take back their destiny – finally!