What Wouter spoke about.

16

Dec

2025

NL Speech

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EU Defence Readiness (joint debate)

15

Dec

2025

NL Speech

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Incentivising defence-related investments in the EU budget to implement the ReArm Europe Plan (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, there is a lot of talk about the importance of a strong European defence. We are not going to defend ourselves by talking alone. We must therefore add the deed to the word. That is exactly what we are doing with this proposal and with the various initiatives that Commissioner Kubilius is taking in this regard. Indeed, an important step towards this…

26

Nov

2025

NL Speech

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Defence of Democracy package (joint debate)

26

Nov

2025

NL Speech

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EU response to the continuous airspace violations and sabotage of critical infrastructure in the EU originating from Russia and Belarus (debate)

26

Nov

2025

NL Speech

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EU position on the proposed plan and EU engagement towards a just and lasting peace for Ukraine (debate)

25

Nov

2025

NL Speech

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

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, critical raw materials are the invisible backbone of modern life. Without these materials, no defense production, no electric cars, no windmills, no microchips. Europe's future therefore depends on access to the very raw materials that others are now using as a tool of power. For example, China controls large parts of global mining, refining and processing. A si…

25

Nov

2025

NL Speech

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European Defence Industry Programme and a framework of measures to ensure the timely availability and supply of defence products (‘EDIP’) (debate)

Mr President, the agreement we are discussing here today does not come a day too early. For too long, our collective security has been undermined by national fragmentation and inefficiency. With EDIP, we are now taking an important step forward towards further integration of our industry, and therefore also our European security. But this shouldn't be an end point. What we are discussing and appro…

22

Oct

2025

NL Speech

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Ending all energy imports from Russia to the EU and closing loopholes through third countries (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, every euro that goes to Russian gas or oil in Russia is a euro that feeds Putin’s war. Today we say ‘enough!’. By 2027 we will close the crane permanently. Not only out of necessity, but also out of conviction. That is a historic decision, because it is not only about energy, but also about moral responsibility and strategic independence. Europe ta…

21

Oct

2025

NL Speech

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Stepping up funding for Ukraine’s reconstruction and defence: the use of Russian frozen assets (debate)

Mr President, Ukraine is our first-line European defence today and deserves our full support. Whatever it takes. But there is a temptation: the quick and easy solution, namely to seize the frozen Russian assets. They look a bit like crown jewels that are in a glass cabinet, secure or not. But they are not, because unlike crown jewels, the frozen assets yield interest, which can be used to pay G7 l…

21

Oct

2025

NL Speech

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Recent peace agreement in the Middle East and the role of the EU (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, the Gaza agreement and the release of the hostages gave a spark of hope. But today we see again how fragile that hope is and how fragile the ceasefire is in reality. Sustainable peace is more than the temporary silence of arms. Without perspective, without justice and without reconstruction, each stock remains temporary. This is where Europe's responsibility…

20

Oct

2025

NL Speech

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Chemicals (joint debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, the European chemicals sector is going through a severe storm. The worst storm since the financial crisis. Just to give you an idea: in the port of Antwerp, in my country, the largest chemical cluster in Europe, the installations only run at 65% of their capacity. This is the lowest level in 44 years. Production volumes are falling, investments are…

7

Oct

2025

NL Speech

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The EU’s role in supporting the recent peace efforts for Gaza and a two-state solution (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, two years ago, Hamas carried out a terrible attack on innocent Israeli citizens. 1,200 dead, slaughtered in their homes, on the street and at a festival. Dozens of hostages are still trapped. It's inhuman. We must do everything we can to free them and support all initiatives to do so. However, one crime still does not justify the other. What Israel…

10

Sep

2025

NL Speech

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Case of Victoire Ingabire in Rwanda

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, dear Rémy and Raïssa, Victoire Ingabire is a Rwandan politician who spent 15 years in the Netherlands as a political refugee. And she's not the only one. It's the third time in a few months that we've been here. The first time was for Jean-Jacques Wondo in Congo, then for Joseph Figueira Martin in the Central African Republic. And now it is about the fate of…

10

Sep

2025

NL Speech

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China’s unjustified decision to impose duties on imports of pork products from the EU and the need to support European farmers and workers (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, the new Chinese import tariffs of 60% on pigmeat are a severe blow to our farmers. Belgium threatens to get the highest rate, while our farmers barely had access to the Chinese market during the period under review. This is not just an unfair commercial practice. That is pure geopolitical pressure and an attempt to separate Member States. Farmers should not be penalised…

9

Sep

2025

NL Speech

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Gaza at breaking point: EU action to combat famine, the urgent need to release hostages and move towards a two-state solution (debate)

Mr President, Mrs Kallas, ladies and gentlemen, 6,000 deaths – five weeks ago – we were discussing the war in Gaza. Then we asked: When's that gonna stop? 6 000 people were killed. When will Europe finally take action? When are we going to suspend that trade agreement, that association agreement? When will we put pressure on Israel? When will we implement this import ban from the occupied territor…

9

Jul

2025

NL Speech

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Arbitrary arrest and torture of Belgian-Portuguese researcher Joseph Figueira Martin in the Central African Republic

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, our compatriot Joseph Figueira Martin has been unjustly detained in the Central African Republic for more than a year. For 411 days, 411 nights, he, his family, his friends have been tormented by uncertainty. All this time he has been tortured, isolated, threatened with death, without any future prospects. It goes without saying that his physical a…

9

Jul

2025

NL Speech

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Democratic Republic of the Congo-Rwanda peace deal agreement (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, at the beginning of this year, the violence in eastern Congo flared up again horribly, and we saw the horrific images on television. But actually, we've been seeing these horrific images on television for thirty years. Now a peace deal has been signed. That is a good step in itself, but also a step with a number of questions. The first question, Co…

9

Jul

2025

NL Speech

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EU-US trade negotiations (debate)

President, Commissioner, colleagues, tariff increases are political placebos, Professor Richard Baldwin said. Economic nonsense that serves a political purpose. Unlike President Trump, we should not believe in these placebos. Europe’s focus should be: protecting our prosperity, our jobs and the income of our people. Europe does not benefit from escalation. A deal may also limit the damage to our b…

8

Jul

2025

NL Speech

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Preparation for the 2025 EU–China Summit - Tackling China's critical raw materials export restrictions

Mr President, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, in this hemisphere we often talk about strategic autonomy when it comes to our defence, when it comes to our food, when it comes to our medicines. The message is always: We need to be able to take more control in order to protect our citizens in the future. This also applies to critical raw materials. Without ever realizing it, they have become th…

18

Jun

2025

NL Speech

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Case of Ahmadreza Jalali in Iran

Mr President, Commissioner, 'European policymakers will be jointly responsible for my death'. That is what Mr Djalali said in April, exactly nine years after his arrest in Iran. When he was arrested, his son was four years old. Today he is 13 years old. Mr. Djalali has been imprisoned in Evin Prison for nine years. Nine years. Nine years without his family. Nine years of torture, disease, heart fa…

18

Jun

2025

NL Speech

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

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, our electricity grid is the most integrated in the world. And yet today we find it painful that it is not adapted to the reality of the 21st century. Once it was built on fossil raw materials and centralized production. But today we are in a new era: wind and solar energy in addition to nuclear energy. That from electric vehicles to water pumps and…

18

Jun

2025

NL Speech

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Upcoming NATO summit on 24-26 June 2025 (debate)

Mr President, Madam High Representative, we can have a whole debate on the NATO summit here and that is particularly important. But actually, the question is: In the meantime, what can we as Europe do ourselves? We need to invest smartly and Europeanly. That is to say: not seventeen tank systems but one tank system. That is to say: more standardisation, one strategy and under a European umbrella. …

17

Jun

2025

NL Speech

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Situation in the Middle East (joint debate)

Mr President, High Representative, ladies and gentlemen, what Israel is doing in Gaza today is unacceptable: Tens of thousands dead, shelling of food stations, famine as a weapon of war. Of course, Israel was allowed to defend itself after October 7. But what it does now is disproportionate, is illegal, and its war crimes. We can no longer tolerate that. Anyone who says that international law must…

21

May

2025

NL Speech

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The EU's response to the Israeli government's plan to seize the Gaza Strip, ensuring effective humanitarian support and the liberation of hostages (debate)

Mr President, the Commission is finally launching an investigation into human rights violations in Gaza. Because what's going on there? An organized famine and bombing of hospitals. Of course, there are the October 7 attacks with more than a thousand deaths on the Israeli side. Meanwhile, more than 50,000 people have been killed and more than 100,000 wounded in Gaza, the vast majority of whom are …

8

May

2025

NL Speech

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80 years after the end of World War II - freedom, democracy and security as the heritage of Europe (debate)

Mr President, today we are commemorating the end of the Second World War. Eighty years ago, in the ruins of 1945, visionary leaders such as Adenauer, Schuman and De Gasperi chose reconciliation, reconciliation over revenge, cooperation over conflict, democracy over dictatorship. Their radical response laid the seeds of what we are still reaping the benefits of today. A European Union of shared sov…