What Liesbet spoke about.

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NL Written Statement

Recommendation on smoke- and aerosol-free environments (debate)

Smoking is a deadly habit. Every year, as many as 700 000 deaths in the EU are linked to smoking. This is a devastating reality that we can no longer ignore. We need to reduce tobacco consumption. That is beyond doubt. However, the danger of smoking does not stop at the smoker himself. Second-hand smoke also has a huge impact on public health, especially among vulnerable citizens or children. That…

6 Oct

2026

EN Speech

Protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens, mutagens or reprotoxic substances at work (A10-0100/2026 - Liesbet Sommen) (vote)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, it is time that the EU becomes a project of hope again. We all need it in these very turbulent times. Colleagues, preventing people from getting cancer means providing hope. Every year, around 120 000 workers in Europe are diagnosed with work-related cancer. These are people who simply went to work and became seriously ill by it. I am proud to say that we reached an …

20 May

2026

NL Speech

Advancing towards a care society: addressing the gender care gap (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, every day women get up earlier and go to sleep later for work they do, but that is not counted. No pay, no pension rights and no recognition. Care responsibilities are still unevenly distributed today. For example, Belgian women spend 9.5 hours more on these tasks each week than men. As a result, they also have 6 hours less free time per week than …

28 Apr

2026

NL Speech

World Day for Safety and Health at Work (debate)

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Mr President, unfortunately there is not much to celebrate today, on World Day for Safety and Health at Work. I quote from a number of Belgian headlines from the past period. 13 April: ‘Supplier in Brussels public transport died when he ended up under a cupboard’. On the same day: ‘In Flanders, a window-placer was seriously injured after falling under a window’. And two days later, on April 15th: …

11 Feb

2026

NL Speech

Addressing subcontracting chains and the role of intermediaries in order to protect workers’ rights (debate)

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Mr President, 188 subcontractors for one yard: That's a bit of a good thing too much. However, figures show that this is indeed the case. Now let us be clear about one thing: Subcontracting is important and legitimate. It's part of our economy and employment. A lot of companies work correctly in this way and a lot of people earn their living. Too often, this is not the reality today. We all rememb…

22 Jan

2026

NL Speech

A new action plan to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights (debate)

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Mr President, on the international stage today it is foolish, foolish, foolish. They are trade tariffs and fall back on the self-interest that strikes the clock. And that brings Europe into an existential crisis. It is urgent that Europe becomes much more assertive. Unfortunately, we cannot rely on military strength. But what we do have, unique and very powerful, is an economic weapon, our market …

26 Nov

2025

NL Speech

EU strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities post-2024 (debate)

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8 Oct

2025

NL Speech

Second World Summit for Social Development (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, a social Europe is not an unnecessary luxury today, because we are living in a time of multiple crises. However, we must pay particular attention to the needs of our citizens and families. What do they need to feel safe when a war is raging at our external borders? What is needed to achieve the climate goals? What concerns do our citizens have, particularly in t…

9 Jul

2025

NL Speech

Presentation of the Stockpiling Strategies - strengthening response capacities for a changing risk and threat landscape (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, health is a basic right and we have been talking for months about preparedness against the military threat on our eastern flank and the economic threat on our western flank. Of course more than rightly so, because defence and economic independence are two essential pillars of our Union and they deserve a lot of attention and resources. However, hea…

11 Mar

2025

NL Speech

Presentation of the proposal on Critical Medicines Act (CMA) (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, every day we see that the world order is shifting and that international cooperation is becoming increasingly difficult. As an EU, we will have to be strong for strategic sectors and do our own thing. The same goes for the pharmaceutical industry. Because every day, healthcare providers and patients experience shortages of medicines. That's a big problem. The geopolitic…

11 Feb

2025

NL Speech

The need to address urgent labour shortages and ensure quality jobs in the health care sector (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, everyone is entitled to the best possible and closest care. Of course, you need a caregiver for that. And that's where the shoe really sticks today. The figures are quite dramatic. We are short of more than a million doctors, nurses and midwives and by 2030 no less than one in three of them will retire. At the same time, the number of patients in need of care is on the …

22 Jan

2025

NL Speech

Failure of the negotiations in Busan for a UN plastic treaty and the urgent need to tackle plastic pollution at international and Union level (debate)

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Mr President, our oceans are choked by microplastics and our rivers are clogged with plastic waste. Our food also contains harmful chemicals that can be linked to plastic. According to the OECD, if we continue along this path, we will be moving towards irreversible environmental damage. The figures are staggering: By 2040, we would produce 60% more plastic and plastic waste in our oceans would hav…

27 Nov

2024

NL Speech

Recent legislation targeting LGBTQI persons and the need for protecting the rule of law and a discrimination-free Union (debate)

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Mr President, the reprehensible and offensive statements of the extreme right here in this plenary session unfortunately underline it once again: we have seen that the rights of LGBTQI people have certainly been reduced in recent years, including here in Europe. It looks like the clock is being turned back. Under the guise of "neutral education" and the "protection of traditional values", books ar…

24 Oct

2024

NL Speech

Closing the EU skills gap: supporting people in the digital and green transitions to ensure inclusive growth and competitiveness in line with the Draghi report (debate)

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(NL) Mr President, Commissioner, the green transition and artificial intelligence: That sometimes worries our people and businesses. That's understandable, too. It is up to us, the policy, to provide clarity and certainty. As a European Union, we are at a crossroads. We rightly have the most ambitious climate legislation in the world, but our economy is lagging behind because we do not offer enoug…

21 Oct

2024

NL Speech

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, 17 October was the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Such a day is of course very important. Even more important is that we pay attention to people in poverty every day. Poverty should never be a taboo. The figures on poverty in the European Union are truly worrying. I therefore welcome the EU strategy against poverty announced by the President o…

9 Oct

2024

NL Speech

Ensuring sustainable, decent and affordable housing in Europe - encouraging investment, private property and public housing programmes (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in recent years we have seen that more and more families are struggling to make ends meet and that housing costs are taking up an increasingly important part of the family budget. For many families, whether they are two-income or single parents, but certainly also for young people, it is often simply no longer possible to buy your own home. We ther…